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Woke Gaming: Digital Challenges to Oppression and Social Injustice
From #Gamergate to the 2016 election, to the daily experiences of marginalized perspectives, gaming is entangled with mainstream cultures of systematic exploitation and oppression. Whether visible in the persistent color line that shapes the production, dissemination, and legitimization of dominant stereotypes within the industry itself, or in the dehumanizing representations often found within game spaces, many video games perpetuate injustice and mirror the inequities and violence that permeate society as a whole.
Drawing from groundbreaking research on counter and oppositional gaming and from popular games such as World of Warcraft and Tomb Raider, Woke Gaming examines resistance to problematic spaces of violence, discrimination, and microaggressions in gaming culture. The contributors of these essays seek to identify strategies to detox gaming culture and orient players and gamers toward progressive ends. From Anna Anthropy's Keep Me Occupied to Momo Pixel's Hair Nah, video games can reveal the power and potential for marginalized communities to resist, and otherwise challenge dehumanizing representations inside and outside of game spaces.
In a moment of #MeToo, #BlackLivesMatter, and efforts to transform current political realities, Woke Gaming illustrates the power and potential of video games to foster change and become a catalyst for social justice.
Drawing from groundbreaking research on counter and oppositional gaming and from popular games such as World of Warcraft and Tomb Raider, Woke Gaming examines resistance to problematic spaces of violence, discrimination, and microaggressions in gaming culture. The contributors of these essays seek to identify strategies to detox gaming culture and orient players and gamers toward progressive ends. From Anna Anthropy's Keep Me Occupied to Momo Pixel's Hair Nah, video games can reveal the power and potential for marginalized communities to resist, and otherwise challenge dehumanizing representations inside and outside of game spaces.
In a moment of #MeToo, #BlackLivesMatter, and efforts to transform current political realities, Woke Gaming illustrates the power and potential of video games to foster change and become a catalyst for social justice.
320 pages, Paperback
Published November 13, 2018
17 people are currently reading
272 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 18, 2020
This book is a fantastic overview of topics surrounding the gaming industry.
The book is split into five sections: 1) ethics, violence and oppositional gaming, 2) economics of gaming, 3) feminist gaming, 4) gaming against the grain, 5) empathetic and inclusive gaming. Each section has a handful of essays that explore the topic and issues surrounding it in depth.
The essays connect gaming to a host of issues and socio-political constructs that surround the new art medium. The tone of the book various from scholar to scholar as each essay is written by a different person/team. Most of them are incredibly easy to read, with a few using technical vocabulary, but nothing a few google searches cannot fix.
I recommend this book to anyone interested in gaming and the intersections it has to race relations, feminism, sociology, concept art, representation, political theory, capitalism and other issues of critical thought.
A really well-done, well-reviewed collection of works about people who see the brighter side of gaming.
The book is split into five sections: 1) ethics, violence and oppositional gaming, 2) economics of gaming, 3) feminist gaming, 4) gaming against the grain, 5) empathetic and inclusive gaming. Each section has a handful of essays that explore the topic and issues surrounding it in depth.
The essays connect gaming to a host of issues and socio-political constructs that surround the new art medium. The tone of the book various from scholar to scholar as each essay is written by a different person/team. Most of them are incredibly easy to read, with a few using technical vocabulary, but nothing a few google searches cannot fix.
I recommend this book to anyone interested in gaming and the intersections it has to race relations, feminism, sociology, concept art, representation, political theory, capitalism and other issues of critical thought.
A really well-done, well-reviewed collection of works about people who see the brighter side of gaming.
January 14, 2021
Discussed a lot, and interestingly so, about gamergate and it’s tie to the rise of the alt-right in the USA and worldwide. Interesting to read as we near the final days of Trump’s presidency, because it draws a very clear line of toxic white masculinity online and in gaming spaces to Trump becoming president.
August 8, 2025
This is my review. I can't be bothered. Decent book though.
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July 17, 2020For the October book club that my supervisor recommended is that I read about oppression and social justice in Woke Gaming by Kishonna Gray and David Leonard. As soon I read the first pages of the first chapter, I was hooked! I did not want to put the book the down and it's funny that I'm not much a reader yet more of a gamer. I was so into reading about the racism, sexism, stereotypes and most of all the infamous gamergate scandal. The game industry is always a target to anti organizations that is criticized by it’s inspiration of children playing video games that are not for the age range. Trump is highly involved with gamergate scandal that discriminated against feminists in video games. As a gamer who is inspired by to make great games for everyone for fun just as the late great Satou Iwata President of Nintendo once said. I have a similar dream that Iwata has that I want to something about the hatred towards developers and show that not only whites have the knowledge of creating games but people of color and different genders like women have the ideas as well.
