ICA Game Studies 2025 Preconference: Draining the Swamp: Toxic Masculinity as A Threat to The Media Industries and Beyond

Organized by Brandon C. Harris (University of Alabama) and Maxwell Foxman (University of Oregon)

Thursday, 12 June | 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM

On-site: Hyatt Regency Denver, Capitol Ballroom 1

Registration

Please register at the following link. Registration is $75.

All times are in Mountain Time

8:00 AM – 8:50 AM – Welcome/Registration/Coffee

9:00 AM – 10:00 AM: Keynote Panel: Understanding the Threat of Toxic Masculinity

10:00 AM – 11:00 AM: Panel 1: Toxicity and Play

Christopher Finlay – To Collect and Protect: Toxic Nostalgia, Collective Memory and Masculinity
Nash Meade – The Invisible Playground: Toxic Masculinity in Online Spaces as a Symptom of Self aggrandizing Behavior in Single-player Games
Wanyue Hao – Bridging Virtuality and Reality: The Agency of Affective Labor in Otome GameCosplay Commission
M. Fahad Humayun – Toxic Masculinity in EAFC25: A Systematic Content Analysis of Official Guidelines and Subreddit Discussions
Caroline Gilmore (virtual only) – Gendering War Games: The Potential of Play to Dismantle Militarized Masculinity Norms
Moderator: Maxwell Foxman

11:00 AM – 11:15 AM: Break

11:15 AM – 12:15 PM: Panel 2: Toxic Identities

Marley Schrauth – Cross-Disciplinary Crossroads and Contentions within Research on the Involuntarily Celibate
Emily Hurley – I’m Mr. Lonely: Involuntary Celibates and the Cult of Misery
Jess Mills – From Beta to Alpha: Masculinity Ideologies and Changeability
Nicola Bozz – Becoming Platform: Masculinity, Infrastructure, and Social Imagination
Andrew Wilson & Dr. Samantha Lorenzo- It Only Gets Worse: Visualizing the Toxic Connections Between Video Game Streamers and Online Radicalization
Moderator: TBD

12:15 PM – 1:15 PM: Lunch and Demonstrations

1:15 PM – 2:15 PM: Panel 3: Toxicity in Chinese and Vietnamese Gaming Communities

Yidong Steven Wang – Transcultural Imagination of Queer(phobic) Asia: Anti-Political Correctness Discourse in the Chinese Gamer Community
Fanxi Feng – Black Myth: Wukong and the Politics of Toxic Masculinity, Incel Culture, and Nationalism in Gaming
Nguyen Do Doan Hanh – Labor and Masculinity: Examining The Performances of Vietnamese Game Livestreamers in Platformised Cultural Work
Caitlin Walrath – Gamer Cultural Tariffs: Game Science, Black Myth: Wukong, and Gamer Cultural Borders
Moderator: TBD

2:15 PM – 2:30 PM Break

2:30 PM – 3:30 PM: Panel 4: Resisting Toxicity

Ailea Merriam-Pigg (she/they) – “It’s Just Some Gamer Words:” Intersectional Toxicity in Male-Dominated Gaming Spaces
Destrey S, Runyon Jr – Feeling Catfishy
Jinghan Zhang – The Social Support Practices of a “Female-Only” Online Community A Participatory Observation of Douban Group “Female Gamers Union”
Lydia Kollyri – Resisting Toxic Masculinity: Exploring r/NotHowGirlsWork as a Counter-Space Against Instagram Gendered Hate Speech
Moderator: TBD

3:30 PM – 3:45 PM: Break

3:45 – 4:45: Panel 5: Provocations and Histories of Toxicity

Rae Moors – Discourses of Competition and Antagonism in the United States Gaming Industry, 1990-1994
Emma Goldhaber & Trystram Spiro-Costello – A Server of One’s Own: Artifactual Politics and Toxicity
Alberto Lusoli – Three provocations for a performative understanding of toxicity
Moderator: TBD

Our keynote speakers will be Amanda C. Cote (MSU), Brooke Duffy (Cornell), and Adrienne Massanari (American U)