Gamer stereotypes list
Debunking common myths about video gamers
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Tarred as an unhealthy subculture, “gamers” incites a number of stereotypical images.
In popular media, television shows such as the Big Bang Theory and South Park depict gaming as an activity for socially inept nerds who are desensitized to the world around them. As a result of this media portrayal, many parents are fretting about their children’s attraction to gaming, imagining that they might grow up devoid of social skills and harboring warped senses of reality.
But according to the ESA Computer and video games industry report for 2015, 42 percent of Americans are gamers and 4-out-of-5 U.S. households have a gaming console. And according to the stats, the average gamer is 35 years old, and nearly as many women play as men. Why are the stereotypes so different from reality? Here, I am going to debunk the most common stereotypes about gamers and get to the bottom of where some of these stereotypes came from.
Back in the mid-1970s, when gaming was inaccessible and extremely hard to set up, you needed to be an early adopter of technology to participate in the earliest form of games (think text-based and board games). Gaming was by no means as easy to get into as now, and for that reason, gaming fanatics were probably the same people who were interested in computers, coding, and so on.
Nowadays, gaming culture is mainstream. With more than a billion people playing games regularly, gamers have moved far beyond the realm of nerds.
Gamers don’t know how to socializeLike most stereotypes, what people believe about a particular group is totally detached from the truth and partly based on representations in movies and popular culture. Not all French people wear berets and eat croissants every day; likewise, not all gamers are weird-o loners. Many people enjoy gaming as a shared activity. The recent ESA gaming report showed that 54 percent of frequent gamers feel their hobby helps them to connect with friends, and 45 percent use gaming as a way to spend time with their family.
That gamers interact with one another isn’t unusual. Specific hobbies have their own dedicated social networks. In the same way as cycling enthusiasts like to keep up with news about their favorite sports stars, but might not be comfortable sharing this on normal social media, gamers prefer dedicated channels to share gaming content such as in-game achievements, game stats and other relevant news and media.
Gamers are all teenage boysWhen people think of gaming, they think of teenage boys, yet the ESA report reveals that there are actually more women over the age of 18 (33 percent) than men under the age of 18 (15 percent) who play games.
The last five years has seen the explosion of mobile gaming, which is set to overtake revenue from console-based gaming in 2015. It’s also opened gaming to a wider audience. According to the ESA report, 44 percent of gamers, and this continues to increase.
The gender split is pretty equal no matter where you look — 55 percent women on mobile.
There aren’t any glaring differences between preferences in game types either. Contrary to the results, a cultural issue is at hand. In the same way that parents don’t tend to buy their daughters toy guns and skateboards, the same goes for games consoles. It’s been shown that women and men have similar tastes when it comes to games.
One area in which women are vastly underrepresented is in game development and design, which unfortunately has not shaken its image of a “boys club.”
According to the Guardian, the number of women working in the game industry remains shockingly low: only 12 percent of game designers and 3 percent of all programmers are women. The female gaming community raised its eyebrows back in 2013 when a Sony Conference for the release of the PS4 featured zero women, highlighting the gender inequality that remains in the gaming industry.
Gaming affects young people and teenagers in a negative wayResearch by the University of Rochester has proven that video game players develop heightened sensitivity to what is going on around them, along with improvements to their multitasking skills, driving ability and overall navigation skills.
Gaming also helps young minds develop decision-making skills based on consequences and rewards, allowing developing minds to think strategically.
Just like everything else though, addictions must be managed. Any habit that reaches a state of obsession must be overcome, and the same applies for gaming — there’s no denying that.
Creating a more positive image for gamersMore than 1.5 billion people worldwide play games, and the figures are growing every day. The industry has created hundreds of thousands of jobs around the world — while providing entertainment for nearly 2 billion people globally. The results of gaming are all around us. If it weren’t for video game enthusiasts and the commercial need to keep them happy with ever-improving graphics requiring ever-higher processor speeds in new consoles, advanced computer graphics would still be found only in the high-priced computers in the business and science worlds. The recent ESA report shows us that gaming has moved well out of the realms of a niche pastime into the mainstream, and as a result, stereotypes about gamers have been blown out the water.
Riad Chikhani is the cofounder and CEO of Gamurs, an “all-in-one” social network made by gamers for gamers.
