Video games have developed tremendously as we look back to when the first arcade games were simply Frogger or Pacman. Now, a plethora of video game industries develop video games that are story-oriented and more diverse; new genres were introduced like role-playing games that implement movie-like scenes. I was curious and wanted to look into what the differences were between the numerous genres and discover what genres appeal most to certain people.

Plato once said, “you can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” I developed a research with which I would try to answer the question, do video games reflect a person’s personality? I hypothesized that video games do in fact reflect a person’s personality because the genres for video games are so diverse in a way that is analogous to how personalities for people are, for the most part, distinct.

I created a survey and posted the form online for gamers to respond to and I was able to get surprising results. With over 500 responses, I was able to find which personalities were prevalent in certain video game genres. For example, 49% of respondents said that role-playing games were more preferred than other genres. In a preceding question, 38% of gamers chose irregular characters while playing the game. Similar to gamers who prefer sandbox games, the majority chooses to create bizarre objects rather than replicate reality. I found that these types of gamers are more abstract thinkers compared to others.

Another finding is that gamers who love puzzle and strategy games are more likely introverted. Also, 83% of these strategic gamers are more comfortable making decisions on their own rather than following decisions made by others. This demonstrates potential leadership qualities.

The final connection I was able to make is with the gamers who preferred shooting games. Ninety-six percent of these gamers have played a mature game below the age of 17 or earlier. Of those who played shooters, 43% have talked negatively to people while playing games and 11% stated that they get frustrated while playing. Therefore, some gamers who play shooter games are typically extroverted and competitive.

These results gave me insight into which type of person generally plays specific games, but with such a small pool of respondents, the conclusions I found may not reflect the entire population of those who play games.


<Jason Kim, Whitney High School 12th Grade>