Date of Award
8-16-2022
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
History, MA
First Advisor
Justin Castro
Committee Members
Kellie Buford; Lauri Umanksy
Call Number
LD 251 .A566t 2022 P83
Abstract
Men often designed video games as a masculine technology, but there is nothing innately masculine about video games. Games have been socially constructed in design rooms, advertisements, and by the users. The work of the earliest women game designers pushed the boundaries of game making as a form of human technological expression, proving that video games were socially constructed. Despite those efforts, marketers failed to portray women in gaming. Early gaming advertisements used women as background decoration in arcade flyers that catered to men consumers. This objectification of women stimulated a culture in which men perceived themselves to be the only ones buying, making, and playing games. This culture was toxic to the women that attempted to change it. However, women have showed, and continue to show, the possibilities of a more equitable construction of video games and of other technological constructions with which we engage.
Rights Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Pucik, Abby Jayne, "Not Damsels in Distress: Women and the Video Game Industry" (2022). Student Theses and Dissertations. 253.
https://arch.astate.edu/all-etd/253
