Exploring the Contested Notion of Social Inclusion and Gender Inclusivity within eSport Spaces

Abstract

With an emphasis on virtual engagement, creativity, and diverse competitive platforms, eSport is being explored as a new activity to achieve development outcomes within the Sport for Development (SfD) movement (Kidd, 2008). Research has shown the potential of eSport to provide opportunities for social interaction, bonding, and building social capital (Trepte, Reinecke, & Juechems, 2012). This exploratory research, conducted in 2019, examines the current eSport landscape and utility of eSport as a space to enact social inclusion and more specifically, in-line with SfD agendas and goals, positive experiences for women and girls. Three interactive focus groups were conducted in the UK and USA (N = 65) involving key stakeholders, including game publishers, SfD organisations, eSport teams, tournament organisers, and gamers. Supplementary interviews (N = 16) were conducted to allow for richer accounts and perspectives to be examined. Findings exposed the contested notion of social inclusion within online gaming communities as evidenced by the dominant masculine dynamics of digital spaces. Consistently those engaged in eSport claimed social inclusion and inclusivity were the most significant features and offering to the SfD movement. Yet, simultaneously the same voices exposed toxicity in the form of gender inequality and discrimination as the challenge embedded within eSport among its rapidly growing participants and spectators. This article empirically examines gender dynamics within eSport spaces, using Bailey’s social inclusion theory and Lefebvre’s spatial theory, and critically presents new opportunities to the field of SfD.

Boundary Spanning in Sport for Development: Opening Transdisciplinary and Intersectoral Perspectives

“…Emily Jane Hayday and Holly Collison explore the role of esport as a new sport-based activity to achieve the developmental goals of the sport for development (and peace) movement (Hayday & Collison, 2020). Using focus groups and interviews with game publishers, sport for development organizations, esports teams, tournament organizers, and gamers, the authors question the utility of esports as a space to enact social inclusion for women and girls.…”

“…Using focus groups and interviews with game publishers, sport for development organizations, esports teams, tournament organizers, and gamers, the authors question the utility of esports as a space to enact social inclusion for women and girls. As an analytical transdisciplinary framework to understand gender dynamics, Hayday and Collison (2020) innovatively combine Lefebvre's spatial theory and Bailey's conceptual model of social inclusion. Findings showed that the dominant hypermasculine dynamics of digital platforms contribute to gender inequality and discrimination (e.g., sexism) within such online communities.…”

“…This is further aggravated and nurtured by corporate business agendas. Hayday and Collison (2020) show that intersectoral collaboration also holds risks and can actually work against inclusionary and developmental agendas (i.e., UN Sustainable Development Goal 5: Empower woman and girls and ensure their equal rights).…”

Augmenting the formation of esports gameplay intention: interaction effects of genre and gender

“…Esports is embraced in sport management academics (Jang and Byon, 2020a; Pizzo et al , 2018). Each game’s genre (Hamari and Sjöblom, 2017; Jang and Byon, 2020b; Lucas and Sherry, 2004) and gender (Hayday and Collison, 2020; Jang and Byon, in press; Vermeulen et al , 2017) have revealed the significant role of moderators between gameplay intention and its drivers from separated studies previously. In other words, according to genre or gender, the consumers showed differences in their behavioral intentions and factors that lead to the consumption.…”

“…Regarding gender, Hayday and Collison (2020) stated the toxicity in gender inequality in the gamer cultures. Vermeulen et al (2017) indicated the relationship between women’s social interaction and gamer identity.…”