Hearing ’Lady Game Creators’ Tweet: #1ReasonWhy, Women and Online Discourse in the Game Development Community

Abstract

This paper examines the rise of the #1ReasonWhy hashtag on Twitter during November 2012. It looks at how the @replies and RTs used within the hashtag built a picture of the issues facing women within the field of game development. The discourse and sharing of experiences amplified through the hashtag provide a broad picture of gender discrimination and sexism within the industry’s culture, along with potential community-driven methods for confronting these entrenched traditions of harassment. In particular this paper uses the conversations developed by women during this period to understand how Twitter acted as a tool to build solidarity and amplify the message of gender discrimination within the industry.