I have now had the chance to role-play with gamers from 3 nations – Japan, Australia and the UK – and I’ve seen a lot about American role-players online. From my experiences I’ve begun to get a bit of a sense of the politics, class and background culture of gamers in these 4 nations, so I thought I’d give my judgments here and see what representatives of the countries in question think. Note the word “judgement” in this sentence, it’s hard to do anything but generalize when you only met gamers in London for 18 months, for example, and they were mostly wankers. So, let’s be at it…
Australian Gamers: Obviously the group I have most experience with, I would characterize Aussie gamers as largely middle class, from managerial or professional backgrounds – IT professionals, managers, public servants and the like – with only a small sprinkling of “working class”[1] professions like gardeners or factory workers. This is unsurprising given that Australia is a largely middle class country, but interesting to compare with, say, Japan. I suspect Aussie gamers tend to focus only on the most popular overseas games, as we’re few in number and quite isolated – often in Oz you have to construct gaming groups from friends rather than experienced gamers, and gaming shops are few and far between. The lack of interest in gaming reflects, I think, our historical distance from the US and a strong anti-intellectualism in Australia during the growth of the hobby that held us back from developing in the same way as the UK. I haven’t lived in Oz for 5 years now so maybe this is changing. Gaming in Australia also seemed to include a high proportion of goths.
British gamers: were largely a pack of wankers in my limited experience, but otherwise similar to Aussies[2]. I met my British gamers mostly through pub-based gaming groups in London, and I suspect this is not the best environment to meet nice people, since it tends to attract the kind of people who strangely seem to never be invited to games at other peoples’ houses. Also, pubs are an aggressive and unpleasant socializing environment, and good gaming behaviour requires a supportive environment (e.g. where you don’t have to yell just to be heard). So maybe I didn’t see anything like a representative cross-section of British gamers. I also think the gaming scene may be stronger in the midlands and further North, where I believe it developed historically (I think Grenadier miniatures, GDW, and the major early gaming stores all started in the midlands, which is also where The Elfish Gene is set). So London gamers were middle class, mainly, played a wide diversity of games (though there was a heavy D&D focus in the club I joined) but seemed to have a lower goth-factor, and perhaps less students than Aussies. They were also old, I think – a good half of the club I played in would qualify for the classic stereotype of the 30-something fatbeard (and my God did those fatbeards plumb historical depths of know-it-all bastardry). I note that this gaming in pubs thing is at least partly reflective of housing in London (appalling) and public infrastructure (weak), so that people had nowhere else to play. I once went to a pub with a friend for a drink at about 10pm on a Friday night, and there were 3 guys doing their regular D&D session in amongst the revellers, which I don’t think you’d see anywhere else on Earth. Also, they weren’t being beaten up by the other punters, which would surely happen if you did anything that nerdy in an Aussie pub[3]. So this indicates both a poor availability of good gaming spaces, and a generally more accepting attitude towards nerdish pursuits in the UK than in Australia. Which probably explains how the UK was an important site in the development of modern gaming, and has a larger scene than Australia.
Japanese Gamers: Seem to be from noticeably poorer backgrounds than those in the UK/Australia, with a higher preponderance of factory workers, service workers and the like. They seem to be much more concerned about money and economy than Aussies or Brits, and the gaming industry here seems to take this seriously, releasing most games in an expensive and a cheap format. One of my players doesn’t have a PC, and another has a second hand iBook (6 years old!) which indicates a much lower interest in computers and/or less money. Their online presence is often entirely mobile phone based, largely around the social networking site mixi[4] and they don’t seem to blog much (except for the organizations, such as the club I’m part of). They’re quite formal and very nerdy, and there is a much, much lower level of both rudeness and know-it-all behaviour than one would see in Aussie or British groups. Also, there is almost no culture of home-based gaming, but a very good public infrastructure supportive of public gatherings so no need to visit peoples’ homes. Interestingly, the University I teach at has no gaming club, which would be unusual by Australian standards. Japanese gamers play a wide diversity of games – there are a lot of local games, and then also a reasonable range of translated games. My convention group seems to have a widely varying range of available games, and there is not much D&D focus – one GM is obssessed with Pathfinder but the others seem to change regularly. In fact I detect zero interest in 4th Edition, largely for cost reasons, and little interest in 3.5 because of its splatbooks. Pathfinder is available online for free, and that’s a bit part of its allure, I think. Again, this is partly related to the strong concerns Japanese gamers seem to have about money. I don’t know if Japanese RPGers are different to other parts of nerd (otaku) society here but it’s worth observing that Japan is much more respectful of nerd life than Australia (or even Britain) seem to be, and so I expect much more mixing occurs between nerds. There’s also less evidence of any feeling of exclusivity or reaction against ordinary non-gamers, which one sees a bit of in Australia.
