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Author Topic: Gaming Community Study: Research subjects needed  (Read 1487 times)

Frelock

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Gaming Community Study: Research subjects needed
« on: October 13, 2010, 02:41:38 pm »

Greetings, all.  Though I am, by trade, more of a mathematician/engineering sort of guy, the university requires that we take a class connecting the more technological and physical sciences with the social sciences.  Therefore, I find myself needed to write a paper connecting technology to society in some way.  The subject matter for us to choose from was rather broad, so I decided to do something with games, as that it my main interest in my free time.  Considering the enormous amount of feminist research, I felt that examining how games effect women would be something relatively easy to do.  To further tighten my thesis, I decided to research whether there was any difference between how women are treated in indie gaming communities (such as our beloved Bay12 forums) and mainstream communities (like the World of Warcraft boards, for example).  Unfortunately, there's not much literature research on this particular topic; probably because gamers as a whole are simply lumped into one big group in the general literature.  Demographics are studied, but differences between types of gamers are not as often considered.

So I come to you in this grand quest for discovery.  Active research is something actually encouraged by this class, so I ask for a moment of your time to help me understand this brave new world that the internet has created.  According to one of the few demographic polls I've seen around here, approximately 5% of DF players are female.  I remember there being another one with a significantly higher percentage, but I can't seem to find it at the moment.  In any case, to the women of Bay 12, if you could fill out this short survey about your experiences in gaming communities, I would be greatly appreciative.  Naturally, all questions are optional, and all answers anonymous.  If you feel strongly on this subject, I'm also in need of interviews and case studies to flesh out this research.  Send me a PM if you'd like to participate (again, all identities will remain anonymous).

To the far larger demographic of males who play DF, I'm in need of your help too.  This survey asks you about how you have seen women treated in gaming communities.  Again, standard disclaimer that all questions are optional, and all answers anonymous.

For everyone, my thanks for participating in this research.  This thread too is a vital part of the research, if a little less scientific.  Surveys miss questions that need asking.  So, comments?  Questions?  Concerns?  Tacky remarks?  How do you feel women are treated in the gaming community, or even in the internet in general?  Why do you think that is?  Have a story regarding this sort of thing?  What about indie gamers vs mainstream gamers?  What are the stereotypes?  How do they actually act?  Do try to be respectful in here; though a thread of full of insults towards women would certainly be telling data, it is my fondest hope that the people here are understanding to the difficult situation many gamer girls find themselves in.
« Last Edit: October 13, 2010, 09:50:55 pm by Frelock »
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Rilder

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Re: Gaming Community Study: Research subjects needed
« Reply #1 on: October 13, 2010, 03:02:01 pm »

Right, I'l be a research subject... for a price.

500 Dollars Up front, 200 more if put into harms way, in addition, in the event I somehow die while being a research subject, 4.3Million USD must be payed to a person of my choosing.
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Armok

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Re: Gaming Community Study: Research subjects needed
« Reply #2 on: October 13, 2010, 03:11:02 pm »

maybe somehting about if they fear to reveal their gender to the community at all? Thats what msot the related controversy around here that I can remember has been abaut.
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Heron TSG

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Re: Gaming Community Study: Research subjects needed
« Reply #3 on: October 13, 2010, 03:12:11 pm »

I took the manquiz, but I think it would have been better if there was another bracket for population above 15%, maybe 30 or 40 percent or more.
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Euld

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Re: Gaming Community Study: Research subjects needed
« Reply #4 on: October 13, 2010, 04:28:49 pm »

Took the manquiz also, but I don't see a lot of women in games, so I haven't seen what I would call harassment.  Although there was this one time in WoW where a high level male blood elf kept spamming duels with me and said "hot!" after I lost the first one.  I was playing a female tauren... and when you lose a duel in WoW, your character kneels down and makes a pleading gesture, as if pleading for their life.  I ignored him after that >_>

Frelock

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Re: Gaming Community Study: Research subjects needed
« Reply #5 on: October 13, 2010, 04:51:02 pm »

Right, I'l be a research subject... for a price.
I considered giving a sort of random prize for one person who completes the survey, but unfortunately undergraduate research papers have a notoriously low budget in the university.  Even if I could though, your prices are exorbitant; I've sat in focus groups for two hours and received a mere hundred.  At that rate, you'd get $4.17, give or take


maybe somehting about if they fear to reveal their gender to the community at all? Thats what msot the related controversy around here that I can remember has been abaut.
I'm definitely curious about that.  The girl's survey does include a section about if they are open about their gender in the community.


