More women now play video games than men...

Former_MSE_Megan

A study published by the Internet Advertising Bureau UK yesterday states that for the first time, women are the more dominant players in the UK gaming industry.

But what do you think? The study claims that the shift has been driven by 25-44 year old women downloading trivia and puzzle apps, so it doesn't represent the 'traditional' methods of gaming, as such. A lot of women I know (myself included) are gamers but I wouldn't have guessed it would have outweighed the guys!

Vote in the poll above and we can see if our forum matches up to the stats published

szam_

I don't agree with that study. Since when did the definition of a Gamer get so loose as to mean any old trivia game on a phone? Does that mean you can play it for 5 minutes a week and you are therefore a 'gamer'? Or should you be someone who occasionally enjoys a bit of trivia - if it was a board game, does that that also make you a gamer? Same concept, different platform.

My other half occasionally plays WoW, has a few games on her phone, occasionally races around crashing in to people on the Xbox One and enjoys a bit of GTA V - but would she class herself as a gamer? Absolutely not. She doesn't have that passion for gaming in general, she won't play anything outside of a very few things and gets bored after an hour, to her it's something to pass a bit of time.

She thinks I play too much and I actually, in comparison to my teens/very early twenties, play very little these days, but she would class me as a gamer because I have a vast interest in various genres, have an opinion on just about anything gaming wise and was once a semi-pro gamer when Professional Gaming was just starting up (around 2005-2006, MLG etc in the US and the UK trying to start up tournaments and teams etc).

Sorry, but I don't class someone who plays a few mobile games a 'gamer'. As someone who was introduced to consoles from a very early age, I can't get on board with this idea that you can play a mobile game once, and you are then a gamer overnight. To me it has to be a hobby, not a vague interest to pass the time now and then.

Tropez

This study only confirms what has been known for a while. Due to the prevalence of mobile games, social media games and the like, more women play games than men.

As for the definition of a "gamer", I really don't mind who is classed as a gamer and who isn't. Professional gaming aside, it's not exactly a life choice as much as it is utilising an available form of entertainment.

BrassicWoman

Hah hah, men thinking they get to choose to define "gamer"? Don't be such a snob! It's a hobby, not a badge of honour!

marleyboy

Its a daft poll, where do the non-gamers come into this? In order to get an overall view of gender gamers, you need a comparison of non gamers.

Am I a gamer in that I might play the odd game on the PS3, whether its once a Month or once a week? Do we include card games, board games or outdoor sports like football, darts an golf?

Is there an age range of gender gamers, as when I was a teenager you could not get me off my Sinclair Spectrum. Now at my age, gaming is something I more likely would play with my Son and only then when I can fit in the time.

My Mother does not play on computer games, but is that because she is a woman, or is it because she is in her 70s?

Sasahara

More likely there are more Women that are casual gamers.


I would define Gamers as people that buy hardware specifically for gaming, not as a secondary use, I would guess this is still Male dominated practice.

szam_

BrassicWoman wrote: »

Hah hah, men thinking they get to choose to define "gamer"? Don't be such a snob! It's a hobby, not a badge of honour!

Sorry, I wasn't aware I could have my own opinion on the definition of a gamer since everyone's definitions on this will differ.

Nothing snobby about it, and I don't wear it as a badge of honor either - at least I backed up my opinion, your post contributes nothing.

PenguinJim

marleyboy wrote: »

Am I a gamer in that I might play the odd game on the PS3, whether its once a Month or once a week? Do we include card games, board games or outdoor sports like football, darts an golf?

I think this was talking about digital games, so no analogue games like board games or soccer.

But does Windows Solitaire count?!? /o\

Crazy_Jamie

The “Gaming Revolution” study, carried out by independent research agency Populus, reveals that females account for over half (52%) of people who’ve played some form of video game¹ in the last six months, compared to 49% three years ago.
Read more at http://www.iabuk.net/about/press/archive/more-women-now-play-video-games-than-men#A2tK9yrpoc8bbKlj.99

Whilst there would be no perfect question to ask in a situation such as this, that particular question is so wide ranging that it effectively renders the results meaningless. It would actually include my mother and grandmother, both of whom had a quick go on my Wii U a couple of months ago during a family get together, but who otherwise have absolutely no interest in playing video games, whether 'casually' on their phones or otherwise. The notion that either of them could get caught within a definition of 'women who play video games' for the purposes of comparing the number of women and men who play video games is laughable.

This isn't about defining what a 'gamer' is; it's just about picking the right question for the survey so as to actually come up with some useful information. What would be more interesting would be to perhaps ask everyone whether or not they play video games on average once a week/fortnight/month or more, and then ask whether most of that time is spent playing games on mobiles or games consoles/PC. That would actually provide useful information on the gender split and the 'casual' gaming market at the same time.

Chickabiddybex

I don't know why there is no widespread survey that differentiates between different "types" of gaming.

However, 38-40% of Xbox Live users are female. I would guess that it would be a similar split for Playstation. More women on the Wii, but less on the PC. I would conclude that it's around a 60/40 split when you don't count casual/mobile games. However, every year the split is getting closer to 50/50 and it will probably end up there in the not too distant future.

SmallL

I usually find myself in a very small minority. I'm female and have identified as a 'gamer' since I was roughly 13 years old, I'm 22 now. Most my spare time was spent on the family PC at that age, my main influence was my dad whom played many a pc and console game.

My first memory of playing a game was Ultima Ascension, quite an old game! I have sunk an embarrassing number of hours into the original guildwars (Roughly 4k hours) in my secondary school years.

My current desktop was purchased with gaming solely as the reason, with being prepared for the release of the Witcher 3 as a major driver.

I haven't really met another lady as 'into' gaming myself, it's really one of my only hobbies and I tend to play PC games for about 2 hours a day on 'work' days and 6-8 on 'off' days.