What Does a Gamer Look Like? Video Games,Advertising,and Diversity

Abstract

Recent years have seen changes to the video game industry and the image of video game players. There are more games on the market and a larger variety of ways to play those games. Yet, despite market shifts, authors such as Shaw demonstrate that there are still tensions surrounding gamer identification. Even as next-generation systems (such as the Xbox One, the PlayStation 4, and the Wii U) and casual gaming take hold of the market, tension remains between the perceptions of who is playing versus the reality of actual players. In our study, we perform a content analysis of video game commercials in 2013 to explore questions of diversity—particularly in terms of portrayals of the player’s sex and ethnicity—to consider how the gamer is represented in terms of physical and behavioral attributes.

Keywords

computer games advertising gender identity video games feminism

Introduction

In the last decade and a half, the video game industry has changed dramatically. There are more games on the market and a larger variety of ways to play those games. Recent statistics illustrate about half of all video game players are women (Jayanth 2014), and adult women audiences now exceed teen boy audiences (Pulliam-Moore 2014). Yet, despite these shifts, common representations of game players still skew toward the depiction of white, heterosexual males. This research suggests that by analyzing the content of recent video game advertisements, we might get a clearer picture of the visual and behavioral representations of game players.

In the following study, we perform a content analysis of video game commercial advertisements in 2013, wherein the representation of the video game audience is not necessarily identical to the actual audience. We specifically study 2013 as a year in which there was an industry shift: all three major video game console companies introduced a new gaming system that year. To explore this problem, we examine ways that advertisements still might project more traditional articulations of the “gamer.” If this traditional “gamer” still exists, our study asks the question, “What does that gamer look like?”—in other words, what are the physical attributes of the perceived video game player according to commercial television and, in turn, how might we expect this player to behave vis-à-vis expectations of traditional gaming stereotypes?

Literature Review

Gaming, Diversity, and Identity

Video games as a market and industry are still in the process of negotiating their audiences. Beginning with major market video games in the 1980s and continuing through the 1990s, video game technologies were primarily designed by and for—and subsequently advertised to—male audiences (Fron et al. 2007). A lack of industry diversity, both in terms of gender as well as ethnicity, meant that for a long time, primarily white men have dominated the American-based video game industry (Fullerton et al. 2008). As such, the content of video games often reflects this lack of diversity. Creators of big budget (usually) console video games, such as those played on PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo systems—have often made games with the presumption that the primary audience is similar, demographically, to the developers (Fullerton et al. 2008). While these perceptions are not always accurate (Shaw 2012)—often, people outside of these demographics play console games—there has long been a perception of the primary video game audience as a white, heterosexual man.

This suggests that public perception of the video game player is something definable, stable, and consistent. The margins of this definition are far more fuzzy, though, and as pointed out by Shaw (2012, 2013), the cultural perception and definition of what a gamer is becomes far more prescient in defining “gamer” than the realities of who actually plays games. As such, even though there is a cultural perception that men are more likely to embody the gamer personae, the reality is that approximately half of all people who play video games are women (Jayanth 2014).¹ While there might be diversity in terms of who actually plays video games, those who play often are forced to play in ways that hide their actual identities. For example, one recent Pew Research report illustrates that while a diverse number of teens play video games, girls are less likely to play games that require voice chat—a feature that would reveal their identity (Marcotte 2015). Research has demonstrated that the reality of a diverse audience versus the perception of a specific kind of gamer creates marginalized populations of nonwhite and nonmale gamers, particularly in the console market. In her study of women of color playing on Xbox, Gray (2013) demonstrates strategies of how marginalized players deal with deprivileged status through ignoring harassment, opposing it, or protesting it. Shaw’s (2015) research helps to elaborate on ways that players who might not traditionally identify as “gamer” find alternative ways to deal with their own discontinuities with gamer culture. While Ivory (2006) asserts that this is in part because of hypersexualized characters in video games, Shaw (2015) suggests that marginalized players are not necessarily as troubled by the accuracy of in-game representation. Other intervention research, such as Jenson et al. (2011), illustrates methods of disrupting the status quo as it pertains to traditional gamer identity within girls’ after-school programs. These studies coalesce to illustrate that while there might be an expanding market to video games, there is still difficulty in broadening the notion of who a “gamer” is. The term gamer, as such, is packed with immense baggage—both positive and negative. While “gamer” as a term is still problematic in terms of audience perceptions, we continue to use the term within this essay to encompass a more general idea of “video game player.” The title question “what does a gamer look like?” is not meant to suggest a play style, but rather an overwhelming audience perception about a certain “type” of person who is prone to play video games.

