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ICA Game Studies, Top Paper Award

McDonald Award for Best Communication Studies Graduate Student Instructor

Incubating Interdisciplinary Initiatives (I3) Award

International Communications Association : Member

Society for Cinema & Media Studies : Member

Digital Games Research Association : Member

Association for Internet Research : Member

Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association : Member

Esports Research Network : Founding Member

Taking Care of Toxicity: Challenges and Strategies for Inclusion in U.S. Collegiate Esports Programs

Philanthropic, prosocial players: How game-related charity events motivate unlikely donors

“Starting from scratch to looking really clean and professional”: how students’ productive labor legitimizes collegiate esports

The cruel optimism of “good crunch”: How game industry discourses perpetuate unsustainable labor practices

Who Gets to Be in The Guild? Race, Gender and Intersecting Stereotypes in Gaming Cultures

Amanda Cote, assistant professor of Media Studies and Game Studies in the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon, discusses her interest in Game Studies and the significance of the field. She also talks about her forthcoming book Gaming Sexism: Gender and Identity in the Era of Casual Video Games, and describes esports and its popularity among gamers. The UO now has a varsity esports team.

UO Today With Amanda Cote

What is it to “be” a gamer? How did the gamer “identity” become both masculinized and marginalized? How has this impacted female players and is the “gamergirl” identity useful or counter-productive for female players?  We chat with Dr. Amanda Cote who argues that video games are in a crisis of authority related to what a “gamer” is. --------------------------- Our guest, Amanda Cote, is Assistant Professor of Media Studies and Game Studies at the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication. She is also a member of the University of Oregon Esports and Games Research Lab. Amanda studies digital and analog games, as well as their culture and industry. Her first book, Gaming Sexism: Gender and Identity in the Era of Casual Video Games was recently published by New York University Press.  -------------------------- JOIN THE ETHICS AND VIDEO GAMES COMMUNITY: - Follow/like/share us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube  - Explore our website and check out our Video Games Ethics Resources Center: https://ethicsandvideogames.com - If you're game to lend us your financial support, we'd love to have it and can definitely use it!  You can do that here: SUPPORT OUR PODCAST! - Give us a review whereever you listen to podcasts - If you've got an idea or an ethical issue involving video games that you think would make for a good podcast, please let us know!  Contact us at ethicsandvideogames.com or email us at contact@ethicsandvideogames.com.  We’d love to hear from you! Hosted by Shlomo Sher, Ph.D. and Andy Ashcraft Production by Carmen Elena Mitchell Music and graphics by Daniel Sher

Episode 30: Sexism and the Gamer Identity (with Amanda Cote)

Gaming Sexism: Gender and Identity in the Era of Casual Video Games

Amanda Cote is an Associate Professor and Director of the Serious Games Certificate in the Department of Media & Information. She researches the industry and culture of games, with an emphasis on areas such as gender, identity, and representation; game development and labor; and collegiate esports. In recent publications, for instance, she has explored how crunch (extensive, often unpaid overtime) persists in the video game industry, how collegiate esports programs responded to the COVID-19 pandemic, and how race and gender stereotypes permeate game-related media and communities. She addresses these questions through methods such as in-depth interviews and discourse analysis.

Cote completed her Ph.D. in Communication Studies at the University of Michigan in 2016, then worked at the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication. Her first book, Gaming Sexism, was published in 2020 by New York University Press, and she has published articles in venues including Journal of Communication, New Media & Society, Convergence, Games and Culture, and Feminist Media Studies.

Media Studies

Collegiate E-sports

Game Development

Michigan State University Faculty Profile

Google Scholar Citations

Unfair game: Women say harassment is common when gaming online

Activision Blizzard employees form first of its kind Game Workers Alliance Union

Microsoft purchase of Activision Blizzard won’t clean up gamer culture overnight: 5 essential reads about sexual harassment and discrimination in gaming and tech

Bringing Worlds Together… Sometimes: North American Game Journalists and their Relationship with the Public.

Studying and Speaking to Industries: A Game Studies Roundtable

The virtual front porch: An analysis of the impact of collegiate esports on university identification

The Oregon Humanities Center is the sole interdisciplinary umbrella organization for the humanities at the University of Oregon.  We encourage scholars to articulate their ideas in language that is accessible both to scholars in other fields and to the general public.  The OHC sponsors a wide array of free public programs designed to provide a forum for discussion of and reflection on important issues.

UO Today

We explore controversial ethical issues about video games (e.g. what should be censored), in video games (e.g. what counts as cheating), and in video game design (e.g. what works to make a game morally interesting).   Your hosts are Shlomo Sher, Ph.D. (Philosophy Professor and Video Game Ethicist) and Andy Ashcraft (Veteran Video Game Designer and Professor).

Ethics and Video Games Podcast

Dean’s Grant

Petrone Grant

Associate Professor and Director of the Serious Games Certificate

Fantasy game players often get the chance to become someone else — perhaps a powerful wizard, a mythical creature or a skilled adventurer. And yet, according to research by UO professor Amanda Cote, if that player is a woman, her real-world identity could color her entire gaming experience.

Cote interviewed female gamers in 2012 and 2013 about the climate of gaming. She reconnected with the gamers in 2017 and 2018 and found three-quarters started playing Dungeons and Dragons. Cote set out on a quest to learn why so many female gamers left video game spaces for Dungeons and Dragons.

Although the spread of casual, social, and mobile games has led researchers, journalists, and players to believe that video gaming is opening up to previously marginalized audiences, especially women, the past decade has simultaneously seen numerous incidents of game-related racism, sexism, and misogyny. Cote’s work explains how these conflicting narratives can co-exist, as well as how women navigate their contradictions while gaming.

Learn more about Amanda Cote's research
https://uonews.uoregon.edu/amanda-cote-school-journalism-and-communication

Amanda Cote's book – Gaming Sexism: Gender and Identity in the Era of Casual Video Games
https://nyupress.org/9781479802203/gaming-sexism/

Interested in Media Studies?
https://admissions.uoregon.edu/majors/media-studies

Did you know the UO has an esports team?
https://emu.uoregon.edu/esports

Learn about Nick Yee's research
https://quanticfoundry.com/2017/01/19/female-gamers-by-genre/

From Digital to Dungeons | What the video game industry can learn from D&amp;D

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