Dr. Ratan will describe the positive effects of playing video games and a major current threat to the equitable distribution of these benefits: the stereotype that girls and women do not belong in game spaces. Dr. Ratan will also discuss the studies he and colleagues have conducted with tens of thousands of players across multiple games which find that this stereotype is false. Further, he will describe his research and how certain guidelines for avatar customization may help diminish the harm of stereotypes in this context.

Robby Ratan is an Assistant Professor and AT&T Scholar at Michigan State University’s Department of Media and Information. He is also an affiliated faculty member of the College of Education’s program in Educational Psychology and Educational Technology. He received his Ph.D. from USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, his M.A. in Communication from Stanford University, and his B.A. in Science, Technology and Society, also from Stanford University.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx