I honed in on Lee Sherlock’s chapter right away, because I was hopeful that there would be a greater discussion of embodiment in role-playing games. World of Warcraft was one of a long line of games where I played as a female avatar; it was, for me, a space where I could explore acting in a body that was not my own. Being able to embody virtual female characters was and continues to be an important aspect of playing games for me and I attribute the opportunity to explore gender expression virtually to my understanding of my own gender identity today. Last week, I talked a bit about how I’ve grown less fond of character creation over the last few years. This is mostly because of my growing frustration with the gendering of character creation—you often have two choices swole male body or petite female body, and your clothing choices are then limited based on that choice. And that is deeply frustrating to me.

I was hoping that Sherlock’s piece would talk a little bit more about how the design of game engines limit gender/sexual expression through what players are/are not allowed to do. I do appreciate the attention paid to how LGBTQ players are able to subvert the limited options afforded to them in order to outwardly express their queer identities, however, I wish more attention was paid to how game engines limit expression.