Playing by new rules: young women gamers construction of community in online gaming spaces

Online gaming has become a significant site of community formation, yet women, now approximately 45% of online gamers, navigate these spaces under conditions of persistent misogyny and exclusion that fundamentally shape their community experiences. We explored how young women gamers construct and conceptualise community within online gaming spaces, addressing a research gap that has documented barriers to women’s participation without examining how women actively build belonging despite them. Using an exploratory qualitative design with social constructionist epistemology, 12 women aged 18–30 participated in semi-structured interviews analysed via reflexive thematic analysis. Findings reveal that women construct community through deliberate boundary work organised around shared values, experience genuine belonging and solidarity within those communities, and navigate significant internal tensions, including pressure to conform and compromised autonomy, that constrain their agency even within self-constructed spaces. Findings challenge McMillan and Chavis Sense of Community framework, revealing its inadequacy for marginalised groups and proposing four theoretical constructs including graduated membership, boundary hierarchies, protective reinforcement, and constrained agency, toward a more adequate account of community under conditions of systemic exclusion. Community is conceptualised as an ongoing negotiation of values, boundaries, and belonging, demanding both theoretical revision and practical intervention to create genuinely inclusive digital environments.