Esports fandoms in the United States have traditionally been considered masculine, white, and privileged spaces. In this article, we preliminarily explore how esports players who identify with historically marginalized identities describe memorable messages they have experienced when engaging with esports fandoms.
Video game cosplay is related to avatar creation as both have the capacity for gender exploration. Cosplay provides a safe space for trans people to explore their identity and find euphoria through gender experimentation via crossplay: dressing away from the cosplayer's usual gender presentation.
Memetic logics and participation play an increasingly important role in online communication and community-building. They have consequences for online fandom and the way fans create and circulate their works. Based on an ethnographic study of the Call of Duty fandom on TikTok from 2022 to 2023, we explore how the platform's affordances shape fannish expressions. Drawing on Actor-Network Theory, we are concerned with how memetic communication within fandom highlights interplay between human and nonhuman actors. The analysis demonstrates how creators must communicate with both algorithms and audiences on TikTok and how they need to take into account the platformization of bodies and the standardizing effects of video editing software in fannish endeavors.
[0.1] Abstract—Editorial for "Disability and Fandom," guest edited by Olivia Johnston Riley and Lauren Rouse, special issue, Transformative Works and Cultures, no. 48 (June 15, 2026).
Editorial for "Gaming Fandom," guest edited by Hayley McCullough and Ashley P. Jones, special issue, Transformative Works and Cultures, no. 47 (March 15, 2026).
