In the recent years, there has been an increasing rate of engagement in electronic games across many countries. Both men and women are increasingly participating in a variety of video games either as a social activity or as an outlet for life pressures. I recently conducted a survey to determine the trends in video games participation among different people. The choice of participant samples was conducted using a random sampling technique that was combined with convenience sampling. The objective of the activity was to determine the types of video games that contemporary gamers engage in, the activities surrounding the gaming process and the relationship between gender and video game participation. A total of 20 respondents were interviewed randomly from a group of respondents leaving a gaming store. The gaming store was selected as the location of choice for the identification of the sample population due to its proximity and the assurance of getting gamers as part of the sample respondent population.
The chart below shows the population of males and females interviewed in the process. Through the interviews, it was noted that more men participated in video games than women. Among the respondents, the men comprised of 52% of the group while the women were only 48% of the group. 45% of the participants were between the ages of 21 and 25 while the remaining were above 25 years, but younger than 35 years. Half of those above 25 years had families and reported that they played video games with their children. Most of the men also reported that they enjoyed playing the games with their friends, while most women reported that they played alone in order to relieve stress. More than 80% of the gamers also reported that they enjoyed games that challenged their intellect.
Figure 1: Percentage of Respondents by Gender
One of the most interesting things about the interviews was that most of the participants indicated that they could play video games anywhere. While most of the respondents reported playing on their PC, 53% of the respondents confirmed that they had a dedicated game console at home. More than 31% of the respondents reported using wireless devices while 30% of them said they used their smart phones. No device usage was however confirmed independent of the others in that all the gamers reported that they used at least two different devices. Similarly, the interviewed gamers also reported that they enjoyed different types of games. At least 48% of the respondents said they enjoyed social games. The rest, mostly women, reported that they preferred games that addressed their needs at the time of the game.
The most popular game among the respondents was the League of legends. Most of the respondents reported that they liked this game because it gave them a sense of power after winning. Other games that were confirmed to be popular include: call on duty, Pokémon and counter- strike. Each of these games reflected different challenges and gave different meanings to victory. The respondents reported that most of the games were created to reflect specific aspects of the society at different times. For instance, game titles such as cancer, fragments of him and drumf, reflected changes in the political environment, awareness and political and social activism. With most of the gamers spending more than 2 hours per day on their screens, it will be difficult to lower the growth potential of the industry and it is expected to grow tremendously over the next few years.