Invitations Within and Beyond the Fictitious World: An LDA Discourse Analysis of Female Game Preferences in Chinese CMC Forums

Abstract

Throughout the conventionally masculine video game culture worldwide, the existing literature on video game preferences mainly focuses on the West, overlooking Chinese female gamers, who make up the largest female gamer population globally. This study aims to explore their preferences by analyzing responses from four female-exclusive video game forums. Using the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) Topic Model, 1321 responses were analyzed, extracting females’ preferences into six dimensions: characters, design, genre, narrative, engagement, and experience.

This multifaceted research offers preliminary insights into female gaming experience. Our findings highlight the evolving portrayal and preference of game characters, a complex interplay between aesthetic appeal, genre, and the intriguing relationship between game narratology and empathy.

The study further explores how narrative structures in video games can evoke empathy, and advance understanding of females’ engagement and flow experience in the virtual world, challenging conventional assumptions and expanding the understanding of player interaction with digital media.

Keywords:

• Quantitative analysis
• LDA modelling
• virtual communities
• videogames
• feminism
• preferences

Disclosure statement

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mengfan Zou

Mengfan Zou, Ph.D. candidate at the University of Alcalá. Her academic focus centers on human-computer interaction, specifically exploring the dynamics between gamers and game mechanics. Her work aims to enrich the gaming experience and stimulate meaningful social discourse and actions, particularly within the realm of critical video game culture.

Sara Cortés Gómez

Sara Cortés Gómez, Contracted Professor, doctor in Audiovisual Communication and Advertising at the University of Alcalá (Spain). Member of the research group Images, Words and Ideas (GiPi) at the University of Alcalá. Her research focuses on education, new technologies, and video games as cultural tools.