There has existed a long-held stereotype of what a gamer is.  Among many (often unflattering) characteristics, the public stereotype has also been that it is men who primarily play video games.  In general, women who play video games are perceived to be to a very small minority.  It can be seen manifested in what society at large thinks of as a gamer (non-gamers/”outsiders”), but it unfortunately permeates many other facets as well.

Coming from an academic research background, I am all too familiar with the lack of female samples in studies on the subject of video games. This year a task-force was commissioned to conduct a meta analysis on one of the most popular topics of study in video games – aggression – was released in the APA’s research journal, and highlighted areas in which research was lacking. Gender was one of those areas.

I was working on my Masters thesis at the time the American Psychological Association published the report, and it ignited curiosity in me.  I began investigating not only my thesis topic, but the demographics of gamers as well.  Since my study was about video games I had a convenient opportunity to simultaneously gather data related to gender about my participants.

Although I would not claim that my small sample of 90 participants is representative, at first my results confirmed the stereotype that men play more video games than women.  In my group, men reported playing video games on average between 1-3 times per week while women reported between 0-1 times per week.  This is a statistically significant difference (t(88)=3.281, p<.01, d=0.89).

d = 0.89 is a large effect size
 p<.01 means there is a less than 1% change of the phenomenon occurring randomly

Since my sample was so small, I searched out what other researchers and demographers found.  It is easy to find competing information.  The PEW Research Center alone reports a large majority of video game players being young men (PEW Research Center), as well as women and men playing comparably as often (PEW Research Center).  This difference in both my findings and PEWs findings suggest that the gender differences in video games must be linked to some other factor(s).

From a qualitative perspective, some of the participants in my study asked me if “phone games count.”  Others cited their reason for saying they do not play video games as “I only play on my phone” when asked upon completion of the study.  This insight could suggest that either the general public or video game players don’t count phone games as video gaming.  I think, though, that the issue lies with identity.  While lots of people play video games, only a small fraction of them identify with the term “gamer.”  Only 6% of women who play video games report identifying with the term according to the above survey.  This could be a result of the mobile game market catering more to the motivations of female players compared to the console or PC gaming markets, leading to the feeling that the culture of video games is not made for them.  And indeed, at least in my study the males who reported playing video games talked about playing titles that would appear on console or PC platforms while it was mostly the females who said things like “Do phone games count?”

Kotaku writer Cecilia D’Anastasio released an article in January of this year about which video game genres women reported playing most often.  Match three, simulation, and puzzle games ranked highly for use among women.  These types of games, while not the only kind available, permeate the mobile gaming marketplace.  The issue is, of course, complicated by other factors such female representation within the game and utilization of highly rated motivations for female players such as completion and fantasy.  These factors could add up to female players gravitating towards certain types of games.  Specifically, those that are made with them in mind.  As the article suggests, this could be a result of certain types of games being made with or without a female gaming audience in mind.

I was really intrigued by this interpretation of the data because it ties together the identity claim of “gamer” being used less often by women, why phone games may not always be perceived as a video games, why women often play games that are common on mobile more often, and why so many people still do not think women play games as often.  They all have a commonality in how games are marketed and who they’re designed for.  I think going forward more and more companies have realized (or will realize) the power of the female gaming market.  Making games that appeal to all genders, and not just what stereotypes immediately come to mind, can be good for the bottom line.  After all look at how successful Farmville was, or how successful Candy Crush and Pokemon GO are.