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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Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
http://www.ewiz.com/girlgeek.html
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.
Ok, .. hehe.. I'm totally kidding.. my girl can whop me on most games.. kinda sad really..
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.
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').
Quit playin' games with my heart!
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
re: "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 find it difficult to believe that the video games industry as a whole is predominantly geared towards young white males when it finds its strongholds in both North America, but also in Asia, and to a greater extent depending on what aspect you are talking about. Millions of commuters in Japan own a Nintendo DS or Sony PSP, and the gaming culture in South Korea has reached a mainstream presence unlike anything seen in North America. To say that the video game world is too focused on white males is grossly inaccurate.
As for females' interest in gaming, it is hard to generalize. Some of my female friends are gaming enthusiasts and I can talk and debate about games on end. On the other hand, other female friends simply brush off all forms of video games as "silly guy stuff." This stigma certainly isn't helped by a male-centric advertising bent for games (this doesn't apply to all gaming culture, but louder voices like Spike TV certainly do not help), but a large proportion of women are not facing barriers in the gaming culture and community; they are creating the barriers themselves. Again, this is not all or even most females, but to paint the picture in an over arching light will not help the situation.
-S Graner Ray
Admittedly the gaming scene in North America has lightened up and broadened its scope, thanks largely (though not exclusively) to efforts by Nintendo's Wii and DS products, as well as the recent explosion of Guitar Hero and Rock Band. When one talks about movies and film, he or she will talk about liking action films, comedy, or drama; they will likely not say "I don't like movies" without qualification. It is more likely to hear someone say "I don't like video games" while holding a narrow view of what the medium really is. This is a barrier that gaming is slowly unwrapping, but it is still not entirely free of.
Not that this is a bad thing, or is relevant to anything... but i'm just saying.
Gamer girls exist... but most exist because a guy got'em interested in it. I guess I'm just writing this because I've tried several times to get a girl I like to become interested in video games, and I failed everytime. Hence the reason I dumped her cause I hate when a girlfriend tells me that "you play too much video games" .... *sigh*
No one but myself got me into videogames (well, my dad helped by buying my N64). Now, that doesn't stop me from admitting that there are plenty of women who started playing videogames because of a guy they know, and that there are women who just find games silly. There are such women.
I just though I'd let you know at least one girl (and thousands of others, too) begged their parents for their first console.
And since I grew up with all women that all played games...I honestly didn't realize there was a big deal about "female gamers" up until 2003 or so when I joined Xbox Live. I agree there is a different perspective between lifelong female gamer and females that are newer to the hobby...But the more gamers, men or women, the better.
Fact of the matter is that most games are aimed towards young males in this country and Japan. It's simply the target audience for which the majority of games are developed for. I don't see why it's sexist to say that these games will not attract a large female audience. I'm sure there are females out there that will enjoy them, but no where close to the numbers you're misleading readers with. I'd be a happy man to find out that plenty women think it's awesome that I'm an adult who has regular D&D groups and wants to hear about my rogue on Neverwinter Nights 2, but that's not going to happen is it?
Games like "The Sims" and "Spore" have shown that yes there are a large number of female gamers willing to play, but could it possibly be that they were developed for that type of audience in mind?...
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by _Mike112
July 12, 2008 11:18 PM PDT
- "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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Showing 1 of 2 pages (38 Comments)Uninformed, huh? I've spent quite a bit of time playing Halo 2 and 3 online. Maybe not as much as some hardcore Halo players, but enough that I've got an idea of what type of people I'm going to be playing with. I play team games with a head set so it's easy to distinguish the gender of those I'm playing with. I've heard a total of two women in all my time playing both games. One of them wasn't even playing. She was on with her boyfriend and they were both just trying to annoy people through voice chat. On the other hand, several hundred vocal players have been male. Either these women aren't talking, or they aren't playing, from my experience.
I know Halo isn't specifically a focal point of this article, but I think it was a terrible example to use. Over 99% of the vocal Halo gamers I've played with online are male. I wonder how informed this author really is, to make a suggestion that you log on to Halo 3 as a way to show that women play video games.