Final Project Proposal

Allen Zhu

Professor Doris Caçoilo 

Media 384

10/22/16

Final Project Proposal

            For my final project, I want to do a retrospective of interactions between genders. Specifically, I want to observe it during online gaming. Normally one doesn’t think much on the words between people, but rather their actions in game. Whilst most persons playing are usually of the male gender, there are indeed women as well as other genders who play. In addition to observing the game play, there are live streaming sites like Twitch where the divide between male and female streamers can be only described as controversial at best.

            Two of my female friends are active streamers who usually are on as specified with a schedule. While not popular, they have people who watch and interact with them. Sometimes there are those who bear ill will towards them and will use words in an attempt to garner attention or hurt them. I want to analyze the words between people during such sessions. How are words different between men and women, men and men, women and women? How do my words change when talking to different genders? How do words change when we don’t know the other’s gender? Does the use of a mic or only using text affect the message and understanding?

            For now I don’t really know the way I want to present this, but I will be dividing myself when gaming. Perhaps I’ll divide my research more and sometimes be actively only pay attention to the interactions, but other times I’ll immerse myself into the game in order to let my guard down and see just how my own interactions between different genders are.