Gaming Not For 'Nerds'
Last updated: 16/11/2006 - 14:42
University researchers have found that a large proportion of online gamers are women - and the age of gamers ranges up to middle-age.
Breaking the stereotype: The case of online gaming
Online gaming is not just for ‘Nerds’, says new research. Stereotyping computer games players as male teenage social outcasts is misplaced, according to the first ever survey of online gamers, carried out at The Nottingham Trent University.
The report entitled Breaking the stereotype: The case of online gaming co-written by Professor Mark Griffiths, Dr Mark Davies and Darren Chappell found that a substantial proportion of players were women and that the age of gamers ranged up to middle-age.
Phenomenon
They carried out the study because despite the rise of computer games as a leisure phenomenon, there has been relatively little research into this area and anything to date has concentrated on arcade or console games. Data was collected from two online gaming fan sites which have regularly polled their users an average of every two to four week since 1999. More than 11,000 gamers gave answers.
Professor Griffiths said of the findings: "We found that the majority (85%) of players were male and more than 60% of players were older than 19 years. The data provide clear evidence that the game clientele is very much an adult profile and suggest a different picture to the stereotypical image of an adolescent online gamer. The stereotype of the typical online player being a socially withdrawn young male with limited sex role identity appears to be misplaced.
Benchmark
"There is a significant minority of women (15%) that play and it is very striking to find people over the age of 40 years take part. Other aspects of gaming observed in the study include the length of time users play, the frequency of play and what users likes and disliked about online gaming.
Professor Griffiths said the pioneering study was important because future research in the area would be measured against the benchmark data it provided.
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