The role of young women in gaming subculture

Throughout the time frame of youth, between the ages of 12 and 25, individuals may experience one or multiple identities in different subcultures. The role of young women within the gaming subculture will be discussed in terms of a neo-tribe within the subculture of online gaming by analyses of previous studies and post-subcultural theory. Youth subculture as defined by White and Wyn (2013) is fluid, changing over time and associated through music genre or shared interests, which in this case is online gaming. World of Warcraft (WoW) could be considered a neo-tribe, which is described by Maffesoli (1996) and Warde (1994) as a group of heterogeneous individuals who have chosen to join collectively for a specific reason at a particular time and place. Through personal experience I have involved myself within the gaming subculture and neo-tribe of WoW. From these experiences it appears as if interchanging between different subcultures is highly accepted by youths in the 21st century due to it being seen as either a ‘fad’ or an individual trying to find themselves within this world of mass-consumerism.