DIGC201 Digital Games

Cultures  

Week 9
Games in context:
gender and identity.
 Williams et al 2008
Debunking Gamer stereotypes 

US Research
40% of adults play games at least once
per week, compared to 83% of teenagers.
The average age of gamers is now 33,
spending $7.4 US billion on games in 2006.
67% of teens play games online.

www.split-screen.com
Everquest2 census
AV Player Age 31
80% Male pop
Anglo dominated http://everquest2.station.sony.com/pizza/images/Top.jpg

Educated, medium wealth

Less Spiritual
Healthier than non-Players
and reduced media consumption
 Bartle (1996)
Taxomnomy of gamers
Are digital games
like chess or tennis,
or are they
Bartle –
pasttimes like
taxonomy reading or
Taylor watching TV, or
are the more like
organised sports or
simply just
entertainment?
www.mud.co.uk/richard/hcds.htm
Unlike games, virtual worlds
and simulations don’t attract as
many killers. That’s not to say
that killers do not or cannot
exist in these spaces – they do.
In Second Life they are known
as griefers, people who try to
cause discomfort to others via
clever scripting. However, in
many cases the ability of killers
gaming.psu.edu/KoLAnalysis
to “kill” is severely curtailed, both
through a lack of ability to do so
and the social norms that
surround the space (Bixler, 2009).
http://blog.gamerdna.com/blog/2008/10/10/does-your-bartle-typegender-influence-your-class-choi

GamerDNA.com graphs Bartle's taxonomy against the popularity of class types for
Warhammer Online players.
Class
Bartle's taxonomy of
motivation rated against
player class and player
race in World of
Warcraft.

http://blog.gamerdna.com/
Race
 1614 housholds surveyed
Close to 5000 individual responses

“This is big audience research by

any measure.”
Brand cited in Byrne (2008)

www.ieaa.com.au
The average age of an Australian gamer is 30 years
68% percent of Australian play digital games
46% are female (up from 41% in 2007)

88% of Australian households have at least one gaming device

The average game play session is one hour
97% report gaming at least occasionally with others
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rocasalvatella/3386437423/
63% of adults do not know that Australia has no R18+ for
computer and video games.

91% of adults (including gamers and non-gamers) say Australia

should have an R18+ classification for games.

17% of adults in game households admit to having pirated

games in their collections with nearly 10% of all games in
Australian homes being illegal copies.

The Australian computer games industry is growing at more

than 15% per year and conducted sales of AUD1.3 billion in 2007.

70% of Australians purchase games new from a local retailer.

Qualitative Ethnography

http://www.flickr.com/photos/96691515@N00/3006848248/sizes/l/
Power Gamers versus the Casuals
The casual gamer is
often seen as someone
“with a life” who invests
only moderate amounts
of time in any one
game, while the power
gamer appears as an
isolated and socailly
inept player with litte
“real life” to ground them
(Taylor, 2006: 70)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/loimere/100412272/sizes/o/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nnova/1935511681/sizes/l/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kspetz/393152033/sizes/l/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/torley/1233957881/sizes/o/

gamespace and the

“meat”Murphy (2004)
 Cinematics

Cutscenes

FMV

http://nikon.bungie.org/misc/cutscenes/halo2.html
The International Games Developers Association (IGDA) surveyed
nearly 6000 professionals in the Western games industry:
Male = 88.5%, Female = 11.5%
White = 83.3%, Black = 2.0%, Hispanic/Latino = 2.5%, Asian = 7.5%
Heterosexual = 92%, Lesbian/Gay = 2.7%, Bisexual = 2.7%
Average age = 31 years
Average years in the industry = 5.4 years
Percentage of people with disabilities = 13% (e.g., cognitive,
mobility, sight, etc)
80% have a university level education or greater
60% of studios claim that obtaining diverse applicants is
challenging

Game Developer Demographics: An Exploration of Workforce

Diversity (2005) (http://www.igda.org/diversity/report.php)
Responses by Country

Job Types by Gender (descending

sort on Female percent) Gourdin
(2005: 13)
  StereoTypes Persist

www.screwattack.com/node/13902
DIGC201 Digital Games
Cultures  

Week 9
Games in context:
gender and identity.