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Debunked: The “Gamer” Stereotype. By: Anna-Michelle Lavandier | by Anna-Michelle Lavandier | The Nerd Castle
By: Anna-Michelle Lavandier
While Madeline Falacci, an undergraduate student at New York University, found her passion in gaming, the negative stereotypes that surround the gaming community has led her to reject identifying herself as a gamer.
“I would have used it before, but it’s kind of been politicized and used a lot for marketing,” Falacci said.
” There’s more aside from the literal meaning. There’s so much more now that comes with the term ‘gamer.’ I just err on the side of not using it for now.”
There are a variety of ways to get involved and be part of this worldwide community linked together by technology, but negative stereotypes keep players away from uniting and being recognized as a community.
Even today, there are still negative attitudes toward gaming that continue to be spread from those outside of the community.
Despite the progress that the overarching gaming community has made toward inclusion the past few years, these stereotypes continue to affect those who would normally consider themselves gamers. While some have been debunked, others continue to be debated.
Here are five examples of stereotypes that have impacted the gaming community.
Stereotype #1: Gaming is a guy thing
Fact: Gaming is an everyone thing
These, among other statistics, were found in the 2014 study conducted by the Entertainment Software Association.
According to a 2014 study conducted by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), both men and women are almost equally participatory and invested when it comes to video games. The study concluded that approximately 52 percent of men and 48 percent of women play video games, proving that female gamers are not as rare and elusive as some outsiders may believe there to be.
Jason Allaire, associate professor of psychology at North Carolina State University and co-director of the Gains Through Gaming Lab, says in the study gaming is appealing to both men and women and also to several age groups.
“People of all ages play video games,” Allaire said. “There is no longer a ‘stereotype game player,’ but instead a game player could be your grandparent, your boss, or even your professor.”
Stereotype #2: Gaming makes you violent
Fact: Gaming can make you frustrated, but not violent nor have urges to commit crimes
More recently, first-person shooter (FPS) games, like the Call of Duty series, and the Grand Theft Auto series have been under scrutiny for this claim.
In the Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association case in 2011, the US Supreme Court ruled 7–2 that California could not ban the sale of violent video games to minors. Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in the majority opinion that studies claiming to show a connection between violent video games and negative effects on children “have been rejected by every court to consider them, and with good reason: They do not prove that violent video games cause minors to act aggressively.”
Stereotype #3: Gamers are lazy/have no future goals
Fact: Gamers can be just as lazy as a non-gamer, but many are ambitious and goal-oriented.
A congratulations banner from the Interactive Entertainment Business for shipping Windows 7. It’s a play on the icon that appears after achieving a goal in Xbox games.Edwin Figureroa, a competitive gamer player who specializes in fighting games and has placed in several tournaments in Florida, has seen players turn their hobby into a full-time career.
Gamers who have made names for themselves within the community including Peter “Combofiend” Rosas (with Capcom USA) and Alex Jebailey (founder of CEO Gaming Tournament in Florida) among several male and female tournament placers have had to work hard and dedicate themselves to either a game genre or even a specific game in order to achieve success in gaming, whether it’s in the industry itself or through professional gaming.
“All of them have proven that they’re not ‘lazy,’ ‘immature,’ or even ‘losers,’” Figueroa said. “They have a passion for these hobbies, and simply had the skill to turn them into full careers.”
A 2015 study conducted by the Pew Research Center stated that those who consider themselves Black are generally more likely to find positive attributes in video games and are less likely to believe that they are a waste of time.
A 2014 study conducted by the research organization LifeCourse Associates, titled “The New Face of Gamers,” collected several surveys to analyze a few characteristics of a gamer.
One of the results that has come up is that not only are gamers generally not lazy, they are actually more conventionally successful and are more likely to be full-time employees than non-gamers (42 percent vs 39 percent). The study stated that gamers are also more likely to say that they are working in the career they want to be in (45 percent vs. 37 percent).
Stereotype #4: Gamers only like one type of game
Fact: Especially recently, gamers tend to not limit themselves to one genre or series of game. Many gamers play across various platforms.
An old display showcasing various types of games divided by compatible consoles. What was once a huge divide among gamers with preferred consoles is now a small gap that intersects occasionally.The early days of gaming encouraged brand loyalty and console exclusivity through commercials. This behavior began very early on with Atari, Sega and Nintendo leading the way, and later included Microsoft’s Xbox and Sony’s PlayStation.
