Overwatch
Demographic Study
During my research on Overwatch's player base, I observed a gap in demographic data beyond 2017. Intrigued by this, I sought to uncover the current demographics of the game in 2024. Within the esports community, various claims attempt to rationalize the lack of diversity, including assertions that fewer women are playing competitively or women are just worse at playing games. To validate these claims, I set out to analyze the available data and determine their accuracy.
OWCS Stage 1 Demographic Research
In my investigation of OWCS Stage 1 Player Demographics, I observed significant disparities, particularly in player gender representation. Analyzing nationality, age, and gender across the top 8 teams in NA and EMEA, I found that most players hailed from the USA and fell within the 18-22 age bracket. Notably, only one player was identified by they/them pronouns, and at the time, there were no female players. However, in Stage 2, Aniyun, a female-identifying player, joined the top 8 team Pirates in Pajamas (PIP). PIP, with a Stage 1 record of 3 wins and 3 losses, and now with a record of 2 wins and 3 losses in Stage 2 with Aniyun on the main roster. This suggests that gender may not significantly impact team performance. Moving forward, I aim to examine how this data aligns with overall Overwatch demographic trends and to continue tracking OWCS match results for further insights.
To delve into Overwatch player demographics, I devised a Google Form: https://forms.gle/5BcJu124bB4TZKQo9 [Fill it out if you Ever Played Overwatch]featuring both gameplay-related and personal inquiries. Leveraging my involvement in the Overwatch Community, I primarily promoted the form through Discord, Twitter, and Reddit channels. Crafting posts and distributing messages across numerous Discord servers, I aimed to collect a minimum of 200 responses. Remarkably, on the first day, I received 60 responses, followed by 40 on the second day and 20 on the third. Surpassing the 100-response milestone swiftly. I recognized a bias in the data collected, primarily reflecting the audiences of the servers I frequently used lacking representation from the console and Asian communities. In the forthcoming weeks, my focus will be on identifying and engaging with Discord servers and other communication platforms utilized by these demographics, with the ultimate goal of collecting 1000 responses to ensure a comprehensive and accurate dataset.
