Contrary to stereotypes, gamers tend to be more inclusive than the general public, study finds

A recent analysis of survey data suggests that playing video games does not correspond to an increase in exclusionary or prejudiced beliefs among players. In a paper published in the journal Psychology of Popular Media, scientists report that video game players tend to hold more inclusive cultural values than the general American public. These findings provide evidence that hostile online environments may be driven by specific community dynamics rather than widespread attitudes among gamers.

The culture surrounding video games frequently faces criticism regarding how women and minority groups are represented. Over the past decade, a series of controversies has brought attention to hostility within these digital spaces. The most notable example is Gamergate, an online campaign that began in 2014. This movement primarily involved the harassment of feminist media critics and expressed opposition to progressive social changes.

More recently, similar backlash has targeted initiatives focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion within the gaming industry. Diversity, equity, and inclusion programs aim to promote the fair treatment and full participation of historically marginalized groups. In the gaming world, opponents of these initiatives often mobilize online to protest the inclusion of diverse characters or progressive narratives. They sometimes use social media to organize boycotts of game development studios that hire consultants to help write more inclusive storylines.

One prominent example involved a consulting studio called Sweet Baby Inc., which was targeted by player-led social media campaigns in late 2023. These players used digital storefront features to warn others about games they perceived as having progressive or diverse qualities. These highly publicized controversies often link video game spaces to exclusionary values. By exclusionary values, scientists mean beliefs that favor traditional gender roles or oppose social tolerance and equal opportunity.

Because games often depict violence and reinforce masculine gender roles, some perspectives suggest that simply playing games might cause individuals to adopt these less inclusive attitudes. This idea is partly rooted in cultivation theory, a concept suggesting that long-term exposure to certain media content shapes how people perceive the world. Other academic perspectives assume players act as a blank canvas, simply absorbing the attitudes presented in the media they consume.

Other researchers suspect a different process might be at work, pointing to a framework called the reinforcing spirals model. This model proposes that media use is both a cause and a consequence of a person’s beliefs. People tend to select media that aligns with their preexisting values, and that media then reinforces those exact values. According to this perspective, video games might not uniformly plant exclusionary ideas into a passive player.

Instead, players’ existing values act as a filter for how they interpret the games they play and the digital communities they join. “My colleagues and I decided to explore this topic after we read a piece in a class we had together that made the argument that games cultivated exclusionary values,” said Sean Pauley, a doctoral student in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Pauley co-authored the study with Wil Dubree and Brule E. Woods, who are also doctoral students in the same program.

Based on contrasting theories, the authors wanted to test whether exclusionary values are actually widespread among the broader gaming population. “Coincidentally, I happened to have worked with a massive market research dataset that included items like worldviews and gaming behaviors that could go beyond the undergraduate sample used by the study in question, so we decided to delve into this project in more depth,” Pauley explained. They suspected that public controversies might be amplifying the voices of a hostile minority.

To answer their research questions, the scientists analyzed data from a large market research organization called MRI-Simmons. They looked at national consumer surveys conducted in the United States across three specific years: 2012, 2016, and 2020. These years were selected because they capture the cultural climate before, during, and after the peak of the Gamergate movement.

The data came from a probabilistic, address-based sample, meaning the respondents were chosen randomly based on their home addresses to ensure statistical representation. The survey intentionally overrepresented the thirteen largest media markets in the United States. In total, the study included responses from 77,018 individuals.

The surveys measured three specific cultural values using a three-point scale, asking respondents to rate the importance of each concept. The choices ranged from not important to very important. The first measure asked about the importance of following traditional gender roles for men and women.

The second measure asked about the importance of social tolerance, defined as respecting ethnic, religious, and racial differences. The third measure asked about the importance of equality, defined as desiring equal opportunity for all people. To understand gaming habits, the researchers looked at self-reported behaviors.

They tracked whether respondents had played online or offline video games in the past twelve months. They also tracked whether respondents had played shooter games or used the Xbox Live online gaming service within the past thirty days. The scientists then built statistical models to see how these gaming behaviors correlated with the three cultural values.

When building their models, the authors included several control variables to ensure their findings were accurate. They accounted for the respondents’ age, income level, education level, gender, and the year the survey was conducted. By controlling for these factors, the researchers could isolate the specific relationship between gaming habits and cultural values. They analyzed the data using a method called proportional odds logistic regression, a statistical technique that measures relationships between variables when outcomes are ranked into categories.

The researchers found that individuals who played online and offline video games were actually more likely to hold inclusive values compared to the general population. Across all three value categories, general gamers expressed significantly less support for traditional gender roles. They also expressed significantly more support for social tolerance and equality.

The scientists then looked specifically at players of shooter games, a genre often associated with military themes and violence. They found that shooter game players were also more likely to hold inclusive values regarding gender roles and equality compared to the general public. Their views on social tolerance were not significantly different from the average American.

A similar pattern emerged when the researchers analyzed users of Xbox Live, a platform that has historically been criticized for hosting toxic community interactions. Xbox Live users were significantly more likely to hold inclusive values regarding gender roles and social tolerance than the broader population. Their views on equality did not differ significantly from the sample average.

Across every model tested, the authors found no evidence that playing video games broadly corresponds to an increase in exclusionary values. “The average person should take away from our findings that video game players are not some monolithic community,” Pauley told PsyPost. “While exclusionary and vocal segments of online gaming communities certainly exist, and we certainly do not want to downplay that, our findings suggest that on average, video game players hold slightly more inclusive values than the general population.”

While the paper provides evidence that gaming does not inherently promote prejudice, there are some potential misinterpretations to consider. The findings do not mean that racism and sexism are absent from gaming communities. “Again, we do not want readers to come away from this study believing that there are not hostile and exclusive spaces within gaming communities,” Pauley noted.

“Segments of the gaming community have historically been hostile to women and racial minorities, and previous studies have shown this,” Pauley told PsyPost. “However, we also want to correct any who might believe that a majority of video game players hold exclusionary values; our research shows that this is not the case.” The authors suggest that hostility might be driven by a vocal minority of players rather than the general gaming population.

It is also possible that certain specific online communities reinforce exclusionary behavior, even if the average gamer holds progressive views. The study also has a few limitations regarding its design. The survey data did not track the exact same individuals over the eight-year period. Because they could not follow the same respondents over time, the scientists could not fully test the reinforcing spirals model to see how beliefs and media habits influence each other sequentially.

Another limitation relates to how the survey categorized different types of games. Broad categories like shooter games can contain widely varying content and community dynamics. Future research might benefit from examining specific game titles rather than broad genres. Investigating the unique cultures that form around individual games could help explain why some communities become toxic while others remain welcoming.

Additional studies could also explore the specific social mechanisms that allow hostile voices to dominate certain gaming platforms. Understanding how community moderation and platform design influence player behavior would provide more context. Exploring the difference between simply playing a game and strongly identifying with a particular gaming subculture might also yield useful insights.

The study, “Prepare to DEI: Addressing GamerGate Through Political Opinions and Cultural Values in Gaming Communities,” was authored by Sean Pauley, Wil Dubree, and Brule E. Woods.