Another noteworthy point about Japanese gamers is that there are a lot more women in the groups here than in the West. I think this is because of the lack of exclusivity of nerd culture here, and its old pre-RPG pedigree.
American (online) gamers: Based on what I see from the internet, American gamers seem to be largely middle or lower-middle class, though with perhaps a wider diversity of classes than in Australia. The thing that interests me most about the US gamers I see online though is that a lot of them seem to be military. One almost never meets an Australian or British soldier-gamer, but they seem quite common in the US online RPG scene. I wonder at three possible reasons for this:
- Americans are much more likely to be in the military than Aussies or Brits or Japanese, and thus so are gamers
- US soldiers are much more likely to be gamers than Aussie/Brit/Japanese soldiers (certainly true for Aussie soldiers I think)
- Self-selection: US soldiers are much more likely to travel than non-soldiers, for longer periods, thus much more likely to have a strong online presence and less likely to have a game going; thus more likely to have a blog about the games they can’t play
I appeal to my American reader(s) for an explanation! Also, another thing I notice about US gamers is they seem to be very white, which on the balance of probabilities probably shouldn’t happen. Is this because the class that gamers are drawn from is largely white, is it because games generally don’t appeal to black Americans, is the internet a primarily white space, or is it that the RPG world is actually quite white only? I think a little of each, and I’ve said before that I think the early history of fantasy and science fiction sets a cultural standard that drives black people away – they can read between the lines the same way a woman does when she enters a workplace and finds it full of girly calendars. It’s not the naked breasts that offend her, but the message it sends her that this is a place for men. I think that a lot of the fantasy canon sends this message out.
It’s worth noting that this racial exclusivity also occurs in Australia to some extent (Asians and migrants are underrepresented in gaming) and the UK, which has a large black/South Asian population (particularly in London!) but you just never saw them in the gaming groups I was part of. In fact, I suspect that the Japanese gaming scene in my country town contains as many foreigners (me) as the club I went to in London had black Britons. Interesting, that…
A few political similarities across nations: It’s hard to find a strong political theme in gaming, with some gamers quite likely to be strongly “left wing” or “statist” (or even anarchist) while some are quite right wing or libertarian. But some properties that seem to be quite common amongst the English-speaking gamers are:
- Civil Libertarians: Whether from the “statist” left or right, or more libertarian in politics, English-speaking gamers seem to be strongly pro civil liberties. In the Aussie case this is obvious, since most Australians are generally civil libertarians (though pragmatic – Australians are quick to ban something if it’s dangerous). In the British case this is perhaps more unusual, and I can’t comment about the American case because it’s all so topsy turvy over there. I think this civil libertarian streak is driven by…
- Strongly pro free speech: For older gamers the 80s D&D scares were a major incentive for us to reject censorship in all its forms, since we all saw first hand how nasty it is when it is misguided, and how easily it is misdirected. I think newer gamers have experienced a lot of angst and worry about the “social consequences” of computer games, and so are also generally pro free speech. Obviously for Japanese gamers this is a non-issue, since Japan has extremely liberal (though occasionally contrariwise) rules about what you can publish; but for the English-speaking world this is an important problem, especially in the modern “child protection” ethos that has developed since the mid-90s.
- Suspicious of “political correctness”: Again, not so much an issue for Japanese gamers since polite language is part of their upbringing, but there seems to be a strong fear of political correctness in the English speaking gaming world, and a lot of confusion about the difference between censorship and being asked not to say bad things (or, as I have found in my theme on racism in fantasy, criticizing the things you love). I wonder how much this suspicion is to do with the origins of a lot of modern political correctness in US feminism, and US feminism’s historical political connection to the religious right, who are the worst enemies of free speech and gaming.
