I'd rather be a cyborg than a gamerbro How masculinity mediates research on digital play

Abstract

Th is article off ers a feminist and media-theoretical approach to ethnographic,refl exivity, understood as the researcher's own agency in shaping encounters with,and producing accounts of digital cultures. Looking specifi cally at male-dominated,domains of intensive and competitive play in public sites, such as arcades, local,area network (LAN) parties, and eSports tournaments, this article asks: How,might masculinity mediate studies of digital play? To address this, I weave together,feminist ethnography with materialist media theory, off ering an understanding,of researcher subjectivity (in this case, my subjectivity) as a media instrument: An,assemblage of social locations and learned competencies which does not simply,gather, but confi gures and legitimates, particular knowledges about gaming,cultures. Applying this to a problematic instance from fi eldwork I conducted at a,large-scale gaming event in 2011, I work through the methodological and epistemological,quandaries associated with both studying and embodying the social privileges,associated with male-dominated media cultures.