Video Games, Hinge, & Please don't call me "Bro"
There I was, sitting on the couch after setting up my Hinge profile. It was probably the tenth time I had downloaded the app in the past few years, but I had nothing else to do at the moment. After a few minutes, I got a notification match. The man had given a response to a comment I’d put about video games. I was immediately interested, because this would be the moment I would see what a man, aged between 24 and 31, living in Orange County, California, would have to say about video game inclusion. Would he be supportive? Would he be interested in hearing more?
“They’re running shit in most companies, bro.”
Well, reality hit.
We live in peak COVID-19 times, where “going out” isn’t really a thing at the moment. When I originally downloaded Hinge, I didn’t think much of doing any kind of going out. For those of you unfamiliar, Hinge is a dating app where you can like someone’s photo or a comment of theirs, match, and begin talking. You have the option to make your own prompts, or use one of Hinge’s pre-made ones.
I answered one of the pre-selected prompts when setting up my profile. The prompt was “A social cause I care about is,” and I filled in the rest with “the inclusion of women and diversity in video games.” I didn’t think much of this, at least, not in the beginning. Though I started getting some responses to that comment specifically that made me realize it was a perfect opportunity to do some user interviews and analyze what was sent to me.
First, let’s think about the context of Hinge. It’s a dating app. People are on there to find someone, and a first impression can make or break a match. With the addition of my statement, a few men were more than happy to give their opinion about it. Just so I am transparent: I did not give my opinion about how women or the lack of diversity had affected any gaming company or the gamer culture. I did not give my opinion on a “lack of inclusion” either. The men who responded gave their own opinions simply based on my social cause comment, or if they liked the comment, I asked them “what are your thoughts?” to prompt their response.
Now, back to my first contender. He responded with “They’re running shit in most companies, bro.” Now the “they’re” must be referring to either women or a person of color. I’m not sure why he had to curse, or why he said that they are “running shit.” It’s an assumption, but it paints a picture of what this user’s opinion on this topic was. So, I did some research to see if women were indeed running most gaming companies.
The International Game Developer’s Association (IGDA) puts out a survey every year that highlights the stats of those working in the industry. In 2019, they received 1,116 responses to their survey. Not surprisingly, 71% of the respondents were male, with 24% being women, 3% non-binary, and 2% in the self-described category. In addition to this survey, the Entertainment Software Association released their own report that women made up only 22% of the gaming industry workforce.
With all that in mind, the assumption this user made that women or diverse candidates are doing the “most” in these companies isn’t backed by the data I found. Whether this assumption was to defend the video game industry from my comment, or that women are doing enough at their 24%, the user perpetuated that gaming culture mindset I mentioned in my article about Kris. To highlight that article, I had found a comment on a popular gaming company’s post on LinkedIn that stated there didn’t need to be any trans representation because “they make up .00001% of the population.”
A good user interview phase in most projects has around three to five subjects, so I continued waiting for more comments to appear to round out my research.
The next man who offered up his opinion stated that the “mainstream games, like Overwatch, popularize ‘female culture’.” Let’s break this one down. There are female characters in Overwatch, and he stated that there is a new “female culture” that is being perpetuated through these video games that “have created female characters which are really heroes in their own sense.” This was a new take from the first response I had received. Though as a UX researcher, you always want to ask “why?” So, I asked him what he thought were specific considerations that went into “female culture.”
His response? “Female culture” was a mix of a woman’s availability to play with men on an equal level and taken seriously, followed by how there aren’t many women playing fighting or racing games, but “there tends to be much more in FPS (first person shooter) games.” This was new, and I was interested. I did a quick search, and Quantic Foundry in 2017 had released their survey on women in video games, with a section broken down on genre. Only 7% of women who responded played FPS games and only 6% played racing games. Another assumption, but one that wasn’t rooted in defense of the gaming culture like the previous user. Whatever this “female culture” is, I’d be curious to hear more about it in the future.
The final user I chose for this research first asked for my opinion. I then said I would like to hear his first, and he first started on the topic of women who use Twitch streaming. He stated “There are so many creeps. The gamers that do take it seriously have to change their mannerism in order to appeal to males.” Why women seemingly have to change their habits to appeal to males would take up another article, so I waited for him to continue. He then went on to explain how women “need their own league” (for gaming?) and that there are “physical capabilities such as reaction times between men and women.” I had never thought about anything physical when it came to gaming, besides clunky controllers that are sometimes too big, but this user went on to explain that because “men are more muscular,” women couldn’t contend.
The entire experience with this user was akin to a roller coaster ride. One moment he would be explaining how there is too much sexism, yet then say reaction times between men and women really needed to be taken into consideration. This was an interesting comment to research. I found that there was little disparity between a man and woman’s reaction times. There were also different aspects taken into consideration such as decision making times or visual and auditory reaction times. There is an article that states gamers have higher reaction times than non-gamers, but it was not broken down by gender. Some highlights were women have a higher decision making time when given a choice, while men had higher movement times.
So what does all of this research mean?
I received more comments than the three I highlighted above, but most had the same tone. There were assumptions that were possibly rooted in their own experiences, or even from something that they read online. I did not feel the need to argue with any of them, as I removed my own bias and let them talk to someone who was interested in what they had to say. Either way, my stand point was enough for one man to call me “bro,” and it led me to think about the “bro-culture” that gaming companies are starting to fight back against. I didn’t even get into the context of dating, which leads me to another question: why would he call me bro?
Women and BIPOC in games aren’t enough to change the cultural considerations of those playing them. Inclusion needs to be normalized, where it’s not an afterthought or for “popularizing female culture.” How do the women who stream on Twitch feel supported? How do you stop the harassment of someone who might not speak the same way as others do online? All excellent considerations for the future of games.
Oh, and please don’t call me “bro.”
