Hi, my name is Melissa, and I’m an undergraduate student conducting research on the way that gender identity and presentation affect the way that people create their Elder Scrolls characters. In this thread, I am conducting a focus group where I will ask you questions about your characters and your gender identity and you will discuss the questions with other forum members. If you’re interested in participating, please read the informed consent form below, and don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions!

Thank you for reading!

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Gendering Tamriel: Character Creation in The Elder Scrolls Video Game Series and Gender Sterotypes

Informed Consent Form

Purpose of the Study

This is a study in sociology conducted by Melissa King, an undergraduate student of sociology at

Indiana University of Pennsylvania in Indiana, Pennsylvania. The purpose of this study is to find out how different genders create custom characters in video games by examining how people create their main characters in the Elder Scrolls game series.

What Will Be Done

You will participate in a forum-based focus group or a 20-30 minute online chat interview where you will be asked about your gender, race, and preferences for creating characters in the Elder Scrolls series. When talking about your preferences for creating characters, you will be asked about certain preferred traits such as your character’s race and class and why you prefer them. After you complete the interview, your results will be anolyzed for patterns related to how people of different genders create their Elder Scrolls characters.

Confidentiality

Any identifying information obtained during the interview will be kept confidenti al. During the

coding and anolysis process, your answers will be associated with a number rather than your personal information, and the researcher will not disclose your identifying information to anyone else.

Decision to Quit at Any Time

This study is voluntary, so you are free to quit at any time. If you feel uncomfortable answering a

certain question, you are free to ask to skip the question or stop the interview altogether. There will be no penalty for deciding to stop participating in the study or for not participating at all.

How the Findings Will Be Used

Your answers will be used for scholarly purposes only. Your confidential answers will be used for an undergraduate senior capstone project as well as a few scholarly presentations. It is also possible that the results will be published in an undergraduate scholarly publication.

Contact Information

If you have any questions or comments regarding this study, feel free to contact either Melissa King at fdmr@iup.edu or Beth Mabry, the supervising faculty member, at mabry@iup.edu.

By participating in this interview or focus group, you are acknowledging that you have read this information and agree to participate in this study with the knowledge that you are free to withdraw at any time.

This project has been approved by the Indiana University of Pennsylvania Institutional Review Board for the Protection of Human Subjects (Contact 724-357-7730 or irb-research@iup.edu).

Okay, here's the first question that I want you to discuss: Tell me about your gender identity and how it has shaped you as a person. (No worries, we'll get to the super fun Elder Scrolls stuff soon after this question.)

This is really cool.

But your first question is a little heavy no? I would think you'd want more raw data from us, like "I'm a male" and then you tick the male box and move on. Even give us a set of questions straight up?

Anyway I am a male. I don't feel like I'm conscious of how it has shaped me as a person, it feels instinctive and natural to be like a boy. Becoming a man is probably more about conscious effort, but being a boy just is. I don't know what else to say about that?

Thanks! Yeah, sorry, I know that it is a little intense, but you can answer as in-depth or not as you wish. This is the qualitative (in other words, more in-depth and detailed) part of my study, so the answers are supposed to have a little more heft to them. Your answers are fine, by the way, I just wanted to let you know that that's indeed the point of this focus group.