Women Dominate Casual Gaming
New research indicates that as much as 76% of casual gamers are female. This is definitely an interesting trend that has been building for years. I’m definitely happy about it, because gaming is slowly losing the basement dwelling nerd image of the past. Some of you probably recall when I was attacked on this site for being a Star Wars fanatic. The girl who attacked me in the comments accused me of being a dungeon crawling nerd. I definitely think we need to support the idea of women in gaming. Too many games are still geared towards males, but I really think we will see all of that change in the near future. I have also personally noticed a particular boom in female gamers on Halo 2. We still don’t have many hard core female gamers out there, but I really think that will also change as the “gamer nerd stereotype” continues to fade away.
As if to spite Wii naysayers everywhere, Nintendo is continuing to make money and sell consoles by the boatload, those jerks. Fortunately, their philosophies of expanding their marketshare to incorporate longstanding not-quite-gamers in the demographics that the industry has historically ignored might not be such a bad idea: new market research reports that some 76% of casual gamers are women. Consoles, on the other hand, remain a sausage fest, but only just. eMarketer.com offers up some commentary:
A study of gamer demographics by Universal McCann revealed more male than female players for consoles in particular [58% to 42%]. Fewer casual games are made for consoles than are made for other gaming platforms. eMarketer Senior Analyst Paul Verna notes that “generally speaking, the more ‘hardcore’ the gamer, the more likely he is to be male, and conversely, the casual gamer will tend to skew female.”
[Source Destructoid]
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April 14th, 2007 at 6:51 am
http://digg.com/gaming_news/Women_Dominate_Casual_Gaming/who
April 14th, 2007 at 11:59 am
Women Dominate Casual Gaming…
Kezins over at 1P Start discusses the growing dominance of women as casual gamers….
April 14th, 2007 at 6:03 pm
Many a ‘girl gamer’ has gotten hooked due to their male partner. It starts with a game of DDR or tetris, and the next thing you know, they’re mopping the floor with your face on Halo-2. The last bastion of male supremacy is being taken away ! You go girl !
April 14th, 2007 at 7:16 pm
[...] Women Dominate Casual Gaming Women Dominate Casual Gaming New research indicates that as much as 76% of casual gamers are female. This is definitely an interesting trend that has been building for years. I ’m definitely happy about it, because gaming is slowly losing the basement dwelling nerd image of the past. Some of you probably recall when I was attacked on this site for being ……1PStart[building] [news] [gaming news] [women] [gaming] [site] [...]
April 14th, 2007 at 9:48 pm
I can believe it! I am part of that %
April 14th, 2007 at 11:56 pm
[...] read more | digg story Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]
April 15th, 2007 at 9:04 am
I’ve heard similar percentage claims for female game players, but they are mythical figures. The so-called “new research” is completely bogus. If you don’t believe me, just ask any game store clerk which gender makes the most game inquiries and purchases.
April 15th, 2007 at 10:35 am
Joel >> Just because men buys the games, doesn’t mean they’re the only ones playing them.
April 15th, 2007 at 1:01 pm
“I’m definitely happy about it, because gaming is slowly losing the basement dwelling nerd image of the past.”
It dissapoints me how you feel about that, honestly.
Who cares if people see us a basement dwelling nerds? Who says women gamers aren’t nerds, as well?
Personally, I’m proud as hell to be a geek.
If you’re a gamer, and you’re worried about your RL image, you really need to re-evaluate your reasoning for playing.
April 15th, 2007 at 5:51 pm
Sorry you feel that way. I’m against anyone judging or labeling people. Personally, I don’t want to be labeled anything really. There’s nothing wrong with being a nerd or geek per se, but I definitely do not believe in labels.
The point I’m making is that people consider it a negative thing when it really isn’t.
April 15th, 2007 at 6:39 pm
[...] read more | digg story [...]
April 15th, 2007 at 7:42 pm
hey, i know what you mean…
but there are lots of girls who game now
i am a girl who games…alot..toooo much
it’s always been that way too
i even work for an mmo company and i beta test
go me! your article was cool though ^_-
April 15th, 2007 at 8:43 pm
Joel,
what rock are you located under? I was at the game store the other day and saw several females checking out the games. You also have to consider that the guys may be buying the games and everyone plays them at home. I realize that it’s still a male dominated industry.. and the figures are not completely bogus. That figure was pointing to “CASUAL” gaming. But female gamers are in fact getting into hard core games as well.
I see this all over the place and have no clue as to how some people don’t see it as well. In fact, I’m at work right now and one of the females a few desks down is playing WoW.
April 15th, 2007 at 8:46 pm
ninjamuse,
awesome. I really don’t understand why some find it hard to believe that females want to get into gaming.
April 15th, 2007 at 9:10 pm
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April 16th, 2007 at 11:34 am
You know, maybe more women would be inclined to be gamers if they weren’t objectified DAILY by industry writers and designers. It’s bad enough that games tend to figure enough bouncing titties to keep women away forever, but every time someone decides to bemoan the lack of women gamers, they either use a picture of some omfguberhot chick or something like this.
April 18th, 2007 at 7:04 am
[...] New research indicates that as much as 76% of casual gamers are female. This is definitely an interesting trend that has been building for years. I ’m definitely happy about it, because gaming is slowly losing the basement dwelling nerd image of the past. Some of you probably recall when I was attacked on this site for being ……1PStartread more | digg story [...]
April 20th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
[...] Women dominate casual gaming [...]
April 22nd, 2007 at 6:48 pm
i agree. women need to be objectified less. i think it will change, but we’ll need more women inside the industry too.
April 27th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
I think people believe women play games but not normal average women. We need more everyday chicks.
April 27th, 2007 at 10:32 pm
Yeah, who else do you think is buying Cooking Mama: Cook Off???
Now if only they made an ironing game, my socks are always wrinkled out of the wash.
November 15th, 2007 at 7:01 am
[...] read more | digg story [...]
December 12th, 2007 at 8:28 am
[...] zijn gericht op een groot publiek. Tussen de 60% en 70% van de casual gamers bestaat uit vrouwen (sommige onderzoeken wijzen uit dat dit aandeel zelfs 76% zou zijn). Dit is opvallend gezien het vooroordeel dat gamers [...]
September 6th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
[...] 76% of woman comprise the casuals. So do you think that most woman will love Spore and idolize it as the greatest game ever? It [...]
November 20th, 2008 at 8:17 am
[...] social based. Games like Rock Band, World of Warcraft or The Sims fit in this type of category and casual gaming is still dominated by [...]