Feminism, Video Games and Learning. An Analysis of the Steam Platform from an Educational Perspective

Abstract

This study uses the video game platform Steam, highlighting the conditions it facilitates for publishing and interaction between its users in relation to games labelled as feminist by the development and consumer community. Its main objective is to investigate the intrinsic relationships between feminism, video games, gamers and education. In order to address this question, a mixed methods methodological approach is proposed, combining qualitative and quantitative aspects of research. This approach is based on the analysis of the video game cards and the graphic and promotional content, texts, paratexts, messages and interactions of the platform’s users. The research identifies and selects a representative set of video games (n=30) to answer six specific research questions related to the educational-feminist use of these video games. These questions seek to define the educational implications of the video games under study, as well as to explore their possibilities and impacts on education in relation to cyberculture, identity and diversity in video games. The analysis of each object of study reveals the existence of specific implications, debates and interests related to feminism and the transmission of values and ideas, with a total of (r=15) video games or proposals identified that present a markedly educational character.