Digital Online Game Research Makes Space For Pacific Female Youth Voices

A Pacific academic says indigenous youth voices largely absent from ‘digital online game’ research have an opportunity to be heard.

University of Auckland Senior Lecturer Dr Jean M Uasike Allen from the School of Curriculum and Pedagogy, says online gaming has long been positioned in research as problematic, with issues such as negative mental health, bullying, and gambling highlighted.

“The issue with these approaches is that they often ignore the perspectives of young people, the largest population who engage in these online gaming spaces. Indigenous and Pacific youth voices are further marginalised,” says Dr Allen (Makaunga and Kolovai/Tongatapu, Tefisi/Vava'u – Tonga, and European).

“I am keen to privilege the voices of Pacific young people and aim to provide platforms via my research for their perspectives to be heard.”

Dr Allen recently secured a Marsden fast-start grant of $360,000 for her research - Virtual Voyagers: Amplifying Pacific Girl Gamer voices. The project focuses on Pacific girl gamers to understand more about how online gaming contributes to their well-being and relationships. While traditionally gaming is viewed as a male-dominated space, often deemed sexist and hostile, Allen says not much is known about the diversity of girl gamers.

“This got me thinking about why young people continue to come back to this practice, what is it about gaming with other people in online spaces that sees them returning time and time again. I was keen to know how online gaming contributed to Pacific youth well-being through Pacific world views and concepts with the hopes that we could potentially utilise these strengths in our work.”

Findings from her previous pilot study challenged deficit narratives that often depict gaming as a waste of time, or as a destructive behaviour. The research demonstrated how Pacific youth understand gaming as an important space that allows for connection, improves their well-being, and allows them to be their ‘best selves for their families’

Gaming: A New addition for Traditional Social Spaces

Young people are increasingly turning to digital spaces, rather than physical spaces, to socialise and build connections. Online gaming platforms can provide a safe and accessible environment for youth to interact, collaborate, and form meaningful relationships

A recent Aotearoa New Zealand study of 1,923 people found that 79 percent are gamers, with 48 percent being girl gamers.

Allen says youth engagement in digital worlds via online gaming is not a new phenomenon and over the last decade interest and engagement has grown. This is particularly evident in the growth of Indigenous scholarship focused on relationality within the digital space, also known as ‘digital vā’.

“I think it is really important to explore digital vā. I believe that research with Pacific communities should include Pacific worldviews and concepts as a means of making sense about our experiences. The idea of vā – that relational space is important to us all, and therefore I was interested in understanding what this potentially looks like or how it is enacted in these online spaces.

“I want to understand how online gaming contributes to the identities, relationships, and well-being through Pacific perspectives of Pacific girl gamers.”

A former primary school teacher Jean has always had a passion for education, justice, and her community of South Auckland. This led to her work with South Auckland youth, exploring how they negotiate and resist media power which often ‘others’ and marginalises their communities.

Her doctoral research within the community of South Auckland, explored youth experiences of health education and schooling at the intersections of cultural knowledge, family expectations, gender, and ethnicity.

Allen also has a strong interest in arts-based research, and re-presentation, which has led her to include poetry and ngatu (tapa making) in her work. She’s excited that with the success of her application she will be able to carry out the new research project over the next three years.

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