Despite these things, there continues to be a lack of diversity in terms of representations of game players. De Grove et al. (2015) suggest that while representations of a “gamer” are expanding to include the more expansive audience, there are still stereotypical perceptions behind the reputation of who might be a gamer, particularly as it pertains to gender. Bergstrom et al. (2014) similarly illustrate that despite shifting demographics for Massively Multiplayer Online Games, popular representations still place these gamers within stereotypical boundaries, creating audience expectations regarding gamer identity. Thus, it becomes important to study not only representations within games but also representations of the gamers themselves in other forms of media.

Advertising and Video Games

Given the value of studying representations of gamers, as opposed to in-game content, we propose that advertising paratexts are a useful space for analysis (Bakir and Palan 2013; Lin 1997; Luyt 2012; Macklin and Kolbe 1984; Schneider and Schneider 1979). While others have chosen alternative modes of popular culture to explore video games such as television and web series (Bergstrom et al. 2014) or video game reviews (Ivory 2006), our focus is on gamer portrayals within video game advertising. Advertising is an ideal means of understanding the texts and subtexts of how we interpret video games and gaming cultures because of its ability to convey culturally enforced codes into popular media (Leymore 1975; Williamson 1994). These codes help to define who, what, and how a product is used both publicly and privately. In this way, advertising allows us to examine larger cultural values and assumptions. In addition, rather than being entirely about products, advertising is about selling an image of consumptive practice (Barthel 1989). In turn, by analyzing advertisements, we are able to illustrate ways that representational images might elaborate on common cultural practices.

Video games have long been advertised in magazines, television, and online. Early video game advertising rarely featured women or nonwhite players. This began to slightly shift with magazine advertising aligned with the newer Nintendo systems of the mid-2000s (the Nintendo Wii and the Nintendo Dual Screen [DS] Lite), which were specifically marketed to women (Fron et al. 2007). Magazine advertisements for the Nintendo Wii often highlighted how mothers could use gaming systems to better bond with their families (Chess 2011). Similarly, Nintendo DS advertisements in women’s magazines often highlighted physical productivity: beauty and time management, in particular. According to Chess (2011, 236), these advertisements are selling more than just play:

By collapsing play with productivity, there is something larger being sold about how women are expected to play. In turn, video games are able to maintain status as masculine play spaces, reinforcing subtext that women should only play in specific circumstances.

Yet, many modes of marketing video games remain alienating to nontraditional or more diverse game audiences. This alienation occurs in several ways. For example, in his study of video game box art versus sales, Near (2013) demonstrated that video game box art with sexualized noncentral female characters had the highest sales for teen- and mature-rated video games. At the same time, there are still other expectations regarding gaming technologies. For example, perceived masculinity is often paired with the perception that the content itself may be overwhelmed with sexist or violent elements. In turn, violence becomes an assumption in terms of how we design masculine play (Burrill 2008). As such, it is worth noting that older studies of video game advertising had a relatively high percentage of games that explicitly advertised violence (Scharrer 2004). In decoding advertising as being meant “for men,” part of the presumption is that speech or action that can be interpreted as “violent” is inherently meant for masculine audiences. In addition, by studying the representation of players in advertisements—as opposed to the game content itself—we are able to illustrate assumptions of who the audience is and what that audience might look like.

It is worth noting that studying advertising itself creates a certain degree of assumptive measures: while we might have a great deal of identity information when analyzing a video game character (for example, a specific ethnicity, sex, or age range), we have none of this information when looking at an actor/character in an advertisement. Similarly, Bergstrom et al.’s (2014) study of popular culture representations of gamers in shows such as The Big Bang Theory involves characters with a great deal of identifiable information. Yet, everything in television commercials is about perception—while the real age or ethnicity of an actor might be disguised by clothing style or makeup, it is only the perception of their age and ethnicity that carries meaning in the fifteen to thirty seconds that we consume the commercial. Thus, using a content analysis method wherein we are able to track multiple visual perceptions about factors such as age, ethnicity, and gender allows us to consider the tricky space of how the audience is most likely to perceive these characters. In other words, it does not necessarily matter if an actor is a thirty-five-year-old African American woman; what matters is how she visually parses to audiences in a short period of time.

Several studies have used content analysis approaches to better understand patterns and codes of how gender and ethnicity are articulated through television commercials. For instance, Paek et al. (2011) used content analysis to compare how gender functions cross-culturally among seven countries. Espinar-Ruiz and González-Diaz (2012) employed content analysis to compare how men and women were portrayed stereotypically in food commercials. Eisend (2010) used meta-analysis to compile studies analyzing gender across television commercials to find common themes and stereotypes. All of these studies establish that gender is still stereotyped within advertising spaces. Furthermore, the content of these studies implies that males and females take on specific kinds of roles in advertising. Where males often take on “agentic” roles (aggressive or leadership-related), females often take on “communal” roles (nurturance or friendliness; Bakir et al. 2008). These roles persist in advertising targeting both children and adults (Bakir and Palan 2013). Thus, the analysis of agentic versus communal roles can help elaborate on the style of representation for game players or potential game players.

