Minecraft and the Gaming Gender Gap
When I was younger, I loved Minecraft. At the moment, I still love Minecraft. At this point, I feel like I’m destined to have a lifelong love affair with this silly little cubic game, but I’m not complaining. Actually, Minecraft is the opposite of little: it’s, quite literally, endless––full of infinite possibilities and things to do. You can build the world’s largest city, you can burn down said largest city, you can rebuild said city into an even greater city and…where was I?
Right, infinite possibilities. This game allows you to do whatever you want with practically no boundaries. It is a sandbox game, after all. There are so many ways to play––there’s Creative Mode, which allows you to create anything and everything with a vast variety of materials. There’s Survival Mode, where one must actively survive and work for their riches. There are hundreds of social servers where you can meet fellow Minecrafters and play with or against them. There’s simply nothing else like it, which is why it is the best-selling video game of all time. Over the years, its audience has shifted and become more diverse, attracting people of all ages and genders. However, despite the gradual rise in female gamers, there are still significantly more male players––only 32% of players are female. Why?
Minecraft itself is very gender-neutral. The game has no inherent color scheme, and the player is free to have their “skin” (how their character looks in the game) be whatever they want. While there are weapons such as swords and axes, there is no grotesque violence or gore. On the other hand, it isn’t all rainbows and puppies. There is a blend of potential intensity, such as fighting to stay alive through nighttime in Survival, as well as even serenity, such as building a garden, fishing, and farming. There would be no reason for girls and women to be repelled to play it––in fact, those of us who play it, really play it. I’ll speak for myself when I say it’s the only video game I’ve played that I consistently return to and will never think about deleting. Even though it’s not a part of my daily or even weekly routine, I know it’s there when I’m ready to unwind…or wind up! And no, this isn’t an advertisement for Minecraft or Mojang, though I’d be open to discussions.
All of this leads me to believe that the issue isn’t necessarily with the game itself, but with gaming culture in general. It’s a well-known fact that video games in general attract more men than women. Some of this is certainly due to the content––much of it can be hardcore and intensely violent or graphic, which, while not necessarily a turn-off for all women, isn’t an attractor to many. Games also naturally market themselves more to male audiences in their advertisements and campaigns, which isn’t helped by the fact that gaming spaces like online communities, forums, and groups tend to be dominated by males. Of course, plenty of women are involved in these spaces––back in my day, I was part of a few Minecraft-based Discord servers, though I was more of a lurker and not a chatter––but they are not the majority. One could say that Minecraft attracts men because men are in the gaming spaces they are targeting.
Steve and Alex.
Everyone who knows Minecraft is familiar with Steve, a default character each player is given at the beginning of their crafting journey. He’s just a normal, run-of-the-mill guy made out of cubes. It wasn’t until 2014, three years after the game’s official release, that Alex was added as another default skin. Her appearance is fairly androgynous and far from ultra-feminine, but definitely more so than Steve’s. The fact that it took a few years to add a female character to the game is telling in terms of the lack of representation in the gaming industry, both in the games themselves and the team behind it. Girls just aren’t expected or encouraged to play these games, no matter what the actual content is. However, the content certainly matters in determining the audience; despite the underrepresentation of female Minecrafters, the game still has a greater percentage than many others due to its expansive ability; it can be anything to anyone.
I will always thank Minecraft for being a keystone part of my childhood, as well as my burgeoning adulthood. I appreciate how much freedom it gives the player, and how gender isn’t really a part of the game at all. It’s, quite simply, an experience everyone should be encouraged to try. Let’s hope that its players continue to expand and increase in diversity. If you’re a woman who’s never played it, help out the statistics and give this cubic wonderland a try! You won’t regret it.
