This week I researched the potential roles that gender and class may have in the eSports business. At first, I thought there was no way class could have an effect on who has the ability to play video games. However, after I thought about it for a while and researched more in depth I realized that one’s social class can certainly affect one’s accessibility. In an article conducted at Grinnell College, it was concluded that class influences what video games people play and how they play them. Interestingly enough, middle-lower class families are the primary consumers of video games, and they strongly prefer sports games compared to others. The most important theme from this week’s research was accessibility. Based on the article, there is variance in accessibility that exists for people of different classes for participating in competitive gaming. Obviously, technology has increased significantly over the years, including many new devices or gaming consoles that allow people to access certain games they may want to play. I think this a very important aspect of the eSports industry because back in the day it would not be possible to successfully launch a video game business with the lack of gaming consoles. In contemporary society, there are now so many ways to play these games, through consoles, phones, computers, etc. It is interesting to see how modern society has inadvertently influenced the creation of eSports. With the significant increase in accessibility and a fanbase, I have come to the conclusion that social class is not as important today as it would have been if eSports was a thing before 2000.
Gender also plays an interesting role in eSports. It is clear that there is a significant gender disparity in the gaming industry. About half of all gamers are female, yet roughly 95% of eSports fans and competitive gamers are male. History has shown us that video games are male-dominated and have been formed through masculine ideals such as hyper aggression and competitiveness. Is it possible to impose a law such as Title IX in the hopes of gaining equal representation? People are trying to change the current stagnation as some attempt to organize women-specific tournaments as a way to bridge the gap. It is unclear at this point in my research to see whether people truly believe this a major issue that needs to be fixed, however, it is clear that millennial male population dominate the eSports industry and it does not look like that will change anytime soon.