Topic
A little question about the demographics of Glitch players
After talking on various chatrooms, Global and on this forum, I realise that most of the players are girls/women, or identify with being female (hardly any guys!). It got me wondering just what percentage of the players were female, and if that impacted the overall atmosphere of the game, ie no threats of violation, physical harm or generally the vitriol you mute when playing FPSs. Would the devs (or any other pundits) like to comment?
Replies
- I am a girl, but I have found that there is no dearth of nice guys around (contrary to popular belief) - you just have to know where to look. Glitch attracted the nice ones, apparently!
- I don't think it was impacted by the gender thing. There are tons of guys here, they just don't blurt it out or make it clear in a "I'm a male" kind of way. I think that is in part to the nature of the game. I think the lack of violence or harm is due to the players Glitch attracted, not the genders. The males I've met in game do not come across as violent in any way. I am female and felt very safe in the game. I still feel safe here.
- Well, there's some Glitches nobody knew the gender of- likely due to the Glitchen race essentially lacking genders altogether!
- I definitely spent some time gender-bending!
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There was a thread here, a while back, which I am completely unable to find now, that asked people who they were. I started a spreadsheet to chart the demographics, but I got distracted by something shiny. The majority of the folks (that replied) were women. Ages were mostly thirty-something.
Given that we didn't have to specify our gender when we signed up (I don't think), there aren't likely any official numbers for this. -
I remember that thread! Yeah, and then I didn't feel so old after reading it. I think I ran around the house waving my arms and yelling "I'm not the only not-so-young person". I think I stubbed my toe and...wait, that wasn't me.
All I know is, gender this, gender that, I loved all the players here. I wish I would have connected with more of you all. -
@Wynella - so glad I belong to the dominant demographic! I started noticing a trend after listening in on Global, the when some of us migrated to Mumble it became even more apparent.
I think the general mood and look of the game appealed less to the FPS crowd than the (MMO)RPG one. Part of me wishes more game companies would pick up on the group of gamers who like non-violent, co-op gameplay, because I like to think that these games would influence us to act similarly IRL. If anything Glitch proved that there is a small but intensely loyal market for the right kind of game. We just need to be more vocal about our game choices and vote with our wallets. - Hahah yep, 32 year old woman here. I love mmos, but I'm SO sick of killing things. I avoid combat whenever I can. I always liked crafting and gathering and kind interaction. No wonder I love(d) Glitch so much. And very nicely said, DOOMy.
- AHA! I found the link saved in my notes for the spreadsheet: http://www.glitch.com/forum/general/28284/ 6 pgs of replies. :)
- oh but i have run across games that have a preponderance of female players, WAAAAAY more than here, that are just downright unpleasant to play. people in <nastyassgame> were so petty and whining and backbiting and mean and clique-y and superior and NOT FUN. i would hesitate to say "an X percentage of male|female players means a game will be <adjective1> and <adjective2> but most likely not <adjective3>" but YMMV of course ;-)
- P.S. @Fern yes genders were meant to be bent!
- On a similar note, regarding gender roles and Glitch, I'd suggest checking out a friend of mine's blog post for some interesting insight on the dynamics of Glitch character creation vs. player gender: http://droppedpennies.wordpress.com/2013/01/06/tiny-specks-crime/ :)
- That's a great article. Thanks for sharing! ^^
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I know that my character genderbent a bit, which y'know, was intentional.
But yeah, female, just turned 40, always loved the people in glitch, no matter what gender they were. There was a definite lack of asshatery that I found in other MMOs, and I think that had a lot to do with Glitch's policy of acceptance. I mean, if Tii can be genderqueer, everyone can.
I would love to get a breakdown of how many of the Glitch players have mental or physical disabilities. (I do!) I know I wasn't the only one who used the game as therapy! - beanside that was pretty common,I'm Bi-polar BTW, but it did a lot to help people, by getting us to like people again, to be able to trust people etc, etc.
- I wouldn't consider myself to have a mental disability as such. The period in my life when I was on depression and mood stabilising medication was caused by life getting out out control, as it does for most of us sometimes. I still see my counsellor/therapist/shrink on a regular basis, but things are generally getting better, and I'd like to think that interacting with people in the game helped in its own little way. You are not alone!
