Deviant bodies, stigmatized identities, and racist acts: examining the experiences of African-American gamers in Xbox Live

The purpose of this article is to illustrate how minority gamers, particularly African-American males, are subject to the label of deviant within the virtual gaming community of Xbox Live. They are labeled deviant based on the stigma of their physical identity - blackness, through a process of lingu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The new review of hypermedia and multimedia 2012-12, Vol.18 (4), p.261-276
Main Author: Gray, K. L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acoustics
Communities
Labels
Linguistics
Males
Multimedia
Profiling
Race
Racism
Video games
Virtual ethnography
Virtual gaming
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Summary:The purpose of this article is to illustrate how minority gamers, particularly African-American males, are subject to the label of deviant within the virtual gaming community of Xbox Live. They are labeled deviant based on the stigma of their physical identity - blackness, through a process of linguistic profiling. By employing virtual ethnography, the author identifies a process that leads to racism based on how the black gamer sounds within the space. The act of racism emerges through a process involving questioning, provoking, instigating, and ultimately racism. Many black gamers have normalized these racist experiences and have accepted the label of deviant placed upon their bodies.
ISSN:1361-4568
1740-7842
DOI:10.1080/13614568.2012.746740