1
 Williams et al 2008
Debunking Gamer stereotypes 

US Research
40% of adults play games at least once
per week, compared to 83% of teenagers.
The average age of gamers is now 33,
spending $7.4 US billion on games in 2006.
67% of teens play games online.

2
www.split-screen.com
Everquest2 census
AV Player Age 31
80% Male pop
Anglo dominated http://everquest2.station.sony.com/pizza/images/Top.jpg

Educated, medium wealth

Less Spiritual
Healthier than non-Players
and reduced media consumption
3
 Bartle (1996)
Taxomnomy of gamers
Are digital games
like chess or tennis,
or are they
Bartle –
pasttimes like
taxonomy reading or
Taylor watching TV, or
are the more like
organised sports or
simply just
entertainment?
4
www.mud.co.uk/richard/hcds.htm
Unlike games, virtual worlds
and simulations don’t attract as
many killers. That’s not to say
that killers do not or cannot
exist in these spaces – they do.
In Second Life they are known
as griefers, people who try to
cause discomfort to others via
clever scripting. However, in
many cases the ability of killers
gaming.psu.edu/KoLAnalysis
to “kill” is severely curtailed, both
through a lack of ability to do so
and the social norms that
surround the space (Bixler, 2009).
5
http://blog.gamerdna.com/blog/2008/10/10/does-your-bartle-typegender-influence-your-class-choice-in-war/#more-510

GamerDNA.com graphs Bartle's taxonomy against the popularity of class types for
Warhammer Online players.
6
Class
Bartle's taxonomy of
motivation rated against
player class and player
race in World of
Warcraft.

http://blog.gamerdna.com/blog/category
Race

7
 1614 housholds surveyed
Close to 5000 individual responses

“This is big audience research by

any measure.”
Brand cited in Byrne (2008)

8
www.ieaa.com.au
The average age of an Australian gamer is 30 years
68% percent of Australian play digital games
46% are female (up from 41% in 2007)

88% of Australian households have at least one gaming device

The average game play session is one hour
97% report gaming at least occasionally with others
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rocasalvatella/3386437423/
9
63% of adults do not know that Australia has no R18+ for
computer and video games.

91% of adults (including gamers and non-gamers) say Australia

should have an R18+ classification for games.

17% of adults in game households admit to having pirated

games in their collections with nearly 10% of all games in
Australian homes being illegal copies.

The Australian computer games industry is growing at more

than 15% per year and conducted sales of AUD1.3 billion in 2007.

70% of Australians purchase games new from a local retailer.

10
Qualitative Ethnography

11
http://www.flickr.com/photos/96691515@N00/3006848248/sizes/l/
Power Gamers versus the Casuals
The casual gamer is
often seen as someone
“with a life” who invests
only moderate amounts
of time in any one
game, while the power
gamer appears as an
isolated and socailly
inept player with litte
“real life” to ground them
(Taylor, 2006: 70)
12
http://www.flickr.com/photos/loimere/100412272/sizes/o/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nnova/1935511681/sizes/l/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kspetz/393152033/sizes/l/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/torley/1233957881/sizes/o/

gamespace and the

“meat”Murphy (2004)
13
 Cinematics

Cutscenes

FMV

14
http://nikon.bungie.org/misc/cutscenes/halo2.html
The International Games Developers Association (IGDA) surveyed
nearly 6000 professionals in the Western games industry:
Male = 88.5%, Female = 11.5%
White = 83.3%, Black = 2.0%, Hispanic/Latino = 2.5%, Asian = 7.5%
Heterosexual = 92%, Lesbian/Gay = 2.7%, Bisexual = 2.7%
Average age = 31 years
Average years in the industry = 5.4 years
Percentage of people with disabilities = 13% (e.g., cognitive,
mobility, sight, etc)
80% have a university level education or greater
60% of studios claim that obtaining diverse applicants is
challenging

Game Developer Demographics: An Exploration of Workforce 15

Diversity (2005) (http://www.igda.org/diversity/report.php)

Responses by Country

Job Types by Gender (descending

sort on Female percent) Gourdin
(2005: 13)

16
  StereoTypes Persist

17
www.screwattack.com/node/13902
18