Browse > Article
http://dx.doi.org/10.6109/jkiice.2021.25.3.403

Empirical Study on Female Characters in Team based Battle Games Preferred by Female Gamers  

Song, Doo Heon (Department of Computer Games, Yongin SongDam College)
Publication Information
Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering / v.25, no.3, 2021 , pp. 403-411 More about this Journal
Abstract
While there is no apparent gender difference on the number of game players and playing time in market survey especially if the age group is under 30, there still exists a strong gender stereotype on female characters with sexual objectification especially in team based battle games. Furthermore, there seldom exists any research on female gamers in this genre. In this paper, we investigate the preference of female characters and reasons of their choice among female gamers with Overwatch and Cypers which are recognized as having enough female players. In Overwatch with 231 responses, subjects prefer 'girl-crush' characters such as non-sexual Ana who age is in 60s. However, in Cypers that does not have female warrior character, subjects' preference is more affected by appearance but those characters with less functional ability are not frequently used in playing. Such practical avatar choice is often discovered among male players thus there is no gender difference in this case.
Keywords
Character preference; Gender differenca; Battle game; Girl crush; Appearance;
Citations & Related Records
Times Cited By KSCI : 1  (Citation Analysis)
연도 인용수 순위
1 Korea Creative Contents Agency, "Game User Survey," Tech. Report, Jul. 2019.
2 Korea Creative Contents Agency, 2019 White Page in Korea Games, Feb. 2020.
3 Entertainment Software Association, 2014 sales, demographic and usage data: Essential facts about the computer and video game industry. Washington, DC: Entertainment Software Association, 2014.
4 Interactive Software Federation of Europe. Videogames in europe: consumer study, 2012. [Internet]. Available: https://enterprise.gov.ie/en/Consultations/Consultations-files/Interactive-Software-Federation-of-Europe-ISFE.pdf.
5 Korea Statistical Information Service(KOSIS), Gender and Employment Status by Employment Type in the Game Industry, 2019. [Internet]. Available: http://kosis.kr/statHtml/statHtml.do?orgId=113&tblId=DT_113_STBL_1025806.
6 D. H. Song, S. Park, S. W. Yang, Y. Yang, and K. Won, "Gender Differences and Gender Stereotype in Play Style among Young Korean Gamers," Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 72 -81, Jan. 2017.   DOI
7 B. PaaBen, T. Morgenroth, and M. Stratemeyer, "What is a true gamer? The male gamer stereotype and the marginalization of women in video game culture," Sex Roles, vol. 76, no. 7-8, pp. 421-435, Aug. 2017.   DOI
8 R. Borison, "REPORT: 22% Of Game Developers Are Female," [Internet]. Available : http://www.businessinsider.com/report-22-of-game-developers-are-female-2014-6.
9 G. Jeon, "A study of Women in Digital Games and Their Gaming," Journal of Cyber communication, vol. 22, pp. 83-117, Jan. 2007.
10 R. A. Ratan, N. Taylor, J. Hogan, T. Kennedy, and D. Williams, "Stand by your man: An examination of gender disparity in league of legends," Games and Culture, vol. 10, no. 5, pp. 438-462, May. 2015.   DOI
11 T. Lynch, J. Tompkins, I. I. van Driel, and N. Fritz, "Sexy, strong, and secondary: A content analysis of female characters in video games across 31 years," Journal of Communication, vol. 66, no. 4, pp. 564-584, Apr. 2016.   DOI
12 H. Park and D. H. Song, "Young Korean Overwatch Game Users Survey," in Proceeding of the 2016 Fall Conference of Korea Game Society, Busan, Korea, pp. 81-84, Nov. 2016.
13 N. Martins, D. Williams, K. Harrison, and R. A. Ratan. "A content analysis of female body imagery in video games," Sex roles, vol. 61, no. 11-12, pp. 824-831, Dec. 2009.   DOI
14 H-W Han, S-Ye Kim, and H-I Koo, "Analysis of Gender Identity of On-line Game Character - focused on -," Journal of Korea Game Society, vol. 14, no. 5, pp. 147-160, Oct. 2014.   DOI
15 J. Fox and W. Y. Tang, "Sexism in online video games: The role of conformity to masculine norms and social dominance orientation," Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 33, pp. 314-320, Apr. 2014.   DOI
16 S. Song, "A Study on Gender Identity of Female Hero Characters in Video Games," M.A. Thesis, Ehwa Women's University, 2016.
17 D. Agosto, "Girls and gaming. A summary of the research with implications for practice," Teacher Librarian: TL Magazine, vol. 31, no. 3, pp. 1-8(online), 2004.
18 D. H. Song, H. K. Rhee, and J. H. Kim, "Gender stereotype and hostile sexism among young korean gamers based on teammate selection strategy and game style preferences," Indonesian Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 1512-1518, Sep. 2020.   DOI
19 M. Chang and T. Yoon, "A Study on Female Players who Play Indie/Dongin Games," Media, Gender and Culture, vol. 19, pp. 145-177, Jul. 2011.
20 K-H Lee and C-H Paik, "Analysis of Male Character Design's Stereotype through Otome Game - Focusing on Ensemble Stars," Journal of Korea Game Society, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 45-54, Apr. 2017.   DOI
21 Overlog, [Internet]. Avaiable: https://www.overlog.gg/heroes/global
22 Girl crush, [Internet] Available: https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/girl+crush
23 H. S. Shin and D. H.Song, "Avatar-Player Attachment Relationship with respect to the Roles of First Person Shooter: Case of Rainbow Six Siege," In Proceedings of he 2019 Fall Conference of Korea Game Society, Seoul, Korea, pp. 89-93, Oct. 2019.
24 S. Han, "Glass Ceinging in Videogames-Unequal gender status in Pokemon Series," Journal of Korea Game Society, vol. 17, no. 6, pp.173-188, Dec. 2017.   DOI