"Gamer Trouble" maps an approach to studying sociocultural difference in video games that puts material gaming technologies and design practices into conversation with feminist, queer, and critical race theory. The dissertation addresses these conversations in ways that move beyond diversity politics, engaging the technical, ludic, and cultural frameworks that underwrite the video games industry and contribute to its problematic representations and relationships. "Gamer Trouble" takes a layered approach to these complicated issues, investigating facial animation and customization technology in light of the historical scientific and philosophical treatments of the (racialized and gendered) human face, engaging feminist approaches to visual power by incorporating the procedural aspects of gaming into existing feminist film theory through an analysis of Platinum Games' Bayonetta and Valve Corporation's Portal, and interrogating the discursive practices of both fan and academic communities when publicly engaging questions of difference and social justice. Closing with a reading of BioWare's science fiction roleplaying series, Mass Effect, which deploys progressive strategies of diversity while incorporating difference into a hegemonic frame, the dissertation shows how "gamer trouble" can manifest in myriad ways, ultimately demonstrating the continued relevance of humanistic approaches to technology, identity, and social justice in a supposedly post-feminist, post-racial age.

The dissertation addresses growing academic interest in video games as well as public conversations about gaming in contemporary society and concerns for the representation of minority groups in the games industry and its products. Advancing the interdisciplinary feminist approaches to game studies initiated by analysis of Tomb Raider's Lara Croft, "Gamer Trouble" thinks beyond mainstream diversity politics seeking mere inclusion and investigates whether the costs of incorporation into normative cultures might be offset by new reading and design practices, or whether the radical potential of new media is always repurposed by hegemony. Do increasingly numerous skin tone and facial feature options pave the way for a future of progressive avatar design? Do sensibly dressed female characters signal reform in the games industry? Can social media campaigns make corporations and content creators accountable to activists? To develop responses to these questions, "Gamer Trouble" draws on traditional scholarship as well as fan criticism, and it experiments with hands-on approaches to studying technology inspired by the tinkering practices of the digital humanities: playing with, modding, remixing, and breaking video game interfaces are part of its methodological toolkit. The resulting work participates in contemporary scholarly practices that employ high and low forms of knowledge while producing both critique and creative work.