Abstract
In Massively Multiplayer Online games, a player is able to choose the physical characteristics of the avatar which will represent them in the virtual world. These selections do include race and sex as well as the class of character which will dictate what it is capable of in the online environment. Common archetypes are present in the games when selecting classes -- warriors, rogues, wizards, priests. Some are physically strong, some weak -- some are healers and support characters, some are direct in-the-front-line combatants.
Some studies have shown that avatars associated with "softer" character attributes -- easier to kill, not in direct combat -- are more often given feminine avatars to represent the class by players. Other studies have suggested that in picking avatars to represent ourselves online, we choose what is closest to our ideal selves.
In an environment that leaves itself open to identity exploration, do the norms of hegemonic masculinity still show through? Are they stronger? If a woman plays a warrior, is she more likely to choose a masculine avatar? These questions probe MMOs and ask, "Is this a gendered construction and if so in which ways does it show up?" By exploring that question, we can look at a system in which identity exploration is so accessible and consider the implications of hegemonic masculinity being present and what that says about our perception of our ideal selves.
Introduction
The internet represents a social factor in the lives of many Americans and, as our youth grow up with it in their schools, it may have a major impact in the future lives of many people. Through a simplification of what the internet represents, there may appear at first glance an image of freedom from present-day social norms. Relative anonymity allows for people to operate in a virtual world without identifying their gender, race or class. In online social settings, there is no pressing reason to disclose personal information about the self and an unprecedented ability to design or create a new persona seems to have suddenly appeared.
There are places on the internet where, at the surface, there is an appearance of racelessness, classlessness, sexlessness -- on the internet the normal institutions which dictate and reinforce our norms in physical reality can appear to be irrelevant or nonexistent. However the internet operates in a complex way that, upon closer inspection, appears to contain similar systems of reinforcement which resemble the physical world and may at times require a critical eye to uncover.
Such an instance shows itself when looking at the collected information of "Building an MMO with Mass Apeal: A Look at Gameplay in World of Warcraft" by Nicolas Ducheneaut, Nick Yee, Eric Nickell and Robert Moore (2006:296) which tells us that that "...gender distribution by class is interesting in that it seems to reflect stereotypical assumptions of those classes." Here they are not talking about actual female players but rather female avatars, an online representation of the self.
Female avatars are being used in a game like World of Warcraft largely in softer roles such as priests or mages (Ducheneaut, et al 2006:297). These roles tend to represent classes in the virtual world that are physically weak, heal others and are reliant on others to help keep them alive or out of combat. When people create an avatar which follows a particular feminine stereotype, they are reinforcing physical reality's societal norms in a virtual world.
The avatar is just a visual representation, however, and does not force anybody to conform to gender norms. A woman playing an MMORPG is not required to disclose she is a woman, nor is she forced into following any gender norms she does not adhere to. However, it is important to know how social norms may be affecting the virtual world as more people than ever before find their way into one such environment or another.
As these worlds develop, so does the technology that interacts with them. Voice programs such as Ventrillo or Team Speak allow players to communicate with one another through microphones. This seemingly useful tool could prove to be harmful to players who have lead otherwise anonymous lives in virtual worlds -- some perhaps pretending to be men or participating in gender neutral terms, others maybe attempting to better blend in without being thought of as being the "weaker sex." Programs like these can change the group dynamics within a given social system.
It is because we know that hegemonic masculinity pervades the norms of physical reality that it is important to see where else it exists and in what forms it assumes. If online societies are reinforcing societal norms such as hegemonic masculinity then the women who are playing these games will be affected by it just as they are in physical reality. The effects of hegemonic masculinity in virtual worlds could occur through women being downplayed or devalued, or possibly by generally being written off or accused of being centers of tension.
It is also important to understand and attempt to ascertain the effects that such an environment may have on women playing these games -- are they picking up on these norms and conforming to them? Are they held back in these games by players who know their sex? Hegemonic masculinity in online environments may limit identity exploration and, simply put, reinforce the walls that have been built outside the virtual, in physical reality. With games like World of Warcraft hitting 10.9 million customers worldwide (September 2008, "World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King in Stores Starting November 13"), this is a matter that could be having a major impact on those playing such games.
