Kadın Valorant Oyuncularının Karşılaştığı Tutum ve Davranışlar: Nitel Bir Çalışma/ Behaviors and Attitudes Toward Female Valorant Gamers: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Valorant is an online game played in teams of 5, where the goal is to kill all the players of the opposing team and defend your own team. It was decided to work on this game because it has different graphics and female characters than similar war games, it is preferred among young people, and it is free. Accordingly, in-depth interviews were conducted with 19 people (12 female, 7 male) who played Valorant for at least 1 month, reached through Valorant communities on social media, between June and October 2022. Only the in-depth interview form prepared by the researchers was used in the study. In the in-depth interview form, there are questions about the demographic information of the participants, as well as questions about their game history, Valorant habits, positive and negative situations they encounter in the game, their reactions to these situations, the effects of these situations, and possible judicial processes. The data obtained were divided into sections and examined, after the coding process, the common aspects of the codes were determined, and themes were created. 21 categories under 5 themes emerged.
The themes are the situations faced by the female players, female players’ reactions, the effects of these situations on female players, the players that triggered the sexist and negative situations, and the players’ approach to the judicial process. Situations faced by female players are discussed under 7 categories. There are themes such as supportive behavior; aggressive behavior including insults, threats, swearing, and harassment; flirting; coercive including coercive behaviors in communication and interaction; violent sexism; condescending; and women as “normal" players. Gamers are exposed to ambivalent sexist attitudes just because they are women, and these experiences have short to medium-term effects. Gender-based discriminatory behaviors include insults, swearing, threats, sexual harassment, blocking the gameplay, constantly asking questions, excessive compliments, offering help, trying to talk about non-game matters, belittling, and mocking.
In the study, the strategies developed by female gamers to avoid and deal with sexist behaviors are examined. Women's reactions to negative and discriminatory attitudes are divided into 5 categories: Trying to ignore, reporting, quitting the game, taking precautions, and giving verbal and behavioral responses.
The triggers of negative reactions towards women were grouped under 4 categories being a woman, the success of the female gamer in the game, making suggestions, and responding. Being a woman can be enough reason for being discriminated against during the game. The negativities during the game have some effects on female gamers. This theme is grouped under 3 categories as psychological effects, game-related effects, and normalization/accustoming. The effects can last for a short to medium term, depending on the intensity, the current psychology of the gamer, and the total gameplay duration. Finally, questions were asked about the judicial dimension of the events experienced by the participants, and it was seen that none of the participants applied to the judicial authorities and it’s seen that their knowledge of the judicial subject was insufficient.
It has been observed that women playing Valorant are exposed to various gender-based discriminations during their gaming experiences, and this situation is frequently experienced. All findings were discussed and discussed within the framework of international and national publications, and it was noted that the findings were in parallel with the literature.

Keywords

• Ambivalent sexism
• online gaming
• gender-based discrimination
• toxic behavior

Kadın Valorant Oyuncularının Karşılaştığı Tutum ve Davranışlar: Nitel Bir Çalışma/ Behaviors and Attitudes Toward Female Valorant Gamers: A Qualitative Study

Öz

Valorant, 5 kişilik takımlar halinde oynanan, amacın rakip takımın tüm oyuncularını öldürme ve kendi takımını savunma olduğu çevrimiçi bir oyundur. Benzer savaş oyunlarınkinden farklı grafiklere ve kadın karakterlere sahip olması, genç bireyler arasında tercih edilmesi ve ücretsiz olması gibi nedenlerle çalışmanın bu oyun üzerinden yapılması kararlaştırılmıştır. Çalışmanın amacı kadın Valorant oyuncularının, oyun içinde cinsiyet ayrımcılığı temelli maruz bırakıldıkları durumları, bu bağlamda karşılaştıkları tutum ve davranışları, bunların etkilerini ve karşı tepkilerini tespit etmeye çalışmak olarak belirlenmiştir. Ayrıca, oyun içinde kadınlara yöneltilmiş toksik davranışların ortaya çıkmasını tetikleyen faktörler de incelenmiştir. Son olarak, oyuncuların Valorant dahilinde yaşadığı olayları adli sürece taşıma durumları da ele alınmıştır. Bu doğrultuda, Haziran- Ekim 2022 tarihleri arasında, sosyal medyadaki Valorant toplulukları aracılığıyla ulaşılan ve en az 1 aydır Valorant oynayan 19 kişi (12 kadın, 7 erkek) ile derinlemesine görüşme yapılmış, elde edilen verilerin kodlama işleminden sonra 5 temaya ait 21 kategori ortaya çıkmıştır. Bulgular sonucunda kadınların cinsiyet ayrımcılığı temelli hakaret, küçümsenme, tehdit, iltifat, alay gibi birçok davranışla karşılaştıkları gibi destekleyici ve olumlu tutumlarla da karşılaştıkları görülmüştür. Kadın oyuncuların istenmeyen durumlardan kaçınmak için birçok tedbir aldıkları, bu durumları deneyimleyen kadın oyuncuların birçok alanda etkilendikleri raporlanmıştır. Suç kapsamına giren birçok olayın yaşanmasına rağmen hiçbir katılımcı adli mercilere başvurmamıştır. Tüm bulgular uluslararası ve ulusal yayınlar çerçevesinde tartışılmış ve ele alınmıştır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Çelişik cinsiyetçilik
• çevrimiçi oyunlar
• cinsiyet temelli ayrımcılık
• toksik davranış
• Ambivalent sexism
• online gaming
• gender-based discrimination
• toxic behavior

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