PDA

View Full Version : Where Are the Female Gamers?



IMPress Polly
07-05-2017, 06:08 AM
Much like how professional basketball in this country has an NBA and a WNBA to make it clear that basketball players are male by default and female by exception, similarly, in the video gaming community there exist gamers and "girl gamers", reflecting the fact that video game players are assumed to be male unless otherwise specified. To some degree that assumption is rooted in fact and to some degree it is not. Some just assume that there are virtually no female gamers because they rarely see any in the line at Game Stop awaiting the arrival of the latest Call of Duty or Halo installment. I wanted to make this thread to clarify as best I can for everyone (because I am sometimes asked) how many female video game players there are and what they play.

About 50% of American men and 48% of American women play video games at least casually, while 15% of American men and 6% of American women describe themselves as gamers (http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/12/15/who-plays-video-games-and-identifies-as-a-gamer/). In those statistics we see that most people who play video games do so only casually and that that is especially true of female game players, who compose nearly half of all video game players, but only 28.5% of hardcore gaming hobbyists according to this statistical breakdown. We can also see in the stats provided at the link that the share of both men and women who are playing video games both casually and as a proper hobby is increasing generationally, but that men are jumping on board at a much faster rate than women. For example, 4% of men and 3% of women aged 50 and older identify themselves as gamers, while 33% of men and 9% of women between the ages of 18 and 29 identify themselves as gamers. Both statistics are substantially larger for the under 30 group, but we can see that men are adopting gaming as a major life hobby at a far quicker pace.

So what sort of games are women playing? Quantic Foundry did a massive worldwide survey of 270,000 gamers on this subject (http://quanticfoundry.com/2017/01/19/female-gamers-by-genre/) earlier this year and found the following gender breakdown of players by game genre, which I'll list by percentage of players who are female:

Match-3: 69%
Family or farming simulation: 69%
Casual puzzle: 42%
Atmospheric exploration: 41%
Interactive drama: 37%
High-fantasy MMO: 36%
Japanese RPG: 33%
Western RPG: 26%
Survival: 25%
Platformer: 25%
City-building: 22%
Action RPG: 20%
Sandbox: 18%
Action adventure: 18%
Sci-fi MMO: 16%
Open world: 14%
Turn-based strategy: 11%
MOBA: 10%
Grand strategy: 7%
First-person shooter: 7%
Racing: 6%
Tactical shooter: 4%
Sports: 2%

The study's findings also clarify that, within any given genre, video games that are conscientiously inclusive in design are more likely to appeal to female gamers. For example, while the overall player ratio for Western RPGs as a genre is just 26% female, 48% of Dragon Age: Inquisition players are female. Similarly, science fiction-themed MMO players overall are just 16% female, but Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic has a 29% female player base. And also similarly, while just 14% of open world game players overall are female, by contrast 27% of Assassin's Creed Syndicate players are female. Those who are familiar with these titles will surely understand my point.

Similarly, genres that often have female leads like atmospheric exploration games and interactive dramas are also more likely to attract female players, while genres that basically only pander to men (like sports simulations) are the least popular with female gamers. (Those are my two favorite genres.)

I suspect that cultural elements may be a factor here as well. Take the element of shooting in video games, for example. Guns just are not a big part of female culture. Thus do I think that many women just find games that involve a lot of gunplay somewhat harder to relate to than men might. That's probably also why women are a lot less likely to play even the most progressive of sci-fi themed MMOs compared to their high-fantasy counterparts: because sci-fi themes usually seem to imply more gunplay. (And you'll notice that the main exception, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic includes more swordplay type stuff in terms of its action elements. It's similar in the sci-fi action movies that have succeeded with female audiences in recent years: The Hunger Games, the Star Wars movies, etc. You'll notice the comparative elevation of things like swordplay and archery in terms of their action elements for the most part.) It's similar with white people versus people of color. In the gaming tournament scene, the shooting games (like Counter-Strike, etc.) are heavily dominated by white players while the tournament fighting games (like Street Fighter and so fourth) are dominated by men of color. Why? I figure the fact that white people are several times more likely to own guns might have something to do with it. I suspect hence that the gunplay divide is substantially a cultural one, hence.

