Masculinities in Play (eBook)

Nicholas Taylor is Assistant Professor of Digital Media in the Department of Communication at North Carolina State University, USA. His work applies critical, feminist, and socio-technical perspectives to experimental and mixed-methods research with digital gaming communities. Gerald Voorhees is Assistant Professor of Digital Culture and Communication in the Department Communication Arts at the University of Waterloo, Canada. His research is on games and new media as sites for the construction and contestation of identity and culture.

Acknowledgments 7
Contents 8
Notes on Contributors 11
List of Figures 14
List of Tables 15
1: Introduction: Masculinity and Gaming: Mediated Masculinities in Play 16
The Empire’s New Bros: Gaming, Masculinity, Power 16
Boys’ Toys? 18
Using and Abusing Masculinity 20
The Study of Men? 20
Ideological Reasoning 21
Theorizing Masculinity as Apparatus 23
Book Structure 26
Bibliography 31
Part I: Act Like a Man: Representations of Masculinity 35
2: “We’re Going to Have to Do Things That Are Unthinkable”: Masculinity/Games/Torture 36
Games of Torture 39
Embodied Torture 41
Serious Games: Torture as Competition 44
Bibliography 48
Games/Films/TV 49
3: Army Men: Military Masculinity in Call of Duty 50
Military Masculinity 51
Men at War 53
Men and Women in the Military 55
Heteronormativity 57
Aggression and Obedience 58
Toughness and Stoicism 59
Masculinity and Technology 60
Modern Warfare, Traditional Masculinity 62
Bibliography 63
4: The End of the Dream: How Grand Theft Auto V Simulates and Subverts Its Male Player-Character Dynamics 67
Introduction 67
Defining Grand Theft Auto 68
Literature Review 68
Methodology 71
Textual Analysis 72
Observations 73
Subversions and Rules 76
Conclusion 79
Bibliography 80
5: “You’re a Hunter, Bro”: Representations of Masculinity in Until Dawn 82
Hegemony and Horror 83
Methodology 84
The Structure of Until Dawn 86
The Characters 87
Weaponry and Combat 91
Storylines and the Priority of Masculinity 94
Dialogue 97
Discussion 99
Bibliography 101
6: (Re)reading Fatherhood: Applying Reader Response Theory to Joel’s Father Role in The Last of Us 103
Masculinity 104
Fatherhood 105
Reader Response Theory 106
Game Overview 107
Masculinity and Fatherhood in TLoU 108
Bloggers’ Responses to TLoU 109
Applying Reader Response to Blog Posts 112
Making Meaning—(Re)reading Fatherhood 113
Bibliography 115
7: He Scores Through a Screen: Mediating Masculinities Through Hockey Video Games 119
Ludus Body 121
Ludic Technique 122
Morphic Masculinities 124
Remediation as R-emasculation in Hockey 125
Producing Masculinity 128
Transludic Man 130
The Ouroboros 131
Bibliography 134
Part II: Now You’re Playing with Power Tools: Gendering Assemblages 137
8: Militarism and Masculinity in Dungeons & Dragons
Lonely Men Seeking Other Lonely Men 140
Learning to Dude 143
The Infamous Harlot Table 146
On Beards, Dwarves, and Women 151
Passing in a Masculine Culture 153
Bibliography 155
9: At the Intersection of Difficulty and Masculinity: Crafting the Play Ethic 157
An Intersection of Performances 157
Constructing the Gamer 159
Guiding Gamers Through Difficulty 160
Situating the Gamer 162
Gender Offense Punishments 163
Menu Embarrassment 164
Character Attacks 165
Restricting Textual Completion 166
Crafting the Play Ethic 167
Conclusion: Valuing Different Masteries 168
Bibliography 170
10: Orchestrating Difference: Representing Gender in Video Game Music 173
Music and Gender 175
Music for Dudes 179
Gendered Music in Fantasy Games 180
Final Fantasy IV (1994) 181
Dragon Age: Origins (2009) 182
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011) 184
Why Aural Representation Matters 185
Bibliography 188
Games 191
11: Tools of the Game: The Gendered Discourses of Peripheral Advertising 192
Performing Gaming Masculinity 194
Razer: A Case Study 197
A Gesture Toward Gender Neutrality 198
A Move Toward Hegemonic Masculinity 200
Combat/War 201
Mastery Over the Game 203
Unfair Advantages 206
Peripheral Advertising as Tools of Gender 210
Bibliography 212
Part III: The Right Man for the Job: Gaming and Social Futures 215
12: Performing Neoliberal Masculinity: Reconfiguring Hegemonic Masculinity in Professional Gaming 216
Masculinities in/and eSports 217
Homo Economicus and Neoliberal Masculinity 219
On Cloud9: Performing Neoliberal Masculinities 222
Coming Down from Cloud9 226
Bibliography 230
13: Masculinity’s New Battle Arena in International e-Sports: The Games Begin 233
Let’s Get Physical 235
Man Versus Goliath 240
Conclusion 245
Bibliography 249
14: Technomasculinity and Its Influence in Video Game Production 252
Gender Order and Configuration 254
Technomasculinity and Game Employees 256
Family Socialization and Dynamics 256
Sexual Division of Labor in Highly Skilled Computer Work 259
The Passion of Gaming 260
Technomasculinity and Its Relation to Militarized Masculinity 262
Bibliography 263
15: Not So Straight Shooters: Queering the Cyborg Body in Masculinized Gaming 266
Circuits, Cyborgs, and Straight White Guys 268
Hard Bodies: Gaming and Masculinity 269
Beyond the Gaze 270
Playing It Straight 270
“Know How I Know You’re Gay?”: Beyond Homosociality 271
From Boys to Toys: The Techno-erotics of Gaming 273
The Harder Cyberfeminism Gets 275
Some Finishing Touches 277
The Magic Circle Jerk 277
Bibliography 279
Index 283