"Gaymer Survey" Results Summary

  This document is a brief overview of selected questions and some associated analysis from the so-called "gaymer survey" conducted during the summer of 2006 by Jason Rockwood under the supervision of Dmitri Williams at the University of Illinois Department of Speech Communication.  The survey was the first academically approved research that specifically explored the social and behavioral demographics of gay video game players and the role of sexual orientation on gaming habits.


The survey was hosted on an online survey application site, SurveyMonkey.com. To make the survey easy to promote and attract attention, an easy-to-remember URL was created, "www.gaymersurvey.org".  The launch of the survey was coordinated with the appearance of an article in the GLBT newspaper InNewsweekly by Alexander Sliwinski that discussed the survey and this research.  After the article ran, the survey was quickly picked up by the blogging community.  After a couple of high-profile mentions on websites such as IGN.com, the survey ended up attracting over 10,000 respondents from over 30 countries around the world. 


This summary has two components: a) "screen shots" summarizing all 10,204 respondents, and b) selected text which provides a deeper analysis of the statistics when looked at through question 33, which asks respondents to identify their sexual orientation on a sliding scale of 1 to 7, 1 being "heterosexual" and 7 being "homosexual". The sample explored by the analyzing paragraphs is limited in scope to men only, ages 12-59. These analyzing paragraphs examined if and how sexual orientation would influence the respondents' selections. In all but one question, when sexual orientation did noticeably influence the outcome, it occurred in a linear fashion progressing from one end of the seven point scale to the other.While 10,204 people initially responded to the survey, not all participants completed all questions. For this reason, the sample size of each question varies. The results in this summary are expressed in percentages only.

The data set for this project was humongous.  There is simply no easy way to present all the data and all the related statistics.  If there is something you were looking for that you didn't find here, or if you are interested in exploring further analysis on this or other elements of the survey not presented here, please contact Jason Rockwood at Rockwood.Jason@gmail.com or (217) 202-8245.  Please also contact Jason with any other questions, concerns, or requests. 

Thank you for your interest in this project. "Thank you" also to Dmitri Williams for the guidance, to Alexander Sliwinski for the support, and Alex Chisholm for the inspiration.

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3. Which of the following gaming devices/systems are in your home?
  Response Percent
  PC
83%
  PS2
66%
  XBox
41.7%
  XBox 360
27.2%
  PS3
1.2%
  GameCube
61.5%
  Nintendo DS
45%
  GameBoy Advance
53.8%
  Nintendo 64
51.1%
  PlayStation
42.1%
  DreamCast
26.1%
  Mac
12.9%
  NES
33.7%
  Super NES
41.2%
  GameBoy Pocket
18.9%
  Sony PSP
25.6%
  Sega Saturn
9.5%
  Sega Genesis
24.6%
  Neo Geo Pocket Color
3.2%
  Mobile phone
43%
  Atari
10.2%
  Other (please specify)
12.5%



 

6. How much did you spend on video games and/or video game devices in the past year?
  Response Percent
    $0-$500
41.8%
    $500 - $1000
33.2%
    $1000 - $1500
13.8%
    $1500 - $2000
5%
    $2000+
6.3%

 

 

8. How much did you spend on video games and/or video game devices in the last month?
  Response Percent
    $0-$100
70.9%
    $100 - $500
25.6%
    $500 - $1000
2.5%
    $1000+
1%

 

10. What are your four most favorite gaming genres?
Most Favorite 2nd Favorite 3rd Favorite 4th Favorite 5th Favorite
MMORPG (MMOG)
28% (953) 23% (784) 17% (571) 15% (523) 18% (624)
Children's
6% (33) 7% (36) 9% (48) 17% (92) 60% (318)
Music/Rhythm
11% (243) 15% (331) 21% (456) 24% (518) 29% (631)
Fighting
11% (489) 16% (736) 22% (1003) 24% (1105) 26% (1190)
Role-playing Game
41% (3248) 27% (2111) 15% (1151) 10% (760) 8% (599)
1st Person Shooters
28% (1750) 23% (1469) 20% (1291) 15% (920) 14% (884)
Sports
16% (325) 15% (305) 18% (365) 20% (404) 30% (593)
Strategy
12% (577) 19% (909) 24% (1168) 24% (1165) 21% (1045)
Classic/Retro games
10% (379) 15% (590) 21% (805) 25% (959) 29% (1091)
Simulations
9% (238) 15% (377) 21% (538) 24% (617) 30% (773)
Racing
8% (295) 15% (537) 20% (728) 27% (945) 30% (1059)
Action Adventure
29% (2276) 25% (1976) 20% (1572) 14% (1120) 10% (813)
Puzzles/Quizzes
6% (181) 13% (396) 21% (639) 26% (791) 33% (987)

 

 

11. What is your attitude about Nintendogs?
  Response Percent
    I love it.
7.6%
    I like it.
22.4%
    I don't like it.
7.9%
    I hate it.
3.7%
    I have never played or have no opinion.
58.4%

Notes on Question 11: 
For those respondents having an opinion about Nintendogs, homosexual respondents liked the game significantly more than heterosexuals, although both hetero and homosexuals were in the positive range.  Bisexuals were intermediate between the two ends of the sexual orientation scale, and interestingly, are on the mean for the group. 

