Abstract
Video games in virtual worlds serve as reference points in negotiations of socially efficacious meanings. Therefore they entail the potential either to reproduce and affirm or to challenge traditional concepts of identity. This article presents findings of an in-depth content analysis of three role playing games with a male avatar belonging to the Gothic-series that was published between 2001 and 2006. Focal points of the examination were issues of gender and sexuality, how they are incorporated in narrative, interactions and rules of the game series, and how they are being discussed on fan sites and player forums.
Highlights
Sarah Grimes (2003) analyzed three video games with a female avatar in order to find out whether video games construct an “ideal feminine heroine”
All game characters in the first and second part of the game series were categorized by sex, appearance, profession and involvement in quests
Second wave feminism focused on oppressive forces in society, which cause subordination and discrimination of the female sex
Summary
In the past few years, there has been an increase in research examining gender issues in games. This article follows a similar approach of utilizing the body of feminist media studies for an examination of computer games It is a case study on representations of sexuality and gender relations in a role-playing game series with a male avatar. Butler refers to Michel Foucault and feminist psychoanalysts, in order to explain how the concept of sex as a binary category is socially constructed and which psychological processes produce gender identity and sexual desires. The nameless hero meets the black magician Xardas again, who tells him what is going to be the hero’s part in the main story He can join the Assassins in Varant, the Rebels in Myrtana or the Orcs. As in the first and second part of the series this includes pursuing the interests of the chosen faction, as, for example, liberating orc-occupied villages in the case of the rebels
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