Overview of Our Study

In our investigation of what a gamer looks like, we employ content analysis techniques of previous advertising studies on diversity and stereotyping. In this way, we hope to get at the larger question of how the appearance and behaviors of actors in video game commercials reinforce or comment on expectations and stereotypes of who might qualify as a player. The emergence of next-generation console systems provides an opportunity for advertising to new players and new audiences. Yet while next-generation consoles create opportunities to foster more diversity, they also might be affected by preexisting gamer stereotypes and perceptions of masculinity. Given this, our research questions are as follows:

Research Question 1 (RQ1): In video game commercials, what relationships exist between gaming platform (e.g., Wii, Xbox, etc.) and physical characteristics of gamers (e.g., sex, ethnicity, age, etc.)?

Research Question 2 (RQ2): In video game commercials, what relationships exist between gaming platform and behavior of players (e.g., play, discussing violence)?

Research Question 3 (RQ3): In video game commercials, what relationships exist between (a) actor sex and physical characteristics of gamers, and (b) actor sex and player behaviors?

These questions are meant to examine how a gamer is expected to look and how a gamer is expected to behave. Within these questions, we investigate how the specific gaming platform might provide some variation. Given the recent shift to next-generation platforms, it seems possible that some gaming systems might advertise as more family oriented, while other platforms might maintain more traditional masculine depictions of the gamer-type.

Method

For our study of video game advertisements, we undertook a content analysis of video game commercials that aired in 2013. As already noted, 2013 was a key year for the video game industry in terms of the entrance of several new console systems. To address our research questions, we examined various commercial characteristics, physical characteristics of gamers, and player behaviors. Because our focus is on what a gamer looks and behaves like, we only included commercials that featured human actors, excluding those that featured only in-game material. While an analysis of game characters is certainly useful, we felt that it was important to limit the study to human actors—a focus on humans allows us to consider representation of gamers as opposed to games. Given Shaw’s (2015) assertions that players are often ambivalent as to their representation within actual games, a focus on who is actually playing seemed more pertinent. To ensure reliability of coding measures, three trained coders coded every commercial. As noted in the literature review, advertising creates a complicated situation as coders can only use generalized assumptions about factors such as ethnicity, sex, and age. Yet, it is important to remember that commercial viewers would be forced to make similar assumptions when gauging these same physical identifiers.

Sample

To identify a sample for analysis, we used the website www.gameads.gampressure.com. This website is available for downloading more than 16,500 classic and contemporary video game television commercials that are categorized by country, platform, and timeline. Our initial sample consisted of 5,036 U.S.-based video game television commercials. We narrowed down the sample using criteria including (1) physical human presence, (2) commercial length under one hundred seconds, (3) no behind the scenes/making of commercials, (4) no duplicate commercials, and (5) commercials that aired in 2013. Our process of elimination established several things. First, we wanted to make sure that humans were depicted in the commercial. The purpose of selecting commercials that were under one hundred seconds was to eliminate commercials that were not likely aired on television. “Making of commercials” and “behind the scenes” commercials generally feature developers, as opposed to players. Furthermore, while we do not know the specific networks and television programs that video game commercials were aired with, our goal was to primarily analyze commercials that were initially intended for television, because this indicates audience outreach. Longer and “behind the scenes” commercials seem to be primarily meant for specialized and YouTube outlets—meant for fans that were already more committed, as opposed to inviting new audiences.

After applying our inclusion criteria, 180 commercials remained for coding. It is worth noting that the majority of the commercials were for console video games, as opposed to computer or mobile games. This was not an oversight on our part—very few computer or mobile games had television commercials, and even fewer featured actor representations of gamers. One might argue that the lack of diversity in types of ads, itself, speaks to the perceived lack of audience diversity.

Measures

A coding scheme jointly developed by the authors consisted of three main measurement classifications: (1) game platform, (2) physical characteristics of gamers, and (3) behavior of gamers. The variables for game platform being advertised included the presence or absence of PlayStation, Xbox, Personal Computer, Next Gen, Wii, and Nintendo DS. Based on the existing coding scheme, each commercial could be coded as advertising multiple game platform types. The variables for physical characteristics of gamers included presence of a main character, main character sex, main character whiteness, family presence, mother presence, presence of females, presence of males, multiple ethnicities present, ethnicity other than white present, and age. The variables for behavior of gamers included for both males and females, their game play, their talking about playing games, their sexualization, their talking about violence, and the occurrence of extra-game violence. All variables were nominal in nature (e.g., yes/no). The operational definitions of the variables are included in the appendix.