- If one thing can be said about the demographics of Glitch, it wasn't so much age, or sex, or race that made Glitch appeal to us. Instead it was...we LIKED to be helpful, we hated how most MMO community's were,and overall this games community was much smarter and more educated than most. All of that defined the playerbase, it really appealed to people that "fit" in the same way that it did not appeal to the more typical MMORPG crowd.
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I must say, even though it sounds a little conceited to the outsider, what Lyrical DejaVu just said is pretty accurate to my own experience of the wonderful community of Glitch. Its not conceited to say that though, because its true. It seemed to appeal to a certain type of person while others simply didn't "get it". Unfortunately it also seems that the typical MMORPG is not appealing to us, at least that's what I've found. And since it seems there are other people here keeping the forum active, I don't believe I'm the only one to feel this way.
[sigh]
I miss Glitch. - @beanside - I am bi-polar and suffer from spina bifida which resulted in the amputation of my right leg below the knee. Also, "Asshattery" will now be my new favorite word. :)
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@beanside - I'm bipolar as well--Glitch was definitely a "safe space" that I could go to and know that there were only going to be things that would calm me and surprise me with happiness. I enjoyed that I could make other people's days good too--being helpful and seeing that you have a positive impact on the world is great therapy for -anyone-, diagnosis or not!
My weird moment came when I posted a picture of my Glitch on facebook, and a friend commented "I like that you see yourself as black!" I was actually dumbfounded for a moment, since I had always just considered that she was "tree-spirit-color", and it went well with the hair--I definitely wasn't considering race when I made her! Anyone else have any disjuncture with people who hadn't played Glitch re: your Glitchen? - It does sound conceited, but it is a true statement. And i think the smarter playerbase, made it so we saw the value of Glitch more, that it simply being a game. I had people here that i considered ACTUAL friends, and thats, never happened before in any game, not like here. And yes the typical MMO's out there really dont appeal to us, if its not the game we dislike, its the people.The conversations i had in game were actual conversations, not just basic gameplay questions. In most games the only conversations is, simply about gameplay, it is very rare that people actually talk. Heck look at how Global was, on a good day. And while in Glitch, sex, race, or age, simply slipped from consciousness, it didn't matter, that was so refreshing, and relaxing. Was Glitch a social experiment, yes, of course, as well as being a game, but also Stoot has a degree in Philosophy, so of course this would be part of it. Again, i miss you ALL!
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Hm I play typical MMOs as well as loving Glitch. A few of my closest 'net-friends are from MMOs. I've had plenty of "real" conversations in typical MMOs. Then again, many games like WoW don't have a true global chat, and when you have enough people, statistically, you're just going to have a lot more noise. Additionally, Glitch had staff members openly involved in public chat, which meant a natural inclination to behave better. Most MMOs don't have GMs explicitly hanging out in the chat channels.
That said, Glitch was uniquely anti-toxic. When you look at the extraordinary efforts League of Legends is now going through to repair their screwed up player base, it does drive home that Glitch was special. Part of "getting" Glitch as a game involved "getting" its social milieu, unlike games like WoW and LoL. I don't think that had terribly much to do with intelligence. It might have had to do with compassion, though, since Glitch fostered direct cooperation over competition. - It was both i think, i did cite we liked helping(compassion) and intelligence, as key factors.And i do play typical MMOs also but, i tend to play them because i like the game but typically, hate the community. There were however many ppl here that had never played an MMO before, or if they had were attracted to different games, such as Faunasphere. And probably having a playerbase that was typically older than most probably helped as well.
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I agree!
I've played MMOs, also for the game not the community, seeing as I rarely found one that wasn't snarky. I'm kind of jaded with regard to MMOs, though (too many not nice experiences) so I was tentative with Glitch because of its social aspect. I generally don't like social games because I don't like the feeling of having to be social if I'm not in the mood to be.
The appeal of Glitch, for me, definitely was that kindness, helping others, creativity and relaxing and enjoying the game play was not only encouraged but also expected. That expectation set the tone for ... everything. And that was wonderful.
I run depressive. So, Glitch was definitely miraculous for me in that playing it always made me feel really good. Glitch was my meditation orb, reminding me that there were good, kind people out there and that it was possible to find a gaming community that I wanted to be part of.
Just before the announcement that it was ending, I told all my friends that Glitch was the One--the game I'd been looking for and needing for quite a while.
