Are You A Gaymer?
The straight gamer stereotype, or at least part of it, is being challenged by a recent survey out of the University of Illinois to study gay, lesbian, and bisexual gamers. Recent graduate Jason Rockwood designed the survey, which is the first formal, academically-approved study of sexual orientation and related issues among gamers.
The survey, which consists of 91 questions and takes 30-45 minutes to complete, is designed both to determine the presence of gay gamers and to learn about their concerns and gaming habits. The questions cover subjects such as gaming preferences, sexual identity, recent purchases, and online gaming activity.
In addition to understanding the presence of gay, lesbian, and bisexual gamers, the study should also provide a real sense of what gay gamers enjoy playing. Rockwood said some gay gamers were concerned that marketers would try to court the demographic with naïve stereotypes, similar to luring female gamers with titles like Barbie Horse Adventure.
"People had talked about being gay and being a gamer, but nobody had asked them to unify those two elements and people were excited about that," Rockwood told In Newsweekly. "Some people were hesitant though, because they didn't want to be stereotyped having games that were developed to be ridiculous toward the community. They wanted both sides to be taken seriously and if there was stereotypical content it would trivialize both identities of being gay and a gamer."
Doubtless the survey will be refreshing to the many gamers who are also gay. More broadly, however, the survey is the first study of a specific gamer group -- for instance, no one has specifically surveyed female gamers, non-Caucasian gamers, older gamers, and such. While the industry closely tracks sales or readership of gaming articles, very little is known about which demographics are playing. The industry often acts on assumptions about its audience, while players themselves may not realize that many of their teammates or opponents -- or just fellow fans -- are not always male, white, or straight.
"The main purpose of the survey was to be a census," Rockwood said. "Before we can ask more intelligent questions we need to know who we are dealing with. First we need to prove that homosexual gamers even exist. Yeah it sounds ridiculous, but that's where you have to start on something like this. This survey is an attempt to quantify the existence of an invisible minority."
The survey is currently open to all gamers -- gay, lesbian, bisexual, and straight -- at www.gaymersurvey.org.
Article adapted from IGN.com.
