Racial/ethnic/national identity in the online gaming community

[zedeel]

A recent topic of interest for me has been the constructions of identity in the online gaming community, especially when there is a certain degree on anonymity present. While there are infinite categories and characteristics that comprise one's identity, race, ethnicity, and nationality are an important consideration. Seeing as the MMO-Champion community is fairly diverse, I've decided that an informal survey here could be quite informative. Anyone is free to respond and if you would like something clarified, feel free to ask.
(Since the definitions of race, ethnicity, and nationality are arguable, and I do not have a concrete definition I stand by myself, please be descriptive in your choices)

1. Do people you play games with online know your race/ethnicity/nationality? If yes, how come? Do you explicitly state it, or can it be deduced? (from things such as username choice, voice if using voice chat, mannerisms present in written speech ex. idioms, etc.)
   
   
2. Do you form assumptions when you meet someone online? If yes, what do you assume the average player to be like? (In a highly international, non-localized game setting). An overwhelmingly common assumption is that everyone in gaming is a young, white male. Do you make this assumption?
   
   
3. Do you ever pass (portray yourself) as another gender/nationality/ethnicity/sexuality/etc.? If yes, how come?
   
   
4. If playing a game that has an avatar or character selection, do you choose a character that is similar in appearance to you? Why or why not? If the avatar is implied as a representation of you, do you choose the character to be similar in appearance to you. Why or why not?
   
   
5. Have you ever experienced discrimination because of your identity or portrayed identity?

[Zethras]

1: Yes, because i'm proud to be Canadian, and I let everyone know.

2: No, I don't assume everyone is a white male, because I know better.

3: No.

4: No, I choose the race/gender based on what name I come up with and what fits well with it.

5: Only in good fun (South Parks "Blame Canada" as one example :P)

[Mistral]

1. If I play longer with them (not just an hour or two) than yes. It's just a normal small talk theme. And helps to snuffle each other out a bit.
2. No. There are just too many different people at the internet.
3. No. Sometimes I just don't mention my nationality but well... most of the time it's just not important.
4. No. Because I prefer fantasy settings. And tiny, cute stuff. ;<
5. Well... sometimes you get trolled/flamed if somebody realize you are from germany. But most of the time - nope.

[Deleted]

Considering I am a white male adult I know better than to discriminate people because of their nationality or race in real life, let alone on the internet.

[Deleted]

1. Not unless I say it.
2. I do.
3. No.
4. I don't. It's irrelevant.
5. Except that my national football/soccer team sucks, no.

[PACOX]

1. People who at good at reading fine details will figure out my race. Sometimes I tell them when they assume Im white or say something off color. You'd be surprised (or not) when they dont think anyone is listening.

2. Not really. I actually think most girls are guys until I hear them on vent.

3. If I did it would appear veyr forced. I would fool no one.

4. Depends on the game really. I usually make my warriors female though.

5. Yes. But I feel like females, asians, and hispanics get it worse.

[Deleted]

1: Yes. To avoid awkward moments like " I hate Norweigan/Swedish people QQ", but im half Norweigan and half swedish
2: I do... I always assume that everyone is an overweight 25 year old brat who lives in moms basement. That way im not getting my hopes up when doing pugs!
3: Rarely, just to troll people.
4: Auto generated. The toon is covered with gear anyways..
5: No, i never get offended. Only hippies get offended!

[Northy]

1. I am a white American male of German descent but no one knows that unless they ask.

2. I often catch myself assuming that most other gamers are white males, but I stopped assuming everyone is American.

3. I don't pretend I'm someone else, which is surprising considering how often I am shocked and disappointed by what my country does.

4. I honestly do, as best I can. But there's not many fat/bald mmo character creation options.

5. When folks hear that I'm of German descent I often get the "you're a nazi" catcalls. Well, no I'm not a nazi obviously. Not all Nazi's were Germans and not all Germans were nazis. As a history major I try to remind people that the first country the Nazis invaded was their own. It was a long time ago and Germany is a vastly different country today. I am an extremely proud German-American. (In fact my dream is to one day move to Germany, but would like to become fluent in the language first.)

[Skelington]

1. Yes, since it usually comes up in conversation eventually. Telling people that Skelington is sicilian isn't really much of a problem, but he isn't the one to bring the topic up.

2. Not really, no. He doesn't really care either. He usually just refers to them by what sex their character is, even if he does know their actual sex. Age tends to make no difference whatsoever.

3. Yes, but really only sex. A lot. Cause why not? Skelington fools others into thinking he is male quite often, since it doesn't really matter.

4. Not at all. Part of playing games is so that Skelington doesn't have to be himself(to the extent of character appearance, that is). And there are many, many other options to choose from at that.