As for demographics, I'm a female over 40 who has been gaming before Windows was a twinkle in anyone's eye. -
According to employee chatter I heard over a year ago, the average player was a 35yo woman, as opposed to a majority of games where the average player is a male, 18-25yo. I believe that is what set the overall tone of social interactions in-game. Speaking strictly in generalities, the standard game's average male player is too young and self-centered to have the compassion we experienced so frequently here. He is ambitious, competitive, aggressive, and very impressed with himself and his skillz. In contrast, the average over-30 female is cooperative, compassionate, and much more interested in playing with friends than against them.
While Glitch's mechanics definitely encouraged cooperative social behavior, those mechanics didn't guarantee compassionate, caring behavior, as evidenced by the few ugly moments we witnessed (e.g. the Wickdoon Mood tree wars, theft in homes/homestreets, abuse of resource routes, the occasional Forum fight, obnoxious behavior in Global).
Compassionate, caring behavior was the result of the (predominantly female) players' predominantly positive choices more than anything else. Those choices, made initially by alpha players, set up a culture of compassion that gained momentum as the game continued, a culture that became self-sustaining within a year (i.e. new players quickly learned the culture from others' examples without anything being "taught").
As with everything in life, it's people and their choices that made the difference. Thank you for making the right choices!
[Male, 42.] - I'm a six year old table that identifies as the gender of opaque ampersand cat though i am a fan of gender bending into a color field painting reminiscent of Mark Rothko but not as good.
- Hugs to you, Kip!
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Glitch is only game where having me avatar in skirt saying "But I'm a boy!" did not get upset reaction. In real life and other online am exist in a female body, for what that's worth. Though if intelligence was above average here, it sure was not because of me!
Glitch was my first MMO and given what others said of other MMOs, is doubt will ever trying, plenty enough negativity elsewhere that can not be avoided. Glitch was such a delight for that lack. A happy comfortable place.
*sigh...* Miss Glitch so bad. Miss watching Global chat too, more than expected. - im a dude :3
- I dont think it was necessarily a gender thing, been in too many games where it was mostly female and an aggressive mess, maybe age helped some may intelligence some....but..... Instead Im thinking, this, your typical hack and slash, RPG/Scifi , MMO types, were the ones that jumped ship, the ones that didnt stay, the ones that didnt "get " it, it had NO appeal to trolls, because of the block feature, And so by default what was left was, ppl that were tired, fed up, or annoyed with the typical populations of MMO's, and wanted something different, people that had never played an MMO before, people that were creative, people that LIKED being helpful, people that wanted the freedom to be themselves, and not have to worry about gender, age, race, etc. And above all people that liked quirky, and knew the value of being silly, for no other reason than, because they wanted to! Because of all of that we, as a collective, made it different from all the rest, regardless of what was in the programming. I'm so glad that I was here and so damn sad that its gone...
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I'm a female just shy of 20.
Glitch was my first online game. I since I had never played a game like Glitch before I didn't know what to expect. My brother was the one who turned me on to Glitch. I loved the looks of the game and the trailer was fun to watch, but what attracted me most to the game was that he and I would have a way to keep in touch and play together.
Once I started playing, I came to love the people I met. Everyone I met when I was a newbie were always so nice, and I stayed friends with a lot of then 'til the very end. I remember in my first neighborhood, (1568) Lethensome Lift, there was some unknown neighbor who would leave food and drinks outside people's doors a couple days a week. That just made me want to do the same for others that I met in the game. - Precisely! If there ever needed to proof that pay-it-forward , type thinking can work, Glitch was it. It restored my faith in humanity, which to be honest i had given up on loooong ago.And theres been quite a few of us that have pointed out, it carried over into reality, we were more forgiving, to give humanity another chance, and it kept us grounded, we had connections to people from here that had no preconceptions concerning race, age, gender, we just were. We were people again, and any of that preconceived bullshit didn't matter. As for your neighbor, most of us in one way or another, helped the community, some people hid things, some dropped notes, some dropped items on neigbors doorstops, some helped people assemble items, some had Freebie Piles, some ran API sites, people took part in routes,people weeded others gardesn even if they didn't plant or sow, people helped newbies. Some of these actions were more indirect than others, but most people took part in at least 1 thing from that list on a regular basis. It added up, and became so it was more of a surprise if someone wouldn't help you than if they would. Also the people who threw parties, or plays, or any of the fun or creative events that people came up with, or that the game itself had, usually they invited everyone, were willing to include anyone who wanted to go...there was very little...i don't know you, or your a newbie get lost type attitude, that was practically non-existant, i dont know about you but i LIKED meeting people here. Was the player base somewhat older than most MMO's, yes, was it slightly more women, yes, were people typically smarter, yes, but i think the fact that both your more aggressive hack and slash types, and trolls found Glitch unappealing and left, and the game appealing to a non-traditonal demographic, and the kindness/generosity factor, as well as people just enjoying themselves, being themselves and having fun...just because.... are what made the most difference here
- All of what Lyrical DejaVu said is why it is so sad that in fact Glitch couldn't survive by attracting enough of that kind of player base. What made it especially wonderful for us may have, in fact, been those qualities that made it not commercially viable.
