Participate in a Survey About Gender Diversity in Video Games

[roseofbattle]

Participate in a Survey About Gender Diversity in Video Games

Jennifer Allaway invites game players and game developers to respond to a survey about diversity in video games.

In June, #womenaretoohardtoanimate [http://www.polygon.com/e3-2014/2014/6/10/5798592/assassins-creed-unity-female-assassins] hashtag. Student researcher Jennifer Allaway is examining the relationship between players' desires for diversity and game developers' understanding of that desire, among many other topics, for a GDC 2015 talk.

Allaway is using this situation as a case study for disparities among game developer expectations and player desires. The study comprises two surveys. One survey is specifically designed for players who are not in the games industry and asks consumers for their opinions on diversity in the games themselves, whether players feel represented in games, whether a discussion about diversity is important, and whether game developers are doing enough for diversity.

If you are a consumer and would like to participate in Allaway's research, fill out the player survey here [http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/1776666/PlayerSurvey].

Another survey is available for game developers and asks questions about target audience, opinions on how important diversity is to players, and predictions of players' behaviors surrounding diversity in games. Allaway will compare the two surveys to examine how effectively game developers are predicting the desires of players when it comes to matters of diversity of racial background and gender identity. Allaway believes this information will fill in missing information about how diversity affects games' profitability, games' content, and how companies are understanding or misunderstanding players.

If you are a game developer and would like to participate, fill out the developer survey here [http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/1776663/DevSurvey].

Allaway plans to present her findings alongside Sheri Graner Ray, owner of Zombie Cat Studios and author of Gender Inclusive Game Design--Expanding the Market, at GDC 2015.


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[Random Argument Man]

Well if the right people answer the survey, it would be interesting to see it. (Right as in people who take this seriously and are well informed) (Wrong as in trolling or judging things based on low amount of info).

 

[Fappy]

Well if the right people answer the survey, it would be interesting to see it. (Right as in people who take this seriously and are well informed) (Wrong as in trolling or judging things based on low amount of info).

Yeah, I imagine this survey would be easy to manipulate considering it is web-based. Hopefully everyone involved takes this seriously. It would be nice to have this kind of data to mull over for a number of reasons.

 

[Agayek]

Well if the right people answer the survey, it would be interesting to see it. (Right as in people who take this seriously and are well informed) (Wrong as in trolling or judging things based on low amount of info).

Agreed. I'm actually several different flavors of interested in what the end result is gonna look like.

 

[Queen Michael]

The genre list didn't include platformers, a genre that was synonymous with video games to non-gamers for years. Kind of a huge miss there.

 

[WindKnight]

Well, I answered it seriously, but I do remember the Comics diversity survey being used to direct misogynist abuse at the woman running it (she also got the usual harrassment, abuse, as well as attempts to access her bank account over reviewing a comic book cover)

 

[Mezahmay]

I kinda wish the survey included a middle ground in its questions that asked for a 1-6 answer. I feel like it's now representing my indifference as a slight positive since I couldn't truthfully say I felt negatively toward something. It's also a little weird how the survey asks for gender identity off the bat but uses gender later in place of the survey taker's sex...unless the survey is not interested in the player's sex? But gender does? Does sexual orientation take place of gender identity then? Uh, my head hurts.

 

[josemlopes]

Why am I forced to say that I do sometimes prefer to play has a different character of a different gender, race, or some other aspect? Where is "I play whatever the game lets me play as"?

Yeah, I played Saints Row as Lara Croft and Black Dynamite, just as I played as Bruce Willis and Hitler. Its easy to see that it wasnt because I wanted to fell black or a woman as it wasnt because I wanted to be a bald guy or a nazi too.

 

[rofltehcat]

I did the survey but when I clicked submit, I was redirected back to the survey without a confirmation or something. NoScript was off globally for that. I can only hope my answers were saved.
I also hope it doesn't get ruined by certain internet groups.

The genre list didn't include platformers, a genre that was synonymous with video games to non-gamers for years. Kind of a huge miss there.

I guess it is included in the overcrowded "Action" genre: The Action genre classification has been a dump for basically every video game ever since a few decades.

