Player Definitions of Success, Skill, and Leadership in Video Games

Players in this study define success in video games primarily in individualized terms centered on enjoyment rather than financial or instrumental gain, and these definitions appear largely gender-neutral. Gendered expectations emerge more sharply in how players conceptualize skill and leadership. Drawing on 54 interviews and roughly 2,000 forum posts, the research finds that skill is consistently framed as masculine and largely innate, emphasizing practice time, reflexes, and a competitive personality, while leadership is described in more socially oriented, culturally feminine terms.

The findings reveal an uneven pattern of change. Growing female participation in gaming appears to have softened gendered expectations around success, but not around skill and leadership. Women are more represented in leadership roles, yet these positions are often described as stressful, undesirable, and carrying extra labor with little prestige. Meanwhile, respondents rarely cite female players as examples of skill, and some women describe themselves as "not good" at games even when they have achieved leadership success. Interview evidence, such as participants naming male partners and friends as skilled players, illustrates how these perceptions restrict women's perceived access to high-level gaming ability.

Taken together, the authors conclude that women face fewer barriers to participating in gaming success than in other male-dominated spaces, but that gendered definitions of skill create persistent obstacles, particularly where tangible achievement is involved. Leadership remains accessible to women but often burdensome. The study's sample did not adequately address race and ethnicity, and the authors call for further research examining how these intersections shape players' definitions and experiences.