Overwatch esports and the (re)configurations of gender and nationality
The dissertation comprises five research articles and a compilation portion, focusing on gender and nationality in competitive Overwatch. Overwatch is a team-based first-person shooter that Blizzard Entertainment published in 2014. From the beginning onwards, it has had an active esports scene. In 2018, the game’s publisher took hold of the whole esports scene and organised it in a league format—strikingly similar to how traditional sports leagues in North America are organised—and to a yearly (2016–2019) organised Overwatch World Cup.
Against this backdrop, I examine how gender and nationality are portrayed within the production of competitive Overwatch Esports and how they are performed and negotiated within the reception of competitive Overwatch. Drawing from the concept of banal nationalism, I suggest the production choices of Overwatch esports are meant to evoke nationalist sentiments from the viewers and fans, intimately tying in with the ongoing sportification of Overwatch esports and esports in general. The ongoing sportification of Overwatch esports also affects how gender, particularly masculinity, is portrayed and positioned within this particular esports. The influence of traditional sports strengthens the position of hegemonic masculinity, often leading to portrayals of athletic masculinity as the desirable masculinity within the Overwatch esports ecosystem.
However, examining the reception of Overwatch esports reveals a richer and more varied picture of how masculinity and gender are negotiated within Overwatch esports. The players, fans, and viewers both affirm and resist the nationalist ethos and the sportified aesthetics and the configurations of the masculinity they suggest, drawing also from alternative ways to frame competitive gaming. Particularly relevant for this is anime aesthetics which are used by fans to frame Overwatch esports. This also affects what kind of desirable masculinity is negotiated amongst fans: The hegemonic masculinity is reconfigured to a form of hybrid masculinity, with elements of athletic masculinity, geek masculinity, and Kawaii masculinity, allowing (white and Asian) men to have more varied gender expression. Unfortunately, this allowance has little to no bearing on the positions of the others and women continue being marginalised in Overwatch esports.
Keywords: esports, competitive gaming, gender, nationality, nationalism, qualitative research
...
Publisher
Jyväskylän yliopistoISBN
978-951-39-9184-5ISSN Search the Publication Forum
2489-9003Contains publications
- Artikkeli I: Turtiainen, R., Friman, U., & Ruotsalainen, M. (2020). “Not Only for a Celebration of Competitive Overwatch but Also for National Pride” : Sportificating the Overwatch World Cup 2016. Games and Culture, 15(4), 351-371. DOI: 10.1177/1555412018795791
- Artikkeli II: Ruotsalainen, M. & Friman, U. (2018). “There Are No Women and They All Play Mercy”: Understanding and Explaining (The Lack of) Women’s Presence in Esports and Competitive Gamin g. In DiGRA Nordic’18: Proceedings of the 2018 International DiGRA Nordic Conference. Bergen, Norway. Full text
- Artikkeli III: Välisalo, T., & Ruotsalainen, M. (2019). "I never gave up" : engagement with playable characters and esports players of Overwatch. In FDG '19 : Proceedings of the International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (Article 40). ACM. DOI: 10.1145/3337722.3337769 JYX: jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/67440
- Artikkeli IV: Ruotsalainen, M., & Välisalo, T. (2020). “Overwatch is anime” : Exploring an alternative interpretational framework for competitive gaming. In DiGRA '20 : Proceedings of the 2020 DiGRA International Conference: Play Everywhere (2020). Digital Games Research Association. Conference of Digital Games Research Association. Full text
- Artikkeli V: Siitonen, M., & Ruotsalainen, M. (2022). “KKona where’s your sense of patriotism?” : Positioning Nationality in the Spectatorship of Competitive Overwatch Play. In M. Ruotsalainen, M. Törhönen, & V.-M. Karhulahti (Eds.), Modes of Esports Engagement in Overwatch (pp. 89-112). Palgrave Macmillan. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-82767-0_6
Metadata
Show full item recordCollections
- JYU Dissertations [836]
- Väitöskirjat [3537]
License
Related items
Showing items with similar title or keywords.
-
"I never gave up" : engagement with playable characters and esports players of Overwatch
Välisalo, Tanja; Ruotsalainen, Maria (ACM, 2019)Esports phenomena have grown rapidly in recent years, and so has research on the topic. Some of the research has also addressed esports fandom (see e.g. Taylor 2012). Nevertheless, studies comparing and contrasting how ... -
“Not Only for a Celebration of Competitive Overwatch but Also for National Pride” : Sportificating the Overwatch World Cup 2016
Turtiainen, Riikka; Friman, Usva; Ruotsalainen, Maria (Sage Publications, Inc., 2020) -
Esports fandom in the age of transmedia : the reception of the overwatch league
Ruotsalainen, Maria; Välisalo, Tanja (Universita degli Studi di Napoli "Federico II", 2021)In our article, we analyse the ways audiences engage with Overwatch esports and construct their fan relationships. We situate our research into several intersecting theoretical frames. To understand how Overwatch esports ... -
“Overwatch is anime” : Exploring an alternative interpretational framework for competitive gaming
Ruotsalainen, Maria; Välisalo, Tanja (Digital Games Research Association, 2020)Esports has often been likened and compared to traditional sports. This paper suggests an alternative interpretative framework for competitive gaming by focusing on the team-based first-person shooter game Overwatch. We ... -
European Integration and the Reconfiguration of National Industrial Relations : Posted Work as a Driver of Institutional Change
Arnholtz, Jens; Lillie, Nathan (Routledge, 2020)