deGendering Games: Towards A Gender-Inclusive Framework For Games

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Description/Abstract

Despite the dramatic growth of gender and games research, many challenges remain in designing a more gender-inclusive game. This article addresses the problem of differences in gender preferences in gameplay, conflict resolution, response to stimulation, rewards, genre, content, environment and design features. These unresolved issues have created gaps in designing a more gender-inclusive game. This paper argues a more gender-inclusive game is achievable by incorporating gender-inclusive components during the design process. The proposed framework defines gender-inclusivity in three key components: (1) genre, which indicates the type of game, (2) gameplay, which describes the game behaviour and (3) content, which describes the game content. Some applications of the framework are outlined.