Digital gaming culture: As implied by its title, digital gaming culture is the alternate reality that exists within the realm of digitized video games. In the context of this article, the author asserts that this culture shifts power relations to put women in a vulnerable position in comparison to men. Digital gaming culture refers not only to the hypersexualization of victimization of women within video games, but also the existence of the trend/belief that men are better than women at actually playing video games. This culture emphasizes gender stereotypes by portraying women largely as objects of sexual desire with little focus on positive skills that women maintain. However, it is not all negative. Digital gaming culture, on the flip side, can also create realities in which men and women can assume any identity they want through the creation of custom characters, etc. The “Women and Games” article also cites an interview recording in which many women state that gender-neutral games allow for a space where equality is achieved through competition and skill, i.e. if women are better than men at certain video games they feel more powerful than they do outside of virtual realities and inside of the reality of human society.
Taken from “Women and games: technologies of the gendered self”
