Impoliteness and the moral order in online gaming
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Sage Lambert Graham
Abstract
In recent years, eSports, online gaming, and live computer game streaming have grown into a global, multi-million dollar industry. In the context of online gaming, however, there is a prevailing moral order (Kádár 2017) that allows and perhaps even encourages impoliteness against female gamers, positioning them as inferior, unwelcome, or peripheral. Drawing from a corpus of over 150 hours of live game streams and concurrent open-forum chat, this study identifies rituals and tropes (such as spam and banter) that reinforce gendered practices as they relate to the moral order in the online gaming setting. It then explores strategies used by one female gamer to manipulate the expectations of the online gaming medium and its hegemonic notions of femininity. In this way, she can resist a moral order which positions her as disempowered, and thereby gain social capital within the community.
Abstract
In recent years, eSports, online gaming, and live computer game streaming have grown into a global, multi-million dollar industry. In the context of online gaming, however, there is a prevailing moral order (Kádár 2017) that allows and perhaps even encourages impoliteness against female gamers, positioning them as inferior, unwelcome, or peripheral. Drawing from a corpus of over 150 hours of live game streams and concurrent open-forum chat, this study identifies rituals and tropes (such as spam and banter) that reinforce gendered practices as they relate to the moral order in the online gaming setting. It then explores strategies used by one female gamer to manipulate the expectations of the online gaming medium and its hegemonic notions of femininity. In this way, she can resist a moral order which positions her as disempowered, and thereby gain social capital within the community.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- (Im)politeness, morality and the internet 1
- The personal and/as the political 11
- Exploring the moral compass 37
- “Ya bloody drongo!!!” 67
- Impoliteness and the moral order in online gaming 99
- Impoliteness online 125
- The meta-conventionalisation and moral order of e-practices 149
- Contributors 174
- Index 177
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- (Im)politeness, morality and the internet 1
- The personal and/as the political 11
- Exploring the moral compass 37
- “Ya bloody drongo!!!” 67
- Impoliteness and the moral order in online gaming 99
- Impoliteness online 125
- The meta-conventionalisation and moral order of e-practices 149
- Contributors 174
- Index 177
