Abstract
Recent increases in the number of women becoming involved in video game culture have been met with dissent by males, producing a tense atmosphere online and offline. These tensions reached a peak when video games journalist Ryan Perez attacked female video game celebrity Felicia Day over Twitter in June 2012, questioning the value of her work and calling her a 'glorified booth babe'. The Incident quickly became notorious, and Perez was subsequently fired from his writing role with the gamer community site Destructoid. In order to gain an understanding of women's status in video game communities, we analyse the Twitter Incident in historical context and with reference to feminist and technology theory. The Twitter Incident may have functioned either as an act of catharsis or a watershed; Perez's punishment might have released tensions regarding misogyny, or signalled a change in attitude towards women in game culture. Continued mistreatment of women in the game community and industry implies that the Incident functioned as an act of catharsis. However, the notoriety that was raised and criticism Perez received has marked an increase in awareness of misogyny in video game communities and culture.