Hope that clears things up a little!

Common
07-05-2017, 06:27 AM
Theres alot of Wow female players, what percent who knows. In my guild alone theres 5 females and I know all female guilds

resister
07-05-2017, 06:42 AM
Homey don't plat dat. I dropped outta 3rd grade on account of playing games :)

Common
07-05-2017, 06:51 AM
Homey don't plat dat. I dropped outta 3rd grade on account of playing games :)
wut?????

IMPress Polly
07-05-2017, 10:44 AM
Common wrote:
Theres alot of Wow female players, what percent who knows. In my guild alone theres 5 females and I know all female guilds

23% of World of Warcraft players are female according to the genre study I linked to in the OP. That's unusually low for its genre (overall, 36% of fantasy MMO players are female), but the gender ratio does seem to be getting more equitable over time. Just a few years ago, for example, only 15% of WoW players were female, and before that it used to be even more lopsidedly male.

Common
07-05-2017, 12:33 PM
I played rift and secret world for awhile and I ran into very few female players. I honestly would have thought that the perecentage of wow female players would be higher

Brett Nortje
07-07-2017, 06:11 AM
23% of World of Warcraft players are female according to the genre study I linked to in the OP. That's unusually low for its genre (overall, 36% of fantasy MMO players are female), but the gender ratio does seem to be getting more equitable over time. Just a few years ago, for example, only 15% of WoW players were female, and before that it used to be even more lopsidedly male.
I heard a family member of mine, renne brent or renne nortje, not sure her surname, has produced a game for girls called "humiliatrix." one of the core concepts of this game is role playing sex scenes, which seems to be going down well with her community she is in.

Captain Obvious
07-11-2017, 02:55 PM
Where Are the Female Gamers?

Making male gamers sandwiches probably

Cletus
07-11-2017, 03:00 PM
Making male gamers sandwiches probably


That is just so wrong. :grin:

HoneyBadger
07-11-2017, 03:21 PM
Men and women play the type of games they enjoy. What's the problem with that? Games don't need to be "inclusive". There are plenty of games out there to appeal to just about any preference. You don't need to add a romantic interest into a first person shooter game to "even things out". You're just going to end up with a game everyone hates.

IMPress Polly
07-12-2017, 06:41 AM
HoneyBadger wrote:
Games don't need to be "inclusive".

Well it looks like they're going to be more inclusive in the future (https://feministfrequency.com/2017/06/14/gender-breakdown-of-games-featured-at-e3-2017/) because most game developers seem to have reached the conclusion that you're wrong.


You don't need to add a romantic interest into a first person shooter game to "even things out".

...No, you know, I'm not even going to go into how offensively sexist a remark that right there was. It should be self-evident.

Devil'sAdvocate
09-22-2017, 02:16 AM
Much like how professional basketball in this country has an NBA and a WNBA to make it clear that basketball players are male by default and female by exception, similarly, in the video gaming community there exist gamers and "girl gamers", reflecting the fact that video game players are assumed to be male unless otherwise specified. To some degree that assumption is rooted in fact and to some degree it is not. Some just assume that there are virtually no female gamers because they rarely see any in the line at Game Stop awaiting the arrival of the latest Call of Duty or Halo installment. I wanted to make this thread to clarify as best I can for everyone (because I am sometimes asked) how many female video game players there are and what they play.

About 50% of American men and 48% of American women play video games at least casually, while 15% of American men and 6% of American women describe themselves as gamers (http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/12/15/who-plays-video-games-and-identifies-as-a-gamer/). In those statistics we see that most people who play video games do so only casually and that that is especially true of female game players, who compose nearly half of all video game players, but only 28.5% of hardcore gaming hobbyists according to this statistical breakdown. We can also see in the stats provided at the link that the share of both men and women who are playing video games both casually and as a proper hobby is increasing generationally, but that men are jumping on board at a much faster rate than women. For example, 4% of men and 3% of women aged 50 and older identify themselves as gamers, while 33% of men and 9% of women between the ages of 18 and 29 identify themselves as gamers. Both statistics are substantially larger for the under 30 group, but we can see that men are adopting gaming as a major life hobby at a far quicker pace.

