Genesis of a Gaming Culture: a Historical Analysis Based on the Computer Press in Portugal

Abstract

Each technology is developed within a specific context and related to different social fields. This paper offers a historical analysis of the beginnings of press narratives about computer games in Portugal during the establishment of democracy and its entry into the European Economic Community in the 1980s. It focuses on the narratives created by two specialized computer press publications about the place of digital games in the broader social context and how gender and age group issues were presented in these narratives. It was possible to identify how computer games were directed to an imagined target population, given the worldwide tendency to relate technologies and games as a male “taste.” This helped to distinguish those legitimately interested in gaming culture and exclude all those who did not fit this norm.