Playing with Gender: Trans Men's Experiences Playing with Masculine Characters, Roles, and Identities in Online Video Games

Previous research illustrates the many ways that video games are constructed for cisgender, heterosexual, and white men. However, I argue that video games may serve as a valuable site of gender discovery and play for transgender men. Due to the disembodied anonymity of online interaction in video games, players are generally assumed to be cis heterosexual men until proven otherwise. Using 2725 survey responses and 20 interviews with queer men who play video games, I analyze how cis queer men and trans men experience gender in online gaming differently. Focusing on a subsample of 214 surveys and eight interviews with trans men, I illustrate how trans men play with gender through default characters, player-created characters, and gendered roles and gameplay. Trans men prefer to play as male characters and in masculinized roles, allowing them to play with their present gender, imagine their future gender, and rectify their gendered socialization past.