Date of Submission

12-10-2023

Document Type

Thesis

Advisor

Dr. Christopher Dowd

Keywords

identity, LBGTQ studies, video games, gender identity, sexual orientation, character creation

LCSH

identity (psychology), video gamers, gender identity, sexual orientation

Abstract

This creative thesis will explore the role of digital avatar creation in the development of the personal identity of video game players, particularly as it relates to the manifestation of gender identities and sexual orientations. Virtual spaces lend themselves to the deconstruction and reconstruction of the self, and video games establish this process through the creation of their environments, narratives, and characters. Therefore, players are given the opportunity to explore different aspects of the self through their interaction with the game world. As popular attitudes and concrete restrictions limit or considerably alter the ability for players to explore queer identities, this project will assess the way players establish themselves in a virtual space and build their identities through play. Not only will this illuminate an often overlooked aspect of the audience’s experience with interactive media, it will also explore the inseverable bond between a text and its reader, and how the creation of self is represented in traditional and contemporary media. The accumulation of this research is the development of a work of interactive fiction entitled Gender Roll. This is a text-based game, designed in the open-source Twine engine, which was originally created by Chris Klimas. This work beckons the player to interrogate their relationship with gendered expectations and the way they form their own identity within a virtual space.

Download

Share

COinS