Kishonna L. Gray – författare

From #Gamergate to the 2016 election, to the daily experiences of marginalized perspectives, gaming is entangled with mainstream cultures of systematic exploitation and oppression. Whether visible in the persistent color line that shapes the production, dissemination, and legitimization of dominant stereotypes within the industry itself, or in the dehumanizing representations often found within game spaces, many video games perpetuate injustice and mirror the inequities and violence that permeate society as a whole.Drawing from groundbreaking research on counter and oppositional gaming and from popular games such as World of Warcraft and Tomb Raider, Woke Gaming examines resistance to problematic spaces of violence, discrimination, and microaggressions in gaming culture. The contributors of these essays seek to identify strategies to detox gaming culture and orient players and gamers toward progressive ends. From Anna Anthropy’s Keep Me Occupied to Momo Pixel’s Hair Nah, video games can reveal the power and potential for marginalized communities to resist, and otherwise challenge dehumanizing representations inside and outside of game spaces.In a moment of #MeToo, #BlackLivesMatter, and efforts to transform current political realities, Woke Gaming illustrates the power and potential of video games to foster change and become a catalyst for social justice.

By focusing on the experiences of users, gamers, and audiences inside one of the world’s largest gaming communities (Xbox Live), this book provides an overview of the landscape, architecture, and socio-technical structure of console gaming. Building on previous research regarding race, gender, and technology, it provides a much-needed intersectional approach to virtual gaming communities. It draws from a wide breadth of disciplines and interviews with minoritized and marginalized users to offer an overview of the virtual oppressions these individuals navigate and resist.

In this 10th Anniversary Edition, author Kishonna L. Gray introduces the audience to a perspective on console gaming environments called “Multi-mediated Interactive Console Environments.” This new chapter provides a necessary understanding of these dynamic digital communities, adding console games, which have been heretofore left out of conversations on gaming, to platform studies, and addressing troubling examples on race, gender, and other identities. While the majority of scholarship on gaming comes from disciplines related to media studies and communication, it is imperative that other scholars engage the narrative and help move the focus on gaming beyond acts of violence or as a space that propels the military–industrial complex.

By bringing together cultural studies, criminology, media studies, game studies, and others, this text offers interdisciplinary approaches to making sense of not only the technology and its impact on users and cultures but also the impact that (sub) cultures have had on gaming. It is essential reading for scholars and practitioners seeking solutions to some of gaming’s biggest challenges such as how to reduce harm in online gaming.

By focusing on the experiences of users, gamers, and audiences inside one of the world’s largest gaming communities (Xbox Live), this book provides an overview of the landscape, architecture, and socio-technical structure of console gaming. Building on previous research regarding race, gender, and technology, it provides a much-needed intersectional approach to virtual gaming communities. It draws from a wide breadth of disciplines and interviews with minoritized and marginalized users to offer an overview of the virtual oppressions these individuals navigate and resist.

In this 10th Anniversary Edition, author Kishonna L. Gray introduces the audience to a perspective on console gaming environments called “Multi-mediated Interactive Console Environments.” This new chapter provides a necessary understanding of these dynamic digital communities, adding console games, which have been heretofore left out of conversations on gaming, to platform studies, and addressing troubling examples on race, gender, and other identities. While the majority of scholarship on gaming comes from disciplines related to media studies and communication, it is imperative that other scholars engage the narrative and help move the focus on gaming beyond acts of violence or as a space that propels the military–industrial complex.

By bringing together cultural studies, criminology, media studies, game studies, and others, this text offers interdisciplinary approaches to making sense of not only the technology and its impact on users and cultures but also the impact that (sub) cultures have had on gaming. It is essential reading for scholars and practitioners seeking solutions to some of gaming’s biggest challenges such as how to reduce harm in online gaming.

Feminism in Play focuses on women as they are depicted in video games, as participants in games culture, and as contributors to the games industry. This volume showcases women’s resistance to the norms of games culture, as well as women’s play and creative practices both in and around the games industry. Contributors analyze the interconnections between games and the broader societal and structural issues impeding the successful inclusion of women in games and games culture. In offering this framework, this volume provides a platform to the silenced and marginalized, offering counter-narratives to the post-racial and post-gendered fantasies that so often obscure the violent context of production and consumption of games culture.