Representation and women : construction of gender-roles in computer games

Abstract

Developments in computer industry gave way computer games to become a popular entertainment agent for children as well as for adults. Interactive quality of computer games has displaced television and traditional games, however, they have become unattractive to women because of the fact that the pleasures offered by these games are gender-specific since they are offered into consumption with a male "Model Player" in mind. The purpose of this particular study is to illustrate the constitution of gender of the player by the discourse itself as a fact independent from the gender of the actual player. In this connection, topics such as gender-role socialization, representation of women in popular culture, computer as a gendered technology will be the main issues to be investigated in order to demonstrate the constitution of the player through an analysis of a group of role-playing games.