behind every great gamer: performing heteronormativity in 'league of legends' (console-ing...
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“Behind Every Great Gamer…”
Performing Heteronormativity in League of Legends
Jameson Hogan, NCSU
Why don’t more women play
League of Legends?
E.S.A. Statistics
(2013)
Riot Games Infographic
(2013)
Player Survey Data
(2010)
Male: 55%
Female: 45%
Male: 92%
Female: 8%
Male: 93.6%
Female: 4.1%
Declined: 2.3%
Thesis
We see here the Gendering of a gaming
community along the most limiting and
conservative of labor divisions:
– Males DO
– Females SUPPORT
Scholarship
• Stereotype Threat Theory
– Steele & Aronson (1995)
• Subordinate Roles of Females in Games
– Taylor, Jenson, & de Castell (2009)
• Gendering of gaming spaces / leisure time
– Bryce & Rutter (2003), Carr (2005)
‘Learning to LoL’
• Seventeen participants
• Intro/Exit Interviews
• Screen-Recorded Matches
• ‘Spectator Mode’ Recorded
• A/V of Players Recorded
• Collaborative Field Notes
• Review Match with Players
• Collect player resources
• Record player stats
Ethnographic study of how players learn, and improve at, the game.
Welcome to Summoner’s Rift
118 ‘Champions’
LoL10 | Female, 21
• Self-identified gamer
• Plays with boyfriend & other
friends
• Would continue playing if friends
all stopped
• Likes the “variability” of the
game
• Dislikes frustration when “your
teammates aren't very happy
with you or something.”
(Toxicity)“I first started playing because I saw my
boyfriend playing, and I thought he was
doing really bad”
Competency Markers
• Level 30 (game maximum)
• Zero kills, 4 Deaths, 6 Tower Assists
• Use of in-game terminology
• Numerous “Rune” and “Mastery” sets
• Customized key bindings, video settings, etc
• Predicting enemy lane selections
• Near-constant clicking of mouse button
• Drawing team attention to DC’d enemy
Gendered(?) Distinctions
• Dodging questions that emphasize her skill
• Nervous laughter when self-describing
• Highly vocal during matches
• Reticence to use chat, reliance on ‘pings’
• Internalizes response to community hostility
• Working to “break out” of the support role
Conclusions
• Female players are demonstrably as
capable of mastering League of Legends
as male players.
• Even skilled female players tend to be
relegated (or self-select) to supporting roles
• “Toxic” community remains hypermasculine
and sexist, discouraging female success
• “Geek Masculinity” creates a negative
experience for all, but the preponderance of
this negativity falls on women.
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