B.J.'s family: a survey of First Person Shooters and their avatars

Abstract

The First Person Shooter (FPS) is a popular game form, with examples appearing on many different platforms. Gameplay in the FPS is focused through the avatar, all the player's interaction with the world is mediated by the avatar. While there has been extensive study of the FPS genre, this has tended to focus on particular games, or at best a limited set of examples. In order to provide a wider context for such work this paper surveys 499 separate FPS titles, across a range of platforms. The distribution of releases over platform and time are examined. Given the importance of the avatar, basic characteristics of avatars within the sample are documented, including race, gender and background, and how these vary across platform and time.