The Invisible Majority: Centering the Experiences of the Marginalized in Contemporary Gaming Culture

Kishonna Gray
Women’s and Gender Studies and CMS/Writing

Wednesday, April 5, 2017
11:45 AM- 1:00 PM
Location: Student Center Coffeehouse Lounge, W20-308
Please RSVP to Shauna Bush-Fenty sfenty@mit.edu and let her know of any dietary restrictions.

Women and people of color constitute a significant portion of the gaming community with extreme consumption power.  Yet they are largely ignored by the gaming industry.  Much of the information that is available on the experiences of Black and Latino gamers in particular stem from online communities that these gamers have created – forums, blogs, Tumblr, Facebook, etc.

Previous research on these pages highlight two important points: (1) the video gaming industry has all but ignored minority gamers in character, video game content, and advertising; and (2) the default gamer has yet to welcome minority gamers, often lashing out in inflammatory ways within digital gaming communities. This presentation will examine gaming content – from stereotypical representations to more recent, progressive content, and also experiences online.