Stop Stifling Sales: Designing for Representation in Videogames
Data Collection: 5.2023-6.2023
Article Published: 11.24.2024
When I play videogames I am paying attention to the people who play with me. I listen for what they enjoy and what frustrates them about the games we play together. This article focuses on female gamers and what the market currently offers this demographic. Presented is a compilation of what I have heard, the data I have gathered, and some solutions to creating products that elegantly address the needs of this market.
The Problem
The current market does not address consumer wants regarding gender representation.
The Solution
Create structural changes that allow for reaching critical mass in hiring for a cross-functional diverse team.
The Goal
Create an equitable and accessible experience for female users in the gaming industry.
The current market does not address consumer wants regarding gender representation.
When I was growing up there were very few game options with female lead characters. Lara Croft was drawn and dressed to please the male gaze, something I understood even as a child. Amy Rose is an animal and Samus was impossible for me to see under her armor. Princess Zelda had yet to be a lead playable character in the franchise under her own name and a game featuring Princess Peach wouldn’t come out until years later. I needn’t have held my breath: gameplay includes making her cry to cause flowers to grow.
When Pokémon Blue was first released in the United States, I begged my parents at every waking moment to get me a copy. My wish was granted that Christmas and I nearly teleported across the house to grab the family Game Boy, gently pushed in the cartridge and held my breath as the iconic Nintendo logo dissolved onto the screen. Disappointment settled like a wet wool sweater when I found out there was no option to make a girl character (never mind that you could choose the name). I was not a part of this story. Tom, Paul, Jeremy, and Andy were. Not me. I took a breath and pretended my character was a girl with a pixie cut, but the sense of being cut out of this space where my heart danced remained. After all - it was a Game BOY.
I’m not alone in my experience. I also reviewed other studies asking related questions.
This graph shows that in 10 years very little progress was made in creating more female main characters.
This graph shows that female students were more likely to choose a female character than male students were to choose a male character.
Players by the numbers:
According to Circana's PlayerPulse in 2023:
47% of console video game players are female
50% of PC video game players are female
54% of mobile video game players are female
Additionally:
41% of PS5s in the US are female owned
45% of Xbox Series consoles are female owned
52% of Swich consoles are female owned
50% of gaming PCs are female owned
“When developers push male protagonists to the forefront, they’re not encouraging sales among boys. They’re actually stifling sales among girls.”
I surveyed 209 people to see if there was a correlation between how they saw themselves and the characters they chose to create.
Female
Male
Androgenous
Populations from Discord and Reddit gaming channels and by word of mouth
Three body weights and three body types were presented in a randomized order to each participant
Pronoun usage is a cultural and language marker, and ideals of physical beauty change across culture and time. Therefore, questions regarding physical presentation and preferred pronouns were asked independently to create separate data sets.
An example of a question seen in the survey:
You are playing a game in which you will be seeing a lot of the character you create. You are in the character creation menu.
Which silhouette would you choose?
My data showed that participants overall preferred to play a character that matched their own silhouette.
Despite the presence of male protagonists, there is a slight preference for female playable characters among players.
Women Spend Money on Games
Blackford, Meghan. “Extra Life: Video Game Addiction Statistics.” FHE Health, May 14, 2024. https://fherehab.com/survey/video-game-addiction/.
Women spend a lot of money on games. Approximately 174 Billion according to a Medium article by Shequeta L. Smith. A study done by Meghan Blackford that surveyed 1,045 people on their gaming and purchasing habits shows that women take up about 30%-40% in most groups except in the $1-$50 range and the $5001+ range where they are over 60% of the spenders. The chart is referenced on the left.
The Barbie movie grossed over $1.4 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing movie of 2023. It was a movie directed and written by women, aimed at women, and addressing their life experiences. If you design quality games with characters that women want to play, you could tap into a $174 billion market that currently has very little competition.
“[Jazz Bashara] talks and acts like a Middle American white man - with occasional stereotypical exceptions, as when she must pretend to be a prostitute. Then she talks and acts like a Middle American white man pretending to be a prostitute.”
“Write what you know.”
Recommendations: How to Create a Product that Users Identify With
Women, who make up a significant portion of the gaming audience, are eager to play games with characters that reflect their identities and experiences. By prioritizing representation through better hiring practices, more inclusive design approaches, and a deeper understanding of diverse player needs, this creative redesign can help pave the way for a more equitable and profitable future.
I leave you with several recommendations based on my experiences working in human resources, volunteering in student services, and being an empathetic human who listens to others when they tell their stories.
Change who you hire.
Cross-functional teams make more money. One study found that a diverse leadership team had a 19% increase in revenue over teams with below-average leadership diversity. The Harvard Business Review agrees. Therefore, hire cross-functional teams.
No one can write about someone’s experience better than the person who lived it. If you are trying to tap into the $174 billion market of female gamers, hire women on your development staff.
According to the Harvard Business Review, “Culture change comes more readily from a critical mass of diverse executives than from one high-profile hire.” Reach critical mass - hiring one token woman is not enough. You need diversity of candidates at every level.
Change how you hire.
Do not make people ask for accommodation - build it in. According to a study by JAMA, students on a free meal lunch program were more likely to actually get lunch if the free program was available to everyone. Similarly, people who need additional accommodation may not ask for it due to social stigma. If accommodation is a natural part of the process, hiring managers will have an easier time focusing on a candidate’s strengths while candidates may experience less anxiety and be more likely to perform tasks to their full potential.
Remove names and addresses of applicants at the HR level and replace them with a random string of numbers and letters. A 2004 study showed that participants were 50% more likely to call back a candidate with a stereotypical white name over stereotypical black names. SHRM author Martin Abel notes additionally that a person’s name can prompt hiring discrimination. The paper “Systemic Discrimination Among Large U.S. Employers” by Kline, Rose, and Walters published to the National Bureau of Economic Research in 2021 contains similar data.
Add people from different departments into the hiring process. I once spoke to a manager who said that he brings his department secretary to all his interviews. If the secretary asks a question and the candidate addresses the hiring manager instead of the secretary, he immediately removes that candidate from the hiring pool. It was his way of knowing how that candidate was likely to treat other people on the team based on where they were in the hierarchy. That treatment ran the risk of creating a culture of toxicity which would in turn impact the work output of his peers, so he found a strategy to help remove the issue from the beginning. Who you choose to add to your process will depend on the size of your organization, but departments like facilities and administration are good starting places to consider. Their varying life and work experiences may provide them insight into candidates that others miss. You are more likely to hire diverse candidates if you have a cross-functional hiring team.
Cross-functional teams make better things, which creates more value, which makes more money.
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