gamer characteristics survey ( 3 questions)

[Dennis]

Black teens and young adults are just as likely to play video games as white teens and young adults.  The disparity is that they're probably much less likely to visit a Web site on video games.

[sega saturn x]

While at no time in history have gamers been broader in race and gender, the reality is the hardcore fans are still white guys from the ages of 13-40.

[wur1]

[QUOTE=R. Jones][QUOTE=voorhiessa]Specially, I was really interested to see if any African-Americans particpated.  We know the market is skewed towards men and the age groups listed here, but race TOO?

 

I don't want to turn this into a race thing, but I'm just really intrigued by this...any thoughts?[/QUOTE] Black People are more likely to be poor, and more likely to live in an urban area.   People that are poor are less likely to have an expensive hobby like video games.  People that live in really populated urban areas are less likely spend their time doing solitary things
(like playing/making/editing video games, posting on message boards, etc.)

 

Also, the majority of game developers are white or asian.  White and asian people make games from the White and Asian perspective.  Most gaming icons that are human are white or asian.  Most animals are usually voiced by white or asian voice actors.  I think this contributes alot, too.

[/QUOTE]

 

statistically, blacks and hispanics play more video games than whites.  there was an article on it from AP a while back.

 

I'm happy with the current demographics of game developers.  I'd rather see a million "Final" Fantasys than one "187: Ride or Die."

[Alienblue]

Anayo-"Everyone on here is a white male , teenage to mid-thirties!"
AHEM! I just said I turned 40 this year. I was born wayyyyy back
in 1966, the same year Ralph baer got the patent for home videogames!
ZELDA, my gal-FRIEND, was on here a couple times and she is the
same age as I am.
I can safely say, though, that older males (like me) probably do not play anywhere near as often as you younger gamers. I like quick games I can play for a few minutes at a go. I think as you age you tend to lose patience (and hand-eye cordination), so we go more for the classic arcade games and puzzlers. Also, I am
an anomoloy here, as most know, I am ill and unemployed; most 40- somethings work full time AND have families to raise. I just happen to have more free time then most!

[voor]

Old topic, I know...but has anyone ever seen a game with a black heroas the main character?  And I don't mean games like 50 Cent or GTA's, where it's in a negative context (drive bys, etc.)., but something like halo, or castlevania, or RE.

 

I'm not sure, but every African American male gamer I've known has almost primarly played sports and racing games (although some fighters, and a few Halos).

 

Humm...also you know how our society is all about politically correctness, at least in the US?  (like having white and black dancing santa clauses at walmarts to choose from).  Wouldn't it be strange if the next Mario game let you choose your race?

[Cody]

Male, 14, Caucasian

[Alienblue]

I think if there were more Black PROGRAMMERS, we might see more positive black VG characters. I actually think there are probably more Japanese characters tham "white american", Japan being the home of most videogames. Pac-Man isn't YELLOW by accident you know! A lot of Namco games have oriental characters, and Mario is ITALIAN, not American! And TOAD is a Toadstoolian I would guess-and what about PRINCESS TOMATO!?

In the early days there actually WAS a reason for very few Black characters- most backgrounds were solid black! A dark character would dissapear into the background! In a lot of early games, the sex and nationality of the stick figures was pretty abstract, it's possibile the "white character" idea just hung on. I myself wouldn't care if a hero(ian) was black, white, green, purple or techni colored plaid, so long as the game was good.

[Crevalle]

[QUOTE=voor]Old topic, I know...but has anyone ever seen a game with a black heroas the main character?  And I don't mean games like 50 Cent or GTA's, where it's in a negative context (drive bys, etc.)., but something like halo, or castlevania, or RE.
 
I'm not sure, but every African American male gamer I've known has almost primarly played sports and racing games (although some fighters, and a few Halos).
 
Humm...also you know how our society is all about politically correctness, at least in the US?  (like having white and black dancing santa clauses at walmarts to choose from).  Wouldn't it be strange if the next Mario game let you choose your race?
[/QUOTE]

From a soceital standpoint, races are more comfortable with their own, and there's nothing wrong with that. The problem is when some neanderthal dislikes/discriminates based on color. Anyway, like television, I think white game producers tend to implement white protaganists, and the same for blacks (ie. Fresh Prince of Bel Aire, Bernie Mac, etc). Again, there's nothing wrong with that.

I think political correctness will eventually ruin this great country.

[Steerforth]

Male, 26, White, Norwegian roots.

[m0zart1]

White, 35, Software Engineer, proud libertarian American with Scottish, Dutch, Palestinian Jewish, and Cherokee roots.  Grew up in Southwestern Virginia, but currently living in Houston, TX.