Revealing the differences

Video games can be graphically or narratively overhauled through remasters, remakes, or other forms of textual pluralities to adjust to current game platforms. One of the adjustments is resexualization, narrative and mechanical transformations of bodily and gendered identities of the revisited characters. Drawing upon Gill’s (2003) resexualization of women’s bodies in media, Klein and Palmer’s (2016) textual pluralities, Purnomo et al. (2019) intertextual losses, and Krauss’ (2006) narrative negotiation on a corpus of games along with their textual pluralities, we attempted to explain resexualization in games by classifying resexualization, intertextual losses, and strategies to prevent intertextual losses. Spradleyan domain, taxonomy, componential, and cultural theme analyses were applied in the study. We formulated two types of resexualization namely resexualization type 1 (RT1) and type 2 (RT2) with the former related to gender-bending and latter to sexual objectification and de-objectification. These resexualizations trigger intertextual losses on identity and belonging. To prevent intertextual losses, three strategies are also formulated namely signaturization, alternation, and intratextualization. Game developers could employ the results of this study as a consideration when deciding to resexualize their characters in the context of textual pluralities

Multimedia · Video game · Computer Science · Digital Games and Media · Gender Studies in Language · Psychology