Genesis of a Gaming Culture: a Historical Analysis Based on the Computer Press in Portugal


Lima Luciana Pinto Camila Gouveia Patrícia
2022 DiGRA ’22 – Proceedings of the 2022 DiGRA International Conference: Bringing Worlds Together

Each technology is developed within a specific context and related to different social fields. This paper offers a historical analysis of the beginnings of press narratives about computer games in Portugal during the establishment of democracy and its entry into the European Economic Community in the 1980s. It focuses on the narratives created by two specialized computer press publications about the place of digital games in the broader social context and how gender and age group issues were presented in these narratives. It was possible to identify how computer games were directed to an imagined target population, given the worldwide tendency to relate technologies and games as a male “taste.” This helped to distinguish those legitimately interested in gaming culture and exclude all those who did not fit this norm.

 

Gender Asymmetries in the Digital Games Sector in Portugal


Lima Luciana Gouveia Patrícia
2020 DiGRA ’20 – Proceedings of the 2020 DiGRA International Conference: Play Everywhere

In this paper, we describe the results of a research in progress that seeks to analyze gender asymmetries in the digital games sector in Portugal. The results of its first phase indicated that the percentage of girls enrolled in digital games courses is significantly lower than the percentage of boys. This suggests that tertiary training in digital games is not attractive for girls in Portugal. We also examined physical characteristics of characters with human traits in digital games produced in the country between 2014 and 2018 through a gender perspective. Finally, we analyzed the results of the focus groups made with higher education students. Many of them argued that the underrepresentation of women in gaming industry is a matter of sensitivities of interest. This research points to the need to develop in-depth studies on a theme that has been neglected for years in the game studies.