Exploring Performance of Gendered Identities through Language in World of Warcraft

This study examines how players of World of Warcraft, an online video game, use language to perform gendered identities. Online environments have become increasingly popular sites for social interaction, and online games are played by millions of people worldwide who must rely on textual language to construct their identity. Data were collected from semi-private chat channels by recording visual game-play while conducting participant observation. The chat log data were analyzed in terms of gender stereotypes known to exist in video games using conversation analytic techniques. Players were observed using gendered stereotypes, as well as language practices that have been prescribed as being male- or female-orientated. How identity is constructed through language in online video games has become increasingly relevant as the importance of individual identity has risen in many Western cultures as well as in academia.