The privilege of immersion: Racial and ethnic experiences, perceptions, and beliefs in digital gaming
Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2018•dl.acm.org
People of color comprise a large proportion of the US player base, yet are systematically
and grossly underrepresented in digital games. We constructed a survey to assess if players
perceive this underrepresentation, how they experience these representations, and sample
their beliefs about diversity and gaming. Mixed-methods analyses show significant
differences between players of color and White players on perception of racial norms in
gaming, effects on behavior, emotions, player satisfaction, engagement, and beliefs …
and grossly underrepresented in digital games. We constructed a survey to assess if players
perceive this underrepresentation, how they experience these representations, and sample
their beliefs about diversity and gaming. Mixed-methods analyses show significant
differences between players of color and White players on perception of racial norms in
gaming, effects on behavior, emotions, player satisfaction, engagement, and beliefs …
People of color comprise a large proportion of the US player base, yet are systematically and grossly underrepresented in digital games. We constructed a survey to assess if players perceive this underrepresentation, how they experience these representations, and sample their beliefs about diversity and gaming. Mixed-methods analyses show significant differences between players of color and White players on perception of racial norms in gaming, effects on behavior, emotions, player satisfaction, engagement, and beliefs stemming from a lack of diversity. Players from all races-ethnicities overwhelmingly expressed a desire for greater diversity. We discuss reasons why our methodology shows higher dissatisfaction than previous research and discuss our findings in the context of industry's challenge to meet audience demands for greater racial diversity in games.
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