Survey says video games are ageist and somewhat racist

[Zeus]

A new survey conducted on the demographics of video game characters reveals that games are commonly ageist and arguably racist. Males, adults and white people are over-represented in games. While Females, black people and the elderly are severely under represented.

<blockquote>You might not be surprised to hear that the demographics of video-game characters don't quite match up with those of real populations. But the first "virtual census" of the human characters that inhabit US video games exposes just how much they diverge from reality.

The survey reveals that males, adults and white people are over-represented in games. Females, black people, children and the elderly are correspondingly under-represented.</blockquote>

News Source: <A href="http://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/is-the-games-industry-racist-sexist-and-ageist--637508" target="_blank">TechRadar</a>

[dvader2009]

The survey reveals that males, adults and white people are over-represented in games. Females, black people, children and the elderly are correspondingly under-represented.

Nobody cares

[tech3475]

Nobody cares

Many Americans and the other 2% of the population of the world population who take every little thing seriously?

BTW I know there are many Americans who aren't the Fox news stereotype....unfortunately the nuts out number you.

[grapeape]

Nothing says awkward more than throwing in a token "minority" just to make the something seem more politically correct. Too many and its "racist and stereotyping", too few and its "racist and underrepresented". The RE5 stink was a good representation of what goes wrong when people confuse a game with reality.

Based on the breakdown of the US which is generally thought to be more ethnically diverse than most other countries. You find:

White 65%
Hispanic 15%
Black 13%
Asian 5%
Native American 1%

Does this mean minorities are over represented in games such as Madden, Halo, Gears, Saints Row, Final Fantasy?

Make your own conclusions but IMHO this is trying to make something of nothing. Often it seems that some people spend more time looking for racial tension than actually finding it.

As for Children and the Elderly...most games feature adult situations, is it really a good idea to add kids running around in CoD as potential casualties? Maybe they should replace the main character in Uncharted with a 70 year old using a walker? Most characters in games represent people in their physical prime...which for most is between 18-35.

[jackoneil2000]

HA!! What a bunch of bs.

Picture this, in far away galaxy, many hundreds of millions of light years away from earth there is a race of aliens that plan to attack earth for whatever reason.

Humans have discovered this through certain information encrypted in telepathic crop circle transmissions from different alien races. Some of the other circles sent had messages of warning & hope, but others were sent to humans to unlock the secret of a new dark energy that allows them to bend space and time and bring the fight to the alien homeworld!

It's time to send in our strongest forces, winning strategies and best tech,

off to the senior citizens home, prime veteran warriors of glorious past wars and the leading life support tech, just right for our struggle! :D:D:D

[QrafTee]

Funny how, like most medias in America, forget to even mention Asian people... Hell, Asian people brought video gaming back to life and they don't show up much... wanna talk about racist... Bah.

[Prime Dragon]

I think comic books don't represent villains in a politically correct way. Also in comic books the villains always lose, this is injustice. Villains should be allowed to get away with murders and rapes sometimes.

Also Final Fantasy should be banned in all countries including Moontopia, because it misrepersents people with large mustaches and with prosthetic limbs.

Btw Maxconsole, you should shut yourselves down because you do not have an iphone board, 3DO board, Sega CD32x board, or an Atari Lynx board...bastards...
:D:D:D

[msanchez]

Honestly do they waste money on these things? I mean there's people starving out there and we are wasting money on this? I'm going to start a survey to see what's the most appropriate punishment for making idiotic surveys.

Will someone pay me to survey what happens to people when they touch a hot iron?

[EL_CAD]

Btw Maxconsole, you should shut yourselves down because you do not have an iphone board, 3DO board, Sega CD32x board, or an Atari Lynx board...bastards...
:D:D:D
Those CD32X fanboys are the worst, thank goodness there are only two of them.

[QrafTee]

Honestly do they waste money on these things? I mean there's people starving out there and we are wasting money on this? I'm going to start a survey to see what's the most appropriate punishment for making idiotic surveys.

Will someone pay me to survey what happens to people when they touch a hot iron?Wait... "people" or you? Because... Nah, nevermind. I'm broke as hell! ;-)

[msanchez]

Wait... "people" or you? Because... Nah, nevermind. I'm broke as hell! ;-)

Heaven's not me, I'm pretty sure what would happen... besides the survey could be portrayed as being biased if I survey myself. I'll just watch others burn their hands and later on announce my astonishing discovery to the world.... FIRE HOT!

[DEDDOA]

I guess if you take into account all the mmo's then this is pure BS, I suspect that evenmore so due to that, female characters are overly represented as many men play them (can't deny I have a female Night Elf warrior in Wow, tho if you have played WC3 a male one seems wrong, plus all mail elfs look way too femenine, so why not go the who hog :D).

Most game makers cater to thier audience, or themselves, so until the minorities become the majorities or the develpers are members of those minorities, don't expect any PC poll to change anything.

Another no brainer survey to add to the wasted millions already spent on them. I am still waiting onthe survey that states how much on avrage is wasted on these surveys.

[ninjatrigg]

Im not racist, but what about sports games?

Surely, white people are underestimated in the NBA games....
How many white dude were in GTA San Andreas?
Tiger Woods golf? Black dude on the cover.
Lead character of FFXIII? Female, with CLOTHES ON!!!

Why do we need more kids in our games again?
Who wants to play as an old person?
Old people fit right in in the games they actually are in. A wise person to learn from... thats it. Also, Metal Gear Solid 4. Snake = Old.

Anyway... this is all BS, sounds like Jack Thompson had something to do with it?

[Wober]

The majority of the world is not even represented by their politicians....

[harryisme]

Movies and TV shows are the same if not worst, Games are a different genre completely, personally don't think this is true, probably a survey done by idiots who still think games are for kids and need to be banned....maybe Jach Thompson commisioned it.

[Xenogears V]

Nobody cares

I think me too. We are speaking about videogames... would do better to worry about real life.