So what sort of games are women playing? Quantic Foundry did a massive worldwide survey of 270,000 gamers on this subject (http://quanticfoundry.com/2017/01/19/female-gamers-by-genre/) earlier this year and found the following gender breakdown of players by game genre, which I'll list by percentage of players who are female:

Match-3: 69%
Family or farming simulation: 69%
Casual puzzle: 42%
Atmospheric exploration: 41%
Interactive drama: 37%
High-fantasy MMO: 36%
Japanese RPG: 33%
Western RPG: 26%
Survival: 25%
Platformer: 25%
City-building: 22%
Action RPG: 20%
Sandbox: 18%
Action adventure: 18%
Sci-fi MMO: 16%
Open world: 14%
Turn-based strategy: 11%
MOBA: 10%
Grand strategy: 7%
First-person shooter: 7%
Racing: 6%
Tactical shooter: 4%
Sports: 2%

The study's findings also clarify that, within any given genre, video games that are conscientiously inclusive in design are more likely to appeal to female gamers. For example, while the overall player ratio for Western RPGs as a genre is just 26% female, 48% of Dragon Age: Inquisition players are female. Similarly, science fiction-themed MMO players overall are just 16% female, but Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic has a 29% female player base. And also similarly, while just 14% of open world game players overall are female, by contrast 27% of Assassin's Creed Syndicate players are female. Those who are familiar with these titles will surely understand my point.

Similarly, genres that often have female leads like atmospheric exploration games and interactive dramas are also more likely to attract female players, while genres that basically only pander to men (like sports simulations) are the least popular with female gamers. (Those are my two favorite genres.)
I suspect that cultural elements may be a factor here as well. Take the element of shooting in video games, for example. Guns just are not a big part of female culture. Thus do I think that many women just find games that involve a lot of gunplay somewhat harder to relate to than men might. That's probably also why women are a lot less likely to play even the most progressive of sci-fi themed MMOs compared to their high-fantasy counterparts: because sci-fi themes usually seem to imply more gunplay. (And you'll notice that the main exception, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic includes more swordplay type stuff in terms of its action elements. It's similar in the sci-fi action movies that have succeeded with female audiences in recent years: The Hunger Games, the Star Wars movies, etc. You'll notice the comparative elevation of things like swordplay and archery in terms of their action elements for the most part.) It's similar with white people versus people of color. In the gaming tournament scene, the shooting games (like Counter-Strike, etc.) are heavily dominated by white players while the tournament fighting games (like Street Fighter and so fourth) are dominated by men of color. Why? I figure the fact that white people are several times more likely to own guns might have something to do with it. I suspect hence that the gunplay divide is substantially a cultural one, hence.

Hope that clears things up a little!
Who honestly cares? Most people who identify as a "gamer" tend to be socially maladjusted types who are rarely seen outside their basements; playing video games is one thing and can be a lot of fun, but identifying with "gamer subculture" is something different entirely, and is just... sad.

The fewer "gamers" of either sex, the better. The fact that there are people who build their whole identity or way of life around something as frivolous as playing a video game is a sign of an empty soul who lacks any real purpose or fulfillment in life, and not something to be encouraged for some triviality like "diversity".

Devil'sAdvocate
09-22-2017, 02:22 AM
Well it looks like they're going to be more inclusive in the future (https://feministfrequency.com/2017/06/14/gender-breakdown-of-games-featured-at-e3-2017/) because most game developers seem to have reached the conclusion that you're wrong.

"FeministFrequency" is an unreliable source.

On the flip side, Nintendo (one of the most prominent game developers in the world) has rebuffed 'petitions' to include more 'diveristy' nonsense in their games.

