Refuting Myths about Female Gamers
Gaming’s hot subject is gender. There’s lots of noise and vitriol. However, at the heart of the argument is about the changing demographics of gamingand the tension that comes from this trend of mainstreaming. The old guard prefers designers and developers to focus on these issuesas opposed to the latest generation who advocate for more inclusive avatars for gamesstorytelling, gameplay, and narratives.
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It is rare to find real-world data from the gaming industry to support this assertion. The frequently quoted “50percent of gamers are women” statistic may prove counterproductive. Many critics say that if half of gamers are already womenthen there’s no need to develop games that more inclusive.
Alongside Quantic Foundry coworkers, I have been collecting survey data of over 300,000. We’ve collected data for more than 300,000. While a quick glance at the data might support the notion of gender normsan analysis that is more detailed uncovers more interesting (and often surprising) relationship between gameplay and genders.
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Stereotypes about gender suggest that males and females share similar game-related motivations. Women are more driven by fantasy and completion than men. This is just one side of the story. Consider the idea of competition. This is the driving factor that varies the most between male and female gamers. The research shows that gender plays a significant role in the ability to be the cause of statistical variance as the age. The gap in competition appeal between younger and older men is higher than the delta between women and men.
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Old guard anger is rooted in the belief that female gamers have different motives than male gamers. Even though this theory would “ruin”, gaming, the data does not support it. In reality, we are making a mountain of a molehilland the elephant in this room is old.
The proportion of gamers who are females in every genre of gaming exhibits a similar pattern. The difference in gender ratios within different game genres is evident in the widely mentioned statistic that “50percent of players were women”. Our data shows that there’s a broad range of gender ratios within various game genres. The ratio starts at 70% for the 3rd of March and Family/Farm Sim, and then drops to a mere 2-4% for Sports and Tactical Shooters. This is an increase of 35% in female gamers.
While it’s tempting that these variations are caused by gender differences in gaming motivations (e.g., female gamers don’t enjoy playing X and Y in video games)however, there are many other reasons. Female players are less likely to participate to play games with female gamers. These games can also involve playing online with strangers that can trigger motion sickness to which women are more susceptible. It is possible that the lower women’s participation in certain genres may be due to the way that motivations and presentation were bundled together and promoted.
Female gamers are generally assumed to avoid games that involve violence. But they also are equally attracted by the most violent weapons, such as swords or hammers as do male gamers. Female gamers don’t dislike guns per se. Traditional guns are what theywant to utilize to kill other people. Our blog highlighted a person who said guns are “the most boring variations on the ranged attack.”
We typically think of gendered motivational differences as a result of gender bias. However, these may actually be historic artifacts. This isn’t just an academic exercise to dig deeper into the assumptions that are made; it could be extremely lucrative. Female gamers account for about 7percent of the First Person Shooters. Overwatch from Blizzard provides a greater variety of characters and innovative weapon options than the typical game. About 16% of players are women.
The idea that female gamers make “real gamers” has been challenged in shocking ways. A proficient Overwatch player was accused of cheating in the year 2016. Two male professional players in eSports were so sure of the truththat they threatened to quit in the event of a false accusation. Two eSports players resigned after Blizzardthe game’s developer, cleared their names. The episode highlights that it’s not just about drawing the attention of game creators with newcomers. This is due to the fear that they will be defeated by “casual female gamers”.