Maiorana, Emiley. “People and Genres: Ethnography of Video Gamers.
” The Cultural Experience: Ethnography in Complex Society. Eds. David
W. McCurdy, James P. Spradley, and Dianna J. Shandy. 2nd ed. Long Grove,
IL: Waveland P, 2005. Print.
People and Genres: Ethnography of Video Gamers
Word Count: 2321
What comes to your mind when you hear somebody say they are a video
gamer or that they like to play video games? Our perception of video gamers are
that they are nerdy, fat, and they have no life and do nothing else but play video
games. In fact our perception is wrong. You do not have to be fat, nerdy, and have no
life to play video games. The ordinary person beside you could love to play video
games.
As I walked into my informant’s room to do my first interview, I knew he was
not overweight (as we think most gamers are) because I knew him, so that
perception of gamers never crossed my mind. As I entered his room I looked around
his room and saw that he was not a nerd. In fact he was the total opposite of what
we usually think. He was totally chill, cool, and laid back. I noticed that he loved
sports especially football and baseball.
Methodology:
Video games. Video gamers were the first things that came to my mind when
we had to pick a micro-culture to study for English class. Video games seemed like a
very easy micro-culture to study because so many people in this day are gamers.
When I first started the interview process of the ethnography paper I had no clue
what I wanted to focus on. When I was conducting my interview with my informant
I noticed that the people who play video games are not our stereotype idea of video
gamers, and I noticed that there are many interesting genres of video games that I
did not even know about before studying this micro-culture. I then made many site
visits and interviewed my informant with my MacBook because I could record my
informant, and that way I got to see his expression when he answered the questions.
I then conducted my interviews about the different types of people who play video
games, and about all of the different types of genres of video games.
Types of People:
As I said earlier we tend to stereotype people who play video games.
Anybody in this generation plays video games. It is not just your average computer
nerd, or your overweight person. More kids that are born in this generation are
turning to video games for entertainment and fun rather than going outside and
having some good old fashion fun.
In the past it was unheard of for women to be playing video games. It was “un
lady” like to play video games if you were a women. Before we thought women were
“weird” or “different” if they played video games. Back then it was mostly men who
were playing the video games. Now more and more women are playing video games.
They do not have to be playing video games just on the console or the computer,
more women are playing video games because of the smartphones and IPhones that
everybody has now. Playing video games on smartphones? Yes, that is the reason
why more women are playing video games is because of the app store on the
phones. All you have to do is just download the game onto your phone. Women are
hooked they are playing those games such as Ruzzle, Words with Friends, or
Scrabble, just simply because they can on their phone, anytime and anywhere. They
just play on their phone instead of a console because it is convenient.
Types of people who play video
games
Women
Fit men
Teenagers
Kids
Nerds
Overweight people
Figure 1: Taxonomy of people who play video games
We tend see more teenagers playing video games more than anybody.
Surprisingly though the most age group of people that play video games are those
that are fit men who are between the ages of 25-33. The reason why we see more
teenagers playing is because they have more free time that anybody. The fit men
only play video games between 2-4 hours a day. There is not a set type of people
who play video games. This is story that my informant had while he was playing
video games, it shows that everybody, anybody can play video games especially
under any situation:
“I would have to go all the way back to when I was in 6th grade and I went
to this college party I guess you would say and I was just playing video games all
night and I was playing call of duty and then this drunk, intoxicated dude came
into the room and decided he wanted to play me in the game. I was playing with
him and he just kept screaming at me that I was watching the screen and that I
was watching where he was going that is why I kept killing him and then he
finally killed me and ran out of the room and screamed that I killed him then he
killed me, it was funny because he was drunk and intoxicated.”
Genres, What is your favorite?:
As I was interviewing my informant I had a chance to look at his video games
and the type of console he likes to play to get a feel of what type of genre he likes to
play. I just thought that he like to play action and sports games just by looking at
them, but there is more than just that. I learned that some of his games were actually
RPG video games. He then continued to tell me about another genre I never heard of
which was sandbox.
Genres of video games
RPG (Role Playing Games)
Sandbox
Relaxing
Action
Exercise
Sports
Figure 2: Taxonomy of genres of video games
My informant told me that his favorite genre of video games is RPG, which is
called Role-Playing Game. An RPG can be a shooting type game, but there is many
different features that makes it an RPG game. RPG games have a lot more flexibility
than your typical game. You can customize your character, their skill set, attributes,
and their dialogue between different characters in the game. An example of a RPG
game would be a game called Fallout 3. Something that makes Fallout 3 a unique
game is that you do not start out as an adult, or as a child. You actually start out as a
baby which is different that most video games. You are born in this “fallout shelter”
which is a fault underground. As the game goes on you get older. Fallout 3 is similar
to the apocalypse. It takes place in the future, and you have no clue who your
parents are and where you came from. You are actually trying to find out where you
came from and who your parents are. It is a pretty interesting and different game.
