Abstract
All new technologies follow a familiar cyclicality in terms of their perception and assimilation as they move from the phase of an initial celebration of a ‘new’ technology to a phase where they attempt to appropriate themselves in the existing socio-cultural context. In this process of ‘appropriation’, technologies domesticate themselves in the dominant paradigm of socio-cultural norms. A case in point is video gaming – a globally successful and stimulating entertainment technology and therefore a rich narrative to read, interpret and experience socio-cultural sub-texts. The construction of gender in gaming has been widely debated in academic circles. The very fact that approximately 75–80 percent of the sales revenue generated by the $10 billion game industry is derived from the male game industry tilts the balance of gendered narratives in video games towards the male brigade. This paper attempts to deconstruct gender stereotypes in some of the commercially successful video games globally. This paper would try to build discursive arguments to establish how video game technology ‘appropriates'its narrative to the hegemonic perception of gender roles in society.
Published Version
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