Coding Procedure

To test the reliability of the variables that measured physical characteristics and behavior of gamers, a randomly selected set of nine advertisements (5% of the whole sample) was independently evaluated by each of the three authors (one male and two females). The use of Cohen’s kappa or Scott’s pi as an indicator of interrater reliability was inappropriate. Instead, we used Fleiss’s kappa because it assesses interrater reliability for more than two coders (Fleiss et al. 1969; Warrens 2010). Table 1 indicates interrater reliability for each variable for the nine randomly selected ads. Reliability scores ranged from −.243 to 1.00. There were nine variables that returned poor-to-fair agreement (main character presence, family presence, main character, main character sex, main character white, multiple ethnicities, extra-game violence, male sexualization, and mother playing game; Fleiss et al. 2003). Each variable required further clarification and training before the final round of analysis was conducted. During this process, it was determined that the relative lack of reliability for main character variables (sex and white) and mothers playing game was influenced by the lack of reliability for their respective parent variables—main character presence and mother presence. After the coders received further clarification and instruction, a second round of coding using the entire sample (n = 180) was conducted. Table 1 indicates the interrater reliability for each variable for all 180 video game ads. Reliability scores ranged from .212 to .926. Of the nine variables that exhibited poor to fair reliability in the first round of coding, six saw improvements. Male sexualization and extra-game violence did not exhibit improvements in reliability and were still considered poor (<.40). Furthermore, female sexualization, which initially had high agreement, returned poor agreement (<.40). Out of the final twenty variables, ten had very good agreement (>.75), and seven had fair-to-good agreement (.41−.74; Fleiss et al. 2003).

Table 1.

Interrater Reliability.

Variable	Fleiss (K)
Variable	(n = 9)	All ads (n = 180)
Physical characteristics of gamers
Main character presence	.550	.597
Family presence	.550	.700
Mother presence	.755	.842
Main character sex	.17	.552
Main character white	.121	.445
Age	.876	.847
Multiple ethnicities	.400	.778
Ethnicities other than white	.807	.847
Presence of males	1.0	.873
Presence of females	1.0	.926
Behavior of gamers
Females playing a game	.852	.878
Males playing a game	.700	.703
Females talking about playing a game	1.00	.919
Males talking about playing a game	.841	.682
Females talking about violence	1.00	.972
Males talking about violence	.715	.627
Extra-game violence	−.243	.354
Female sexualization	1.0	.212
Male sexualization	−.08	.287
Mothers playing game	.418	.764

Note. <.40 = poor agreement; .41–.74 = fair to good agreement; .75–1.00 = very good agreement (Fleiss et al. 2003).

Analysis

Chi square was the appropriate test for analysis because all measured values were nominal. Because we were interested in the representation of sex, we examined the presence of males, females, and both sexes in video game advertising. However, upon initial analysis, our expected cell frequency for female presence was frequently low (<5), thus violating an underlying assumption of chi square. Therefore, we examined the presence of one sex (either male or female) or both sexes (presence of male and female). This decision allowed us to (1) satisfy the underlying assumption of a minimum expected cell frequency in most situations, and (2) when minimum expected cell frequency was not achieved, the use of a 2 × 2 contingency table in SPSS allowed for the calculation of Fisher’s exact, an alternative measure of associative strength not subject to minimum cell frequency assumptions.

Results

The Relationship between Game Platform, Physical Characteristics, and Behaviors

RQ1 asked what relationships might exist between game platform type and the physical characteristics of gamers. RQ2 asked what relationships might exist between game platform type and behaviors. Because game platform was not a mutually exclusive ordinal category (see Table 2), conducting chi square analysis using platform type (for all platforms) would have violated the assumption of exclusivity. Therefore, the presence or absence of each game platform was treated as a dichotomous level nominal variable that was cross-tabulated with the physical and behavioral variables (see Table 3).

Table 2.

Video Game Platform Frequencies.

Video game platform type	Frequency
Next Generation System	93
Personal Computer	15
PlayStation	54
Xbox	89
Nintendo DS	38
Wii	58
Other	12
Not Indicated	8

Note. Frequency totals exceed 180 due to nonexclusivity of platform type. Therefore, percentages are not included. DS = Dual Screen.

Table 3.

Chi Square Analysis of Advertised Video Game Platform.

