Truth about Female Gamers
The video game and PC gaming industry is typically marketed towards men. Best-selling games such as Call of Duty and World of Warcraft, are often RPG or war based games. Things that appeal to testosterone fueled males. However, there is a reality to the gaming industry that is not often discussed; the female gamers.
When someone hears the term “female gamer” what stereotypes come to mind? Typically, someone would describe a girl who is homely and wears a beanie with oversized glasses and clothes. More often than not this includes the stigma that they are also not the most socially adept individuals in the world. This is not entirely true.
I personally have always been fascinated by the world of imagination. This mostly took the form of books but when my brother and I were younger, it also took the form of videogames. While his love evolved into the console games, mine strayed towards PC games. I did enjoy solitaire and minesweeper but I also had coworkers and friends who played Minecraft and World of Warcraft on their laptops. The year I graduated high school, I was gifted a Dell laptop. I adore this laptop even to this day, but I learned the hard way it was not going to handle any sort of serious game well. Now that I have the technology to play, I intend to. However, I have encountered this stigma that not many girls play.
I walk up to gamers who are men and start talking about different things and I get looks. Why? Probably because I am dressed in jeans and a Victoria Secret hoodie. Not what they would expect right? Well, here are the real statistics behind female gamers. However, I am not the only one.
According to a recent study, 41% of gamers today are women. That number has fluctuated all the way up to 52%, so at one-point women outnumbered men. (Source) Many argue that games such as Overwatch and the newer versions of World of Warcraft and League of Legends have strived to include more female friendly characters because they are seeing a rise in women interested in their games. The plots have not changed, but that also shows that certain storylines should not be marketed to men as women enjoy “shooters” as well.
Now, in certain genres of gaming such as Match 3 games (Candy Crush etc) and Farm/Family Sim games, the percentage of female participants sky rockets to nearly 70%. However, Atmospheric and MMOs come in at close seconds with over 40% participation. (Source) The genre of games with the lowest female participation is sports. Personally, I know I need a bit more mental stimulation in my games. However, I do know several passionate female sports fans who will stomp anyone at Madden.
The premise behind these findings is that we females need to continue to break the stereotypes surrounding the female gamers. Why? Because we do not all look unkept. I know most gamers that I know do care about their own personal hygiene. In addition, everyone has their own gaming preferences as well. Females in the game world can be far superior to guys or weaker than their male counterparts. That is okay. With that comes the need to also market to women as well, because female gamers are not mythical bosses that you come across at lv 190. We are far more common than people think.