How gaming can help promote healthy gender dynamics among boys
BANGKOK, Thailand - A new game on Roblox is bringing violence prevention and healthy relationships into the digital world. Sync or Storm, a collaboration between Spotlight Initiative and Equimundo Centre for Masculinities and Social Justice, aims to make gender equality engaging and relevant to young players.
“Often in the masculinity space, we say that we want to ‘reach young men where they're at,’” said Equimundo Senior Technical Specialist Caroline Hayes at the game’s launch during the Sexual Violence Research Initiative Forum. “I think we sometimes say this theoretically, but when it comes to gaming, I mean that very literally.”
Hayes cited research showing that 97 per cent of US boys aged 13 to 17 play video games weekly, with 62 per cent identifying as gamers. Research conducted by Equimundo and the Geena Davis Institute on gender in media found that one third of surveyed teenage boys felt less lonely when playing games, while two thirds said they felt more like themselves when gaming.
97 per cent of US boys aged 13 to 17 play video games weekly.
“Most of the boys in the survey said that they feel more comfortable opening up to their male friends during gaming,” Ms. Hayes said.
She also pointed to research that found men and boys with strong social support networks were 50 per cent less likely to perpetrate online harassment.
However, gaming can also reinforce harmful gender stereotypes. Hayes noted that 82 per cent of male characters examined in earlier research exhibited behaviours associated with the “Man Box,” including extreme dominance and emotional suppression.
“There are a lot of elements in gaming that can be perpetuating harmful norms around masculinity,” she said. “But we know that these are incredibly important spaces to leverage when it comes to positive engagement.”
Spotlight Initiative Head of Communications, Koye Adeboye, said Roblox was a natural platform for reaching young audiences, with around 23 million boys under 13 logging onto the platform every day.
The bigger challenge was creating something kids would actually want to play. “We had to figure out how we were going to do something that wasn’t cringe, or mid or lame,” Mr. Adeboye joked.
"We need to be in these spaces. We need to start thinking differently about how we reach young people." - Koye Adeboye, Spotlight Initiative
Sync or Storm follows a group of players trapped on an island who must work together to escape. To progress, players must listen to one another, share resources and make decisions collectively. The game combines narrative storytelling, practical behavioural challenges and rewards that encourage cooperation.
The storyline illustrates how rigid expectations of masculinity can silence people and prevent teams from responding to problems. Other mechanics reward players for helping rather than dominating.
After two and a half years of work, Mr. Adeboye asked his “toughest critics” — his sons aged 11 and 13 — to test an early version with their friends. “The feedback was brutal,” he said.
The team returned to the drawing board, tested the game with a focus group of boys aged 10 to 12, and conducted a soft launch that attracted over 10,000 players. They added more action — and killer sharks — before it finally earned the seal of approval.
During a question and answer session, Ms. Hayes said it was essential for violence prevention efforts to engage gamers precisely because of the machismo and gender dynamics that are present in most offerings.
Mr. Adeboye concurred: “We cannot continue to cede ground and lose another generation of young boys and men [to harmful gender norms]... We need to be in these spaces. We need to start thinking differently about how we reach young people.”