I took the manquiz, but I think it would have been better if there was another bracket for population above 15%, maybe 30 or 40 percent or more.
I'm interested; what community do you know where 40% of the players are women?
« Last Edit: October 13, 2010, 04:53:00 pm by Frelock »
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MaximumZero

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Re: Gaming Community Study: Research subjects needed
« Reply #6 on: October 13, 2010, 05:13:40 pm »

There's always Gaia Online or Neopets...but...good luck getting anything intelligent out of those communities. Try Wendy's Forum for a bunch of nice, seemingly middle aged women who like to pirate stuff.

Also, taking the doodquiz.
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Heron TSG

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Re: Gaming Community Study: Research subjects needed
« Reply #7 on: October 13, 2010, 07:26:58 pm »

I'm interested; what community do you know where 40% of the players are women?
Technically, it's only 34%, but it is Everquest 2. It has an extraordinary amount of women players for an MMO.
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Grakelin

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Re: Gaming Community Study: Research subjects needed
« Reply #8 on: October 13, 2010, 08:20:25 pm »

Thank God. All math and engineer students need to take at least one course in a social science so they can actually understand their society. Good call on your university to take initiative with this one.

I found the questions were kind of skewed in one direction, though, and not really chosen with care. Why the >15% bracket? That's extremely general.
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Frelock

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Re: Gaming Community Study: Research subjects needed
« Reply #9 on: October 13, 2010, 09:43:58 pm »

Indeed, the questions show the bias of the examiner.  The 15% came from the other DF survey I mentioned, which I'm pretty sure put the number of women who play DF around that percentage.  The idea of game communities designed for women skipped my mind as well.  Also, I considered that if 15% of the community were women who were both active and made their genders public, then that community would probably be very tolerant of both genders.   I'll see if I can change the percentage question to a more broad range without simply throwing out the survey.

Edit: Survey was changed successfully.  That particular question now ranges from <1% to >50%.  In addition, I re-worded the last comment section to emphasize the differences I'm looking at (mainstream vs. indie).  If there's any other things that need changing, I'm open to ideas.  Like I said, I'm a mathematician and engineer, so I don't have much experience with surveys and the like.


Technically, it's only 34%, but it is Everquest 2. It has an extraordinary amount of women players for an MMO.
Odd that you should mention Everquest:
Taylor, T. L. (2009). Play Between Worlds: Exploring Online Game Culture. The MIT Press.
One of my sources.  It's about the original Everquest I believe, and I hope the library will get it in any day now.


A final note of thanks to everyone who took the survey already; I really appreciate it.
« Last Edit: October 13, 2010, 10:10:47 pm by Frelock »
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DeKaFu

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Re: Gaming Community Study: Research subjects needed
« Reply #10 on: October 13, 2010, 10:04:35 pm »

I might have messed it up by hitting back and forward a lot, depending on when it actually submits the data...

I wasn't sure how to answer it, really, because I feel like I fall somewhere between lurking and participating. I read the forums daily but only post occasionally. And then I have no idea what to put for whether my gender's known, because I've stated it in public posts here before but don't think I have enough of a presence here to say "everyone knows". And this is pretty much the only indie game community I have experience with.

Sorry about that.
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ed boy

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Re: Gaming Community Study: Research subjects needed
« Reply #11 on: October 14, 2010, 04:39:29 pm »

G According to one of the few demographic polls I've seen around here, approximately 5% of DF players are female.
According to the official stats, the M : F ratio is 4.3 : 1.
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Vector

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Re: Gaming Community Study: Research subjects needed
« Reply #12 on: October 14, 2010, 04:53:10 pm »

I replied.  Dunno what you wanna put down as far as "I faked my gender for about 6 months of my time here," but it's in, in any case.
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Frelock

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Re: Gaming Community Study: Research subjects needed
« Reply #13 on: October 14, 2010, 09:29:28 pm »

Hmm, thanks ed, didn't even know I gave my gender when registering.  That's about 18% of the community...my 15% recollection wasn't too far off...

Thanks Vector, I suppose I probably should have put a comment section on every question, in case clarifications like this came up.

A question that my survey has brought up in some instances: do people think that there's really a difference between mainstream and indie gamers?
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ed boy

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Re: Gaming Community Study: Research subjects needed
« Reply #14 on: October 15, 2010, 02:56:28 am »

I myself don't consider there to be a very large difference at all.
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