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.”
“Euphoria” has been popping up on my news feeds more frequently in the past decade or so. First jokingly, like the /r/atheism post that got a lot of mockery, “in this moment I am euphoric…” But now in a more traditional sense of the word in articles like this. It’s interesting because I’d always associated it with intoxication, like it is a private experiential state that an individual has entered, so it had a slight negative connotation but obviously there are these positive situations for using the word too.
A linguistics student should write a dissertation on semantic shifts for words online (I’m sure this has already been done by someone).
Gaming is huge. According to Forbes business magazine, the sector’s global revenue is more than the music and movie industries combined.
I hate that language. Appealing to CEOs and soulless money hungry dragons
Also the implication that games are niche things for children and not “traditional media”
It is odd, they have no problems talking about the internet despite that being a newer thing than gaming historically.
Maybe it’s some dumb attempt at seeming more adult by trying to look like they don’t know what computer games are.
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.
That’s nice.
Even for the rest of us, I think it’s just good for a person to experience other versions of “me”.
I’m a white dude, but games can give me hints about what’s it like to be someone else, and it doesn’t have to match my reality in any way whatsoever. Even more than books, games immerse me into the perspectives of others.
God I hate when books get all political and ham-fistedly shovel pro-dwarf propaganda into their stories. Tolkien should be ashamed!
/s
I still remember playing Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines. Seeing those slender elegant fingers (*my* fingers) picking a lock gave me such a good feeling that I can still recall it up to today.
Of course back then I was totally oblivious and didn’t understand where that feeling came from.Another comment because now I’ve read the whole article.
As a gamer myself, and a hardcore one that is, I’ve played way too many MMOs and such where you can create your own avatar.
There once was a male character, we were in the same guild. In voice chat, one asked “dude are you a girl? Your voice is so high” and a simple "no“ was enough.
Most just don’t care.
Is that The Hulk?