These are just impressions, so please dispute at will.
—
fn1: Australia has a strong and excellent history of unionism, but to characterize modern manual labourers in Australia as working class seems a bit simplistic. They’re often quite well-paid contractors, and often tradesmen. Australia’s industrial working class is small and even its historical unionism is based in rural and mining industries as much as industry. Those industries are a highly lucrative and protected area of the economy today, and I’m not sure if their employees see themselves as “working class” in any traditional sense.
fn2: This just begs a joke doesn’t it?
fn3: I exaggerate, but gaming in a pub in Oz would definitely attract attention, which would be mostly just interested and slightly confused, but would nonetheless be unwelcome.
fn4: Mixi is, btw, vastly superior to Facebook.
December 20, 2010 at 1:20 pm
I’ve met Aussie gamers, NZ gamers and Singaporean gamers now, plus lots of US gamers online.
Singapore’s gaming culture is pretty odd to be honest and I haven’t found it enjoyable. That’s mostly down to me – I don’t like playing RPGs in public much – but it sounds sort of similar to the Japanese situation you describe but the class make up is more lower middle class (and almost entirely Chinese, rather than Malay or Indian). Obviously English is very high so people use US books which tend to be very expensive. There’s only one game shop here, mostly focused on minis and boardgames, and you get the occasional D&D or FFG 40k RPG book in bigger bookshops like Borders or Kinokuniya or in comic shops.
Anyway, I’m sure US-ians will chime in but I think that your first reason for American gamers to be more likely to be military is true: Americans are more likely to be in the military, or have been in the military previously.
December 20, 2010 at 6:46 pm
(I think you mean GW, not GDW which is American, and although GW is synonymous with Nottingham, it actually started in London).
As a West Midlands-based gamer, that London pub scene is quite alien to my experience. Outside of the big smoke it seems to be predominantly club based in rented, multi-use community properties (we use a church hall I’ve also gamed in a cricket club, various social/youth clubs and a scout hut). I guess these facilities are much easier to acquire out in the provinces. I’ve never played in a pub, and can’t imagine ever doing so unless it was a private room hired out (which one local boardgaming club does). Playing in the bar or lounge? Would provoke a lot of unfriendly “what’s this mate?”
Gamers are overwhelmingly white, middle class, male (wargaming) with women and Indian/Pakistani origin Brits more common in RPGs and CCGs but still not really common.
I’d say that nearly all the gamers of my acquaintance are what I’d called “settled” – married with kids or just with their own house and settled income giving them the disposable readies and time to pursue the hobby. That does seem to skew the demographic towards the 30+ sector. I find a lot of ex-squaddies in gaming so it’s interesting that you didn’t.
Politically, it seems all centre-right or student politics left although I did meet a perfectly nice bloke who later turned out to have stood for the BNP in a general election. Seems to be a lot of support for the US/UK “Special Relation” (which looks somewhat tarnished these days) especially in the wargames fraternity.
December 20, 2010 at 7:17 pm
As a Canadian, I’ll say that the weather plays a big role in where and when you might find more gamers. I’m from what was pretty much a working class lumber town in the Pacific Northwest, where it is mainly wet and cold for a good part of the year. As kids we would start playing in the autumn, when school began and the weather got wetter, and throughout most of the winter. By late April regular gaming had petered out to an occasional one over the summer. I think the same was true for the American mid-west, where D&D had it’s origins. RPGs could keep you nice and warm in the house or library all winter long.
As to your question of “racial exclusivity”, the euro-centric nature of D&D or wargaming (and their source materials) probably has a more to do with the fact that it isn’t that popular with non-european ethnicities.
And regarding “black Americans”, the fact that their historic settlement patterns had changed and were moving back towards the south, away from the mid-west, and would likely limit exposure to games like D&D in the mid 80’s when the hobby was peaking. That change probably had a larger negative impact on that demographic’s participation in gaming than just the usual irrelevant cultural content.
