Gaming is huge. According to Forbes business magazine, the sector’s global revenue is more than the music and movie industries combined. That is a lot of people engaged in game stories and game characters. So how does gender fluidity fit in and what, in gaming, is gender euphoria?
Monash’s Associate Professor Phoebe Toups Dugas works in human centred computing at the Exertion Games Lab in the Faculty of Information Technology, and in a new paper she coordinated explores this idea of euphoria for transgender gamers.
She says euphoria in the context of “digital play” is about the joy, comfort and wellbeing felt when gender identity is seen, felt, or expressed in a game in a way that resonates with who they are.
“I think gender euphoria is really applicable to anyone, but it is a moment ‘in-game’ where your identity and your experience of your identity are truly aligned, and they are described as being bright, intense moments, wonderful moments.”
It’s so wild that media outlets still talk about video games like they’re some new fad that surprisingly makes a lot of money.
It’s a multi billion dollar industry that’s been around since the 1970s. It’s literally older than the internet. Video games aren’t a disruptor. It’s been traditional media for decades now.
It is also brings in fully twice as much revenue as the movie and music industry combined, but perceptions of it being for kids by older gens isn’t quite shaken.