- Its also hard to think of where you could advertise effectively if the avenues you would normally use, wouldn't work, BECAUSE youre aiming a non-traditional demographic. Its also sad that people left Glitch because it was so different it confused them, and they didn't give it a real chance. Also a lot of ppl like the Fantasy=Elves and Dwarves, or Sci-fi = spaceships and aliens, or you do x to get y, the reason is they know what to expect. People may SAY they really want different, but when it comes down to it, its rarely the case, if it confuses them too much, or is too bizare for them, most arent intrigued, instead they get angry or frustrated and leave, and it happens quick. We however WERE the ones who were curious and intrigued, what attracted us is what repelled them. Most Sandbox type MMO's are subscription models, the reason is they dont attract nearly as many people to begin with, and its very hard to get the revenue you need otherwise. Glitch fits the Sandbox MMO category, so competing for a smaller audience to begin with, along with no combat, as well as goofy / funny/ bizare things in game, are all factors as to why more people didn't stay.
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I'm a teenage non-binary trans* person who came into this identity, by coincidence, during the course of the game. And while most sites started becoming incredibly uncomfortable due to their insistence that you had to be a boy or a girl to play, Glitch just didn't care. It didn't matter if you were a girl or a boy or a sack of turnips; the game was going to refer to you as "they." So that was definitely a comfort for me.
I also happen to be autistic, which has made me abandon MMOs before -- too busy, too hostile, you name it. But Glitchen were genuinely nice people. All my in-game conversations were pleasant with the exception of one argument about the way to mine effectively, and even then, the other person congratulated me when I leveled up. I actually felt welcomed, not thrown into the middle of everything and having to start from scratch to catch up. The atmosphere was something I had never seen before or since, and I will always appreciate the time I had with this game. -
A while back I had a poll going of demographics - age range, gender identity, location... that sorta thing. So far, over 400 people have taken it. The majority of players were: female, American, in their mid-20s to early 30s, and single. Approximately two thirds of respondents identified as female.
www.glitch.com/forum/offtop... - That helps some, thanks. Still it wasnt so much a gender thing, it was much more so the type of players the game attracted, and the types it repelled. Earlier estimates were 60/40, well never really know. Also there around 10,000 active accounts Many ppl simply didnt say in game but then again its part of what we liked about Glitch. Im guessing that the reason for the avatars being genderless is becasue of the imagination aspect, and therefore letting us have the freedom to do whatever we wanted appearance wise. Galaxy Dynamite had a point as to why the apperance thing was more welcomeing, but even when not from that perspective, not having to choose, made it so it was less hostile for all of us, those types of predisposed ideas were pushed out of mind, we really did not care much about sex, age, race, etc. And i also agree this was the most welcoming community EVER. I mourn the loss of a unique game, but even more than that i mourn losing this community, we really were 1 in a million....and thats an understatement.
- Galaxy Dynamite, am autistic too and was warned away from MMO games because of that. Too chaotic and hostile. Also potentially unsafe. Did not actually realize Glitch was an MMO until I had played for a while (oops!), but I kept playing anyways. :)Here was so nice for so many reasons.
- I do remember when helping a newbie gather and make stuff, they questioned me, "Why are you dressed like a girl?"...which completely threw me at the time. I replied, "because i want to be", they said, "But are you"......long pause on my part....."Yes"....resulted in "Oh".....Needless to say any conversations with this person went downhill after that. Yet this is the ONLY time i ever remember anyone asking, or caring about this in Glitch, in most MMO's you are BOMBARDED with it....Glitch we Miss you!!!