Most game developers have the challenge to lose creativity to face such controversy in the game industry of creating games. Mature games such as Grand Theft Auto or Call of Duty are tend to be brought up in these conversations as the public eye views those games discrimate other races and countries. Video game are a culture of creativity and every developer isn’t a closed minded gamer that only focus on violence in games. GTA is not afraid to express it’s creativity especially it’s MMO GTA online have every right to feel comfortable to customize what clothes their character wear or owns like houses or weapons. It gives young gamers an opportunity to do what they could never do in the real world in society but would never even go through their minds that they can do it in real life. When I was 13 I got my hands on GTA San Andreas a classic ps2 game that was released in late 2004. It was based on Los Angeles gang life style back in the 90s. The gangs in the game; Grove, Ballas and Vagos are identical to the Bloods, Crips and Cartels in LA. Personally as someone grew up with this game I was heavily inspired to do bad things and bad words of course such as the N-word that dehumanizes me as human being. I think this is the most controversial game of all time that portrays blacks in a negative way but as a game it still stands out to be the best GTA game of all time.
The majority of boys and men are the most gender to play GTA. Yet some women don’t as some women take offense to extreme violence. As an uncle who has exposed my younger nieces to GTA at a young age they seem to enjoy the gameplay without feeling scared. My little nieces are the types of gamer girls who play any type of game that their moms don’t really pay attention as long as the children are occupied and I know get critized by my peers for showing such violence but now today they rather play sims 4 or roblox. The gaming conference I have planned for my civic engagement project this summer is that to inspire other children that to never be afraid of trying a mature game and that is to be mature to never do the things in GTA in real life and that gaming is all about coming together and to learn what you don’t know about diversity in the gaming industry is to respect one another without discrimination of all types.
Most game developers have the challenge to lose creativity to face such controversy in the game industry of creating games. Mature games such as Grand Theft Auto or Call of Duty are tend to be brought up in these conversations as the public eye views those games discrimate other races and countries. Video game are a culture of creativity and every developer isn’t a closed minded gamer that only focus on violence in games. GTA is not afraid to express it’s creativity especially it’s MMO GTA online have every right to feel comfortable to customize what clothes their character wear or owns like houses or weapons. It gives young gamers an opportunity to do what they could never do in the real world in society but would never even go through their minds that they can do it in real life. When I was 13 I got my hands on GTA San Andreas a classic ps2 game that was released in late 2004. It was based on Los Angeles gang life style back in the 90s. The gangs in the game; Grove, Ballas and Vagos are identical to the Bloods, Crips and Cartels in LA. Personally as someone grew up with this game I was heavily inspired to do bad things and bad words of course such as the N-word that dehumanizes me as human being. I think this is the most controversial game of all time that portrays blacks in a negative way but as a game it still stands out to be the best GTA game of all time.
The majority of boys and men are the most gender to play GTA. Yet some women don’t as some women take offense to extreme violence. As an uncle who has exposed my younger nieces to GTA at a young age they seem to enjoy the gameplay without feeling scared. My little nieces are the types of gamer girls who play any type of game that their moms don’t really pay attention as long as the children are occupied and I know get critized by my peers for showing such violence but now today they rather play sims 4 or roblox. The gaming conference I have planned for my civic engagement project this summer is that to inspire other children that to never be afraid of trying a mature game and that is to be mature to never do the things in GTA in real life and that gaming is all about coming together and to learn what you don’t know about diversity in the gaming industry is to respect one another without discrimination of all types.
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January 3, 2023I do not feel knowledgeable enough to rate this book of contemporary academic essays. I read it to learn about current gaming culture, really just dipping my toe into the pool of a fast-paced 21st century cultural practice. Since each essay is by a different author, some were better written or better researched than others. I learned some terms and finally understand some of the controversial “Gamergate” which had just barely been on my radar in the 20-teens. Only recommended if you have an interest in the topic already.
December 13, 2020
The book contains some nice chapters - the one about Nancy Drew is awesome! - but the quality of the chapters is overall uneven: some chapters are really good and others not so much. The same information is repeated in different chapters and the same works keep being cited.
November 22, 2023
As a lifelong digital gamer, I found this anthology of critical writings critical in my journey as a gamer and a learner. That said, it is a bit old and could use a refresher; however, even so the fundamentals are fantastic and I found something fascinating in each essay.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews