@Eric_Moser Hope you don’t mind if I reap that sweet, sweet karma post the results of the voting because this is a rather interesting topic, and one that is perhaps more important than ever now that the omnibus is imminent.
Future Hosted Game writers would do well to note these results, as they give a glimpse at what types of games have the widest market appeal, at least when it comes to forum goers.
Eric, you wouldn’t happen to remember how long you set the voting period for, would you? That seems like very useful information to note.
Ahem, without further adieu…
The Results:
For reference:
The average amount of voters for each question was 378.
These results are for March 27, 2018.
Voters can change their vote even after polling period, so it’s possible that some people may change their answers after this date.
- Would you consider playing/buying a Hosted Game with a protagonist who was gender-locked to a gender not your own?
395 total votes
41% I might consider buying it, but I’d be more leery.
38% Yes, that alone isn’t a game-breaker for me.
21% No, I would never buy that sort of game.
Result:
To about 79% of voters, genderlocking to a gender that isn’t their own is not a deal-breaker.
- Would you consider playing/buying a Hosted Game with a protagonist gender-locked to you gender?
378 total votes
70% Yes that isn’t a game-breaker for me. As long as I can play as my gender, I’m good.
26% I might consider buying it, but I’d feel guilty that others can’t play as their own gender.
4% No, I would never buy the game because it excludes others from playing as their own gender.
Result:
96% of voters would probably buy a game that was genderlocked to their gender.
- Would you consider buying/playing a Hosted Game with a non-human animal protagonist (cow, owl, cat, etc), and does being able to pick the protagonist’s gender affect your answer?
381 total votes
32% I would prefer that the protagonist be a human, but I might consider buying it.
30% Yes, I would consider buying it. That’s not a big deal to me.
24% Yes, and I might be even more excited about buying it, because it would be different than most other Hosted Games.
7% No, I would never buy a game with a non-human protagonist.
7% Yes, but only if I could pick the protagonist’s gender.
Result:
93% of voters would be willing to play as full non-human protagonists. However, 7% of those respondents would be under the condition that they could choose their protagonist’s gender.
- Would you consider buying/playing a Hosted Game with a non-human supernatural protagonist (ghost, alien, demon, vampire, etc), and does being able to pick the protagonist’s gender affect your answer?
379 total votes
44% Yes, and I might be even more excited about buying it, because it would be different than most other Hosted Games.
28% Yes, I would consider buying it. That’s not a big deal to me.
24% Yes, but only if I could pick the protagonist’s gender.
3% I would prefer that the protagonist be a human, but I might consider buying it.
1% No, I would never buy a game with a non-human protagonist.
**Result:
99% of voters would be open to playing a non-human humanoid/supernatural protagonist. However, in this case, 24%–nearly a quarter–would be under the condition that they could choose their protagonist’s gender.
- Would you consider buying/playing a Hosted Game with a set protagonist where you guided the protagonist’s actions but did not play “as” the protagonist? Would the protagonist’s gender affect your answer?
370 total votes
37% I would prefer to actually “be” the protagonist, but I might consider buying it.
23% Yes, I would consider buying it. That’s not a big deal to me.
21% Yes, and I might be even more excited about buying it, because it would be different than most other Hosted Games.
11% No, I would never buy a game where I could not “be” the protagonist.
8% Yes, but only if I could pick the protagonist’s gender.
Result:
89% would be willing to “guide” a set protagonist that they did not fully create themselves, but 8% of them agreed under the condition that they could choose the gender of the protagonist.
- Would you consider buying/playing a Hosted Game where issues of gender, orientation, identity, and romance simply were not factors in the story?
367 total votes
45% Yes, I might buy/play it, but I would prefer that there be at least some exploration/acknowledgement of gender issues/identity/orientation, and/or romance.
44% Yes, I can see how a story might focus entirely on a non-romantic relationship, or a quest, or a mystery, or any number of plots that don’t involve gender issues at all.
11% No, I would never buy a game completely devoid of these issues.
Result:
89% of voters would be willing to try a game devoid of gender issues/identity/orientation or romance.
Interpretation:
While gender-locking isn’t a deal-breaker for a majority of forum players, the desire for gender choice actually increased when talking about non-human humanoid supernatural protagonists; on the other hand, it decreased drastically when the gender choice was for a full non-human protagonist (such as a cow, dog, or barn owl lawyer).
Premade protagonists are also not a big turn-off, neither is excluding gender issues/identity/orientation or romance from a game.
That said, I believe we would do well with creating another, more exhaustive and detailed poll, because some of these questions could have been broken apart to get a better and more nuanced understanding.
For example, Question 6 lumps gender issues and romance together, when I can easily imagine a romance game with no gender issues for miles.
The unfortunate part is that there’s no way to keep track of demographic details like a voter’s gender or age to give a more full picture, so an off-site survey may be a better choice than another forum poll.
All in all, this was very enlightening.
Recent games have been turned down by me on this criteria alone.
