Shira Chess
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781517900694
- eISBN:
- 9781452957722
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9781517900694.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Technology and Society
Since the mid-2000s, an increasing number of video games have been designed for women audiences. The market is tenuous, and has grown in spurts, but has resulted in a reality where roughly half of ...
More
Since the mid-2000s, an increasing number of video games have been designed for women audiences. The market is tenuous, and has grown in spurts, but has resulted in a reality where roughly half of all video game players are now women. What once was considered a masculine domain is currently embedded in a stylistic and economic shift. With this in mind, Ready Player Two: Women, Video Games, and Designed Identity is an analysis of video games designed and advertised for women audiences, with the goal of better understanding what is really “at play” in these games. Games in this category range in style: from Diner Dash to Mystery Case Files and from Kim Kardashian: Hollywood to the Nintendo Wii, even distinctly different games have commonalities. Using the premise of “Designed Identity” or “a hybrid outcome of industry conventions, textual constructs, and audience placements in the design and structure of video games” the book introduces the premise of Player Two. Player Two is not a real player, but a ghost of a player, imagined by the video game industry. While feminine, Player Two also comes packaged with other identity markers: she is white, middle class, heterosexual, cis-gendered, and abled. Breaking down how Player Two is constructed in the games created for her, Ready Player Two considers both the positive and negative aspects of this fictionalized, yet transformational character in the video game industry.Less
Since the mid-2000s, an increasing number of video games have been designed for women audiences. The market is tenuous, and has grown in spurts, but has resulted in a reality where roughly half of all video game players are now women. What once was considered a masculine domain is currently embedded in a stylistic and economic shift. With this in mind, Ready Player Two: Women, Video Games, and Designed Identity is an analysis of video games designed and advertised for women audiences, with the goal of better understanding what is really “at play” in these games. Games in this category range in style: from Diner Dash to Mystery Case Files and from Kim Kardashian: Hollywood to the Nintendo Wii, even distinctly different games have commonalities. Using the premise of “Designed Identity” or “a hybrid outcome of industry conventions, textual constructs, and audience placements in the design and structure of video games” the book introduces the premise of Player Two. Player Two is not a real player, but a ghost of a player, imagined by the video game industry. While feminine, Player Two also comes packaged with other identity markers: she is white, middle class, heterosexual, cis-gendered, and abled. Breaking down how Player Two is constructed in the games created for her, Ready Player Two considers both the positive and negative aspects of this fictionalized, yet transformational character in the video game industry.
Shira Chess
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781517900694
- eISBN:
- 9781452957722
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9781517900694.003.0002
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Technology and Society
Chapter One, “Playing with Identity” weaves together sources to find a baseline of what Player Two’s games look like. Starting with the concept of Designed Identity, I use interviews with game ...
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Chapter One, “Playing with Identity” weaves together sources to find a baseline of what Player Two’s games look like. Starting with the concept of Designed Identity, I use interviews with game designers and game design textbooks to create a rubric for identifying games intended for Player Two.Less
Chapter One, “Playing with Identity” weaves together sources to find a baseline of what Player Two’s games look like. Starting with the concept of Designed Identity, I use interviews with game designers and game design textbooks to create a rubric for identifying games intended for Player Two.
Shira Chess
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781517900694
- eISBN:
- 9781452957722
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9781517900694.003.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Technology and Society
The Introduction, “Contextualizing Player Two,” looks at the background and history of our current situation—how it is that games came to be designed and marketed for women audiences, and some of the ...
More
The Introduction, “Contextualizing Player Two,” looks at the background and history of our current situation—how it is that games came to be designed and marketed for women audiences, and some of the larger implications of the book.Less
The Introduction, “Contextualizing Player Two,” looks at the background and history of our current situation—how it is that games came to be designed and marketed for women audiences, and some of the larger implications of the book.
Shira Chess
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781517900694
- eISBN:
- 9781452957722
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9781517900694.003.0007
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Technology and Society
The Conclusion, “The Playful is Political,” focuses on how industry debates continue to problematize the Designed Identity of Player Two. As the medium grows up, we must consider how expectations of ...
More
The Conclusion, “The Playful is Political,” focuses on how industry debates continue to problematize the Designed Identity of Player Two. As the medium grows up, we must consider how expectations of gender, ethnicity, class, and sexuality structure play in ways that simultaneously foreground and limit new audiences.Less
The Conclusion, “The Playful is Political,” focuses on how industry debates continue to problematize the Designed Identity of Player Two. As the medium grows up, we must consider how expectations of gender, ethnicity, class, and sexuality structure play in ways that simultaneously foreground and limit new audiences.
Shira Chess
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781517900694
- eISBN:
- 9781452957722
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9781517900694.003.0003
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Technology and Society
Chapter Two, “Playing with Time,” proposes ways that time management is structured into games intended for Player Two, paying specific attention to Time Management Games and Invest/Express Games.
Chapter Two, “Playing with Time,” proposes ways that time management is structured into games intended for Player Two, paying specific attention to Time Management Games and Invest/Express Games.
Shira Chess
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781517900694
- eISBN:
- 9781452957722
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9781517900694.003.0004
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Technology and Society
Chapter Three, “Playing with Emotions,” discusses how emotional and affective labor are structured into several different kinds of games intended for Player Two, including Time Management Games, ...
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Chapter Three, “Playing with Emotions,” discusses how emotional and affective labor are structured into several different kinds of games intended for Player Two, including Time Management Games, Hidden Object Games, caregiving games, puzzle games, and social networking games.Less
Chapter Three, “Playing with Emotions,” discusses how emotional and affective labor are structured into several different kinds of games intended for Player Two, including Time Management Games, Hidden Object Games, caregiving games, puzzle games, and social networking games.
Shira Chess
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781517900694
- eISBN:
- 9781452957722
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9781517900694.003.0006
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Technology and Society
Chapter Five, “Playing with Bodies,” considers how bodies in games intended for women audiences create a “body problem,” wherein the bodies of player two are often managed by the gaming texts. This ...
More
Chapter Five, “Playing with Bodies,” considers how bodies in games intended for women audiences create a “body problem,” wherein the bodies of player two are often managed by the gaming texts. This chapter considers both in-game bodies (avatars) and the extra-game bodies of the players.Less
Chapter Five, “Playing with Bodies,” considers how bodies in games intended for women audiences create a “body problem,” wherein the bodies of player two are often managed by the gaming texts. This chapter considers both in-game bodies (avatars) and the extra-game bodies of the players.
Shira Chess
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781517900694
- eISBN:
- 9781452957722
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9781517900694.003.0005
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Technology and Society
Chapter Four, “Playing with Consumption,” details how consumptive practices embedded in games create a path for Player Two in both positive and negative ways. This chapter considers free-to-play ...
More
Chapter Four, “Playing with Consumption,” details how consumptive practices embedded in games create a path for Player Two in both positive and negative ways. This chapter considers free-to-play mechanics, fashion games, and discusses Kim Kardashian Hollywood in great detail.Less
Chapter Four, “Playing with Consumption,” details how consumptive practices embedded in games create a path for Player Two in both positive and negative ways. This chapter considers free-to-play mechanics, fashion games, and discusses Kim Kardashian Hollywood in great detail.
