causal gaming and sex
I saw this really quick blurb on game pro about "causal gamers and it got me thinking about how we define "casual gamers," or how casual gamers define (or don't define) themselves. I find myself wondering about the "shame" of gaming, or taking on a "gamer" label.
For example, my mother refuses to call herself a gamer, but she plays minesweeper, Myst, spider solitaire, and various other games on a regular basis. When I asked her about the discrepancy, she said, "you're right, but I'm not serious about it [playing games]."
How may people not wanting to admit their "gaming" influence our future empirical research?
Comments
I think that there are a lot
I think that there are a lot of gamers who don't want to admit it. When I was interviewing student gamers several other faculty members on campus told me that there were no female gamers on campus. Now, I hit the same venues and made it known that I was a woman (used my whole name rather than Dr. or Prof. Blackmon) and I had girl gamers coming out of the woodwork and referring their friends to me. I think that female gamers to some degree may not want boys (my male subjects were also under the impression that none of the girls on campus game...and no girls go to PUGG meetings and LAN parties) and male researchers to know that they game because it is such a phallocentric endeavor.
How much of this can be influenced by game design?