Game platform advertised	Variable	Category n (%)			χ²	Fisher’s exact
Wii	Actor sex	One		Both	13.77 (1)**
Wii	Actor sex	20 (21.0%)		37 (47.0%)	13.77 (1)**
PCWii	Main character presence	Yes		No	17.11 (1)**	.002**
PCWii	Main character presence	10 (19.2%) 5 (9.6%)		5 (3.9%)53 (41.0%)
PC	Main character white	Yes		No		.009**
	Main character white	3 (8.6%)		7 (4.1%)
PCPlayStationWii	Family presence	Yes		No	4.27 (1)* 12.24 (1)**	.024*
PCPlayStationWii		0 (0.0%) 8 (17.8%)24 (53.3%)		15 (11.1%)46 (34.1%)34 (25.2%)	4.27 (1)* 12.24 (1)**
Wii	Mother presence	Yes		No	13.75 (1)**
		17 (63.0%)		41 (26.8%)
PC	Multiple ethnicities presentAge	Yes		No	4.49 (1)*
PC		12 (12.4%)		3 (3.6%)
Next GenNintendo DSWii		Youth/teen25 (64.1%)26 (66.7%)29 (74.4%)	Young adult/adult	Mixed18 (35.3%) 7 (13.7%)27 (52.9%)	8.44 (2)* 63.35 (2) 78.82 (2)
Next GenNintendo DSWii		Youth/teen25 (64.1%)26 (66.7%)29 (74.4%)	50 (55.6%) 5 (5.6%) 2 (2.2%)	Mixed18 (35.3%) 7 (13.7%)27 (52.9%)
PCPlayStationNintendo DSWii	Males playing a game	Yes 0 (0.0%)19 (22.1%)26 (30.2%)41 (47.7%)		No15 (16.0%)35 (37.2%)12 (12.8%)17 (18.1%)	14.97 (1)** 4.90 (1)* 8.23 (1) 18.04 (1)
PCPlayStationXboxWii	Females playing the game	Yes 0 (0.0%) 6 (15.0%)14 (35.0%)23 (57.5%)		No15 (10.7%)48 (34.3%)75 (53.6%)35 (25.0%)	5.51 (1)* 4.29 (1)* 15.05 (1)**	.025*
PCNext GenPlayStationXbox	Males talking about violence	Yes 6 (26.1%)18 (78.3%)12 (52.2%)20 (87.0%)		No 9 (5.7%)75 (47.5%)42 (26.8%)69 (43.9%)	7.47 (1)** 6.17 (1)* 14.84 (1)**	.005**
Nintendo DS	Females talking about violence	Yes		No		.002**
	Females talking about violence	5 (83.3%)		33 (19.0%)
Xbox	Males talking about game play	Yes		No	3.88 (1)*
Xbox	Males talking about game play	39 (59.1%)		50 (43.9%)
XboxWiiNintendo DS	Females talking about game play	Yes 7 (26.9%)16 (61.5%)10 (38.5%)		No82 (53.2%)42 (27.3%)28 (18.2%)	6.17 (1)* 11.96 (1)** 5.49 (1)*
Nintendo DSWii	Extra-game violence	Yes 0 (0.0%) 0 (0.0%)		No38 (23.6%)58 (36.0%)	10.10 (1)**	.015*

Note: DS = Dual Screen; PC = Personal Computer.

p < .05. **p < .01.

Figure 1 provides a comparative visual representation of the category proportions (from 0.0 to 1.0) across each game platform type when advertised in a commercial. Comparisons between game platforms could only be made when significant relationships emerged on more than one type of game platform. Therefore, not all significant relationships between individual game platforms and categories could be compared across all game platforms.

Wii featured the highest proportion of female and male game players. Wii had the most male game players followed by Nintendo DS, PlayStation, and then Personal Computer (PC). Wii also had the highest proportion of female game players followed by Xbox, PlayStation, and then PC. When a family was present, Wii featured the highest proportion followed by PlayStation. When males spoke about violence, the highest proportion of such behavior occurred when Xbox was advertised. Next Gen systems come in at a close second followed by PlayStation and then PC. Regarding females’ game play conversations, Wii once again featured the highest proportion. Nintendo DS and Xbox finished a second and third respectively. Main characters were most often present when a PC platform was advertised. When youth or teens were featured, Wii appeared to have the highest proportion followed closely by Nintendo DS and the Next Gen game advertising. Young adult/adult characters were proportionately greater in Next Gen advertising, and mixed age characters had the highest proportion in advertising featuring Wii games.

The Relationship between Actor Sex, Physical Characteristics, and Behaviors

Our RQ3 asked what relationships might exist between (1) actor sex and physical characteristics of gamers, and (2) actor sex and player behaviors. As previously mentioned, female presence expected frequency was too low to satisfy the assumptions of the chi square test used for analysis. The relationships between actor sex (either one sex or both sexes together), physical characteristics, and behavior of the actors can be seen in Table 4.

Table 4.

Chi Square Analysis of Actor Sex Presence.

