2022
Välisalo, Tanja; Ruotsalainen, Maria
“Sexuality Does Not Belong to the Game”: Discourses in Overwatch Community and the Privilege of Belonging Journal Article
In: Game Studies: the international journal of computer game research, vol. 22, iss. 3, 2022, ISSN: 1604-7982.
Abstract | Links | Tags: Belonging, Discourse analysis, Homosexuality, MMO, Overwatch, Representation
@article{Välisalo2022b,
title = {“Sexuality Does Not Belong to the Game”: Discourses in Overwatch Community and the Privilege of Belonging},
author = {Tanja Välisalo and Maria Ruotsalainen},
url = {http://gamestudies.org/2203/articles/valisalo_ruotsalainen},
issn = {1604-7982},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-08-31},
urldate = {2022-08-31},
journal = {Game Studies: the international journal of computer game research},
volume = {22},
issue = {3},
abstract = {Players can experience a sense of belonging to videogames and the transmedial worlds surrounding them. There nevertheless exist ongoing negotiations over who has the right to belong to these spaces. Multiple works addressing related issues have highlighted that white heterosexual men still maintain the position of power in the majority of game communities (e.g., Consalvo, 2012; Paul, 2018). This position can translate into an ease of belonging while others can find themselves struggling for the right to belong.
We examine the transmedial world of Overwatch, an online game, as a place of belonging and non-belonging. Since the game’s launch, two characters have been revealed as queer. In contrast, a third character is considered a gay icon by fans, even though there is no official narrative supporting this. We analyze discussions around these cases using rhetoric-performative discourse analysis (Palonen & Saresma, 2017), an approach originally developed for research of political populism. In addition to similar affective and persuasive rhetoric in both contexts, politics have become an inherent part of online and fan communities (Dean, 2017), making this approach even more apt.
Our analysis makes visible how belonging and non-belonging are constructed in Overwatch communities in relation to gender, sexuality, their intersections and also to identities such as “player” and “fan.” We take into account ongoing design choices in the game’s development and analyze how the complex structures of production and reception interact with these discourses. Discussions analyzed here expand beyond Overwatch, touching upon highly politicized issues of gender and sexuality in games, the right to be represented and the current political climate in Western countries, and reenact divisions present more broadly in media discussions. Our findings also show how characters function as a nexus for these political debates and as limits and horizons for belonging.},
keywords = {Belonging, Discourse analysis, Homosexuality, MMO, Overwatch, Representation},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Players can experience a sense of belonging to videogames and the transmedial worlds surrounding them. There nevertheless exist ongoing negotiations over who has the right to belong to these spaces. Multiple works addressing related issues have highlighted that white heterosexual men still maintain the position of power in the majority of game communities (e.g., Consalvo, 2012; Paul, 2018). This position can translate into an ease of belonging while others can find themselves struggling for the right to belong.
We examine the transmedial world of Overwatch, an online game, as a place of belonging and non-belonging. Since the game’s launch, two characters have been revealed as queer. In contrast, a third character is considered a gay icon by fans, even though there is no official narrative supporting this. We analyze discussions around these cases using rhetoric-performative discourse analysis (Palonen & Saresma, 2017), an approach originally developed for research of political populism. In addition to similar affective and persuasive rhetoric in both contexts, politics have become an inherent part of online and fan communities (Dean, 2017), making this approach even more apt.
Our analysis makes visible how belonging and non-belonging are constructed in Overwatch communities in relation to gender, sexuality, their intersections and also to identities such as “player” and “fan.” We take into account ongoing design choices in the game’s development and analyze how the complex structures of production and reception interact with these discourses. Discussions analyzed here expand beyond Overwatch, touching upon highly politicized issues of gender and sexuality in games, the right to be represented and the current political climate in Western countries, and reenact divisions present more broadly in media discussions. Our findings also show how characters function as a nexus for these political debates and as limits and horizons for belonging.
We examine the transmedial world of Overwatch, an online game, as a place of belonging and non-belonging. Since the game’s launch, two characters have been revealed as queer. In contrast, a third character is considered a gay icon by fans, even though there is no official narrative supporting this. We analyze discussions around these cases using rhetoric-performative discourse analysis (Palonen & Saresma, 2017), an approach originally developed for research of political populism. In addition to similar affective and persuasive rhetoric in both contexts, politics have become an inherent part of online and fan communities (Dean, 2017), making this approach even more apt.
Our analysis makes visible how belonging and non-belonging are constructed in Overwatch communities in relation to gender, sexuality, their intersections and also to identities such as “player” and “fan.” We take into account ongoing design choices in the game’s development and analyze how the complex structures of production and reception interact with these discourses. Discussions analyzed here expand beyond Overwatch, touching upon highly politicized issues of gender and sexuality in games, the right to be represented and the current political climate in Western countries, and reenact divisions present more broadly in media discussions. Our findings also show how characters function as a nexus for these political debates and as limits and horizons for belonging.
Siitonen, Marko; Ruotsalainen, Maria
“KKona where’s your sense of patriotism?”: Positioning Nationality in the Spectatorship of Competitive Overwatch Play Book Section
In: Ruotsalainen, Maria; Törhönen, Maria; Karhulahti, Veli-Matti (Ed.): Modes of Esports Engagement in Overwatch, pp. 89-112, Palgrave Macmillan, 2022, ISBN: 978-3-030-82766-3.
Abstract | Links | Tags: Discourse analysis, Nationalism, Overwatch, Overwatch World Cup, Positioning, Spectatorship
@incollection{Siitonen2022,
title = {“KKona where’s your sense of patriotism?”: Positioning Nationality in the Spectatorship of Competitive Overwatch Play},
author = {Marko Siitonen and Maria Ruotsalainen},
editor = {Maria Ruotsalainen and Maria Törhönen and Veli-Matti Karhulahti},
url = {https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-82767-0},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82767-0_6},
isbn = {978-3-030-82766-3},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-03-10},
booktitle = {Modes of Esports Engagement in Overwatch},
pages = {89-112},
publisher = {Palgrave Macmillan},
abstract = {This chapter analyzes the discursive construction of nationality and ethnicity in the context of the Overwatch World Cup 2019 and especially among the discussions of the world cup’s spectators on the live-streaming platform Twitch. Drawing on the positioning theory and the concept of banal nationalism, our study demonstrates how esports fans are active negotiators and co-creators of the esports discourse. The analysis illustrates what kind of role nationality and ethnicity take in this environment, in other words what they come to mean for those participating in the discourses defining them.
},
keywords = {Discourse analysis, Nationalism, Overwatch, Overwatch World Cup, Positioning, Spectatorship},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {incollection}
}
This chapter analyzes the discursive construction of nationality and ethnicity in the context of the Overwatch World Cup 2019 and especially among the discussions of the world cup’s spectators on the live-streaming platform Twitch. Drawing on the positioning theory and the concept of banal nationalism, our study demonstrates how esports fans are active negotiators and co-creators of the esports discourse. The analysis illustrates what kind of role nationality and ethnicity take in this environment, in other words what they come to mean for those participating in the discourses defining them.