Abstract
Players in online games frequently choose the opposite gender when they select an avatar. Previously, this has been attributed to a player's unconscious sexual anxieties and the need to experiment through the anonymous location of the avatar. However, this paper argues that the development of choice in games, where players have frequently selected the female form for ludic reasons, means that this choice has become normalised through a historical process. The avatar is frequently considered as a tool, with gender regarded as a freely admitted aesthetic pleasure. The player does not see this as a site of tension, or seeks to absolve this tension publicly as an act of appropriation typical to Jenkins¹ textual poachers. Overall, the act of gender switching is not considered deviant within gaming; more, it is embraced as a common practise with historical precedents to support it.
Highlights
The fact that many games are designed for a teenage male market probably goes some way to explaining the predominance of stereotypical and sometimes demeaning representations of women, That does not mean, that all players ‘read’ or use the signifiers of gender and appearance in the same way. (King and Kryzwinska, 2006, p. 183-4)
The intense speculation around Lara Croft as a site of gendered tension in games has skewed a more pressing factor for the players of games, – namely that players of all genders are accustomed to approaching female avatars as one option amongst many, and that they often chose these for ludic, rather than gendered reasons
This act has normalised the adoption of female avatars by male players to the extent that they feel more comfortable with assuming them as gameplay devices
Summary
The fact that many games are designed for a teenage male market probably goes some way to explaining the predominance of stereotypical and sometimes demeaning representations of women, That does not mean, that all players ‘read’ or use the signifiers of gender and appearance in the same way. (King and Kryzwinska, 2006, p. 183-4). Players can usually adopt either a male or female avatar without there being a statistical difference between genders (these differences are instead enacted through more traditional Dungeons and Dragons - style differentiations of class and race).
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