March 02, 2018
For years games have been categorised by gender and age and due to how long this has gone on it has affected the statistics of what players buy and what percentage of each gender are playing games.
These categories that players are put into can effect the statistics and therefore the game developers. Women are categorised as players who like adventure games with good plot and what some would consider boring. Whereas men are categorised as players who like hardcore games such as call of Duty and Halo. Although this is what game developers make it out to be like the players disagree with a survey that 91% of players asked if "women were biologically wired to like certain games" they all thought otherwise. Additionally 98% rejected the proposition of exclusively male targeted games. However, this can also be said for the younger generation who are both categorised by age and gender, both being put into a child friendly category as well with no violence. For younger girls you'll often see them put into the category of cooking or dress up games, typically games boys of that age wont like. Whereas boys are put into the category of adventure and even Mario and Sonic. By setting these categories from a young age it often leads young kids to believe these are the rules set and that they have to play these games made for them.
Why are players categorised? it makes game development easier, for the ones making the game if they have a certain audience in mind its easier to guess what they will like and due to statistics it proves to be true. However, due to these statistics game developers are then ignoring what people are saying about wanting more inclusive games of both genders and ethnicity. It also shows through with the top video games of 2014 with the first three being Call of Duty, Madden and Destiny. What do all three have in common? they're all targeted towards men.
What are the real benefits of categorising players? the only benefits of this come to the game developers who like i said get the statistics they want to see. Therefore it'll be easier for them to make a game for a certain gender without catering to both. This can even apply to the age rating as well, by categorising ages the developers can then determine how much violence, swearing and nudity can be shown in the game. Although there are not many benefits to the actual players apart from the age rating, this benefits the mothers of young children who don't want their kids playing R18 video games. But for the adults playing the games there's no benefit for them, they just pick the game they like.
What are the disadvantages of categorising players? I've already stated that it can affect younger players who may grow up to stick to the categorisation, but for adults it can have many downsides. For example some immature people who believe in categorising may say that a woman can't play COD which they can its just targeted towards men and therefore dominated by men especially on online multiplayer. However if a woman was to go online in the game and be on voice chat some ignorant people who believe its a "mans game" will get offended and therefore insult the woman playing (which I've seen many times.) This can lead to many people believe that they cant play a certain game because others have that belief.
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