Switch Theme:

Women and Gaming: Myth vs. Reality  [RSS] Share on facebook Share on Twitter Submit to Reddit
»
Author Message
Advert


Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:
  • No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
  • Times and dates in your local timezone.
  • Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
  • Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
  • Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.
If you are already a member then feel free to login now.




Made in us
Hangin' with Gork & Mork






Enjoy


Amidst the mists and coldest frosts he thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts.
 
   
Made in ca
Renegade Inquisitor with a Bound Daemon





Tied and gagged in the back of your car

The Electronic Software Association also has some pretty interesting statistics concerning the subject.

But the big point is that women are a considerable force of videogame consumers, as much as big developers do not want to admit it.
   
Made in us
Hallowed Canoness





The Void

Why would the Big Devs want to? That would be mean... gasp! Altering their world view!

I beg of you sarge let me lead the charge when the battle lines are drawn
Lemme at least leave a good hoof beat they'll remember loud and long


SoB, IG, SM, SW, Nec, Cus, Tau, FoW Germans, Team Yankee Marines, Battletech Clan Wolf, Mercs
DR:90-SG+M+B+I+Pw40k12+ID+++A+++/are/WD-R+++T(S)DM+ 
   
Made in ie
Screaming Shining Spear






I really don't mean to sound sexist here, but in my history of gaming women aren't interested in the lore and information of the game. A lot of my girl gamer friends played halo, call of duty and battlefield but in halo for example they'd always say "I want to get in the blue thingy" rather than the wraith. That's just my history though.

 
   
Made in gb
Renegade Inquisitor de Marche






Elephant Graveyard

In fairness I can be super interested in the background story of a game but I stick with the names I came up with for things when I first saw them.

Dakka Bingo! By Ouze
"You are the best at flying things"-Kanluwen
"Further proof that Purple is a fething brilliant super villain " -KingCracker
"Purp.. Im pretty sure I have a gun than can reach you...."-Nicorex
"That's not really an apocalypse. That's just Europe."-Grakmar
"almost as good as winning free cake at the tea drinking contest for an Englishman." -Reds8n
Seal up your lips and give no words but mum.
Equip, Reload. Do violence.
Watch for Gerry. 
   
Made in de
Decrepit Dakkanaut





 The Dark Apostle wrote:
I really don't mean to sound sexist here, but in my history of gaming women aren't interested in the lore and information of the game. A lot of my girl gamer friends played halo, call of duty and battlefield but in halo for example they'd always say "I want to get in the blue thingy" rather than the wraith. That's just my history though.


Not entirely true. For core games, women prefer RPG / Adventure games as they are mainly interested in interesting stories and characters. The majority of female gamers, however, plays social / casual games.

I'd appreciate having a look at the source, OP.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2013/06/06 08:49:50


   
Made in us
Hangin' with Gork & Mork






 Sigvatr wrote:
I'd appreciate having a look at the source, OP.


It seems to have started on a Facebook page called Fierce Gaming Females, and where they got it from (outside the myLifetime tag at the bottom) I have no idea. I just thought it would prompt discussion.

Amidst the mists and coldest frosts he thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts.
 
   
Made in us
[DCM]
The Main Man






Beast Coast

 Sigvatr wrote:
For core games, women prefer RPG / Adventure games as they are mainly interested in interesting stories and characters. The majority of female gamers, however, plays social / casual games.

I'd appreciate having a look at the source, OP.



I'd be interested in seeing some research and sources on this. That is, how many female gamers play "core" games (like RPGs or action games) as opposed to social or casual games (like Farmville). It seems like it would be the case that more female gamers play social and casual games, but I would also wonder if that is actually just true of the population as a whole.

   
Made in de
Decrepit Dakkanaut





That's pretty terrible source

If you want to have an actual discussion on the matter, you should use actual studies on the matter such as these:

http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol11/issue4/hartmann.html
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11199-007-9193-5
http://icagames.comm.msu.edu/cr.pdf

or, to a lesser extent:

http://usabilitynews.org/video-games-males-prefer-violence-while-females-prefer-social/

Overall, female video games are a very important group to cater to and video game companies have long started reacting to them. The thing is that you gotta be very precise. The thing you posted, e.g., is worthless for any profound discussion as it is (seemingly) not based on any actual research and it is poorly designed - just referring to video games as one is proof for an extemely poor research design. You'd neglect any genre differences and thus have gaping flaws in your data, e.g. by not acknowledging that there is a huge gender difference when it comes to video game's specific genres.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2013/06/06 10:01:35


   
Made in us
Hangin' with Gork & Mork






 Sigvatr wrote:
That's pretty terrible source


Well duh.

