Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - 'Love you guys (no homo)'
T2 - How gamers and fans play with sexuality, gender, and Minecraft on YouTube
AU - Potts, Amanda
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - This paper explores queer discourses produced by a group of very popular professional video game players on social media, with particular focus on the impact that this has on the language and interactions of the fan community. Three data sets have been incorporated into this study, allowing for analysis of the central data, as well as consideration of the production and investigation of the reception of the discourse contained within. These include 63 YouTube videos, a corpus of 217,916 comments on these videos, and an interview with a gamer. While the majority of the discursive data in the YouTube videos features interactions between heterosexual males, the introduction of homosocial meaning and homosexual innuendo into videos gives the (largely adolescent, male) audience a unique opportunity to encounter, interpret, and experiment with queer discourse. It is found that the production of nonheteronormative discourses by prominent gamers online has contributed to the formation of a self-policing fan community that advocates acceptance and rejects bigotry.
AB - This paper explores queer discourses produced by a group of very popular professional video game players on social media, with particular focus on the impact that this has on the language and interactions of the fan community. Three data sets have been incorporated into this study, allowing for analysis of the central data, as well as consideration of the production and investigation of the reception of the discourse contained within. These include 63 YouTube videos, a corpus of 217,916 comments on these videos, and an interview with a gamer. While the majority of the discursive data in the YouTube videos features interactions between heterosexual males, the introduction of homosocial meaning and homosexual innuendo into videos gives the (largely adolescent, male) audience a unique opportunity to encounter, interpret, and experiment with queer discourse. It is found that the production of nonheteronormative discourses by prominent gamers online has contributed to the formation of a self-policing fan community that advocates acceptance and rejects bigotry.
KW - sexuality
KW - gender
KW - identity
KW - masculinity
KW - gaming
KW - YouTube
KW - Minecraft
KW - fandom
KW - virtual communities
KW - corpus linguistics
U2 - 10.1080/17405904.2014.974635
DO - 10.1080/17405904.2014.974635
M3 - Journal article
VL - 12
SP - 163
EP - 186
JO - Critical Discourse Studies
JF - Critical Discourse Studies
SN - 1740-5904
IS - 2
ER -