These days, however, many gamers own or have played on multiple devices which gives them access to a variety of games across genres.
Charles Pratt, an assistant professor at the NYU Tisch School of the Arts, teaches a number of the game design classes offered for undergraduate and graduate students and has played a role in designing a few games. From his research, he believes that the community will become more intertwined from here.
“I don’t really know people who only play one kind of game at this point,” Pratt said. “At this point, people play all kinds of games. In some ways, the old divisions for players, those have started to fall away. It’s given me insights on how a community revolves around games. Seeing that first-hand is really interesting. We’re a community of people who take games seriously.”
Stereotype #5: Gamers are loners or socially inept
Fact: Gamers sometimes choose not to express their interest, in fear of shaming, so some may decide to move the social aspect to the online space.
Others find camaraderie with other gamers.
Missy Sentieno, a second-year graduate student at NYU studying game design, enjoys being part of the active gaming community at NYU after being rejected by others offline for her gaming hobby in her childhood.
“I’ve been shamed by non-gamers and I felt that I had to hide that part of me,” Sentieno said.“I’ve never felt in my immediate community that I’ve been bombarded. I’ve felt most alienated by characters. Tony Hawk was the first game that I could play as a female or black character. But I was disappointed that there wasn’t a female black character.”
The LifeCourse Associates study found that gamers lead more social lives than non-gamers and are more likely to be living with other people (this included family, friends, roommates or significant others). Approximately 72 percent of gamers stated that they game with their friends. As for other forms of social interaction, only 23 percent of gamers claim that they watch television alone, as opposed to 40 percent of non-gamers, while 42 percent will watch videos on the computer, phone or television with friends while visiting.
The Nerd Castle is an ongoing master’s capstone project with the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism that will be used to explore, showcase and expose diversity and the issues surrounding it within the gaming community.
Anna-Michelle can be found on Twitter @amlavandier. The Nerd Castle can also be found on Facebook and Instagram.
The erroneous stereotypes about gamers that everyone is used to
Despite the fact that we live in the information age, and any person who is not familiar with any topic or area has free access to all the tools to understand it , there are still characters stuck, it seems, in the Stone Age. Their ideas about the world around them are built on terry stereotypes that have nothing to do with reality.
Contents
Today we've decided to collect for you the most selective misconceptions about computer games and those who play them. And, of course, destroy each of these stereotypes.
You are ready? Then we start.
Computer games are children's entertainment
Probably the most common stereotype about gamers, which appeared in the last century, and even then was erroneous. It is not difficult to see where his legs grow from: with the ubiquity of home computers and game consoles, games became available to the younger generation, which displeased overly conservative parents and gave rise to all sorts of horror stories, which we will discuss below.
Now only the most dense and far from the industry people can call games "entertainment for children". According to the results of a study by the National Research University Higher School of Economics, the average age of a Russian gamer is 36 years old, and if we take world statistics, then 34. However, neither scientific research nor even games like The Last of Us and Resident Evil marked 18+. True, we all know that the age rating is not that much of a problem for young gamers, but that's another story.
It's a shame that such stereotypes, despite their fallacy, take root even in modern mass culture. So the recent film with Ryan Reynolds "Protagonist" came out quite well and was clearly created by people who know firsthand about gaming culture, but even in it gamers were shown as children and teenagers. Not good, comrade Deadpool!
If there are adult gamers, then they are thirty-year-old nerds and sociopaths sitting on their mother’s neck
Usually, this argument is resorted to by the same conservatives who are far from modern reality, whose knowledge in the digital space does not go beyond the Odnoklassniki social network . And, of course, it has nothing to do with reality. It is simply hard for these people to accept that video games are one of the most popular entertainment in the modern world, along with watching movies and series. And the most ordinary people are fond of them, and not some unsocialized outcasts.
To break this stereotype, we decided to collect the most famous and notorious "sociopaths sitting on the mother's neck.
" And so the list turned out:
Henry Cavill is a famous notorious gamer who, according to him, missed a call from Zack Snyder when he was about to offer him the role of Superman, because he was at that time in a dungeon in World of Warcraft. Luckily, Snyder was persistent and called back again. Henry actively plays both new popular projects and timeless classics, and calls Total War his favorite game series.
