Just stop it already: Women do play video games

Over the past few weeks, I've heard from reputable news outlets that video games are made specifically for men and most women find little reason to play.

According to these neanderthals, games like MGS4 and GTAIV are designed for men, just like sports games are, driving simulators are, and most other titles are. And if titles are not made for men, they're made for children. All the while, women are left out in the cold.

But is that even close to true? I certainly don't think so, and to be quite honest, I think it's insulting to women to suggest such a thing. Just because most media outlets show men playing video games and the majority of people playing games are men, it doesn't mean women are left out, and you might be surprised to know that women really do play games and have a very real interest in the industry.

Even with that in mind, I don't see why it's so hard to accept. How have we come to a point where we denigrate the fact that women play video games and try desperately to paint it as a male-controlled industry? Evidently it stems from a total disregard for the facts, but maybe (just maybe) some people are opening their eyes for once.

According to the International Game Developers Association, women represent 40 percent of all gamers. And although the Entertainment Software Association pegs that number at about 38 percent, it found that the average female gamer plays games 7.4 hours per week.

With that in mind, how is it possible that women represent just 12 percent of the video game industry? Ostensibly, it's not for lack of interest--the numbers speak for themselves--so it must be something else. Unfortunately, it seems those same stereotypes may be to blame.

According to CNN, "More than 60 percent of female students enrolled in game design programs at The Art Institutes said they believed male dominance in the industry is a deterrent to women pursuing a career in gaming, according to a survey commissioned by SOE."

And therein lies the rub. Instead of inviting the fact that more women are getting into the gaming industry, the same old stereotype is ruling all else.

It's time we wake up and realize that women really do enjoy video games. It's not fair to simply say that because most developers are men and video game critics are overwhelmingly male, women aren't members of the gaming community. In reality, it's quite the opposite.

Some like to say that women only play games like Wii Fit, but the reality of the situation is quite different.

As Torrie Dorrell, senior vice president of global sales and marketing for Sony Online Entertainment, explained to CNN: "Women are out there in significant numbers playing MMOs, action games, first-person shooters. What is lacking in the equation are women behind these games."

So where do we go from here? Certainly we can't simply sit back and accept the fact that stereotypes exist in the video game industry and women are being forgotten. Instead, we need to finally pull our heads out of the sand and welcome the fact that women are very much a part of the video game industry and should play an even greater role in its development going forward.

So next time you hear someone say that women don't play video games or listen to some uninformed loon try to tell you that the video game industry is for men, make them realize that women play video games, too. And just in case they don't believe you, have them log on to Halo 3--I'm sure a woman would be more than happy to frag them into oblivion.

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[newbiiz]

Yes, we do believe that more and more women are stepping up in the gaming industry. We are starting to realize that and we have created a Girl Geek section on our website, specifically for women who love gaming. We already have a list of female gamers which we will feature on our website, we encourage those who would like to speak up and tell the world that it's ok for a girl to game.

http://www.ewiz.com/girlgeek.html

[AlanPDX]

Not only do women and girls play video games, but they are probably better at it than you are. When my daughter beats God of War and platform games like Ratchet and Clank in almost record times, it is hard to say they don't play. My wife and daughter both enjoy video games to the point that I rarely get to watch TV anymore. They both played through all of the Ratchet and Clank games, the God of War series, Conan, Oblivion, and a bunch more. Maybe one of the reasons that people don't believe that girls play games is that most of the games made for girls and women are so incredibly awful. What defines a "girl game" anyway? Barbie's Horse Adventure?

The women in my household want the same things that men want in games. They want them to be challenging and fun and not insulting to their intelligence.

[sgabarik]

As a woman who loves to play video games, I believe more games need to be geared toward women. My favorite game of 2007 was Heavenly Sword. I loved playing as a woman. It's as simple as that.

[Solaris_User]

Oh common now.. stop all the jokes and lets be serious.. we *all* know those are just guys in drag. No women play video games. They just say.. "All you do is sit there? What do you accomplish by playing that *thing*?" then they go read romance novels all day.

