Abstract

Video Games are rich social and cultural texts, often dismissed by academics as children's toys not worth much study. However, they are starting to be taken seriously for several reasons. First, they account for a fast increasing share of children's leisure time, especially that of boys. Secondly, they are seen as a portal to the larger field of computer and communication technologies, as a way to acquire the necessary skills, particularly in the case of girls/women who only represent a dismal proportion of students and workers in technical and computer-related fields. This has led to a lively debate as to what should be done to encourage girls/women to play video games. A number of software companies, run and staffed mostly by women, have dedicated themselves since the early 1990s, to designing games that answer the expectations of young girls. In contrast, female gamer groups, such as "Quake girls", started appearing and competing on-line. These women believe that it is the adaptation of existing games, allowing for the inclusion of more female characters, that will lead to an increased number of female video game players. These two views are at the core of the present thesis which highlights their arguments and contradictions.