Variable	Actor sex		χ²	Fisher’s exact
	One sex	Both sexes
	(n = 101)	(n = 79)
Family presence	15 (14.9%)	30 (3.8%)	12.64(1)**
Mother presence	1 (1.0%)	26 (32.9%)	30.43(1)**
Multiple ethnicities present	71 (70.3%)	26 (32.9%)	24.93(1)**
Main character presence	42 (41.6%)	10 (12.7%)	18.05(1)**
Age			12.42(2)**
Youth/Teen	21 (20.8%)	18 (22.8%)
Young Adult/Adult	61 (60.4%)	29 (36.7%)
Mixed	19 (18.8%)	32 (40.5%)
Females playing a game	5 (5.0%)	35 (44.3%)	39.72(1)**
Females talking about violence	0 (0.0%)	6 (7.6%)		.006**
Females talking about game play	4 (4.0%)	22 (27.8%)	20.47(1)**

Figure 2 provides a comparative visual representation of the category proportions (from 0.0 to 1.0) for actor sex (one vs. both). The results indicate that when both sexes are present, there is a larger comparative proportion of family presence, mother presence, females playing the game, females talking about violence, and females talking about play. However, when only one sex is present (either male or female), there is a larger comparative proportion of multiple ethnicities and main character presence. Last, in terms of age, when one sex is present, there is a larger comparative proportion of young adults/adults. When both sexes are present, there is a larger comparative proportion of mixed age groups.

Discussion

While the market for video games has shifted over the last decade, our study demonstrates that only some things have changed in terms of perception of the “gamer.” Certainly, there is some diversity in the actors presented as players, but there is still an overriding expectation that certain kinds of people are more accepted as gamers. Unsurprisingly, we found that this varies by platform—some platforms are more inclusive than others. At the same time, regardless of platform, there were certain patterns in how player diversity was presented, suggesting that the larger cultural perception is that video game players are more likely to be white and male.

Maleness and Whiteness as Status Quo

We found a surprising amount of diversity in terms of who appears in the commercials. We found that 43.9 percent of commercials had both males and females, and 53.9 percent featured ethnicities other than white. In terms of actor sex, Figure 2 illustrates that having multiple sexes in an advertisement predicates specific other expectations—for example, in commercials featuring both sexes, evidence indicates a higher likelihood of family presence. One specific character that we looked at—the presence of a “mother” figure, though, only appeared in 15 percent of commercials and played video games a total of six times. While there was increased diversity of appearance and presence in many of the advertisements, there were still populations that were underrepresented as players—namely, mothers. However, the mother character was more likely to be present in Wii games, or other games where there was a family present. So, while it is possible that video games are slowly being marketed to more diverse audiences, there are still strongholds wherein there is a perception that some audiences (mothers and older women) are not likely to play.

In games where there was a main character (52%), this character was overwhelmingly white (67%) and male (90%). This illustrates previous insight that while there might be an increasing amount of diversity throughout the commercials, when there was a single person presented as a clear advocate for video games (i.e., a main character), that person was overwhelmingly white and male. While there might be an increased number of diverse actors in a video game commercial, in general, the advocate for gaming (which could be understood as a “gamer”) seems to have not changed.

A main character was often likely to situate himself or herself as part of a larger narrative of gaming, and certain games were filled with male main characters discussing their play activities. For example, advertisements for the multiplatform game Battlefield 4 featured either one main character or multiple characters who talk about playing. The Battlefield 4 commercials only feature men, although there are multiple ethnicities in different versions. The commercials for the multiplatform game Call of Duty: Ghosts reinforced traditional expectations of gamers yet simultaneously pushed back on these expectations. In one version of the advertisement, four young white men are traveling through a demolished Las Vegas, as part of the game world. While they are not actually playing the game, there is a confluence between the acts of violence that they commit in the imaginary game world and the expectations of play. Yet, other versions of advertisements attempted to showcase a diversity of expected players. In these alternative versions, both men and women of multiple ethnicities talked about playing in entirely inappropriate spaces and scenarios—for example, players talked about their violent acts of play while at dinner with in-laws or at a baby shower. One clip from the commercial features a nonwhite, female dental hygienist excitedly explaining while she cleans a patient’s teeth, “. . . And as I’m about to shoot . . . this huge thing falls out of the sky!” These depictions are clearly meant to be playful with expectations of gamer bodies, and show an increase toward a diverse representation of the “gamer” as a cultural archetype.

Yet, other commercials still maintain stereotypes of women in terms of playing. In one commercial for the Xbox 360 game Call of Duty Black Ops II Revolution, a white male is introduced as “The Replacer”—a male who can occupy women while men play the video game. This replacer is apparently multitalented, listening to women’s problems, being there for the birth of children, and showing up to dates in place of the (presumed) male who is too busy playing video games. The commercial reinforces gendered, heteronormative stereotypes that women are not players (and that men, necessarily, are) yet also only involves the predicaments of white women—all of the women shown in the commercial are white. Clearly, this advertisement is suggesting a more traditional representation of the “gamer.”

