Call me ShadowWarrior1995 – gaming as a woman

Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age was the theme at the largest annual United Nations event on gender equality and women's rights (the Commission on the Status of Women) in 2023. Out of this meeting comes a final document [PDF] to which participating countries committed, stating, among other things, "The Commission further condemns gender-based violence and the emergence and rise of harmful behaviours and narratives which undermine and discredit women's and girls' online and offline expression, forcing women and girls to self-censor, close their digital platforms or reduce their interaction in online and offline spaces, limiting their full, and meaningful participation in public life and the enjoyment of their human rights and fundamental freedoms."

Online gender discrimination

In short, the CSW condemns behaviour that disparages women both on and offline and causes women to modify their behaviour, or even censor themselves. A statement that I am quite comfortable with because it reminds me of the years when I loved playing Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Games (MMORPG). In these kinds of games, you can create a character online and play online games with other people from all over the world. A place of fun it should be. Where it doesn't matter who you are. Unfortunately, it soon became clear that even in the online world of video games, it matters what your gender is. Many women experience discrimination in online video games: from sexually transgressive comments to not being taken seriously purely because they are women. Video games are something for men (women don't belong there) is the idea. So this online gamer was told to log out because she is female, and shared that on TikTok.

Turnoffs for women gaming

There is still a minority of women in the (online) video gaming world. Although the supply is becoming more diverse, according to Aleks Krotoski (2004), there are two turnoffs for women that contributed to this. First, many games consisted of the archetypal story where you, as prince on the white horse, must rescue the woman in distress, not an unusual concept in entertainment media. The problem, however, is that in gaming you get into the skin of the main character and many women could not relate to this.

The second turnoff is the sexualisation that takes place in games. The female characters are often hugely curvy and half-naked. Opposed to the male character who, fitting the theme of the game, is fully clothed. It is so prevalent that a bingo card has even been created to criticise women's clothing in video games. The amount of time spent animating breasts moving up and down has always been a mystery to me. Still, I personally have always taken this for granted. After all, I love games. Plus, the more women participate in the gaming world, the more likely it is that the offering will improve, right? More and more women have also started gaming over the years. However, it turns out it hasn't gotten any easier.

Peeing contest

Women have more to win on more fronts than just in the video game: during an hour-long mission (Party Quest), I needed to pee immensely. We had reached a point in the mission where I could go for a while. This mission had a time limit, so time was of the essence. I informed my fellow players that I would be brb(be right back) because I needed to go to the toilet. This was immediately followed by the comment that - because I am female - I would probably not be back soon. So, according to him, I should indicate that I would be going afk(away from keyboard). In other words, for a longer period. This comment revolted me. How would only I be away for too long to pee? Among the other male players, he didn't make an issue of it. I turned it into a competition. Being back as soon as possible was the goal. Faster than the male players. And I succeeded: this match I had won!

Gender swapping

After a while, I was fed up. I no longer felt like getting into discussions, being excluded or belittled. But should I just stop playing the games I loved so much? No, that wasn't the solution either. So from now on, I created male characters with stereotypical male gaming names like ShadowWarrior1995. That way, I could keep playing the games, but without any extra hassle. This is called gender swapping [PDF]. A phenomenon where a woman deliberately chooses to disguise herself as a "man" to avoid discrimination. In other words, self-censorship.

What emerges is that when women create a male avatar (gender swapping), they are more likely to display dominant and aggressive behaviour [PDF]. This is a stereotypical image of men in the gaming world and beyond. By masquerading as what is seen as a typical male, gender swapping can lead to the reinforcement of gender roles on both sides. Which only reinforces the ultimate problem: certain expectations in a gender.

Free internet for all

As recognised by the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), girls and women should not be censored on the internet. Everyone should have equal access. Gender swapping is only a temporary solution that changes nothing about the underlying problem: (online) gender discrimination. "(nn) Develop, amend and expand legislation and policies and strengthen their implementation to prevent and eliminate acts of technology-facilitated gender-based violence, with the meaningful participation of survivors of violence, young women and women's organizations, including survivor-informed responses and fast-track processes to facilitate the swift removal of illegal, harmful or non-consensual content;"

Although the games industry has increasingly embraced feminism in recent years, there is still a lot to be gained in terms of culture. Women do not feel welcome and are treated sexist, but gender swapping as a solution encourages gender stereotyping again. It is important that the gaming world becomes inclusive for everyone, whether you are m/f/x.