I would have thought the Lifetime logo would have given that away.

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2013/06/06 10:23:03


Amidst the mists and coldest frosts he thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts.
 
   
Made in ca
Renegade Inquisitor with a Bound Daemon





Tied and gagged in the back of your car

Well, for one decent place to start, you could try the Electronic Software Association (ESA) of America.

http://www.theesa.com/facts/gameplayer.asp

Apparently, 47% of gamers are women, 48% of game buyers are women, and most surprisingly, there is a significantly larger consumer base of women over the age of 18 (30%) than there are boys under the age of 17 (18%).
   
Made in de
Decrepit Dakkanaut





ETA is a very rough place to start if you want to get reliable info, but it's good for beginners as they have a pleasing visual representation of their data.

   
Made in ca
Renegade Inquisitor with a Bound Daemon





Tied and gagged in the back of your car

It is disappointing that they don't break it up into more specific information, such as genre and the like, but at least they do reinforce the point that there is considerable buying power in the female market.
   
Made in de
Decrepit Dakkanaut





 Fafnir wrote:
It is disappointing that they don't break it up into more specific information, such as genre and the like, but at least they do reinforce the point that there is considerable buying power in the female market.


Yep

Add in the amount of money spent on social games per month and you start to get the bigger picture. But as I said: video game companies reacted to the huge female consumer power already by heavily investing in these games.

   
Made in us
[DCM]
The Main Man






Beast Coast

 Fafnir wrote:
Well, for one decent place to start, you could try the Electronic Software Association (ESA) of America.

http://www.theesa.com/facts/gameplayer.asp

Apparently, 47% of gamers are women, 48% of game buyers are women, and most surprisingly, there is a significantly larger consumer base of women over the age of 18 (30%) than there are boys under the age of 17 (18%).



Interesting. It makes sense though that boys under 17 would make up a smaller portion of the consumer base, since they are less likely to have jobs or much income.

   
Made in us
Hallowed Canoness





The Void

Also there's more women then men... so that might have something to do with it.

I beg of you sarge let me lead the charge when the battle lines are drawn
Lemme at least leave a good hoof beat they'll remember loud and long


SoB, IG, SM, SW, Nec, Cus, Tau, FoW Germans, Team Yankee Marines, Battletech Clan Wolf, Mercs
DR:90-SG+M+B+I+Pw40k12+ID+++A+++/are/WD-R+++T(S)DM+ 
   
Made in de
Decrepit Dakkanaut





Unlikely, given the overall amount of gamers is lower among women compared to men. Furthermore, sex ratio is pretty even in the most important western countries gaming-wise:

Germany: 0.97
USA: 0.97
France: 0.96
UK: 0.98

Countries with a very high amount of women to men are countries like Estonia, Latvia, Russia, Ukraine or Belarus, all of which are low priority countres in regards to video games.

Plus: men usually have a higher income than women in a lot of countries (not because of the so-called Gender Gap, but because of men usually choosing more profitable careers).

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2013/06/06 18:39:09


   
Made in us
Consigned to the Grim Darkness





USA

 The Dark Apostle wrote:
I really don't mean to sound sexist here, but in my history of gaming women aren't interested in the lore and information of the game.
I could easily say that In my experience, the average "man" in gaming is a mentally defective weasel who can only talk if at least seventy five percent of their sentence is profanity, insults, or screaming.

Does that mean that all men are dumb squeaky morons with no ability to communicate outside of rage and hate?

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2013/06/06 19:31:47


The people in the past who convinced themselves to do unspeakable things were no less human than you or I. They made their decisions; the only thing that prevents history from repeating itself is making different ones.
-- Adam Serwer
My blog
 
   
Made in ca
Lieutenant Colonel






women are just as bored as men... hence gaming...

i dont get the OP's stats.. that 47% percent of women play to compete...

yet 83% like to play on their own?

anyways, girls have been gaming since games were made, even at the worst of times the disparity was mostly evident in the older age groups 20yrs + and so...

pretty much all kids boy or girl played mario, duck hunt, ect ect

 
   
Made in us
Member of the Ethereal Council






Maybe it is just me, but I have never heard most of those, specifically the competitive part. or play less part.
My mom, who is 60 now even had an original nintendo her and my dad played against one another.
My sister even used to play tons of competitive games until she decided to liked clothes and shoes more(Not being sexist, That is just her)