 

[Covarr]

The problem is, these tend to be shallow forms of diversity. I want to see deeper characters, regardless of something superficial like ethnicity. It seems like the vast majority of game characters, both protagonists and NPCs alike, fall into a very limited number of personality archetypes, and that makes them far more difficult to relate to or care about than race, gender, socioeconomic status, etc. In spite of being a Hispanic male, I could never even almost relate to Dom from Gears of War, and yet I found myself having no such issue with non-Hispanic non-male Clementine from The Walking Dead. It's all a matter of fleshing out personalities and making something that isn't heavily generic.

P.S. Thanks

 

[FFMaster]

The questions are kind leading in this survey , i mean one of the questions "I will buy games that support diverse character over games that do not, provided the quality of the games and other factors are equal. " Doesn't have a answer that is applicable.

As the answer to that for me is "if the game is good sure, but its not a factor in my decision on the whole" so i guess I put strongly disagree. But i know that marking it as strongly disagree will likely be seen as "omg this person is dirty sexist who doesn't want women in gamez" by some of the people that read the results.

If the last few weeks have thought us anything, its that facts can be read in many different ways, not sure the results of this survey are going to be indicative of anything :/

 

[weirdee]

Yep. Summed up as "you're not asking the right kinds of questions" and "you can't just insert 'diversity' into a game like it's a new kind of texture mapping or force feedback".

That being said, if it doesn't matter whose face the character wears when they do human things, why can't it be a different face?

 

[BayouStalker]

It didn't have horror for a genre, which would likely get lumped awkwardly into either narrative and action. Plus this likely won't do much than encourage slapdash characters rather than meaningful ones. Diversity is great in games, it is something that should not be ignored. Forced diversity never really works though, and a person should not be forced to change an aspect of a character that might be key, just because someone want's that aspect to be different.

All in all though, a character's race, gender, sexuality, etc, etc, is tertiary in my enjoyment of a game. I tend to barely notice it outside of the standard brown haired, white guy, which is usually joked about.

We do need more diversity though it games. If any gender, race, sexuality, nostril hair, clothing minded disposition is willing to play 23rd generic white guy from the left, it is safe to assume that most people would play other kinds as well.
Gamers and SJW stop crying out as victims and look at the real problem with the games. The companies themselves.

PS. It did feel like the survey was made by a person who knew about videogames, and might have played a few, but wasn't actually a gamer (The genre portion was the problematic part for me.)

 

[Callate]

...My spider sense is tingling.

I'm in the wrong place to answer either survey, methinks; I've made and sold a few games, but probably just enough to fall into neither category.

But I would hesitate to answer anyway; if the research is to presented at a "Gender Inclusive Game Design" panel consisting only of women, I fear the research findings will be presented as either:

"You see? The gaming community is as misogynist as critics have been saying all along!"

or

"You see? The game design community is misogynist, because they're failing to take what customers really want into account!"

 

[LazyAza]

...My spider sense is tingling.

I'm in the wrong place to answer either survey, methinks; I've made and sold a few games, but probably just enough to fall into neither category.

But I would hesitate to answer anyway; if the research is to presented at a "Gender Inclusive Game Design" panel consisting only of women, I fear the research findings will be presented as either:

"You see? The gaming community is as misogynist as critics have been saying all along!"

or

"You see? The game design community is misogynist, because they're failing to take what customers really want into account!"

Both of those things are 100% true though so your point is moot.

 

[CpT_x_Killsteal]

I hit submit, the page refreshes, and it it sends me to the top of the page with all my info still in. Did everyone else get this? Or is my thing broken?

In any case, the questions felt a tad leading.

 

[Vendor-Lazarus]

I took the test. Well, didn't work in my main browser, had to switch to IE.
Then it didn't accept my answer to question 9. Had to chose everything.

Bad survey. Leading questions. Not enough diverse genres.
Waste of time I'm sad to say.

 

[SlightlyEvil]

I answered the survey, but the key problem I had with it (alongside minor issues already pointed out above) was that it fails to distinguish between a customizable avatar and a character distinct from the player. When playing a game like Skyrim, I typically create a character closer to myself, to better project myself into the game world. When playing a game with a predefined lead character, I'd gladly play a well-written female or black or gay or what-have-you character. The survey really doesn't allow for that sort of nuance.

 

[Callate]

Both of those things are 100% true though so your point is moot.

*If* that were true, there would be no point in having a panel about gender inclusive game design at a Game Developer's Conference in the first place.

100% true, no less? Ah, well. Time for the ashes and sack-cloth, I guess.