Females Playing in Presence of Males

Just being present in a commercial, of course, is not enough to indicate whether a person is considered a “gamer”—the actor in the advertisement needs to be either playing a video game or talking about playing. While 43.9 percent of the commercials had both males and females, females were not necessarily depicted as game players. Among commercials where a woman character was present, only 22 percent featured women playing the game, and 14 percent featured women talking about playing. Comparatively, when males were featured in a commercial, they played a video game 47.8 percent and talked about playing 36.7 percent of the time.

One surprising finding was that male presence was often necessary to enable female play. Figure 2 illustrates that in instances where males and females were present in an advertisement, the proportion of female play was greater than instances when only females were present. This suggests that while there might be an increased number of females playing, there is still an expectation that males are necessary to enable and potentially advocate play. This reinforces Chess’ 2011 theory that while video games are sometimes advertised to women, there is a suggestion that women can only be permitted to play in specific ways—as part of family togetherness or in productive contexts. This was certainly the case in dance and music games such as Just Dance 4 and Just Dance Disney Party—where more females danced/played but a small number of males played as well. Games such as Super Mario Party and several other Wii games showed males and females playing together. This suggests that while there is a slow increase of diverse representation of gamers, the quality of that representation might still be in question.

One interesting reverse of males enabling female play occurred in the advertisement for multiplatform Diablo III. In this advertisement, a young man comes home, finding his partner’s clothing strewn across the stairs as she makes loud, sexual noises off-screen. When he finds her, she is playing the game with a group of friends (in full cosplay) and invites him to join. Interestingly, the male character in this commercial appears uncomfortable—his female partner has clearly “lost control” of her sexuality via her entry into the game. This advertisement suggests that the boundaries of who gets to be a “gamer” are shifting and that the results might be discomforting.

Families, Play, and Platforms

Unsurprisingly, the Nintendo Wii (and next-gen system Nintendo Wii U) had the most diversity in depiction of gamers. However, that diversity was generally within the context of family. In addition, these games often have nonwhite ethnicities playing. Despite the presence of “family,” though, there is no significant evidence indicating that any particular system is more or less likely to feature mothers playing video games—either among others or by themselves. As already noted, only 15 percent of commercials had an implied mother character, and of that 15 percent, only 22.2 percent were actually playing a game. Often, mothers were depicted as the person who either enables or stands in the way of games. One enabling commercial for the video game retail store GameStop shows a white mother driving home at holiday time. Her minivan is weighted down and bouncing to hip-hop music. As she drives, a variety of males nod at her, knowingly, with the underlying implication that she might have some relationship to gangs. As she pulls up to her front driveway, and opens her trunk, it is revealed to the audience that the mother’s “hipness” is related to the back of her vehicle being overloaded with video games and systems. The implication is that she is not purchasing these for herself, but rather, for her family.

Yet, mothers also are seen as inhibiting play. One commercial for the new Xbox One system via Wal-Mart helps to establish that mothers not only are not gamers but also actively might hinder play. In the commercial, a father and son are in the son’s bedroom playing an Xbox system, newly opened. The advertisement clearly takes place before the Christmas holiday, and the two appear to be playing surreptitiously. The father warns his son, “It’s for the whole family. But remember, mom can’t know that we opened it early.” The mother suddenly calls for them and begins to approach the room. As we see the mother walk, we hear nondiegetic music following the mother’s feet, suggesting something dangerous or threatening might happen. The father and son quickly hide the gift from the mother. The commercial helps to establish that motherhood is separate from gaming. Although the gaming system is “for the whole family,” we know that the mother is not included. The use of suspenseful music helps to establish the mother as the villain—she is an enemy of play.

Sexualization, Violence, and Other Factors

Other factors help to establish—or disrupt—traditional expectations of who a gamer might be. By looking for indications of violence and sexualization, it helped to establish if potential gamers were being courted or alienated. In short, while these aspects were less direct than physical attributes, they helped to establish a tone about the overall depictions of who gamers are and what they like.

In studying extra-game violence, we were interested in how violent content from a game might seep into the advertisement’s environment. As already noted, real or perceived, violence helps to establish a game’s relevance to male audiences. Three factors determined how violent content from the game was suggested as part of the real world: extra-game violence, men talking about violence, and women talking about violence. Extra-game violence was seen in 10.6 percent of the games studied. We also coded when people just spoke about violence—for example, in the Call of Duty: Ghosts commercial, different people were relaying their experiences of play in terms of violent content. Compared with other platforms, Xbox games and next-gen systems were most likely to have men talking about violence or violent acts in the commercial. In advertisements where males were present, 12.8 percent featured males talking about violence, but in advertisements where females were present, only 3.3 percent of them talked about violent content of video games. In this way, it seems as though violence is an indicator of a perception that gamers are male.

At the same time, there was a surprising lack of sexualization in any of the commercials shown. Females were sexualized only in 3.9 percent of the advertisements and males in only 1.1 percent. The majority of male sexualization was parody—for example, an advertisement for Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag showed two males (naked) in a bathtub together, yet more in a comic way than sexual. Overall, though, sexualization was minimal in these commercials and did not seem to imply the sex of the audience.