Ok, .. hehe.. I'm totally kidding.. my girl can whop me on most games.. kinda sad really..

[Zero187]

They aren't made specifically for men, but obviously the majority of people who play them are men. It's actually quite a shame more women don't play video games, as they are a great way to enjoy your time!

[Kev Orng]

My wife loves video games. Her favourite is Tomb Raider. She likes the problem solving, the adventure, the story, and I like the realistic bounce. Everybody wins!

I'm just kidding about that, we mutually make fun of Lara Croft's impossible physique.

Seriously though... In sitcoms and commercials, it has become fashionable over the past decade or so to generally portray most men as raving buffoons who need their highly competent wives next to them at all times to say things like "pants first, honey, THEN shoes". Total overcompensation for years of sexist portrayals of women, I know, but this is the 21st century, why haven't we learned that respect is a two way street? And then my wife tells me about her co-workers who project this male TV buffoon image onto their husbands, deserved or not.

I hear you on the video game thing, I'll back you up as soon as I can sit through an hour of TV without being told that I'd end up eating the cat if my wife went away overnight.

[cporpheus]

"Just stop it already: Women do play video games" Tru dat. 'Nuff Said.

[yermom]

women on the development side of games? two words: Jade Raymond
unfortunately, similar to sound engineers and people even further back on the back end of game design; most people have no clue who's hands are actually making things happen. people know names like kojima, miyamoto and sakaguchi, and i think it's great to see ms. raymond getting some of the spotlight. of course, it doesn't hurt that she's terribly easy to look at (quite frankly, that's a fantastic pr move for the industry as a whole, even if it does generate more 'she's hot' at first than 'she's doing fantastic work').

[highlander2000]

Women do play games... with my heart. </3
Quit playin' games with my heart!

[SGranerRay]

While it is true that women are playing games in higher numbers than ever before. Be careful with the statistics. It does not mean that 40% of the players of GTAIV are female.

The IGDA says approx 40% of all game players are women, but that is because approx 70% of players of "online casual games" (Bejeweled, etc) are women (re: IGDA Casual Games SIG), When you average that with the fact that less than approx 20% of the traditional game audience is female then you come up with the " 40%.of gamers are women."

In other words, women do not make up 40% of the audience for GTAIV and men do not make up 60% of the audience for Bejeweled. Additionally, the non-casual genre that has the biggest percentage of female players is the MMO with self reported numbers of between 20-25% female audience.

Why is this a problem? Because if less than 20% of the audience for the biggest budget titles are female, then it is obvious there is alot of money being left on the table by the games industry. This does not mean publishers need to put a mini-game about how to put on lipstick into GTAIV, but perhaps they should begin to look at what barriers are keeping women out of those games such as tutorial style, character representation, etc..

As for how it is possible that only 13% of the workforce is female. Believe me, that is a big improvement over the less than 3% is was only 10 years ago. The biggest areas of improvement are in art and business roles. Probably the best and most promising growth area we've seen is the increase in the number of women in producer roles. The growth in the number of women in programming and design, however, has lagged far behind.

However, the reasons for why the numbers are this low are far far more complex than simply the perpetuation of stereotypes. They involve everything from industry culture to hiring practices to game content. I would be happy to talk about in depth about this with you, if you would like.

On a positive note, the game industry is making progress. Women are playing games in greater numbers - even if not on par with men in the traditional games - and we are seeing an improvement in the number of women enrolled in the various game development programs around the country. However, at the various non-art specific programs, the number of women enrolled is very small to none. (I personally advise a number of these programs in their quests to improve the number of women enrolled.)

But make no mistake, today it is still a male dominated industry making games for a traditional audience of white males ages 12-25 and that is where the biggest money is spent and where the best jobs are. Unfortunately, if you don't fit into that category (young, white and male) than, while not impossible to get into games, there are certainly more barriers to entry.

I'm happy to answer any questions you may have about the state of women in the games industry today and would love the opportunity to talk with you about why the numbers in the industry are so low compared to the percentages playing the games and what is being done to help that.

-Sheri Graner Ray
Executive Chair
Women in Games International