Designing Games in the Margin: Queer and Intersectional Feminist Meanings of Gender Perspective in Videogames Design

This paper examines how queer and intersectional feminist designers interpret the introduction of gender perspective into video game design, an area where primary qualitative research has been scarce compared to analyses of existing games. The authors draw on a pre-incubation program for cisgender women, transgender, nonbinary, and gender-fluid indie developers, in which 45 of 63 participants completed a publicly funded, free mentoring program that produced playable game demos. The work is framed against three persistent concerns in Queer Game Studies: stereotypical character representation, under-representation of marginalized creators in industry teams, and hostile community behaviors around games.

The first research stage relied on semi-structured interviews with the most involved designer from each team, probing internal debates about how to integrate gender perspective into game morality, character and visual design, mechanics, and wording. Findings indicate that, for these designers, introducing gender perspective means representing diverse realities that intersect sexual orientation, class, race, and neurotypicality; creating safe, restful play spaces; designing short, accessible experiences that respect the life constraints of players; and approaching vulnerable life situations with openness. Participants also stressed that such games cannot be made without a supportive production environment, one where designers feel free to speak, confident enough to make decisions without fear of error, supported in leadership, and where mental health takes precedence over results.

The second research stage, planned for a 2023 edition of the program, will use three rounds of focus groups to track how perceptions evolve over the program's duration and to ensure data saturation. Analysis will combine deductive categories drawn from prior literature with inductive codes emerging from the data, processed through Atlas.ti. This stage will test whether horizontal decision-making, mutual care, and collective cooperation foster freer creative participation and produce innovative aesthetics, narratives, and mechanics.