“Video Games Were My First Safe Space”: Queer Gaming in the Animal Crossing New Horizons LGBTIQA+ Community

IF 2.4 2区文学 Q1 COMMUNICATION

Games and Culture Pub Date : 2023-10-05 DOI:10.1177/15554120231205638

Vítor Blanco-Fernández, Jose A. Moreno

{"title":"“Video Games Were My First Safe Space”: Queer Gaming in the <i>Animal Crossing New Horizons</i> LGBTIQA+ Community","authors":"Vítor Blanco-Fernández, Jose A. Moreno","doi":"10.1177/15554120231205638","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"This article analyses LGBTIQA+ playing experiences of Animal Crossing New Horizons (ACNH). It first surveys LGBTIQA+ players of ACNH, with questions regarding ways of playing, identity, community, and fanfiction practices. It also analyses LGBTIQA+ ACNH YouTube videos, divided into three main categories: design, gaming, and fanfiction. The first category, design, is analyzed quantitatively. The second and third categories follow a qualitative analysis, grouping findings into seven subcategories: (a) decorating, (b) celebrating Pride, (c) counter-gaming, (d) weddings, (e) coming out, (f) self-determination and encouraging discourses, and (g) community building. Explorative results show that, although out-game LGBTIQA+ experiences are necessary for queer self-realization, the in-game experiences of our sample help non-cis-straight identities and communities. They also demonstrate that diversity and intersectionality are fundamental in the ACNH queer community sampled, and that LGBTIQA+ players perform queer counter-gaming: transforming the game's tools and affordances to encourage self-expression.","PeriodicalId":12634,"journal":{"name":"Games and Culture","volume":"25 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4000,"publicationDate":"2023-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Games and Culture","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120231205638","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"COMMUNICATION","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

This article analyses LGBTIQA+ playing experiences of Animal Crossing New Horizons (ACNH). It first surveys LGBTIQA+ players of ACNH, with questions regarding ways of playing, identity, community, and fanfiction practices. It also analyses LGBTIQA+ ACNH YouTube videos, divided into three main categories: design, gaming, and fanfiction. The first category, design, is analyzed quantitatively. The second and third categories follow a qualitative analysis, grouping findings into seven subcategories: (a) decorating, (b) celebrating Pride, (c) counter-gaming, (d) weddings, (e) coming out, (f) self-determination and encouraging discourses, and (g) community building. Explorative results show that, although out-game LGBTIQA+ experiences are necessary for queer self-realization, the in-game experiences of our sample help non-cis-straight identities and communities. They also demonstrate that diversity and intersectionality are fundamental in the ACNH queer community sampled, and that LGBTIQA+ players perform queer counter-gaming: transforming the game's tools and affordances to encourage self-expression.

查看原文本刊更多论文

“电子游戏是我的第一个安全空间”:LGBTIQA+社区中的酷儿游戏

本文分析了《动物之Crossing New Horizons》(ACNH)的LGBTIQA+游戏体验。它首先调查了《ACNH》的LGBTIQA+玩家，询问了有关游戏方式、身份、社区和同人小说实践的问题。它还分析了YouTube上的LGBTIQA+ ACNH视频，将其分为三大类:设计、游戏和同人小说。第一类，设计，是定量分析。第二和第三类遵循定性分析，将调查结果分为七个子类:(a)装饰，(b)庆祝骄傲，(c)反游戏，(d)婚礼，(e)出柜，(f)自决和鼓励话语，以及(g)社区建设。探索性结果表明，尽管游戏外LGBTIQA+体验对于酷儿自我实现是必要的，但我们样本的游戏内体验有助于非顺直身份和社区。他们还证明了多样性和交叉性是ACNH酷儿社区样本的基础，LGBTIQA+玩家执行酷儿反游戏:改变游戏的工具和功能，以鼓励自我表达。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Games and Culture Multiple-

CiteScore

7.20

自引率

7.10%

发文量

期刊介绍： Games and Culture publishes innovative theoretical and empirical research about games and culture within the context of interactive media. The journal serves as a premiere outlet for groundbreaking and germinal work in the field of game studies. The journal"s scope includes the sociocultural, political, and economic dimensions of gaming from a wide variety of perspectives, including textual analysis, political economy, cultural studies, ethnography, critical race studies, gender studies, media studies, public policy, international relations, and communication studies.