Male and Female Game Players’ Preferences for Game Characters and Real-world Personalities in Japan

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Shibuya Akiko Okura Hibiki Shoun Akiyo Asou Naoko
2019 DiGRA '19 - Proceedings of the 2019 DiGRA International Conference: Game, Play and the Emerging Ludo-Mix

Game characters are important for game players. Based on in-depth interviews with 20 young game players in Japan, this study explores why male and female players prefer some game characters. This study revealed that some male and female players love to find hidden the aspects of characters, called gap-moe in Japan. Both male and female players find both stereotypical and non-stereotypical aspects of game characters of the opposite sexes, but male players focus on masculine aspects of male game characters. Some players recognized the influences of game character preferences on their attitudes toward persons in the real world, others denied such influence.

 

Systematic Analysis of In-Game Purchases and Social Features of Mobile Social Games in Japan

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Shibuya Akiko Teramoto Mizuha Shoun Akiyo
2015 DiGRA '15 - Proceedings of the 2015 DiGRA International Conference

The mobile social game market is expanding rapidly. Thirty-one popular mobile social games selected by young people (N = 2,660) in Japan during November 2013 were analyzed. The results showed that players could make additional in-game purchases after starting to play 30 of the 31 games. Moreover, limited-time events allowing additional in-game purchases were available in 90% of the games. Results also indicated that not only competitive but also cooperative features are prevalent in social games, and connections to social networking services are recommended in more than 80% of the games.