Outlining the Spectrum of Values of Self-Identified Gamers - Exploratory Survey Results

Aug 26, 2026

Uploaded by Đào

To understand the spectrum of different gamers, the study examines both how prevalent self-identified gamers are and what diverse identities they represent. Based on an exploratory survey of 894 respondents broadly targeted to video game players in the USA, participants classified themselves as gamers or non-gamers. Using gaming values and personal values measures, the research identifies latent groupings and compares their differences through cluster analysis, resulting in five active player groups and distinct gamer subtypes.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages21

Reading Time53 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Gamer identity and the “gamer” discourse

Why study gamer identification and values

Focus and research gap

Method and results

Exploratory survey sample (N=894)

Value measures: gaming values and personal values

Cluster analysis and identified groups

Discussion

Relation to prior literature and discourses

Outlining the spectrum of values of self-identified gamers Jukka Vahlo University of Turku Centre for Collaborative Research CCR School of Economics Rehtorinpellonkatu 3 20014-University of Turku [julavi@utu.fi](julavi@utu.fi) Maria Ruotsalainen Department of Music, Art and Culture Studies Seminaarinkatu 15, 40014 Jyväskylän yliopisto [maria.a.t.ruotsalainen@jyu.fi](maria.a.t.ruotsalainen@jyu.fi) Kai Tuuri Department of Music, Art and Culture Studies Seminaarinkatu 15, 40014 Jyväskylän yliopisto [krtuuri@jyu.fi](krtuuri@jyu.fi) Aki Koponen University of Turku Centre for Collaborative Research CCR School of Economics Rehtorinpellonkatu 3 20014-University of Turku [aki.koponen@utu.fi](aki.koponen@utu.fi). ABSTRACT To understand the spectrum of different gamers, we recognize the need to study both the prevalence of self-identified gamers and the diverse identities they may represent. In this paper we present results from our exploratory survey study (N=894), broadly targeted to video game players in the USA, that allowed the respondents to identify themselves as gamers as well as non-gamer players. By utilizing gaming value measures and personal value measures, we explored what kind of latent groups of self-identified gamers and non-gamer players the survey sample yielded and how they differed from each other. The results of the cluster analysis identified five groups of active players, in four of which the self-identified gamers were overrepresented and which can be argued to be distinctive gamer subtypes. The results are discussed in reflection with the previous literature and discourses about gamer identities. Keywords gamer, video game players, identity, gaming values, personal values INTRODUCTION Since the dawn of video games as a popular form of technology, the everyday use of the term‘gamer’ has rather ubiquitously denoted people who enjoy playing games. According to Kirkpatrick (2012), the gaming media in the 1980s and 1990s were particularly involved in constructing a sense of community among gamers, while also distancing the gaming culture from other elements of computer culture, which predominantly deemed computers in terms of engineering or productivity. This has also contributed to the construction of the still commonly prevailing discourse that depicts (stereo)typical gamers as young white males (e.g., Alexander 2014; Cote 2018; Schelfhout et al. 2021) . Since the 1980s, the consumption of video games has been radically extended to more diverse audiences. For example, the number of contemporary female players has increased to the level of a more-or-less equal distribution between the male and female genders (Kinnunen et al. 2020; ESA 2014) . Against this backdrop, ‘gamer’ as a conceptual portrait of video game players has been debated by researchers (Shaw 2012; Grooten & Kowert 2015; Howe et al. 2019; Jung 2020) . In provocative terms, it has been even stated that the gamer is over (Alexander 2014), at least as an identity that is exclusively shaped on the traditional male-based stereotype. Within contemporary discussions, it is increasingly understood that the term ‘gamer’does not uniformly equate with people who actively play video games. By contrast, it has been recognized that it might be more important to focus on how different people identify themselves as gamers (Shaw 2012), as the identification perspective allows the researchers to focus on information on how people describe their own identity formation. However, there is still a lack of broad understanding of‘gamers’ in terms of what kinds of active game players self-identify as gamers. As a research approach, the question about game players’ identification as gamers is definitely not ‘over’. The concept of gamer is not static nor uniform in nature, but rather, it has a multifaceted construction that is constantly developing through sociocultural interactions (e.g., Grooten and Kowert 2015) . Research o

FAQs

What does the paper aim to explain about self-identified gamers?

It aims to clarify the spectrum of gamer identities by examining both the prevalence of self-identified gamers and the diverse identities they represent.

How was the study conducted and who participated?

The paper reports an exploratory survey with N=894 respondents broadly targeted to video game players in the USA, who identified themselves as gamers or non-gamers.

What did the cluster analysis find?

The analysis identified five groups of active players, with self-identified gamers overrepresented in four groups, which are argued to reflect distinctive gamer subtypes.

Aug 26, 2026

Uploaded by Đào