Vin Diesel is another toy fan who even owns his own game development company, Tigon Studios. He himself prefers Call of Duty and other shooters, and is also a big fan of Dungeons and Dragons, which, however, is no longer the case for video games.
Hollywood's chief motherfucker Samuel Jackson might well have called the previous two gamers green noobs. His favorite game series is GTA, and many know that he gave his voice to Tenpenny from GTA: San Andreas. The 72-year-old star also loves Call of Duty.
Another GTA lover is Daniel Craig, the James Bond of our century.
According to the actor, he is one of those who can play Vice City for days. The Halo series is also one of his favorites.
Probably no surprise that these superheroes of yours, Jedi and other British super agents play video games. But it is more difficult to believe that in World of Warcraft such a not very pleasant person as Dr. House is cut for hours. But still, actor Hugh Laurie confessed his love for this game, however, he did not tell what class and race he plays for.
This list can be continued for a long time, but it is already easy to see that the image of a thirty-year-old nerd does not really correspond to the real portrait of a modern gamer. You can, of course, throw a stone at the garden of the creators of South Park for the main antagonist of the most famous series of the animated series, but so be it, we will not do this.
And anyway, you have to earn money, not play games
The next line of defense in the head of conservatives is here. “You keep playing with toys, but normal people make money,” they say, lying on the couch and burying themselves in the TV with a bottle of beer in their hand.
Video games are primarily entertainment, but they can also be a good source of income.
The fact that esports players get excellent pay for their skills is too much to say, but it should be understood that this does not shine for most gamers. The “psychological challenger” in League of Legends, sitting in silver for the third year and dreaming of esports prospects, either deceives himself or does something wrong. As in professional sports, only a few out of millions become professionals here.
However, there are other ways to make money playing video games. Most popular streamers are not progamers for the most part, and they gather an audience thanks to personal charisma, humor and pleasant communication with subscribers. Anyone can start streaming now, but in order to earn money, you will have to make an effort.
And, of course, let's not forget about the content makers of popular games, who deservedly earn on their talent. Someone reveals interesting details of the intricate gaming lore, someone makes chic cartoons based on video games, and someone amazes with the coolest cosplay of game characters.
And that's not to mention the game developers themselves.
Games make you dumb, and in general they are harmful to health
A lot of scientific works have already been devoted to how games affect the intellect, and the conclusions of scientists indicate the opposite. Different game genres require different skills and stimulate different areas of the brain. For example, real-time strategies have a positive effect on organizational skills, logical thinking, time management and decision-making speed, role-playing games improve coordination with other people and communication skills, and arcade games develop thinking speed and spatial perception. Almost all games have a positive effect on short-term memory.
If everything is in order with the intellectual activity of gamers, then the harm to health from sitting at the computer for a long time really takes place. However, associating it with video games is nothing more than manipulation. People with sedentary jobs experience much more problems for the same reasons, and, unlike gamers, they cannot afford to get up from the computer and go for a walk during working hours.
Fortunately, there are various techniques for dealing with the negative effects on posture, hands and vision after long-term work at the computer, so if you pay attention to your health, there will be no problems. In addition, do not forget that everything is good in moderation. Spending 24/7 in the game without sleep or food can really backfire, but the same can be said for other activities, including those that are considered "healthy" in society. And the reproaches about the dangers of video games for health from people whose list of entertainments is alcohol, smoking and zombies look especially hypocritical.
Violent games provoke aggression
Probably the most popular stereotype among grumbling grandmothers at the entrances. Today you play GTA, and tomorrow you yourself will start stealing cars and beating people on the street. Today you play Doom, and tomorrow you are already running around the city with a shotgun and a chainsaw, stuffing frags. Today you play Warhammer 4000: Dawn of War, and tomorrow you exterminate vile xenos and heretics on the planet Tartarus in the name of God Emperor.
Swimming, we know.
And again, reality turns out to be the exact opposite of stereotypes based on nothing. Scientists note that action games have exactly the opposite effect - they reduce aggression. Perhaps gamers just take out their boundless anger on the poor NPCs, and decide to somehow do without massacres? Okay, we will not delve into the psychological mechanisms and pretend that we understand something about it. Let's leave it to professional researchers who have already made their conclusions.
