From Uniforms to Unicorns

The spectrum of identity in gaming

CULTURE

TECHNOLOGY

3 MINS READ

DATE

FEBRUARY 22, 2024

AUTHOR

Giancarlo Pazzanese

Currently, he works as a lecturer of media culture, artificial intelligence and Web3. Giancarlo focuses on the potential and challenges of digital fashion, particularly on identity, gender, inclusion, accessibility, and representation issues.

IMAGE

Open Source Afro Hair Library

One topic that’s swept the globe in the past decade is that of identity. From pronouns to breaking fashion stereotypes, many conversations have been had – largely by younger generations. With the rise of technology, gaming has become more than just entertainment for young people worldwide. Modern gaming platforms offer opportunities to earn income, carve out careers, and foster meaningful relationships. To become the ideal version of oneself.

With more than 3 billion gamers worldwide, and according to Statista, 3% of the population is gender non-conforming, then there are 90 million gamers that would benefit from more inclusive games, narratives, and avatar choices.

Beyond gaming, we all create, extend, and explore new identities and relations online. Digital identity is the set of attributes that authenticates and describes a person. In gaming, it includes the names, avatars, accessories, achievements, progress, and stories of every character someone has in different worlds. From this perspective, our digital identity can also be seen as the social connections, interactions and reputation within a community and across several platforms. Digital identity should be unique and secure for authentication purposes, but also multiple and fluid when considering expression and social interactions. For younger individuals, it is crucial to prioritize online security. This helps prevent vulnerabilities such as cyberbullying and identity theft, safeguards against privacy concerns, ensures a positive impact on educational aspects, and allows for effective parental guidance.
Offline, our identity is unique and multiple. Gender identity, a person's sense of being male, female, fluid, trans, or non-binary is an important aspect to consider when expressing identity online. According to a study mentioned by Times magazine, in the US, around 30% of the people born before 1995 believe there are more than two genders compared to 51% of people born between 1995 and 2012. GenZ are more fluid with their gender expression and do not make a sharp division between their offline and online life.

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