5000pts 6000pts 3000pts
 
   
Made in de
Decrepit Dakkanaut





 easysauce wrote:
women are just as bored as men... hence gaming...

i dont get the OP's stats.. that 47% percent of women play to compete...

yet 83% like to play on their own?

anyways, girls have been gaming since games were made, even at the worst of times the disparity was mostly evident in the older age groups 20yrs + and so...

pretty much all kids boy or girl played mario, duck hunt, ect ect


Ignore the picture in the OP please. It's worth as much as a roadkilled weasel

   
Made in ca
Fixture of Dakka




Kamloops, BC

 Sigvatr wrote:
Plus: men usually have a higher income than women in a lot of countries (not because of the so-called Gender Gap, but because of men usually choosing more profitable careers).


It's not just about more profitable careers, it's also about number of hours, women are usually are responsible for more household work than men, are more likely to spend time with their kids (if they have any), etc there's probably lots of other reasons too.
   
Made in us
Member of the Ethereal Council






 Cheesecat wrote:
 Sigvatr wrote:
Plus: men usually have a higher income than women in a lot of countries (not because of the so-called Gender Gap, but because of men usually choosing more profitable careers).


It's not just about more profitable careers, it's also about number of hours, women are usually are responsible for more household work than men, are more likely to spend time with their kids (if they have any), etc there's probably lots of other reasons too.

Remember, Men have a wife, Women dont.

5000pts 6000pts 3000pts
 
   
Made in ca
Fixture of Dakka




Kamloops, BC

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
 Cheesecat wrote:
 Sigvatr wrote:
Plus: men usually have a higher income than women in a lot of countries (not because of the so-called Gender Gap, but because of men usually choosing more profitable careers).


It's not just about more profitable careers, it's also about number of hours, women are usually are responsible for more household work than men, are more likely to spend time with their kids (if they have any), etc there's probably lots of other reasons too.

Remember, Men have a wife, Women dont.


I'm not entirely sure what you mean by this?
   
Made in pl
Screaming Shining Spear




NeoGliwice III

Myth vs Reality.
Disclaimer: Reality not based on reality.

Good things are good,.. so it's good
Keep our city clean.
Report your death to the Department of Expiration
 
   
Made in us
Hangin' with Gork & Mork






 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Remember, Men have a wife, Women dont.


I can think of at least two couples I know off hand where that isn't true. If we move on to people I don't know there is Ellen and Portia.

Amidst the mists and coldest frosts he thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts.
 
   
Made in gb
Insect-Infested Nurgle Chaos Lord







 Macok wrote:
Myth vs Reality.
Disclaimer: Reality not based on reality.


Excellent!

I think when these polls define games they're taking in anything that can be considered a game nowadays. Hardcore gaming is probably still dominated by Males, with a few vocal Females.

   
Made in us
Member of the Ethereal Council






 Cheesecat wrote:
 hotsauceman1 wrote:
 Cheesecat wrote:
 Sigvatr wrote:
Plus: men usually have a higher income than women in a lot of countries (not because of the so-called Gender Gap, but because of men usually choosing more profitable careers).


It's not just about more profitable careers, it's also about number of hours, women are usually are responsible for more household work than men, are more likely to spend time with their kids (if they have any), etc there's probably lots of other reasons too.

Remember, Men have a wife, Women dont.


I'm not entirely sure what you mean by this?

My womens studies teacher said it.
It means the men can count on the women to the house work in a working household, but women cannot.

5000pts 6000pts 3000pts
 
   
Made in us
Imperial Admiral




I'd be interested to see if mobile games were counted.
   
Made in us
Consigned to the Grim Darkness





USA

 Medium of Death wrote:
 Macok wrote:
Myth vs Reality.
Disclaimer: Reality not based on reality.


Excellent!

I think when these polls define games they're taking in anything that can be considered a game nowadays. Hardcore gaming is probably still dominated by Males, with a few vocal Females.
[Citation Needed]

Constantly and repeatedly spreading 100% baseless claims to attempt to act like a minority group doesn't exist or is irrelevant is rather discriminatory.

This message was edited 6 times. Last update was at 2013/06/06 23:08:58


The people in the past who convinced themselves to do unspeakable things were no less human than you or I. They made their decisions; the only thing that prevents history from repeating itself is making different ones.
-- Adam Serwer
My blog
 
   
 
Forum Index » Video Games
Go to: