The lived experience of gaming in the UK, from 2005 to the present, and its insidious intersection withright-wing ideologies
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Nottingham
Department Name: Art History
Abstract
My project will investigate the lived experience of gaming in the UK and its insidious intersection with right-wing ideologies; developing from 2005 to the present. Through oral history, archival study with the National Video Game Museum and online research, I will locate these intersections. I will investigate where and how these communities intersected, how we can uproot these intersections, and question why right-wing content has flourished in gaming spaces alongside the development of consoles that facilitate online play.
I will focus on consoles, specifically MMOs (massively multiplayer online spaces), which are popular amongst streamers and a range of age-demographics, including children. This popularity can be tracked from 2005, starting with the Xbox 360.
I am applying for a collaborative doctorate award with the BGI to investigate the lived experiences of gaming in Britain. The BGI is a charity I currently work for at the NVM, whose aims align with my project's; to preserve and understand video game culture, but not celebrate it.
The NVM's archive will provide invaluable physical evidence of video game history and culture, including games, consoles and gaming media. Whilst focusing on 7th generation consoles and beyond, understanding the context of videogames, their industry and communities prior to 2005, will be key in contextualising this project's history.
In the museum, I have practical experience of being immersed in video game culture and its history; I am confident working with the museum's space and its core staff. Academically, I have explored questions of identity and gaming, and studied oral history. My master's thesis recovered a transgender history of
videogames, demonstrating that trans representation is not something new.
For my undergraduate thesis I analysed oral history interviews amongst queer women in Britain, and in my master's thesis I studied and was inspired by Adrienne Shaw's approach to interviews [2014]. I am familiar with the theory and ethics of oral history and would be excited to learn its practice.
Many scholars have scrutinised the relationship between the right-wing and gaming [Braithwaite, 2016.Ferber, 2000. Salter, 2018]. I will contribute to current games studies by exploring the lived experience of this environment, with the addition of qualitive study through oral history interviews, and the practical ambition of tackling developing issues.
My project will address the CDA's aim regarding the dominant stereotype of the isolated, male gamer by scrutinising and historicising its increasing assimilation into right-wing spaces.
I will focus on consoles, specifically MMOs (massively multiplayer online spaces), which are popular amongst streamers and a range of age-demographics, including children. This popularity can be tracked from 2005, starting with the Xbox 360.
I am applying for a collaborative doctorate award with the BGI to investigate the lived experiences of gaming in Britain. The BGI is a charity I currently work for at the NVM, whose aims align with my project's; to preserve and understand video game culture, but not celebrate it.
The NVM's archive will provide invaluable physical evidence of video game history and culture, including games, consoles and gaming media. Whilst focusing on 7th generation consoles and beyond, understanding the context of videogames, their industry and communities prior to 2005, will be key in contextualising this project's history.
In the museum, I have practical experience of being immersed in video game culture and its history; I am confident working with the museum's space and its core staff. Academically, I have explored questions of identity and gaming, and studied oral history. My master's thesis recovered a transgender history of
videogames, demonstrating that trans representation is not something new.
For my undergraduate thesis I analysed oral history interviews amongst queer women in Britain, and in my master's thesis I studied and was inspired by Adrienne Shaw's approach to interviews [2014]. I am familiar with the theory and ethics of oral history and would be excited to learn its practice.
Many scholars have scrutinised the relationship between the right-wing and gaming [Braithwaite, 2016.Ferber, 2000. Salter, 2018]. I will contribute to current games studies by exploring the lived experience of this environment, with the addition of qualitive study through oral history interviews, and the practical ambition of tackling developing issues.
My project will address the CDA's aim regarding the dominant stereotype of the isolated, male gamer by scrutinising and historicising its increasing assimilation into right-wing spaces.