December 20, 2010 at 9:01 pm
Thanks for your thoughtful comments!
biopunk, it’s true that Australia is a very outdoor society, as is Japan, with good weather for much of the year, so when people think of hobbies they tend to think more of outside hobbies. Plus Australia is a very sport-obssessed nation, which helps to discourage people from taking up the nerdier activities. This was especially true when I started in the 80s. Your point about the movement of black Americans is interesting, I was aware that there would be areas of America that were very much whiter than others but I had no idea where they might be.
Coopdevil, I did mean GW and I’m glad my memory of it being synonymous with Nottingham was right. And certainly your experience of west-Midlands gaming is quite different to the pub scene games I joined in London. I had great difficulty finding games in any other setting, and I suspect it’s because of London’s poor public infrastructure. Also I don’t think I met any ex-squaddies (that’s “ex-soldiers” to the American readers, if you’re confused by that term). So as I suspected, partly a London thing. I didn’t meet any wargamers at all so I don’t know how London wargamers would compare to your experiences. Interesting point about the main two political streams in the scene … sounds like Australia. To compare to your BNP experience – I had a GM in Australia who seemed perfectly nice, until one day we were driving through the gay area of Sydney (Darlinghurst) and he said, quite casually, “I used to come here and beat up gays when I was younger.” It’s always the quiet ones…
Nick, your experience of Singapore game locations sounds like Japan. Do they have any Singapore-made games, or do they simply use imports? If they’re Chinese-Singaporeans, do they have any mandarin or Cantonese games that they play that we haven’t heard of?
I’m thinking of starting a club at my university – it has 100 nationalities, apparently – and seeing if I can get people to contribute games from their own country, translated for other players (as I’m doing with WFRP 3).
December 21, 2010 at 12:24 am
I’m an American, so I can chime in a little bit about the culture here. As you correctly noted, it’s predominately white and middle-class and male. I’ve lived and gamed on the east coast and the mountain west and I’d say fewer than 10-15% of the people I’ve gamed with have been non-white or female.
Gaming is very popular with high-school and college students (lots of free time and easy access to other people and free space). Adult gaming groups tend to meet in homes, although in cities this starts to gravitate towards other meeting areas. Gaming groups often meet at local gaming stores (which usually have some sort of private room or gaming area), but these tend to be more pick-up style games – the general feeling about these games is they’re the games you play when you can’t find anything else.
As for soldiers – I think you’re right to a certain extent with your three ideas. None of them are primary factors. Some other thoughts (disclaimer, I am not a soldier though I game with some): Gaming is a cheap and portable source of entertainment. Soldiers can only take a limited amount of stuff with them and RPGs provide a lot of bang for their buck. I think it’s also a fairly accepted hobby, with a low level of social stigma. Finally, being in the military has some of the same factors that make college gaming so popular – lots of people with similar interests in close quarters and easy access to free space. I don’t know how it is in the UK and Australia, but most US servicemembers are quite proud of their job (or former job), so they don’t usually hesitate to tell people, which might lead to the perception that there are more members of the armed forces in RPGs than there really are. [Contrasted to say, Japan, where I’ve heard that SDF members often don’t talk about their job.]
December 22, 2010 at 10:02 am
The Signaporean gaming scene is, from what I can tell, all English language, all imported and mostly fairly mainstream. D&D 4e is big, Pathfinder not so much and the 40k games (Deathwatch, Rogue Trader, Dark Heresy) all have a few adherents. So it’s not an especially interesting scene in that way although, given the main language of education, media, commerce and government is English here it’s not that surprising.
December 24, 2010 at 5:38 pm
Hi fanguad, good points about the soldiers. I don’t think Australians or Japanese are shy of declaring their soldiering jobs, though, even though Japan is very anti-war they are proud of their self-defense force and I don’t think members of the Jieitai have to hide their jobs much. I could be wrong though – I live near a Japanese military base in the most pro-military part of Japan, so maybe where I am is unusual.
America certainly has a lot of soldiers per head of population though; that plus the relative popularity of RPGs and their suitability to a group of men stuck together in a dormitory-type environment might explain it.