Wimps, YOBs and Game Busters

Abstract

In the first few years of gaming journalism the issue of how to make computing and gaming more gender inclusive activities was discussed in all the magazines. From 1986–7, however, this changed and the magazines all developed a more sexist, less-reflective tone. This chapter argues that this gendered articulation of gaming discourse reflects its entwinement with the changing economic conditions of games production, which are increasingly dominated by larger commercial interests from the end of 1986. Corporate game producers had an interest in homogenizing their markets to reduce risks, which grew as the cost of making games increased due to technical changes. Their preferred strategy was to narrow the focus of games marketing on to young males.