Gaming Masculinity: Trolls, Fake Geeks, and the Gendered Battle for Online Culture

151 Pages·2018·2.004 MB·English

by  Megan Condis

Gaming Masculinity
Gaming
M A S C U
fandom & cul ture
Katherine Larsen and Paul Booth, series editors
L I N I T Y
Trolls, Fake Geeks, and the Gendered
Battle for Online Culture
megan c ondis
university of io wa pres s, io wa cit y
University of Iowa Press, Iowa City 52242
Copyright © 2018 by the University of Iowa Press
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Condis, Megan Amber, 1984– author.
Title: Gaming masculinity : trolls, fake geeks,
and the gendered battle for online culture /
Megan Amber Condis.
Description: Iowa City : University of Iowa Press,
[2018] | Series: Fandom & Culture | Includes
bibliographical references. | Description based
on print version record and CIP data provided by
publisher; resource not viewed.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017039378 (print) | LCCN
2017060010 (ebook) | ISBN 9781609385668 (ebk) |
ISBN 9781609385651 (pbk : acid-free paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Video games—Social aspects. |
Masculinity in popular culture.
Classification: LCC GV1469.34.S52 (ebook) |
LCC GV1469.34.S52 C65 2018 (print) |
DDC 794.8—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov
/2017039378
for amy

contents
acknowledgments ix
1 Introduction: The Gamification of Gender
11 game bre ak
Bro’s Law: Army of Two and the Perils of Parody in
Gaming Culture
15 1. “Get Raped, F****t”: Trolling as a Gendered Metagame
38 game bre ak
Far Cry 3: The Heart of Darkness
44 2. Sexy Sidekicks, Filthy Casuals, and Fake Geek Girls:
Meme- ifying Gender in the Gaming Community
68 game bre ak
Hacks and Mods: Remaking the Classics
72 3. No Homosexuals in Star Wars? BioWare, Gamer Identity,
and the Politics of Privilege in a Convergence Culture
86 game bre ak
Will the Circle Be Unbroken? BioShock Infinite and the
Evolution of Hardcore Gaming Culture
viii contents
95 4. From #GamerGate to Donald Trump: Toxic Masculinity and
the Politics of the Alt- Right
107 Epilogue: The Dating Game: Gender Performance and
Gamification in the Real World
notes 115
works cited 121
index 137
acknowledgments
there are so many people who supported me as I went through the process
of writing this book that I hardly know where to begin.
Of course I must extend my most sincere thanks to my dissertation com-
mittee: Stephanie Foote, Lisa Nakamura, Spencer Schaffner, and J. B. Ca-
pino. I cannot express how important their insightful critiques and pointed
questions were to me.
I would also like to thank Andrea Stevens, Justine Murison, Renée Trill-
ing, and Sarah Projansky for helping me to position this project (and my-
self) on the academic job market. Robert Barrett, Gordon Hutner, Melissa
Littlefield, Lauri Newcomb, Robert Dale Parker, Curtis Perry, Anthony Pol-
lock, Siobhan Sommerville, Robert Warrior, Charles Wright, Karen Flynn,
Chantal Nadeau, Mimi Nguyen, Fiona Ngô, Dianne Harris, Rob Rushing,
Sandy Camargo, Lilya Kaganovsky, Cris Mayo, and Isabel Molina- Guzmán
provided guidance and encouragement in seminars at the undergraduate
and graduate levels. High school teachers like Barb Katz, Elizabeth Reb-
mann, and Brian Deters inspired me and nurtured my (no doubt annoying)
inquisitiveness.
My colleagues at Stephen F. Austin State University have also been of im-
mense help to me. I would particularly like to thank Mark Sanders, Andrew
Brininstool, Deborah Bush, Jackie Cowan, Michael Given, Marc Guidry,
Ericka Hoagland, Steve Marsden, Michael Martin, Christine McDermott,
John McDermott, Laura Osborne, Tom Reynolds, Christopher Sams, Jessica
Sams, Michael Sheehan, Elizabeth Tasker Davis, Kenneth Untiedt, Amber
Wagnon, Kevin West, and Sue Whatley.
I must thank the participants in the 2013–14 IPRH Fellowship Seminar