Playing With Our Selves

Abstract

As more of our lives are spent online, often in environments in which we interact with others through virtual characters (“avatars”), there remains a gulf between how player practices are documented and theorized, and the complex gendered identity work players actually carry out. This paper draws on a mixed-methods study of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs), with a sample of 359 players and 659 avatars that compares male and female players with regards to two practices: selecting opposite-sexed avatars and customizing avatar appearance. Unlike other studies of MMORPG players that focus on players' customization and use of one particular avatar, this analysis is driven by a consideration of players' multiple avatars. In so doing, we demonstrate how MMORPG play is characterized by gendered practices far more nuanced than can be revealed through a “one-to-one” understanding of the identificatory practices of players and their avatars.