A common stereotype of an online gamer would be as portrayed in the South Park post below: a male, nerdy, overweight teenager with greasy skin etc. However, this is rapidly changing. As online gaming spreads to the mainstream, reaching a wider audience, a greater spread of people are playing online games.
Proof of this is in demographics of those playing PC game Kart Rider, which, according to sales numbers, 1 in 4 Koreans play.
According to Nexon Corporation, (the distributor Kart Rider), 3 in 10 users are female. The game is also attracting female professional gamers, who enjoy equal success to many male counterparts.
On to of this, a survey in 2005 showed that the worldwide distribution of gamers was 57% male and 43% female, which is coming very close to equal.
In fact, according to a Reuter’s article, “From January through August of 2008 females ages 18 to 45 made up 28 percent of the total industry revenue, ranking second to males ages 18 to 45, who made up 37 percent. Not only does this challenge the gender stereotype but also the age assumption, as the main users of video games are those who were children when the original PC and Nintendo and Sega games were developed.
Video games and online gaming in particular are a growing industry. By expanding from just teenagers and children to adults, and gaining more female users, this digital technology is becoming a larger and larger part of many peoples’ lives. This proves that internet gaming is becoming an increasingly popular way for many people to communicate and interact socially.
In this way, the internet and online gaming are changing the way that people interact, it is up to the individual to decide whether this will have a positive or negative effect on society, but the fact remains that online games are holding an increasingly large part of peoples’ lives.
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