Madison Armstrong
Student Bio
Madison Armstrong was born in Fort Worth, Texas. After graduating from Northwest High School, Madison started her college career at Tarrant County College in Fort Worth, Texas. She transferred to The University of Texas at Dallas in 2017 and entered the School of Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication undergraduate program. She graduated in May of 2020, and then entered the School of Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication graduate program at the University of Texas at Dallas. At the University of Texas at Dallas, she was employed as the Employee Resource Group Coordinator for the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and was a HASTAC Scholar.
About
Thesis Title
Overwatch: An Analysis of Deception, Visibility, and Culture
Committee
Dean Terry (Chair), Juan Llamas-Rodriguez, Hong-An Wu
Degree
MA with Emerging Media Studies
Abstract
A critical analysis of Overwatch’s, a first-person shooter game developed by Blizzard, multiplayer experience reveals the ways women hide their virtual persona to avoid harassment. The way the company approaches harassment against their employees constructs the conditions for harassment to emerging in-game for players. The paper will analyze the company’s approach to harassment in-person, in their physical offices, and online, in their game environments, and how that affects a player’s in-game experience.
