Chapter 4 Without so Much as a Word: Non-Verbal Performances of Masculine Identity in Adolescent Call of Duty Players
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Abstract
Call of Duty is recognised in the Guinness Book of World Records as the number one best-selling first person shooter series ever, yet relatively little research has examined it from a cultural perspective and even less from the perspective of the group most culturally identified with the game and the fps genre in general: adolescent males (Lynch, 2014). This paper explores the rhetorical uses of gesture, silence and in-game action in the performance of masculine identity by 14 adolescent boys. Specifically, it looks at how the identity of a ‘skilled expert’ is constructed, counter-constructed and deconstructed across play-sessions and in post-game interviews, against the theoretical backdrop of the ‘working consensus’, cultural hegemony and hegemonising masculinity (Connell, 1995; Goffman, 1990). It finds that the boys use gesture to complement bragging in the construction of their own identities as ‘skilled experts’, but that they often resist attempts by others to construct this identity through the rhetorical deployment of silence. They furthermore counter-construct non-masculine identities in relation to a subordinated other: the ‘noob’, the ‘gay’ player. These ‘others’ are often constructed verbally, but the assignation of these identities is strongly resisted through the deployment of silence and actions taken by the players in-game. The research concludes that, in post-play discussions about the game, each boy will sometimes utilise gesture to construct himself as the ‘skilled expert’. Furthermore, during the play-sessions themselves, each boy frequently uses silence as a ‘rhetoric of announcement’ to challenge the attempts of the others to construct themselves as ‘skilled experts.’ Additionally, the boys use silence as a ‘rhetoric of concealment’ for their in-game actions. This use of silence challenges any assertions from the others that might construct the silent player as in any way non-masculine. In this way, the boys construct and challenge masculine identities without so much as a word.