Gaming Moms: Juggling Time, Play and Family Life

Technological developments and game design innovations make computer games incredibly successful culturally, socially, and financially. A male dominated hobby culture is transformed to an everyday activity including gaming mothers. Gaming takes time and influences work, leisure and family life. We examine family time management, equality, and women's, media's and others' views on moms as gamers.

Research leader

Charlotte Hagström, Division of Ethnology

Researcher

Jessica Enevold, Division of Ethnology

Status: Completed (2009–2011)
Subjects: Ethnology
Department: Department of Arts and Cultural Sciences

External funding

2009 – 2011: The Swedish Research Council

Publications

Publications

Project description

More and more people devote time and money to playing computer-, consol- and video games. Gamers are not a homogenous group, but include men and women of all ages. Who plays what, how and when? What role does gaming play in different people’s lives? In this study we examine a group of players that are rarely visible in the media in reference to gaming: mothers. Mothers are usually portrayed as guardians of gaming: the mom monitors the other family members’ gaming, she is horrified at the game content and she complains about the time gaming consumes. But in reality, this is hardly always the case – a lot of mothers are gamers themselves. We use interviews, surveys, participate observations and discourse analysis to examine the consequences of this, for the gaming mom, for the organization of everyday life and for the family relations. We look at how mothers create room for their gaming, what conflicts that may arise and what negotiating strategies that can be used. What role does time play, the moms’ own time as well as others’, for how gaming is organized? Do time issues influence what games she plays? This project examines issues of gender roles, family time management and equality and the elsewhere contested status of gaming in the family. By studying gaming moms, we modulate the stereotypes of gamers and the stereotypical construction of gamer identities as well as examine how equality, a statutory goal, is negotiated and under construction in everyday life.