Gender, Masculinity and Video Gaming : Analysing Reddit's R/gaming Community

"In this compelling account of the aftermath of the #GamerGate controversies the authors trace how misogynistic discourses and feelings were expressed and contested. The book tells an important story of how gendered harassment and hate speech against women can be both intensified and challenged via these kinds of online engagements."--Deborah Lupton, University of New South Wales, Australia "Recognising the genuine desire to see positive social change within the industry and the wider gaming community, alongside the limitations to progress so far, this important book should inform thinking on how gender inequality is further eroded moving forward." -Mark McCormack, University of Roehampton, UK "A timely and much needed text: well written, and theoretically and empirically informed. This is an important source for any scholar or student interested in gamers, game communities, and how these are changing." -Garry Crawford, University of Salford, UK This book examines gender attitudes in Reddit's popular video gaming community subreddit, r/gaming. Video gaming has long been understood as a masculinised social space and, while increasing numbers of girls and women now engage in the pastime, boys and men remain the predominant social actors. Furthermore, the gaming community has been widely identified as a prime case study in broader concerns around 'toxic' masculinity and gendered online harassment. However, there is also underexamined evidence of a growing movement in the community coming forward to voice its collective opposition. Utilising an innovative combination of computational and qualitative methods, the research undertaken here exposes this fuller picture, revealing significant contestation and a spectrum of attitudes that mark out this popular gaming community as a battleground for gender (in)equality. Students and scholars across a range of disciplines, including gender studies, media studies, cultural studies, sociology, games studies and computer sciences, will find this book of interest. Marcus Maloney is Lecturer in Sociology, Coventry University, UK. Steven Roberts is Associate Professor in Sociology, Monash University, Australia. Timothy Graham is Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Communication, Queensland University of Technology, Australia "In this compelling account of the aftermath of the #GamerGate controversies the authors trace how misogynistic discourses and feelings were expressed and contested. The book tells an important story of how gendered harassment and hate speech against women can be both intensified and challenged via these kinds of online engagements." -Deborah Lupton, University of New South Wales, Australia "Recognising the genuine desire to see positive social change within the industry and the wider gaming community, alongside the limitations to progress so far, this important book should inform thinking on how gender inequality is further eroded moving forward." -Mark McCormack, University of Roehampton, UK "A timely and much needed text: well written, and theoretically and empirically informed. This is an important source for any scholar or student interested in gamers, game communities, and how these are changing." -Garry Crawford, University of Salford, UK This book examines gender attitudes in Reddits popular video gaming community subreddit, r/gaming. Video gaming has long been understood as a masculinised social space and, while increasing numbers of girls and women now engage in the pastime, boys and men remain the predominant social actors. Furthermore, the gaming community has been widely identified as a prime case study in broader concerns around 'toxic masculinity and gendered online harassment. However, there is also underexamined evidence of a growing movement in the community coming forward to voice its collective opposition. Utilising an innovative combination of computational and qualitative methods, the research undertaken here exposes this fuller picture, revealing significant contestation and a spectrum of attitudes that mark out this popular gaming community as a battleground for gender (in)equality. Students and scholars across a range of disciplines, including gender studies, media studies, cultural studies, sociology,games studies and comp uter sciences, will find this book of interest. Marcus Maloney is Lecturer in Sociology, Coventry University, UK. Steven Roberts is Associate Professor in Sociology, Monash University, Australia. Timothy Graham is Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Communication, Queensland University of Technology, Australia Acknowledgements Contents List of Figures List of Tables Chapter 1: Introduction Idle Hands, (Folk) Devil’s Playthings Why Reddit? Methodology Data Collection and Text Processing Methods of Analysis Discussion of Methodology Ready Player One References Chapter 2: Hegemonic, Inclusive and Geek Masculinities Hegemonic Masculinity Geek Masculinity As Hegemonic Masculinity? Adding to Connell’s Tools Conclusion References Chapter 3: Computational Survey Voting and Sentiment Analysis Topic Model Analysis of ‘Masculine Gendered’ /r/Gaming Comments Topic Model Analysis of ‘Feminine Gendered’ /r/Gaming Comments References Chapter 4: Masculine Discourses in r/gaming ‘I’m Very Glad You Enjoyed This Game but I Actually Hate It’ ‘I’m So Confused Why I’m Failing. I WAS Following the Damn Train’ Competition and Cohesion References Chapter 5: Feminine Discourses in r/gaming ‘Half Naked Women Make Literally Every Single Thing Better’ ‘Spare Me the Bullshit ...’ ‘If You Weren’t Female They’d Harass You for Something Else’ ‘... Not Even If You Were TheLastDudeguy on Earth’ Battlegrounds and Contestations References Chapter 6: Conclusion References Index