Author URLs
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-2021
Subject: LCSH
Video games, Masculinity, Androcentrism, Frames (Sociology), Stereotypes (Social psychology) in sports, NBA 2K (Game)
Disciplines
Sports Management
Abstract
Video games have continued to increase in popularity. While the growth has been substantial, representation and acceptance of women throughout gaming environments, including those with traditional sport influences such as NBA2K, a basketball simulation game, have been lacking. Recently however, the NBA2K franchise added Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) player avatars to the NBA2K20 game. While this recent inclusion of WNBA avatars may be a great step in improving upon the concerning state of inclusion and representation of women throughout gaming, the reactions to and receptions of this change have not been fully explored. As a result, the current investigation, led by the tenets of hegemonic masculinity and bottom-up framing, sought to examine the perceptions of NBA2K fans, enthusiasts, and participants in regards to this change made by the NBA2K franchise in an effort to more fully understand the culture of gaming in relation to the treatment of women/girls. This objective was accomplished via an analysis of comments made through the social media application Instagram on the NBA2K20 WNBA inclusion announcement post. The Instagram comments were coded and analyzed through the use of the qualitative software Leximancer, which conducts thematic and semantic analysis on written words as well as visual text. Results revealed perceptions of the WNBA avatars embroiled with displays of hegemonic masculinity, demonstrating that the negative sentiments and framing women face within traditional sport settings are weaved within the virtual sport game simulations as well.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2021.106844
Repository Citation
Lindsey Darvin, Ceyda Mumcu, Ann Pegoraro, When virtual spaces meet the limitations of traditional sport: Gender stereotyping in NBA2K, Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 122, 2021, 106844, ISSN 0747-5632, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2021.106844 (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563221001679)
Publisher Citation
Lindsey Darvin, Ceyda Mumcu, Ann Pegoraro, When virtual spaces meet the limitations of traditional sport: Gender stereotyping in NBA2K, Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 122, 2021, 106844, ISSN 0747-5632, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2021.106844 (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563221001679)
Comments
Accepted manuscript of article published in Computers in Human Behavior, volume 122, September 2021.
Full-text available for request to the University of New Haven community.