Girls don't play games
But this stereotype is already characteristic of gamers themselves, however, it is gradually becoming a thing of the past. Indeed, when the gaming industry was just emerging, the developers tried to cater specifically to the male audience, thanks to which so many long-legged, busty beauties appeared in the games of the 90s. But the evolutionary race was won by those companies that made a bet on the female audience.
Today's video game audience is equally gendered, and some marketers even claim that there are even more female gamers, especially in the mobile gaming market.
The only true statement is that boys and girls like different game genres, but this is mainly a matter of conservative upbringing, not video games per se. But in practice, girls are able to succeed even in such "male" games as Eve Online (for example, Kara Korbrey - https://youtu.be/tb10FQiGP20, however, now she has moved away from Eve towards single-player projects).
The coolest gamers are the game developers themselves
In the early days of the industry, games were really designed by gamers for gamers. Everyone remembers the example of Blizzard from those times when each of their projects was a masterpiece, and every vote was really important. Alas, those days are long gone, and the gaming industry has turned into a serious business, where people came, often far from understanding the gaming culture and thinking in completely different categories.
However, this aging stereotype still holds true for indie games that are created by passionate enthusiasts, without all those commercial strategies, focus groups and control departments, but with soul.
And not all large companies have finally moved away and lost touch with their audience, the Japanese from Square Enix set a good example. This stereotype is only partly true.
However, when it comes to professional gaming, the picture is different. Game developers are rarely able to hone their gaming skills to the level of esports, and they have to listen to pro gamers, for example, in terms of game balance. And there are also cases from MMOs when close-knit raids killed bosses that the developers themselves considered invincible. So comparing game creators with progamers is still not worth it.
So, we managed to break some popular stereotypes about video games and gamers. Have you come across others?
The 5 most common stereotypes about gamers | Gamefans
I don’t know, maybe similar material surfaced in the vastness of Zen, but not so long ago I encountered another stereotypical situation regarding computer game lovers.
Many consider us to be somehow out of this world, we are stuck in childhood and so on. That is why I decided to write this article, sharing my opinion on the topic.
So what are the most common stereotypes about gamers? Let's figure it out.
Stereotype 1: our hobby is only harmful
Many people now say that video games are harmful. Health, family, work, domestic ferret, gravity and so on. Games are allegedly to blame for all the troubles, as they teach bad things, awaken cruelty and make people evil. Of course, the situation is absolutely erroneous and games do not teach anything bad. No, there are individuals who are overexcited by another overwhelmed digital grandma in GTA, but this is more an exception than a given.
Stereotype 2: gamers are programmers
Many believe that since a person spends a lot of time at a computer, he is able to disassemble and assemble them with his eyes closed. Maybe there are such geniuses, but by my own example I will say that I am not like that.
Moreover, for most of my conscious gaming life, I couldn’t even reinstall Windu on my own, so where can I personally assemble the computer.
People don't understand that we just love games. Just. We love. Play. Do not mess around with hardware, do not program or hack into the Pentagon. Games are what we specialize in.
Stereotype 3: gamers shun society
No, we don't. Moreover, we are likely to communicate more with the same accountants, engineers and salespeople. Okay, I went too far with the last one, but computer game fans tend to have a lot of acquaintances. Basically, of course, on the Internet, but is communication really different here?
The essence of the message is simple - we are not afraid of communication. Yes, avid gamers do not often leave their "lair", but this does not mean that they are closed and antisocial.
Stereotype 4: games are a waste of time
A very common stereotype, especially among those who have nothing to do with games.
Such people believe that since you are not doing anything physical with your hands, then you are wasting your life in vain.
In fact, spending time in games has a lot of benefits, mainly for the intellectual development of a person. We can learn the essence of the structure of a car from a simulator, learn a lot about the structure of the human body, or learn something interesting related to space or our history.
Stereotype 5: You can't make money from games
Ninja is one of the richest streamers... And his "game room" worth a couple of tens of thousands of dollars...
Over the years, even the most ardent adherents of this stereotype begin to change your mind. Seeing the prize money for the first places in the championships and watching how much streamers earn, you can understand that money is spinning in the industry. Moreover, rather big ones, and even a simple player with an average skill level is able to earn a thousand or two in his favorite business.
