Gaming Demographics
Stereotypically if someone asked me the age and sex of a
typical gamer, the answer would most likely be a male between the ages of 14-18
years of age. However I cross referenced some websites looking into gaming
demographics, the variations in age, sex, marital status and earnings; and the
results were not what I expected.
From studies taken in 2012 generally there were more middle
aged women playing games than teenage males. Furthermore the average ‘gamer’ is
30 years old and has been playing games for 12 years. The misconception for
this stereotype most likely spawns from the types of games played by each
gender and how often they play. Women make up nearly half of the gaming
population and still my first thought was the typical gamer was a teenage male.
A twitter trend which started in 2012 called ‘#1reasonwhy’
was about women either in the gaming industry or women gamers, expressing any
abuse or sexism they have experienced whilst playing online or received in the
workplace. Abuse online is more common because there is an option to be
anonymous, so people are less afraid to be named and shamed. Therefore they can
express their opinions about how women are unwelcome gaming online without any
consequence.
Buying habits springs from advertisement and publishing,
some of the main culprits for the lack of female protagonists are game publishers,
under the impression that a gaming audience is a dominantly male audience,
games are generally advertised for males. Perhaps publishers feel that female game
characters will not appeal to the majority of consumers and that they will not
be able to relate to them. Meaning the
target audience is only really half of the gaming population.
Bibliography
Digital Buzz. (2012, July 15). Infographic:
Sociam Gaming Demographics 2012. Retrieved May 16, 2013, from Digital
Buzz Blog: http://www.digitalbuzzblog.com/infographic-social-gaming-demographics-statistics-2012/
Entertainment
Software Association. (2013). Economic Data. Canada: ESRB.
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