ABSTRACT

This study analyses how gender and socioeconomic characteristics permeate teens’ discourses when they define what it means to be a gamer. Video games have become a reference framework for teenagers, in which gaming practices may be important parts of their identity and social context. In addition, many teens see gaming as a professional possibility. This study provides five new gamer categories based on data from four focus groups carried out in Spain with teens from 12 to 16 years old. The ‘escapist-gamer’ and the ‘ashamed-gamer’ categories are based on teens’ gaming practices, and the ‘celebrity-platform-gamer’, the ‘professional-gamer’ and the ‘poser-gamer’ are based on the adolescents’ cultural imaginaries and aspirations. These categories demonstrate that certain male game practices are explicit, while female game practices are silenced. Moreover, sociodemographic characteristics complexify inequalities further, resulting in a struggle against normative models of femininity and masculinity, and determining teens’ aspirations and conceptions of the video game world. Thus, the gamer categories exemplify how video games are currently playing a pivotal role in forging unequal gender and social identities. And, at the same time, these categories show how teens struggle against heteronormative values associated with the game industry.

摘要

本研究分析了青少年在定义游戏玩家的意义时，性别和社会经济特征如何渗透到他们的话语中。电子游戏已成为青少年的参考框架，其中游戏实践可能是他们身份和社会背景的重要组成部分。此外，许多青少年将游戏视为一种职业可能性。这项研究根据在西班牙针对 12 至 16 岁青少年开展的四个焦点小组的数据提供了五个新的游戏玩家类别。“逃避现实游戏玩家”和“羞耻游戏玩家”类别基于青少年的游戏习惯，而“名人平台游戏玩家”、“职业游戏玩家”和“装腔作势游戏玩家”则基于青少年'文化想象和愿望。这些类别表明某些男性游戏实践是明确的，而女性游戏实践是沉默的。此外，社会人口特征进一步复杂化了不平等，导致对女性和男性的规范模式的斗争，并决定了青少年对电子游戏世界的抱负和概念。因此，游戏玩家类别体现了视频游戏目前如何在塑造不平等的性别和社会身份方面发挥着关键作用。同时，这些类别显示了青少年如何与游戏行业相关的异性恋价值观作斗争。游戏玩家类别体现了视频游戏目前如何在塑造不平等的性别和社会身份方面发挥着关键作用。同时，这些类别显示了青少年如何与游戏行业相关的异性恋价值观作斗争。游戏玩家类别体现了视频游戏目前如何在塑造不平等的性别和社会身份方面发挥着关键作用。同时，这些类别显示了青少年如何与游戏行业相关的异性恋价值观作斗争。