Inspired of a recent Twitter conversation, I decided to google the statistics of the demographics of the gaming market.

Here's what I found:

1. http://newamericamedia.org/2011/09/gamer-to-game-makers-wheres-the-diversity.php

The pixilated elephant in the room of the multi-billion dollar gaming industry: African Americans and Hispanics play and purchase video games more than any other ethnic group in the U.S., yet the overwhelming majority of characters in games are young white males.

...

Good’s assertion, however, that whites constitute the majority of consumers in the gaming industry is inaccurate. According to The Kaiser Family Foundation, African American youth between the ages of 8 and 18 play games 30 minutes more per day than white youth, while Hispanics play an average of 10 minutes more.

Nielsen studied the same cultural groups, with ages ranging from 18 to 49, and also found that African Americans consistently spent more time playing video games than whites. Hispanics, on the other hand, dipped slightly below whites, while Asians -- who make up the second most recognizable ethnicity as video game characters -- showed up fourth.

And while both studies examined home console trends, another report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project showed that even in the area of portable gaming, which given the ubiquity of smart phones and tablets has become the most lucrative arm of the industry, African Americans and Hispanics still outranked whites.

One of the arguments used to justify the lack of diversity across the video game eco-sphere -- its media, marketing efforts and characters – is that gaming is, like lacrosse or tennis, a pastime of the privileged. On the contrary, Reuters reported that low-income families who make less than $35,000 play more games than families who make over $74,000 in a study that also found little difference in their purchasing habits.

2. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/female-adults-oust-teenage-boys-largest-gaming-demographic/

Adult female gamers have unseated boys under the age of 18 as the largest video game-playing demographic in the U.S., according to a recently published study from the Entertainment Software Association, a trade group focused the U.S. gaming industry.

While men still account for the majority of the U.S. gaming population, the number of women playing games on both consoles and mobile devices is up to 48 percent, from 40 percent in 2010.
The spike in the number female gamers is likely tied to widespread smartphone adoption. In addition to traditional PCs and the Nintendo Wii game console, women were more likely to game on their mobile devices, and were just as likely as men to play on Apple’s iPhone and iPad platforms. In the past, female gamers were thought to play games primarily as a means of connecting with their loved ones.

The two links above tell me that the majority of gaming consumers are mostly poorer people of color (namely Black & Hispanic) and women. And yet, the games themselves don't reflect that.

Last generation could honestly be referred to as "The Era of the Bald White Male Space Marine", and outside of GTAV & inFAMOUS: Second Son, this new generation isn't off to a very good start in that regard either.

In fact, speaking of GTA, the reception from the last couple of games from that series has been a bit interesting. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Grand Theft Auto: Ballad of Gay Tony, & Grand Theft Auto V are amongst the best critically acclaimed titles in the history of the industry. In San Andreas' and V's case specifically, they rank highly among the best selling games of all time (San Andreas selling 27.5 million copies & V essentially doubling that with 45 million copies sold). All of these games feature minority lead protagonists. However, San Andreas was initially met with criticism upon its reveal for its minority character focus and placement in a 90's-esque gangsta rap era. But each title's success shows that not only are minority-focused are not only a welcome venture, but a profitable one, as the market has proven to support it.

Other games & game series, like Bayonetta, Metroid, Tomb Raider, Beyond: Two Souls, Bloodrayne, The Last of Us, & (*sigh*) Final Fantasy XIII, were all shown to be successful games with female protagonists. And those are just the ones that come to mind immediately.

Yet the industry has largely ignored it's minority consumers outside of lip service. Games are still being made with mainly straight White males in mind, under the guise that they make up the majority of the market, and that the market won't support anything else. Yet, as the links above suggest, those are clearly inaccurate assumptions.

The question then becomes, "If the data suggests otherwise, why is the gaming industry so stubbornly focused on pleasing the straight White male demographic?" To answer that, one can make a reasonable assumption that the gaming industry, largely made up of straight White male programmers, artists, writers, producers, animators & executives, doesn't posses the knowledge necessary to properly please its minority consumer base. Personally, I'd take it a step farther: they don't want to.

The projected notion that the majority of the gaming market is White, male, and straight, is exactly that - a projection. The truth is, the majority of games don't represent the market; rather, they represent the people making them. A lot of games prop up White male power fantasies in the way that they are written, designed, and marketed. Any minorities that are placed in the games are usually relegated to stereotypical roles that are portrayed in ways that would be sad, if not funny. For instance, we've all played RPG's that feature female characters in revealing, non-functional armors and clothing, serving as nothing more than eye candy for the player. Or the stereotypical "thug" character that is given no context as to why he exhibits "thug" behavior.

Here's the thing: none of those examples are bad things within their own vacuums. A purely stereotypically-driven character can be well received, if done right. Lord knows I love Cole Train & Sahz. And people can overlook a scantily-clad female character is she makes up for her lack of clothing with everything else about her. The problem comes when nearly EVERY game features characters like this, with little or no effort placed into representing minorities in a positive, influential manner. For ever Lara Croft, there are a hundred more female characters who only serve as sexy damsels-in-distress. For every Cole Train, there are a hundred other jive-talking Black characters that don't even come close to replicating the quality of Cole Train's character.

I'm not sure what has to happen for any of this to change, though. The obvious answer would have to be "hire more minorities in the industry, so that the games themselves will become a more accurate reflection of the market". But as we've seen time and time again, corporate desire > development desire, so for me, the entire industry would have to diversify itself from the top down. More women & people of color in high positions, positions that could greenlight more diverse games to the market. A sans-Gawker gaming press that is more willing to address the issue. And more importantly, we need the straight, White, and male portion of the gaming community to not be so hostile towards everyone different than them. That goes for anything, from online gaming behavior, to shit like GamerGate. I'd be willing to bet that more developers would be more comfortable embracing diverse ideas if there wasn't a chance for those developers to be doxxed because some White dudes on a gaming forum had a problem with them.
Top