“I Ain’t No Girl”: Exploring Gender Stereotypes in the Video Game Community

Abstract

Despite the steadily expanding woman player population, women face many barriers to entering the video game industry and player community, including historical design and advertising practices, gendered behavioral expectations, assumed lack of skill or interest, and harassment. Offline progress in understanding gender and gender identity, combined with unique multi-user online battle arenas (MOBAs) features, may create the needed catalyst for challenging these barriers and gender stereotypes. Through 55 interviews, this study identifies gendered stereotypes familiar to League of Legends players, examines implications of those stereotypes for both men and women, and discusses insights offered to challenging stereotypes within the gaming community.