Limitations and Future Research

The current study is not without limitations. With respect to our sample, it is unknown whether www.gameads.gampressure.com maintains an accurate database of video game commercials. While we speculate that there is a possibility of some inaccuracy, we do not believe this affects our overall analysis or findings. Another possible limitation of the study was the decision to combine measurement categories. However, this was done to satisfy the minimum frequency assumptions of our test statistic and does not undermine theoretical or conceptual foundations. Third, it should be noted that three measures (e.g., male sexualization, female sexualization, and extra-game violence) had low levels of interrater reliability (<.40). Results pertaining to sexualization and extra-game violence should be interpreted cautiously. Furthermore, while our content analysis provides significant insights into the relationships posed in the current study, the analysis does not provide insights into game players’ responses. Therefore, future research should examine how game players’ perceptions of game characteristics, actor sex, and player behavior manifest in terms of attitudes and behaviors.

Conclusion

Our content analysis of video game advertisements illustrates that even with the emergence of next-generation systems and shifting landscapes in gaming, there is still a cultural perception of the gamer as white male. There are exceptions to this, which can be seen in many commercials that challenge our expectations of what a gamer might look like and how he or she might behave, and certainly we have found that there is an increased inclusivity in terms of who might actually appear in these commercials. Some commercials have begun to play with and tease out these representations: the commercials of Call of Duty: Ghosts, for example, that featured a wide variety of players, or that of Diablo, where it was a woman player coaxing her male partner to play. While representations of the gamer have mostly stayed consistent, these examples portend the beginnings of a shift, as the video game industry continues to diversify. When stereotypes were at play, they fell along the lines of Bakir and Palan’s (2013) discussion of agentic and communal gendered stereotypes. Female players almost necessarily needed the permission to play via the surrounding communities. Alternatively, masculine play is often portrayed through violent speech and action, or other stereotypes of aggressive play.

It is essential that we keep interrogating the role of the “gamer” as a cultural archetype. This antiquated character is a remnant that continues to dissuade new players from entering, and representations of this white, male gamer continue to present a limited scope of who can and should be playing. The analysis of these commercials illustrates a larger issue occurring in the world of gaming—while the markets and players are, indeed, beginning to become more diverse, there is still a perception of a white, male gamer who is central to the industry. Television commercials—one possible entry point into playing a new video game—function as an invitation. Depending on the representation present in that invitation, the audience will either feel that a game is intended for them or not. By continuing to expand representation of players in advertisements, the video game industry will be able to expand both in terms of overall sales and scope of audience.

Footnotes

Appendix

Variable	Definition	Source
Physical characteristics of gamers
Main character presence	A primary person conveying the message. They are featured in at least half of the commercial, and the narrative centers on this person.	Bakir and Palan (2013)
Main character sex	Main character appears to be male or female.	Schneider and Schneider (1979)
Main character white	Main character appears to be Caucasian.	N/A
Family presence	Multiple generations interacting together in a domestic space.	N/A
Age	What is the portrayed age: youth/teen, young adult/adult, and mixed? (Mixed age groups are comprised of multiple age groups like a family.)	Schneider and Schneider (1979)
Multiple ethnicities present	More than one ethnicity present in the ad.	N/A
Ethnicity other than white present	Multiple ethnicities that do not include white as an ethnicity.	N/A
Presence of males Presence of females	Males and/or females appear in the advertising.	Schneider and Schneider (1979)
Behavior of gamers
Females playing a game Males playing a game	Interacting with the game console, control, or some aspect of the game. Watching game play will not suffice as game play.	N/A
Females playing a game Males playing a game
Mothers playing game
Females talking about playing a game	Talking about game play experiences or desire to play a video game.	N/A
Males talking about playing a game
Females talking about violence Males talking about violence	Talking about violence or instances of violence that occurs in the game. Account or description of violence in game.	N/A
Females talking about violence Males talking about violence
Extra-game violence	Violence occurring in the real world. Violence that slips from the game world into the real world.	N/A
Female sexualization Male sexualization	Focus on body parts, revealing clothing, lack of clothing, or explicit sexual behavior.	N/A

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Notes

Author Biographies

Shira Chess is an Assistant Professor of Mass Media Arts at the University of Georgia. She received her PhD from Rensellaer Polytechnic Institute in 2009. Her research focuses on the intersections of identity, diversity, and digital culture.

Nathaniel J. Evans is an Assistant Professor of Advertising at the Univeristy of Georgia. HE recived his PhD from the University of Tennessee in 2013. His research focuses on consumer understanding and perceptions of blurred advertising formats.

Joyya JaDawn Baines received her Master’s Degree in 2014 from the University of Georgia. She currently teaches.

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