54 Chapter 5 Body, Space and Gendered Gaming Experiences: A Cultural Geography of Homes, Cybercafes and Dormitories Holin Lin As Massive Multi-player Online Games (MMOs) have started to catch up with video games as a favored leisure activity among adolescents, gender and game studies researchers have shown greater interest in issues involving place and space. In addition to the implications of leisure spaces and game content, recent efforts have focused on online role-playing and gender-based interaction. Virtual space is now considered an important arena for analysis, but it is important to remember that online activities are only one part of the gaming experience. Other important elements include such offline experiences as discussing and sharing game expertise, competition, and making personal connections as a result of online game activities. In game worlds, social relations exist among avatars, among players, and between avatars and players. Due to the strong influences of culture, understanding the social experience of gaming requires consideration of two factors: social relations among avatar representations and among player embodiments in digital and physical spaces. This is especially important when analyzing the relationship between gender and gaming, since physical bodies and places are gendered. Women’s perceptions of risk and fear are deeply rooted in their bodies, and avoiding dangerous places is a common practice for managing the fear of male violence. In contrast, no threat of physical harm exists for players wearing either female or male avatar bodies. For this reason, I call my research a cultural geography because online gaming and travel share similarities. Both involve activities in unfamiliar spaces, pre-trip (pre-game) research on locations to visit, decisions about whether or not to have travel partners, and the recording and sharing of experiences through conversations, journals, photos, or videos. When travelers and gamers return to their daily routines, they are eager to share their