The gender and race of pixels: an exploration of intersectional identity representation and construction within minecraft and its community

Most of the previous research has focused on gendered or racial representations in either game playing or making contexts. In this paper, we adopt an intersectional perspective by examining gender and race identity representations and constructions within Minecraft, a sandbox game, popular with millions of youth. Our research focuses not only on game play and construction but also examines gender and racial representations within the larger metagaming community, in particular online YouTube video postings and a public gaming convention. In the discussion, we address gender, race, and intersectional identity representation across Minecraft's ecology in how these representations on and offline are influenced by and impact youth gamers along with ways to prevent Minecraft from becoming an exclusionary space.

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