Race, Gender, and Deviance in Xbox Live ─ Theoretical Perspectives from the Virtual Margins

Race, Gender, and Deviance in Xbox Live: Theoretical Criminology from the Virtual Margins provides a much-needed theoretical framework for examining deviant behavior and deviant bodies within one of the largest virtual gaming communities—Xbox Live. Previous research on video games has focused mostly on violence and examining violent behavior resulting from consuming this medium. This limited scope has skewed criminologists' understanding of video games and video game culture.

Xbox Live has proven to be more than just a gaming platform for users. It has evolved into a multimedia entertainment outlet for more than 20 million users. This book examines the nature of social interactions within Xbox Live, which are often riddled with deviant behavior, including but not limited to racism and sexism. The text situates video games within a hegemonic framework deploying whiteness and masculinity as the norm. The experiences of the marginalized bodies are situated within the framework of deviance as they fail to conform to the hegemonic norm and become victims of racism, sexism, and other types of harassment.

• Provides students, researchers, and practitioners with a baseline understanding of the structure of digitally mediated spaces such as Xbox Live
• Shows how the architecture of virtual spaces can foster racism, sexism, and possibly criminal activity
• Examines how unregulated virtual spaces lead to deviant acts and should be taken more seriously given the potential for criminal activity