Gaming’s hot subject is gender. There’s lots of debate and anger. But at the core of the debate centers around changing demographics in gamingand the tension that comes from this mainstreaming. While the traditional guard prefers developers and designers to focus on them, newcomers want more inclusive avatars, stories, and gameplay.
-
It’s not easy to discover empirical data from the game industry that backs this debate. The frequently quoted “50percent are female gamers” statistic may prove counterproductive. Many argue that games should be more inclusive if half of the gamers are women.
Together with Quantic Foundry coworkers, I have been collecting survey data of over 300,000. We have been collecting data for more than 300,000. While it is possible to draw a clear gender-specific narrative in the data, more detailed analysis can reveal interesting and unexpected connections between genders.
-
Surprisingly, both men and women have gaming motives that align with gender stereotypes. Women are more driven by fantasy and fulfillment than men. This is only one aspect of the story. Consider the idea of competition. This is the driving factor that is the most variable between female and male gamers. It is apparent that age is responsible for the most statistical variance than gender. The difference in competition appeal between men of various genders is much greater than that of men of different age groups.
-
The idea that female gamers possess drastically different reasons for playing than male gamers is the reason for a lot of the old guard’s anger. It would “ruin”gaming in the event that it were given to them, however the data does not support this. If the elephant in the room is age, we’re creating a mountain from the molehill.
Similar patterns are apparent in the proportion of female gamers in every game genre. It is easy to see the differences in gender ratios between different game genres by the commonly quoted statistic that “50%” of players were female. Our data shows female gamers have a variety of interests across genres, with more than 70% of them playing Family/Farm Sim in March 3rd while only 2-4% were Shooters/Sports. This is an increase of 35% in female gamers.
It’s tempting to believe that these variations are due to differences in gender game-playing motivations (e.g. female gamers aren’t keen on playing X and Y in video games), there are many other reasons. Female gamers are less popular. means that female characters in games are less prevalent. These games typically involve playing in a virtual environment with strangers, which can result in motion sicknesswhich is a concern for women. The way in which motivations and presentation are combined can explain why women’s participation isn’t as high in some genres.
It isoften said that female gamers stay away from violent games. They are fond of gory weapons such as swords and hammers, however. Female gamers don’t dislike guns per se. They just think that traditional guns are the most creative way to kill somebody. Our blog featured one player who claimed that guns are “the most boring options for the ranged attack.”
It is common to think of gendered motivational differences as a result o gender bias. However, these may actually be ancient artifacts. It’s not only an academic endeavor to investigate these beliefshowever, it could also be very profitable. As an examplewomen gamers make up about 7% in the genre of First Person Shooter. Overwatch by Blizzard gives players a greater selection of heroes and new weapon options than the average game. A majority of players are women.
Numerous examples have been given of the notion that female gamers do not make “real gamers”. In 2016, a skilled Overwatch player was charged with cheating. Two male professional players of eSports believed that this was the case that they threatened to leave if proven false. After Blizzard (the video game creator) has cleared her name, the two eSports players quit and resigned from their eSports teams. This show demonstrates that the old guard doesn’t just an angry rage over being the focus of game makers with the newcomers. It also stems out of the fear of being beat on their turf by “casual women gamers”.