Abstract
Gameplay is a performance in which the player both acts in and is audience to an ongoing game experience. Performance theory is influenced by feminism and performance art, which offer a rich site of feminist expression. What could be gained if this approach was applied to both the creation of and theoretical approach to digital games? The generational bonds between the rise of performance and the maturing of feminism are tightly interwoven: politically, theoretically, practically, and expressively. Perhaps the application of approaches drawn from performance theory and feminism could be a productive way to deepen the dialogue around gender and games? This chapter will explore both these questions in more depth in order to develop and deepen the use of performance theory in game studies.
Feminism begins with a keen awareness of exclusion from male cultural, social, sexual, political, and intellectual discourse. It is a critique of prevailing social conditions that formulate women’s position as outside of dominant male discourse
(Dolan 1991, 3)
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Notes
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Patches are software releases to update a game or its data, to improve, or fix it.
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Westecott, E. (2018). Feminism and Gameplay Performance. In: Gray, K., Voorhees, G., Vossen, E. (eds) Feminism in Play. Palgrave Games in Context. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90539-6_15
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