Pew Research did a comprehensive survey involving 2,001 participants. They asked questions ranging from a number of different topics and themes concerning the video game industry, from sexism in gaming, to the gamer identity, to whether or not violent games make people violent.

The research is posted up over the Pew Internet website, as spotted by Kotaku in Action. The full report is five pages long and offers some interesting insight into the thoughts and behaviors of American adults and young adults.

As the headline notes, 40% of all the American adults in the survey – both male and female – responded that violent games do make you violent. However, a majority of 71% of males between 18 and 29 disagreed.

The interesting part about those aged 18 through 29 is that it’s the same group who greatly identify as gamers.

According to Pew Research, while both men and women play games and while 50% of men play games and 48% of women play games, it was majority of males who identify as a “gamer”. 15% of the 50% of males who play games identify as a “gamer”, where-as only 6% of the 48% of women who play games identify as a “gamer”.

That’s contrasted greatly with males 18 through 29, where 77% play games and 33% of them identify as a “gamer”. Only 9% of women between the ages of 18 and 29 identify as a gamer and only 57% of them play games.

It is noted that as the ages get older the disparity lessens, where both men and women over the age of 50 have similar percentages in the gamer identity… 4% of men identify as a gamer at 50 years of age or older, where-as 3% of women identify as a gamer. The research report also indicated that Hispanics are more likely to claim the gamer identity over blacks and whites…

“While there are no differences by race or ethnicity in who plays video games, Hispanics are more likely than whites or blacks to say the term “gamer” describers them well. Some 19% of Hispanics self-identify as a gamer, compared with 11% of blacks and 7% of whites.”

I was a little shocked they didn’t discuss the divide in the kind of games that men and women play. According to DeltaDNA, their survey of 9 million gamers showed a grave difference in which sex liked what kind of game. 75% of men like action games, as opposed to only 25% of women. This was juxtaposed with 82% of women preferring puzzle titles like Candy Crush Saga, where-as only 18% of men preferred puzzle titles. 61% of women also preferred social games and casino games over men.

These casual tendencies by female game players might indicate why they associate violence in games with real life violence, as opposed to males who seem to enjoy violent games. It would also explain why more males between a certain age group identify more as a “gamer” over females, especially since 90% of first-person shooters on mobile devices are played by men. That kind of hardcore competition and aggressive atmosphere likely lends itself toward the adoption of the “gamer” identity. Especially considering that 78% of females spend more of their mobile gaming time with match-3 puzzle games, according to the DeltaDNA stats.

I think that’s one of the biggest things missing from the Pew Research, identifying which games the different age groups play, how many hours they play throughout the week and what kind of games they play. Just about every single market data report out there shows that casual, social and mobile games are played more by female gamers across all ages, and that they spend more money on those games.

But the gender divide didn’t end with how much is played by who, it also discussed the topic of gender and social politics: are women and minorities portrayed properly in games? According to Pew Research 40% of participants were unsure if women are portrayed poorly. Only 14% felt this was true for most games and 27% felt it was true for some games but not others. 18% felt it was not true for most games.

For minorities… only 9% felt that most games portray minorities poorly. 20% said it was true for some games but not others, 23% felt it was not true for most games, and a massive 47% were unsure.

It’s also funny because 26% of the participants felt that most games “are a waste of time”. 33% felt that only some games are a waste of time but not others, 24% felt most games were not a waste of time, and 16% were unsure. On the upside at least 47% of the participants felt that some games could help with developing problem solving skills, and 37% felt that some games help promote teamwork and communication.

I think the report offers a lot of insight into some habits of gamers. There could have been a few more categories and depth added to a few of the topics, but it’s interesting research nonetheless. You can learn more by visiting the official Pew Research website.