 

 



15. When you play video games, how frequently do you play with a romantic partner, e.g. spouse, fianc?(c)e, boyfriend/girlfriend?
  Response Percent
    Always
1.4%
    Frequently
13%
    Occasionally
34.5%
    Never
51.1%
17. Do you prefer linear games (games with a decided route and path, like the classic Mario Bros. games) or non-linear games (games where you can explore in any direction)?
  Response Percent
    Entirely non-linear
7.4%
    Mostly non-linear
53.9%
    Mostly linear
23.8%
    Entirely linear
0.9%
    N/A
14%

 

 

18. Do you like games with conventional user interfaces, or innovative user interfaces (such as a Nintendo DS or a Guitar in Guitar Hero)?
  Response Percent
    I prefer only conventional player interfaces.
8.3%
    I prefer mostly conventional player interfaces.
52.7%
    I prefer mostly unique/innovative player interfaces.
35.9%
    I prefer only unique/innovative player interfaces.
3.1%



29. What is your sex?
  Response Percent
    MTF
1.2%
    FTM
0.3%
    Male
91.1%
    Female
7.4%
30. In Western societies, our culture tends to try to impose a binary categorization of gender, a socially constructed notion of what is feminine and what is masculine. Where would you place yourself on this continuum?
  Response Percent
    Completely feminine
1.3%
    More feminine than masculine
11.5%
    More masculine than feminine
52.4%
    Completely masculine
24.4%
    My concept of my own gender is not on this continuum.
10.4%
31. On a scale of 1 to 7, with 1 being completely heterosexual, and 7 being completely homosexual (4 being completely bisexual), where would you consider yourself?
  Response Percent
    1 Completely Heterosexual
28%
    2
12.9%
    3
7.7%
    4 Completely Bisexual
4.9%
    5
6.4%
    6
16.8%
    7 Completely Homosexual
23.4%
33. The term "gaymer" is often used to describe gay and lesbian video gamers. What are your feelings about this term?
  Response Percent
    Very positive
6.5%
    Generally positive
13%
    Neutral
39.1%
    Generally negative
17.6%
    Very negative
11.1%
    Unsure
12.7%

Notes on Q33: Among the respondents who had an opinion, the term "gaymer" was generally viewed as slightly negative with the greatest negativity among heterosexuals. With homosexuals the term was viewed only slightly positively. In general, it appears that the term is not popular, regardless of sexual orientation.



 

34. What about related terms, such as "gayming"?
  Response Percent
    Very positive
4.3%
    Generally positive
9.3%
    Neutral
43%
    Generally negative
19.3%
    Very negative
11.7%
    Other (please specify)
12.3%

 

35. Do you think gay and lesbian video gamers are motivated to play video games for different reasons than straight gamers?
  Response Percent
    Yes
7.2%
    No
70.7%
    Not sure
22.1%

 

36. Increasing numbers of gay people are taking an interest in video game culture. How do you feel about this? (Check all that apply.)
  Response Percent
  I like it.
43.2%
  I don't like it.
4.4%
  I'm confused by it.
5.6%
  I'm offended by it.
1.9%
  I'm glad there is more diversity in video game culture.
76.7%

 

37. Have you ever been romantically or sexually attracted to a video game character?
  Response Percent
    Yes
34.3%
    No
37%
    Maybe/perhaps
25.5%
    Not sure
3.2%

 

38. To what degree are you more likely to buy a game featuring depictions of sexually attractive characters/avatars?
  Response Percent
    Much more likely
5.8%
    Somewhat more likely
28.5%
    Somewhat less likely
7.2%
    Much less likely
8.7%
    Don't know/not sure
30.1%
    Other (please specify)
19.7%
Notes on Q38:  In the overall sample, there was no preference for depictions of sexually attractive avatars, however, when analyzed by sexual orientation, we find that homosexuals are slightly more likely to by games featuring depictions of sexually attractive avatars, whereas heterosexual respondents were neutral.



 

39. Many offline video games and online RPGs feature the option to select a either a male or female avatar. How often do you play an avatar with a gender different from your own?
  Response Percent
    Never
30.7%
    Occasionally
46.8%
    Frequently
14.5%
    Always
3.3%
    Other (please specify)
4.6%

This was the only question in the survey in which bisexuals did not fall at an intermediate point between hetero and homosexual respondents.  The scale here was curvilinear, meaning that homosexuals and heterosexuals answered in a similar way, and bisexuals answered differently from the two ends of the sexual orientation scale.  What we found was this:  Whereas homosexual and heterosexual gamers rarely play an avatar with a sex or gender different from their own, bisexuals show a mild preference for it. 


 

40. To what degree are you bothered by the sexual objectification of females in video games?
  Response Percent
    It bothers me a great deal.
9.8%
    It bothers me somewhat.
28.5%
    It doesn't bother me too much.