Deconstructing the Girl Gamer: From the "Girls' Games Movement" to "Rule of Rose"

Sara Grimes
PhD Candidate
School of Communication, Simon Fraser University

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     Last modified: January 25, 2008

Abstract
In the mid-90s, conflicting discourses about videogame violence and the benefits of educational games (“edugames”) found temporary resolution in a mutual "girl problem." As concern arose around the fact that male gamers significantly outnumbered female gamers in almost every age group, a number of "girl games" initiatives were launched. While these efforts derived in large part from feminist goals of equal and non-discriminatory gender representation, they were often cloaked in celebratory promises that early exposure to gaming would eventually lead more women to careers in computer science and engineering. Today, "girl games" continue to proliferate at the margins of the mainstream market. These games build upon early assumptions about girls and gaming, featuring stereotypical themes such as dating and fashion, friendship and cooperation. While more progressive titles do exist, the industry’s approach to "girl games" tends to overlook the cultural constructedness of gender "preferences," and ignores the many girls and women who already play and enjoy mainstream videogames.

This paper proposes that industry discourses around “girl gamers” provide a convenient antithesis to the violent and competitive games that are often at the centre of controversy. The quest for the "girl gamer," both as a social construct and as an industry tactic, thus provides a potential (though never realizable) resolution to the social ambivalence that has arisen around digital gaming. Located within the liminal space between gaming's allegedly destructive and educational potentials, the image of the girl gamer at once legitimates the desire to transform play into productivity and disavows the violence that is so often associated with videogames. Using discourse analysis and content analysis, this study examines the symbolic function of the “girl gamer” within political and economic discourses, and the conflicting representations of girls that appear both within these discourses as well as within the games themselves.