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Contrary to stereotypes, gamers tend to be more inclusive than the general public, study finds (www.psypost.org)
submitted 5 months ago by to c/pcgaming@lemmy.ca
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[–] 17 points 5 months ago (13 children)

From my quick read through of their methods it seems like they didn't account very well for the types of games, platforms and demographics. The decade in question saw a massive explosion of gaming as a hobby into the mainstream and, importantly, a strong growth of women in the gaming population.

So as a whole you have games becoming more mainstream to younger ("woke") audiences and more accessible while the inclusive-biased demographics also blew up. It's not at all shocking that you'd find more inclusivity there.

A much more interesting study would be separating the gamers from the Gamers. Show me how people playing Splatoon and Animal Crossing compare to the neckbeards living in LoL and HoI4...

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  • [–] 11 points 5 months ago (5 children)

    A much more interesting study would be separating the gamers from the Gamers.

    That would require you to define a Real Gamer, which would be divisive by design.

    It's an exercise in nutpicking.

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  • [–] 3 points 5 months ago (1 child)

    It's hard to give an exact definition, but someone playing candy crush on their phone is meaningfully different than a LoL player. Not in elitism or whatever, but for example one is a game any person might play for a bit while bored, and one is a demanding competitive immersive game. I would say a good separation is the cozy / not competitive games with competitive games, since the competitive ones are the places most people think of Gamers not being accepting.

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  • [–] 2 points 5 months ago

    Exactly. A "gamer" is too broad of a definition to really mean anything if it just means "people who play games". I watch TV/films, but that could mean anything. Reality? Horror? Non-fiction? They're all different. I read books, but that could mean anything. Sci-fi? Fantasy? Biography? Poetry? They're all different.

    I do think competitive versus non-competitive is a good dividing point. I hesitate to use the word "cozy" because I don't think Dark Souls players are playing a "cozy" game.

    But even within competitive there are distinctions to make. Children playing the lastest FPS and screaming into their headsets, probably less inclusive. The speed running community, generally very inclusive.

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  • [+] -5 points 5 months ago (2 children)
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  • [–] 8 points 5 months ago*

    Yeah I have no idea why you lumped first person shooter players, moba players, and 4x players in the same category. Talk about fundamentally different demographics.

    Edit: by the way, I love the Endless series (Legends, Space 2) and love Animal Crossing. I also have 5000 hours in Tarkov. Peak is also fun.

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  • [–] 1 point 5 months ago

    there is a seriously real difference between someone who plays csgo dota and hoi4 vs someone who plays animal crossing splatoon and peak.

    About ten years of age range, for the most part.

    Its fundamentally two entirely different demographics which no over lap

    Yeah, famously, people never get older

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  • [–] 8 points 5 months ago (4 children)

    This is obviously just my experience but the younger generation is not inclusive at all, kind of the opposite. At least around the north east US where I have lived.

    I work in a kitchen. I often have food runners, hosts and dishwashers who are under 18. They're extremely uncool sometimes.

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  • [–] 6 points 5 months ago (2 children)

    Yeah.

    Kids are jerks. They’re naive. I certainly was; I think that’s always been a thing, though I can’t comment on how much worse or better it’s gotten.

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  • [–] 3 points 5 months ago

    Not universally for sure, Gen-Z men are especially problematic. But the sweaty dudes have become a minority of gamers, and I would expect broad-stroke "gamer" world views to reflect the influx of other demographics.

    That's what I'd like to see more of in this research. Cut it by age cohort, gender, income, genres of game, years in the hobby, etc...

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  • [–] 1 point 5 months ago

    Tbf there is a certain overlap between gaming circles (e.g. hard core tryhard games and chill mellow games).
    But besides that: Yeah, some game communities can get very toxic. Even more so if you open up to a weakness they can exploit easily while one is vulnerable...

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