Special issue: New Perspectives on Men and Masculinity in Gaming
Special issue editors: Kristine Jørgensen, Synnøve Skarsbø Lindtner and Martin Lüthe
Although games have always engaged people of all genders, research has described gaming and game culture as spaces dominated by men and masculinity, and from which players across a range of gender positions tend to be estranged and excluded (Dashiell 2022; Salter & Blodgett 2012; Taylor, Jensen & de Castell 2009). Within this scenario, it is understandable that researchers have focused primarily on women’s experiences to the effect that some of the research has reinforced a simplistic gender binary unintentionally. More recent work has started to complicate this picture by examining how a broader range of gendered and intersectional positions are negotiated within gaming culture, with particular attention towards mechanisms of exclusion and harassment, and boundary-keeping (Chess & Shaw 2015; Massanari 2015; Mortensen 2016; M. Salter 2017; Sunden & Svenningson, 2012).
While this focus is and remains invaluable in uncovering problematic gendered practices in gaming, it has left a counterintuitive blind-spot in game studies that hides the gendered experiences of gaming men. In cases where masculinity has been considered, it tends to be as a framework for explaining a problematic, hetero-masculine, and aggressive side of game culture (Ahmadi et al, 2019; Condis 2018; Cote, 2015; Rogstad, 2022; A. Salter & Blodgett, 2012; Styhre et al, 2018; Vorhees & Orlando, 2019). This juxtaposition needs to be further troubled, because it does not capture the diversity of modern gaming, but draws a distorted picture where men become the genderless default, while women represent the norm of gendered experiences in game culture. Such a framework obscures the ways in which men’s engagement with gaming are themselves gendered, shaped by normative expectations, and differentially available across intersecting positions.
This special issue addresses this research gap and seeks to explore men’s gendered gaming experiences and what it can mean to be a man in gaming, in the pursuit of new understandings of masculinity and gender in game studies. This special issue puts emphasis on gender and masculinity as socially constructed, negotiated, and fluid, and is aimed towards holistic and discursive understandings of gendered identities. We invite submissions that explore new perspectives on manhood, masculinities and gaming culture, including but not limited to:
- Empirical studies of men’s gendered gaming experiences, including men’s playful practices in and beyond gaming, how men put meaning and value to their gaming practices, and how games are integrated into men’s lives and identities.
- Case studies and analyses of men and masculinities in games and gaming.
- Critical and theoretical work that offers new perspectives on the relationship between manhood, masculinity, and gaming.
- Reflections and analyses of public discourses about gaming men.
Important dates:
- Full paper submission deadline: March 15, 2026
- Review results: Jul 1, 2026
- Revisions due: Nov 1, 2026
- Final versions: Jan 15, 2026
- Publication: March, 2027
Submission guidelines
Eludamos: Journal for Computer Game Culture is an international, interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to the critical academic study of games and play. Eludamos is fully open access. Copyright for all manuscripts published at Eludamos remains with the authors.
All submissions need to be fully formatted in accordance with Eludamos’ guidelines. Please consider the journal’s information for authors when preparing your submission.
On submission, please clearly mark your contribution as intended for the special issue by adding [SI: Men and Gaming] to the title of your submission.
References
Ahmadi , M., Eilert, R., Weibert, A., Wulf, V., Marsden, N. (2019). Hacking Masculine Cultures - Career Ambitions of Female Young Professionals in a Video Game Company. CHI PLAY '19: Proceedings of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play, 413 – 426. https://doi.org/10.1145/3311350.3347186
Chess, S., & Shaw, A. (2015). A Conspiracy of Fishes, or, How We Learned to Stop Worrying About #GamerGate and Embrace Hegemonic Masculinity. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 59(1), 208–220. https://doi.org/10.1080/08838151.2014.999917
Condis, M. (2018). Gaming Masculinity: Trolls, Fake Geeks, and the Gendered Battle for Online Culture. University of Iowa Press
Cote, A. C. (2015). “I Can Defend Myself”: Women’s Strategies for Coping With Harassment While Gaming Online: Women’s Strategies for Coping With Harassment While Gaming Online. Games and Culture, 12(2), 136-155. https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412015587603
Dashiell, S. L. (2022). Chasing the Dragon (Magazine): Gender Erasure Through Discourse in Dragon Magazine, 1978–2005. Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies, 22(6), 620-630. https://doi.org/10.1177/15327086221097635
Massanari, A. (2015). Participatory Culture, Community, and Play: Learning from Reddit. Peter Lang
Medina, C. (2021). Experiences of Queer Black and Latinx Masculine Identifying Individuals in Online Gaming Spaces: A Narrative Inquiry. PhD diss. University of Pennsylvania
Mortensen, T. E. (2016). Anger, Fear, and Games: The Long Event of #GamerGate. Games and Culture, 13(8), 787-806. https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412016640408
Rogstad, E. T. (2022). Gender in eSports research: a literature review. European Journal for Sport and Society, 19(3), 195–213. https://doi.org/10.1080/16138171.2021.1930941
Salter, A., Blodgett, B. (2017). Toxic Geek Masculinity in Media: Sexism, Trolling, and Identity Policing. Palgrave MacMillan
Salter, M. (2017). From geek masculinity to Gamergate: the technological rationality of online abuse. Crime, Media, Culture: An International Journal, 14(2), 247-264. https://doi.org/10.1177/1741659017690893 (Original work published 2018)
Styhre, A., Remneland-Wikhamn, B., Szczepanska, A. M., Ljungberg, J. (2018). Masculine domination and gender subtexts: The role of female professionals in the renewal of the Swedish video game industry. Culture and Organization, 24(3), 244–261. https://doi.org/10.1080/14759551.2015.1131689
Sunden, J., Svenningson, M. (2012). Gender and Sexuality in Online Game Cultures: Passionate Play. Routledge
Taylor, N., Jenson, J., de Castell, S. (2009). Cheerleaders/booth babes/ Halo hoes: pro-gaming, gender and jobs for the boys. Digital Creativity, 20(4), 239–252. https://doi.org/10.1080/14626260903290323
Välisalo, T., Ruotsalainen, M. (2022). “Sexuality does not belong to the game” - Discourses in Overwatch Community and the Privilege of Belonging. Game Studies, 22 (3).
Vorhees & Orlando Performing Neoliberal Masculinity: Reconfiguring Hegemonic Masculinity in Professional Gaming. In Taylor, N., G. Vorhees (eds.) (2018). Masculinities in Play. Palgrave MacMillan
