Abstract
This chapter focuses on expressions of technomasculinity by video game employees and how this affects production. Technomasculinity associates men with advanced computer proficiency, and it is one part of a structure of hegemonic masculinity. Using in-depth interviews of game workers, the chapter argues that male employees express technomasculinity through stories about family dynamics, education, leisure, and work. Families introduce sons to computers at early ages, and game workers reported being obsessed with video games that made them gamers and seek work in the industry. An overall sexual division of labor also informs boys’ socialization into advanced computer skills needed for game production jobs. Workers negotiate aspects of their identity in relation to a heroic masculinity common in popular culture. This affects the overall working conditions of the industry.
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Notes
- 1.
Dynevolve and all employees’ names are pseudonyms.
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Johnson, R. (2018). Technomasculinity and Its Influence in Video Game Production. In: Taylor, N., Voorhees, G. (eds) Masculinities in Play. Palgrave Games in Context. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90581-5_14
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