Comparative analysis of the social structure of fantasy game players in Belgrade and Skopje

Author: Marija Đokić (1986), 4th grade XII Belgrade high school, Belgrade; Maja Džundeva (1986), 4th grade DSU Georgi Dimitrov, Skopje

Abstract: The aim of this research is to compare the social characteristics of fantasy game players in Belgrade and Skopje by analysing demographic and socio-economic characteristics, relations among the players and the players’ relations to the games. Fantasy games gained popularity in 1973 when the game Dungeons & Dragons was introduced. There are three types of fantasy games: trading card games, role playing games and board games (including collectable miniature games). The expansion of these games in Belgrade started in the early eighties of the twentieth century. The same happened in Skopje but a decade later.
The research was conducted using a questionnaire given to 135 people, 85 in Belgrade and 50 in Skopje. The sample was appropriate. The subjects were asked to answer 19 questions concerning: age, sex, place of birth, place of residence, ethnicity, religion, life occupation, father’s occupation, education, employment, relations among players, players’ gaming habits (frequency and duration of playing, ways of informing about the games, favourite game), preferred music style and interest in science fiction. Statistical software package, SPSS, was used in data analysis. Results regarding ethnicity and religion had been compared to the corresponding ones from the latest population census in Serbia and Macedonia.
It had been assumed that the subjects in Belgrade and Skopje would differ in fewer aspects and would be very similar in the majority of them. When it comes to place of birth and place of residence, the results show that the fantasy games are played locally. However, compared to the Macedonian national census held in 2002, the lack of subjects with non-Macedonian ethnic affiliation was noticed among the subjects interviewed in Skopje. The fact that the majority of subjects are orthodox corresponds to the results of Serbian and Macedonian national census. However, a fairly large percent of atheists was noticed among interviewed players (39% in Belgrade and 29% in Skopje). This differs from the censuses’ results by which there is 1,47% of atheists in Belgrade, and less then 2,44% in Skopje. In spite of this great difference, these results must be taken with some reserve. The reason for a large number of interviewed atheists can be players’ age or high level of education. So, it would be wrong to assume atheism as a general characteristic of fantasy players.
The majority of subjects from both cities is male and goes to science-oriented secondary schools and universities; the employed subjects have university education. Accordingly, the large number of the examinees in Belgrade and Skopje belong to the high social class. The results showed that almost all of the subjects socialize which corresponds to the fact that the most of them heard about these games from a friend. The subjects were interested in different types of music and almost all of them were interested in science fiction.
Observing other variables, few differences can be found. The results indicate that the subjects in Belgrade are in average older that the ones in Skopje. This is related to the fact that the examinees in Belgrade had been playing these games longer than the ones in Skopje. Furthermore, there are some differences in players’ gaming habits. The subjects in Belgrade play fantasy games more often and prefer playing board games while those in Skopje mainly play trading card games. In summary, there are no significant differences in social structure between fantasy game players in Skopje and Belgrade.

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Fantazijske igre.pdf	295.2 KB
Fantazijske igre poster.pdf	341.87 KB