There may be a fad lately among some developers to pander to a margin of freaks out there for the sake of profit, but given that "social justice" as a whole is dying and is on its way out, this trend will likely reverse itself once the developers realize it's not worth turning off their customer base just to appeal to who frequent some "LGBT gamer forum" or something.

...No, you know, I'm not even going to go into how offensively sexist a remark that right there was. It should be self-evident.
Your opinion is duly... ignored. The fact that you seem to want more females sitting in their parents' basement for 8 hours a day gorging on store-brand cheetos and sipping stale Red Bull just for the sake of 'diversity' is why I can't help but laugh at this entire thread:

http://cdn1.sbnation.com/imported_assets/1259927/South-Park-World-of-Warcraft-dude.jpg

Hal Jordan
09-22-2017, 02:46 AM
Who honestly cares? Most people who identify as a "gamer" tend to be socially maladjusted types who are rarely seen outside their basements; playing video games is one thing and can be a lot of fun, but identifying with "gamer subculture" is something different entirely, and is just... sad.

The fewer "gamers" of either sex, the better. The fact that there are people who build their whole identity or way of life around something as frivolous as playing a video game is a sign of an empty soul who lacks any real purpose or fulfillment in life, and not something to be encouraged for some triviality like "diversity".

Your idea of what a gamer is, honestly, is rather old. It hasn't applied in over a decade. Currently, far more people consider themselves gamers and the vast majority play games. By your description, the vast majority of people have an "empty soul". Your logic is faulty from the start and only grows worse.

rcfieldz
09-22-2017, 02:50 AM
Women have been playing games since..well you know.

Devil'sAdvocate
09-22-2017, 06:15 PM
Your idea of what a gamer is, honestly, is rather old. It hasn't applied in over a decade. Currently, far more people consider themselves gamers and the vast majority play games. By your description, the vast majority of people have an "empty soul". Your logic is faulty from the start and only grows worse.
No, the difference between being someone who "plays video games" and being a "gamer", is kind of like the difference between being someone who drives a motorcycle, and being a "biker" (e.x. Hell's Angels). It's basically devolved into another "subculture" who's entire identity and life centers around video games, which I think is excessive.

IMPress Polly
09-23-2017, 04:43 PM
Devil's Advocate wrote:
No, the difference between being someone who "plays video games" and being a "gamer", is kind of like the difference between being someone who drives a motorcycle, and being a "biker" (e.x. Hell's Angels). It's basically devolved into another "subculture" who's entire identity and life centers around video games, which I think is excessive.

Most of the people I know who play video games as a hobby (myself included) average less than three hours a day of play (which is, the experts tell us, within healthy limits) and lead pretty balanced lives. I'm not saying that the type of video gamer you point to doesn't exist, but I am saying that they're certainly a minority of the total.

In point of fact, even a lot of the people who do play "8 hours a day" anymore are hardly the basement LAN party-hosting, Dungeons & Dragons-playing stereotype that you point to anymore. There is a new generation of "cool kid" gamers out there today, some of whom aspire to become professional video gamers and compete in those tournaments that nowadays are broadcast on ESPN and yield millions of dollars and the same opportunities to get laid that other professional athletes enjoy. The younger, larger generation of hardcore gamers today is frankly of a more jockish than nerdy nature, taken as a whole. I'm not saying that that's a good thing or a bad thing. I'm just saying that it's there and that your particular prejudices about video gaming culture are as dated as the like 15-year-old South Park episode you referenced as 'proof' of your case.

Cletus
09-23-2017, 06:16 PM
Well it looks like they're going to be more inclusive in the future (https://feministfrequency.com/2017/06/14/gender-breakdown-of-games-featured-at-e3-2017/) because most game developers seem to have reached the conclusion that you're wrong.



...No, you know, I'm not even going to go into how offensively sexist a remark that right there was. It should be self-evident.

What was "offensively sexist" about it?

IMPress Polly
09-23-2017, 06:51 PM
Cletus wrote:
What was "offensively sexist" about it?

It should be obvious, but if it needs explaining: the presumption that women are primarily interested in romance and just couldn't find any other motivation to game.