2024
Alha, Kati
Endure, Join Them, or Leave?: Suffering Women in Mobile Game Advertising Journal Article
In: Transactions of the Digital Games Research Association , vol. 6, iss. 3, pp. 115-146, 2024, ISSN: 328-9422.
Abstract | Links | Tags: Advertising, Free-to-play, Gender display, Gender stereotypes, Misleading, Mobile games, Representation
@article{Alha2024,
title = {Endure, Join Them, or Leave?: Suffering Women in Mobile Game Advertising},
author = {Kati Alha },
url = {https://doi.org/10.26503/todigra.v6i3.2178
https://todigra.org/index.php/todigra/article/view/2178/2176},
doi = {10.26503/todigra.v6i3.2178},
issn = {328-9422},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-07-29},
urldate = {2024-07-29},
journal = {Transactions of the Digital Games Research Association },
volume = {6},
issue = {3},
pages = {115-146},
abstract = {Mobile free-to-play games need to reach large audiences, yet the acquisition of these players has become increasingly challenging. One of the main ways to reach new audiences is advertising. Some game companies have started to depend on provocative and misleading advertising to gain the viewer’s attention and lure players to their games. Especially as these advertisements often have wide exposure, representations in them are an important and interesting target to explore. This study investigates advertisements from two games targeted at women, Project Makeover and Matchington Mansion. The results show that, while the advertisements do show some diversity in some areas, the content is heavily stereotypical, portraying women as weak and helpless, and leaving them suffering and appealing to the watcher to help by downloading the game. This leads to questions about consumer protection and the harm these advertisements can cause.},
keywords = {Advertising, Free-to-play, Gender display, Gender stereotypes, Misleading, Mobile games, Representation},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Mobile free-to-play games need to reach large audiences, yet the acquisition of these players has become increasingly challenging. One of the main ways to reach new audiences is advertising. Some game companies have started to depend on provocative and misleading advertising to gain the viewer’s attention and lure players to their games. Especially as these advertisements often have wide exposure, representations in them are an important and interesting target to explore. This study investigates advertisements from two games targeted at women, Project Makeover and Matchington Mansion. The results show that, while the advertisements do show some diversity in some areas, the content is heavily stereotypical, portraying women as weak and helpless, and leaving them suffering and appealing to the watcher to help by downloading the game. This leads to questions about consumer protection and the harm these advertisements can cause.
Stenros, Jaakko; Montola, Markus; Saitta, Eleanor
The General Problem of Indexicality in Larp Design other
2024.
Abstract | Links | Tags: Indexicality, Larp, Larp design, Representation
@other{Stenros2024b,
title = {The General Problem of Indexicality in Larp Design},
author = {Jaakko Stenros and Markus Montola and Eleanor Saitta },
editor = {Kaisa Kangas and Jonne Arjoranta and Ruska Kevätkoski},
url = {https://nordiclarp.org/2024/06/27/the-general-problem-of-indexicality-in-larp-design/},
isbn = {978-952-69423-5-3},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-06-27},
urldate = {2024-06-27},
booktitle = {Liminal Encounters: Evolving Discourse in Nordic and Nordic Inspired Larp},
pages = {64-80},
publisher = {Ropecon ry},
abstract = {In this article we aim to make sense of larp in practice. We put into writing common structures of larp that “everyone already knows”, examine them, and explain why these features have the effects that they have. To do this, minimal tools from semiotics are borrowed. We discuss this aesthetic of doing things for real from the angle of the general problem of indexicality: all strategies for representation in larp carry inherent trade-offs in terms of what can be presented, how, by whom, to whom, with what likely interpretations, and under what circumstances. Since the (general) problem of indexicality has two sides – the difficulty of similar enough interpretations, and the deeply contextual assigning of meaning – we first look at why uniform interpretations are hard to foster, and then move on to the practical challenges of striving for authenticity in larp locations, setting, actions, knowledge, and finally the living bodies of the players. On the way, we also discuss indexicality as an explicit design ideal.},
keywords = {Indexicality, Larp, Larp design, Representation},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {other}
}
In this article we aim to make sense of larp in practice. We put into writing common structures of larp that “everyone already knows”, examine them, and explain why these features have the effects that they have. To do this, minimal tools from semiotics are borrowed. We discuss this aesthetic of doing things for real from the angle of the general problem of indexicality: all strategies for representation in larp carry inherent trade-offs in terms of what can be presented, how, by whom, to whom, with what likely interpretations, and under what circumstances. Since the (general) problem of indexicality has two sides – the difficulty of similar enough interpretations, and the deeply contextual assigning of meaning – we first look at why uniform interpretations are hard to foster, and then move on to the practical challenges of striving for authenticity in larp locations, setting, actions, knowledge, and finally the living bodies of the players. On the way, we also discuss indexicality as an explicit design ideal.
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.
2021
Turtiainen, Riikka
”Unity in Diversity” – The Varying Media Representations of Female Olympic Athletes other
2021.
Links | Tags: Female athletes, Olympics, Representation, Sports
@other{Turtiainen2021c,
title = {”Unity in Diversity” – The Varying Media Representations of Female Olympic Athletes},
author = {Riikka Turtiainen},
editor = {Daniel Jackson and Alina Bernstein and Michael Butterworth and Younghan Cho and Danielle Sarver Coombs and Michael Devlin and Chuka Onwumechili},
url = {https://olympicanalysis.org/section-2/unity-in-diversity-the-varying-media-representations-of-female-olympic-athletes/},
isbn = {978-1-910042-33-5},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-09-14},
booktitle = {Olympic and Paralympic Analysis 2020: Mega Events, Media, and the Politics of Sport
},
pages = {64},
publisher = {The University of Texas, Austin},
keywords = {Female athletes, Olympics, Representation, Sports},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {other}
}
2019
Kerttula, Tero
The Foundations of Let's Play: Live Action Representations of Video Games in Television and Online 1975-2018 Proceedings Article
In: Koivisto, Jonna; Hamari, Juho (Ed.): GamiFIN 2019: Proceedings of the 3rd International GamiFIN Conference, RWTH Aachen, 2019, ISSN: 1613-0073.
Links | Tags: Let's Play, Narrative, Representation, Television programs, Video games
@inproceedings{Kerttula2019c,
title = {The Foundations of Let's Play: Live Action Representations of Video Games in Television and Online 1975-2018},
author = {Tero Kerttula},
editor = {Jonna Koivisto and Juho Hamari},
url = {http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:jyu-201912165304},
issn = {1613-0073},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-04-08},
booktitle = {GamiFIN 2019: Proceedings of the 3rd International GamiFIN Conference},
publisher = {RWTH Aachen},
keywords = {Let's Play, Narrative, Representation, Television programs, Video games},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}