The second genre I learned about was something called sandbox. When my
informant told me about the genre of sandbox I had no clue what he was talking
about or what that meant. The genre of sandbox is not what you think of when you
hear that genre. That is why I was so intrigued to learn about it. Sandbox is basically
a mix of your typical action game and a RPG game. The action part would be that
sandbox has a set storyline, a set dialogue of the characters, and not flexibility of
choosing your characters features like and RPG game has. There is just one simple
character, and they tell you their name, and they have a set dialogue when talking to
another character in the game. Now on the flipside the RPG aspect would be that in
the storyline of the game there are other side missions and different side things that
you can do. That means there is a lot of free roaming. The settings are just not in one
city or town; it takes place in multiple cities and towns. A popular game that we all
have heard that is in the genre of a sandbox game is Assassins Creed. That is the
most known sandbox game.
Push-ups, sit-ups, crunches, and dancing are all different exercises. Anything
that gets you moving, interacting, physically engaged, and makes you sweat is
considered being part of the genre of exercising video games. Those first two
sentences basically sums up what an exercise game is, it is something that gets you
moving. The Wii, came out in 2006-2007 was the first ever-gaming console that
developed games to get people interacting and at the same time have fun playing
video games. Some exercise games that the Wii has come out with are Wii sports
(the original one), Wii fit, Just Dance, The Biggest Loser, and Wii Sports Resort.
Other companies later followed with new interactive gaming systems. The Xbox
came up with the Xbox Kinect, which came out in 2010-2011. The Xbox Kinect is a
little more sophisticated then Wii because you do not need a controller like the Wii.
You just need your body for the Xbox Kinect. One of the most popular Xbox Kinect
games would be Dance Central where you dance to different songs and follow
somebody on the screen who knows the moves to that song.
Sport games are what they say. They are anything that involves a sport of any
kind. Many different levels of sports have come out with games. MLB, NCAA, NFL
(Madden), NHL, and backyard soccer/football have all come out with many different
sporting games. Sports games can be fun, but at the same time they can be very
frustrating and aggravating especially when you are playing with and against other
people. My informant told me, “ I used to just play sports games when I was
younger, but I get very frustrated and aggravated when I am either loosing or doing
awful that is the reason why I do not play them that often.”
The most popular genre of video games that most people know is action. An
action game is basically shooting, tons of blood, killing people, and action. They are
the most widely genre of video games played between people today. People usually
play action games live such as on Xbox or on PlayStation 3 consoles. The two most
popular action games are Call of Duty and Halo. Call of Duty is a shooting game
where you are trying to kill people.
Lastly, the last genre I learned about is those “fun” and “relaxing” video
games. We are all guilty of playing these types of video games. These types of games
are usually played on the computer or a smartphone/ IPhone. Those games on
Facebook such as Farmville, Words with Friends, or the new hit Candy Crush those
all fall under the “fun” and “relaxing” genre. As I previously said before, how an
increasingly number of women are playing video games now because of this genre
of games, due to the cause that we can just download them with a click of a button
on our phones, and we can access them anytime and anywhere.
Genre of Video Game
Number of People
Games in the Genre
RPG
1 player
Fallout 3
Sandbox
1 or more players
Assassins Creed
Action
1 or more players
Call of Duty, Halo
Sports
Fun/Relaxing
1 player, but can have
more depending on the
game
I player, 2 at most
MLB, Madden, NCAA
Ruzzle, Candy Crush
Figure 3: Paradigm of genres of video games
People and different genres of video games are connected in a way. How
would you say that they are connected? They are both connected in that you can tell
what genre of video games they play by the things they are into and their
personalities. When I was interviewing my informant I could tell that he was into
sports and Star Wars. By that, I put it together that he was into sports games, and
RPG games. There are some gamers you can tell what genre they like by how they
act. People who are really crazy, wild, and destructive are usually into the action
games because they can shoot things and blow things up. People who play sports or
into them they are usually into the sports games.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, I learned many things about video gamers that I did not know.
We could all be considered gamers and not know it. I learned not to stereotype
people who played video games, and that what genre people play can tell a lot about
themselves. I learned that there are many different types of genres that I never
knew before, and I am sure that there are more that I did not even learn.
After the whole interview process was over I decided to first observe my
informant playing video games and then I actually played video games with him. I
wanted to get a feel for what it was like to play different genres of video games, let
alone play video games. First we played a sports game. Both my informant and I are
very competitive people, so we both were basically focused and competitive. The
next game I played was Fallout 3. It was pretty interesting to see the two different
genres of video games. I did not think Fallout 3 was as fun as playing a sports game.
I really enjoyed playing both video games, even though I had no clue what I was
doing and I lost in the sports game. It was good to clear my mind and forget all of the
stress and what was going on around me.
Before you go stereotype somebody who plays video games, sit down with
them and actually play a game with them to get the feel.