5. Skelington has made homophobes hate him and had a couple stalkers before when they found out he was female. Other than that, no. He's never been anything other than a teenage white male anyway.

[mistuhbull]

1. Yes. Reason: why not? its not like it matters
2. Yes. I assume everyone is me unless I have a hint otherwise. The most easy person to imagine in your mind is yourself, so I project my general appearance at everyone

3. No. I have better things to do

4. Not really

5. no

[Poppincaps]

1. The group I raided with figured out that I was black on their own. I have no problem saying that I'm black, but I don't go around flaunting it.

2. Yes, I picture everyone as an overweight late 20s to early 30s white male.... I have no clue why though.. unless their avatar or signature or w/e gives me a different feel.

3. No, and if you do you really need to find out who you really are... unless it's a joke like someone acting like a girl to cyber with some dude or something.

4. Nope, except in Fallout for some reason... but most of the time I make my characters look like a younger white male. Why don't I.... I have no idea.. plus it would take too long to make a character look similar to me.

5. Not really... although in the guild I was in they used to poke fun at me, but it was all in good fun.

[Newbryn]

1.not really don't really put myself out there much.
2.nope can't be bothered.
3.i play female toons but I usually say I'm male if anyone asks.
4.nope the avatars I play are usually a representation of some of my characters I draw.
5.One time in wow.

[Lily Crowley]

1. Do people you play games with online know your race/ethnicity/nationality? If yes, how come? Do you explicitly state it, or can it be deduced? (from things such as username choice, voice if using voice chat, mannerisms present in written speech ex. idioms, etc.)

My World of Warcraft guild knows. Our application form includes a question for you to state where you are from.
I don't go around telling people where I am from, either it is stated in my profile (whichever communities has that) but I'm not against telling it to anyone. If they ask, sure, I'll tell them I'm from Norway, its not like it matters any.
I do not think it can be deduced where I am from. I don't speak with that horrid Norwenglish accent ^^; Neither do I look particularly Norwegian, if you can say Norwegians look a specific way (blond and blue-eyed?)

2. Do you form assumptions when you meet someone online? If yes, what do you assume the average player to be like? (In a highly international, non-localized game setting). An overwhelmingly common assumption is that everyone in gaming is a young, white male. Do you make this assumption?

Sadly, I guess I do. I know there are a lot of women in World of Warcraft, but I often assume most players are male. Especially if they are blabbering idiots, I often think "thats a 14 year old boy". I also assume it is a male behind whenever I see a Female Blood Elf character.

3. Do you ever pass (portray yourself) as another gender/nationality/ethnicity/sexuality/etc.? If yes, how come?

Whereas I am female, I play a male character as my main. You could say I act a bit with him, but its not like I am trying to pass as someone different that who I am. My character and I are two separate beings, if you know what I mean?

4. If playing a game that has an avatar or character selection, do you choose a character that is similar in appearance to you? Why or why not? If the avatar is implied as a representation of you, do you choose the character to be similar in appearance to you. Why or why not?

That depends. If I found an avatar that looked insanely like me, I would use it cause thats cool, a cartoon image of myself you know? If nothing looks very like me, I'll pick the one that looks coolest, be it male or female.

5. Have you ever experienced discrimination because of your identity or portrayed identity?

That depends what you put in the word discrimination. I have never been neglected in raids or kicked from a group or anything because of how I act.
I have however gotten comments like "weird" or "gay" whenever I have played dress-up with my character. I guess pink dresses and /kiss emotes will do that for ya.

[eschatological]

1. I only tell people my ethnicity when they start using slurs, to remind them that not everyone is a white male, and may find derogatory words for gays, women, and blacks unacceptable. Even if the slurs don't apply to me, but perhaps other minorities. All my guildies know because my name is distinctively ethnic on realID and it comes up when they first realID me. If I didn't tell them or didn't realID them, they wouldn't know, I've lived in the U.S. most of my life and have more of a regional U.S. accent than any ethnic accent.

2. Not really, no. I only start assuming they're white males when they call someone fag or the n-word.

3. Nope.

4. I don't really play Alliance, so it's kind of irrelevant. If I ever rolled a human, I probably would make him brown, though, yeah. But BEs pretty much only come in one skin color.

5. My guildies tease me about potentially being a terrorist, since I'm from that part of the world. That's about it.

[smelltheglove]

i would be curious as to how many responding are something other than white male. my guess would be fairly high (percentage relative to the same percentage of overall mmo champ-goers), but i could be wrong.

