The Current Status of Japanese Game Players and Its Impact on the Society

Abstract

In this chapter, the results of a survey on the Internet on the current status of Japanese tabletop gamers are discussed. Tabletop games refer to board games, card games, role-playing games, and wargames. They are also known as nonelectronic games and unplugged games. Although the survey included questions about digital games in Japan so as to compare them to tabletop games, they are not discussed in detail. In recent years, the market for tabletop games has expanded. The Game Market, which is the biggest tabletop game event in Japan, is held three a year. Its increase in popularity is evidenced by the fact that 22,000 participated in the 2018 autumn market. Most of the Game Market’s exhibitors are independent game designers. However, reasons for the increasing popularity of tabletop games have yet to be explored. Accordingly, two surveys, the first in June 2018 and the second in September 2019, were conducted with active gamers between the ages of 20 and 69 years. The results revealed that most active gamers are in their twenties and thirties, thus indicating that the relatively younger generation could accelerate this recent trend. Furthermore, men tended to be more active gamers than women. The younger generation and men had more positive attitudes toward games. Frequent players, who were mainly men, evaluated games positively. They also agreed that games have connections to the real world and game experience can be useful in the real world.