LGBTQIA+ Gender Identity Exploration Through Video Game Mechanics

Application summary

The project is aimed at revealing connections between playing video games and exploring LGBTQIA+ gender identities. In my doctoral dissertation for Tampere University, I examine how video game mechanics, interactive elements of games, are involved in self-exploration of representatives of gender minorities with different national backgrounds. I focus on a national background of players because for gender minorities, the differences between environments they were brought up in often crucially change their perception of media and art. This is the first player study involving gender diverse participants with different cultural backgrounds to explore game mechanics. The foundations of the study lie on the intersection of game studies and gender studies, strengthening its interdisciplinarity. The core idea of the study is to allow gender diverse people speak for themselves to challenge established views regarding diversity in and around video games. The war in Ukraine and migration of Ukrainians, which caused the growth of the number of gender minorities in Europe as well, is the reason why I chose Ukrainians as one of two target groups. Another target group is international to lay grounds for further smaller-scaled studies. The research material consists of qualitative surveys and interviews in two languages. Ukrainian-language ones are aimed at participants born in Ukraine and English-language ones – at international participants. I apply reflexive thematic analysis to the collected data to reveal connections between playing video games and self-exploration in terms of gender identities.