1. nope. im on us server, and white male. in my case i dont see how the question of my race etc would even come up... as you said, it's almost assumed that i am exactly what i am, lol

2. nope. i used to assume random people weren't assholes, but i gave that up

3. no

4. sometimes, sometimes. they always have better builds than me, im kind of skinny, not the badass looking type, as one would expect a hero to be

5. no

[Divinism]

1. Anyone who plays with me longer periods of time will probably at least know my primary nationality (born and living in finland, mother is brazilian). It's brought up mostly in guild applications, introductions and perhaps in political discussions and small talk. I don't talk in voice chats often enough to people figure out my nationality that way, and I can mostly mask my accent, but even then people often assume I'm russian anyway. As for usernames, I rarely use any finnish usernames on my main characters, but I might give them as their last name (if possible) or as a name for a pet.

Even fewer people know about my brazilian nationality, as I rarely get an opportunity to bring it up. I have never been in Brazil nor speak portuguese. I tend to mention it in discussions such as relatives or heritage.


2. Yes, I always assume by majority (white male, possibly scandinavian) up to the point I always refer anyone I don't know as "he" or "him", even female characters. Also, all holy paladins are swedish.


3. No. I do have some female characters in various games, but I always tell that I'm a male if questioned.


4. I always try create my character with most pleasing aesthetics in mind, whether it's a female or a male. The character's class also has an effect in my choice, for example melee/heavy-armored characters being male and ranged/casters/light-armored being female. Therefore I never create the character that resembles me, as my ideal aesthetics are mostly the opposites of what I have. However, if the avatar is expected to be a representation of me, I don't mind using my appearance.


5. None that have offended or intented to offend me. Mostly just some stereotypes / urban legends about finnish / brazilian heritage.

[Naxcis]

1. Occasionally on voice chat
2. No, it would be silly to make those assumptions
3. No. But strangely i have a friend who seems to try and get people to think he's a girl saying "they're nicer" or "they give me things" but I have my suspicions
4. I always pick my usual names or make up a new one that I feel would be fitting to that race/character/gender
5. Once or twice but not because I was British, they thought I was American and tried to flame me because of it. Weird

[Bearshield]

1. Given the context of much of our guild's jokes and conversation it's fairly obvious what everyone on our raid team is. Do I join a guild and say "Hey all, I'm a white American, how's it goin'?" Nope, but going by some of the conversations I've had with friends who were a different ethnicity than myself, I'd say it's fairly obvious.

2. Yeah I'd say I'm guilty of assuming that stereotype. Not that I have a problem playing with gamers outside the stereotype but yeah, in general I assume that till signs point otherwise.

3. Nope, what you see is what you get. I don't always correct random strangers who call me "bro" or "sir" but I certainly don't pretend to be something I'm not.

4. Depends on what my options are. If the only options are human characters then yes for the most part. Why not? If the options are something more interesting than a human race I will choose the other option.

5. Nope. I've had the usual surprised reaction when people find out their tank is a chick and I've had guys ooh and aww over me being a girl gamer but never been discriminated against.

[Borfl]

1. Do people you play games with online know your race/ethnicity/nationality? If yes, how come? Do you explicitly state it, or can it be deduced? (from things such as username choice, voice if using voice chat, mannerisms present in written speech ex. idioms, etc.)
   Yes. I don't explicitly state my ethnicity, but I allude to it, by using engrish and talking about asians, eventually when they ask I tell them.
   
   
2. Do you form assumptions when you meet someone online? If yes, what do you assume the average player to be like? (In a highly international, non-localized game setting). An overwhelmingly common assumption is that everyone in gaming is a young, white male. Do you make this assumption?
   Yes, I tend to view a majority of people as young white males because 90% of the people I've met online are young, white, and male.
   
3. Do you ever pass (portray yourself) as another gender/nationality/ethnicity/sexuality/etc.? If yes, how come?
   No.
   
4. If playing a game that has an avatar or character selection, do you choose a character that is similar in appearance to you? Why or why not? If the avatar is implied as a representation of you, do you choose the character to be similar in appearance to you. Why or why not?
   With free reign I make whatever I like. If it's supposed to be a representation of myself, like my 3DS avatar, then yes, I make it as similar as possible to my own appearance.
   
5. Have you ever experienced discrimination because of your identity or portrayed identity?
   I have never experienced, or I don't remember, any hateful discrimination online for being half-asian, however "small penis jokes" and "math jokes" are inevitably dropped amongst friends.

[Deleted]

1. Uhm... that's kinda tough... I'd say kinda yes, but I don't really explicitly state my ethnicity. When I'm talking via TS/Vent they kinda find out I'm german, because most germans sound kinda weird when speaking english.
2. No, I kinda not imagine what other players are like. I don't personalize them, I think of them as their avatars and that's pretty much it.
3. No.
4. I make a character that fits to the game I'm playing... and who fits the character he's supposed to be. Like a kinda scruffy looking warrior, a gracial female mage, etc.
Something that fits into the world and gameplay, no consideration to likeliness to me.
5. As a german I've only seen some trolls trying the "Nazi"-stuff on me, but never anything serious.