The impact of Nintendo’s "for men" advertising campaign on a potential female market

In order to emphasize the maturation of their hand-held console and increase its appeal to an adult market, Nintendo's UK advertising campaign for the Game Boy Advance SP drew explicitly upon 'lad' culture and a tongue-in-cheek appropriation of cologne advertising. In this campaign, the lead and most prominent promotional advert for the device used an image of the Game Boy with the tagline "For Men". This paper outlines why Nintendo's decision to present the Game Boy as a male accessory prompted exploration into its potential impact on the female market. Much of the emerging research field examining female participation in game cultures had at that point tended to focus its attention on exploring the experiences of different female groups with a variety of software titles and its associated communities. In contrast, this paper addresses participants' perceptions of the gaming industry and its relevance to them as a (potential) consumer by taking a hardware device as its focus. This was achieved by conducting a series of focus groups, with a range of both experienced and inexperienced female game players, during which participants were asked to engage with the hand-held device and experience both its single and networked game-play capabilities with the game Legend of Zelda. The findings address participants' awareness and views on the extent to which gaming is coded male and its ramifications for their participation in game cultures

Exploring the Contested Notion of Social Inclusion and Gender Inclusivity within eSport Spaces

With an emphasis on virtual engagement, creativity, and diverse competitive platforms, eSport is being explored as a new activity to achieve development outcomes within the Sport for Development (SfD) movement (Kidd, 2008). Research has shown the potential of eSport to provide opportunities for social interaction, bonding, and building social capital (Trepte, Reinecke, & Juechems, 2012). This exploratory research, conducted in 2019, examines the current eSport landscape and utility of eSport as a space to enact social inclusion and more specifically, in-line with SfD agendas and goals, positive experiences for women and girls. Three interactive focus groups were conducted in the UK and USA (N = 65) involving key stakeholders, including game publishers, SfD organisations, eSport teams, tournament organisers, and gamers. Supplementary interviews (N = 16) were conducted to allow for richer accounts and perspectives to be examined. Findings exposed the contested notion of social inclusion within online gaming communities as evidenced by the dominant masculine dynamics of digital spaces. Consistently those engaged in eSport claimed social inclusion and inclusivity were the most significant features and offering to the SfD movement. Yet, simultaneously the same voices exposed toxicity in the form of gender inequality and discrimination as the challenge embedded within eSport among its rapidly growing participants and spectators. This article empirically examines gender dynamics within eSport spaces, using Bailey’s social inclusion theory and Lefebvre’s spatial theory, and critically presents new opportunities to the field of SfD

Video Gaming As A Gendered Pursuit

As video game technology has evolved, so too has the gendered nature of the video gaming subculture. This chapter characterizes the broad cultural context of gaming and the shifting social patterns of gendered game play. By reviewing existing research at the intersection of gender, gaming, and consumption, we identify three primary research opportunities to build upon existing research: understanding consumers’ lived experiences in the gendered gaming subculture, exploring the gendered gaming marketplace (e.g., shopping, advertising), and investigating the systemic, structural, and cultural underpinnings of gaming. Existing research in the field is not exhaustive nor complete; rather, opportunities for research identify gaps that should be examined more fully by building on existing foundational research. We also address potential challenges of conducting gender-based research in the context of gamin

Technical boys and creative girls: the career aspirations of digitally-skilled youths

Digital technology is increasingly central to our lives, particularly among young people. However, there remains a concern from government and businesses of a digital skills gap because many youths, especially girls, tend to be consumers rather than creators of technology. Drawing on 32 semi-structured interviews with digitally-skilled teenagers (aged 13-19), we investigate their digital career aspirations and examine how identities and discourses of gender can interact with the type of digital careers that are of interest to these youths. While we found digitally-skilled young people still articulate traditional gendered discourses of digital competence, especially around technical abilities, we highlight the growing importance of creativity as a career pathway into digital technology. Implications of the findings are discussed in relation to the new computing curriculum in England, which prioritises technical computing skills, and the discontinuation of Information and Communications Technology (ICT), which facilitates a broader usage of software and digital productivity

Finding the Invisible Player and Understanding Women\u27s Experiences in Online Multiplayer Video Game Environments

There is no clear definition of what qualifies as a hardcore game, yet there is significant speculation around who qualifies as a hardcore gamer. Constantly relegated to the casual gaming market, women are assumed to dislike and shy away from hardcore games because of the difficult and competitive form of play such games require. Women are rendered invisible in traditional and competitive gaming because of assumptions and stereotypes surrounding women gamers, dismissal from game developers, and hostility in gaming culture. This research study explores how the invisible women gamers navigate and negotiate their gaming experiences while playing competitive online multiplayer video games. With attention to team-based online, multiplayer, combat, and battle arena games, this study attempts to bridge the gap concerning women gamers and their experiences in highly competitive, violent video games. Utilizing a combination of in-depth qualitative interviews and textual analysis of participant journals, this thesis examines the complex dynamics at work in constructing and defining women\u27s gaming experiences for sixteen female gamers. Findings reveal that intense power dynamics, exhibited through harassment, discrimination, and hostility, serve to reject, or at best tolerate, women\u27s gender performances. There are many ways women are both denied and forego female gender performances in gaming spaces. Lastly, women actively attempt to distance themselves from the girl gamer stereotype while simultaneously imposing it on other women

Esports and its Reinforcement of Gender Divides

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Women Starting Up in the Digital Creative Industries in China

The pervasive digital technologies and the state’s promotion of “Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation” have facilitated changes in China’s creative economy. This thesis examines the role and lived experience of women entrepreneurs who set up their own business (i.e., start-ups) in China’s digital creative industries by using in-depth interview, observations and document analysis. This study makes contribution to both the scholarship of gender and creative work, and precarity in creative economy in the context of China