“Ready worker two”: Gendered labor regime of platform-based game work in China

Abstract

This study delves into the gendered labor regime of platform game work in China, a burgeoning remote platform economy connecting customers with workers for entertainment or gameplay assistance. It reveals that offline gender divisions persistently seep into and solidify the logic of gender discipline in online gaming, channeling women into service-centric roles that face devaluation. Beyond the overt obstacles hindering women from lucrative gaming tasks, their marginalized position is intertwined with diminished gaming capital in team-based competitive gameplay, a factor frequently misinterpreted as “gaming skill.” Even ostensibly neutral policy moves have pronounced gendered implications, as gaming platforms, wary of governmental repercussions, strategically diminish the prominence of feminine-presenting workers. By elucidating the multifaceted ways women are culturally, socially, and algorithmically marginalized within the gaming service supply chain, this study enriches the growing body of literature on the intersectionality within the platform workforce.