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38% of gamers are female, 0% of me is surprised
10:37 AM on 03.03.2008, Dale North 36 comments

38% of gamers are female, 0% of me is surprised photo
     Offbeat

And 100% of statistics are stupid.

Someone's got to track this crap, right? The Entertainment Software Association has done that for us, and they say that 38 percent of gamers are female. These gals spend 7.4 hours a week playing games, and the survey says that the majority of them prefer casual games. They usually use the Nintendo DS or a PC get their game on. Whatever.

A CNN article ties these statistics into how many women are actually making games. They say that women represent just under 12 percent of the game industry and quote attendees of the San Francisco G.I.R.L. event we attended a few weeks back.

While I'm all for the push for more women in the games industry, I can't get behind making these girl gamer statistics big news items. Yes, it's great that that almost half of gamers are females. But guess how many gamers were female the previous year? According to the ESA, 2006 had the exact same figure, 38%. What's even more eye-roll-worthy is that 2005's number was higher: 43%. And 2004? Yep, 38% again. 

Can we stop making this a news item? Girls play games, we get it! 

[Thanks, ProfPew] 


Next page: More Girls of Gaming stories




Takeshi's Avatar
Takeshi at 03/03/2008 10:43
I'm glad you exist Sadie otherwise we would've missed your Hamza interview. And we don't want that now, would we.
AngelsDontBurn's Avatar
AngelsDontBurn at 03/03/2008 10:43
Of course they exist!
Technophile's Avatar
Technophile at 03/03/2008 10:44
I honestly wonder how much of that 38% is gamers "we" care about, as in hardcore gamers.

The 7.4 hours a week and PC makes me think a large part of that 38% is housewives and grandmas that play diner dash and other "casual" flash games on the internet.
big filth's Avatar
big filth at 03/03/2008 10:44
but dont their breasts get in the way of the controller??
Professor Pew's Avatar
Professor Pew at 03/03/2008 10:46
As long as you use a smileyface. Bitches love a smiley face!
big filth's Avatar
big filth at 03/03/2008 10:50
:)
Snaileb 's Avatar
Snaileb at 03/03/2008 10:51
the vag has spoken.
Boolean's Avatar
Boolean at 03/03/2008 10:57
Fuckin Peggle
Tiff's Avatar
Tiff at 03/03/2008 10:57
For the record, I wish the gaming community/industry would stop using the term 'Girl Gamer'. I know the assonance is catchy, but it's a relatively demeaning term. I'm a woman. I'm also a gamer. Ugh.
The-Excel's Avatar
The-Excel at 03/03/2008 11:01
115% of me is a man-gamer.
VWGTI's Avatar
VWGTI at 03/03/2008 11:01
What's a girl?
3r0t1c n3rd's Avatar
3r0t1c n3rd at 03/03/2008 11:02
And you know what? Nearly 100% of the girl got boobs! GET OVER IT!
naia-the-gamer's Avatar
naia-the-gamer at 03/03/2008 11:11
The term "girl gamer" seems to be one of those annoying buzz words that the industry likes to use, like it's a feat of amazement that yes, women play video games. Every year they seem surprised and have to reiterate the news item.

It does nothing more than draw unnecessary attention to women and gives the impression that they should get special treatment. We don't need it. We just want to play games.
The-Excel's Avatar
The-Excel at 03/03/2008 11:18
@naia-the-gamer:
Like "women's basketball".
big filth's Avatar
big filth at 03/03/2008 11:21
supposedly, "female-American's" are going to have voting privileges in the upcoming election as well.

this stuff is getting out of hand.
foxhound009's Avatar
foxhound009 at 03/03/2008 11:21
It's uncommon to see female gamers on fps/multiplayer
however I encounter many (since I'm in to rock chiks ;) )
Most of which I encounter on cs:s and such but many like the mmo genre or rpg not that all females r like that when it comes to games :P.. it's just what I see....
I actually got my ass kicked really bad last night on cs:s by a girl :D .. damn her... damn you Karola!! :P
The-Excel's Avatar
The-Excel at 03/03/2008 11:28
I cannot come in to church this week because I have lady's polio.
Geoff's Avatar
Geoff at 03/03/2008 12:04
38% of gamers are female, 0% of me is surprised.

Can we stop making this a news item? Girls play games, we get it!
manley's Avatar
manley at 03/03/2008 12:13
yeah girls are cool
akathatoneguy's Avatar
akathatoneguy at 03/03/2008 12:57
Things to wonder about:

--What constitutes being a gamer? Are there a number of titles or an amount of hours per week that qualify someone as a "gamer" or is it anyone who plays a game ever?

--What exactly is this supposed to mean? It's really a meaningless statistic. Look at it this way. I have a pretty close-knit group of friends, we're all married and most of us have 360's. Every one of our wives plays games from time to time, so they count as a "gamer", I'd presume. However, each one of the guys also plays games, and about five times as much as the girls do. So even though in this small group, girls comprise 50% of the total number of gamers, they comprise a much smaller portion of the amount of games played, or time spent playing them.

What I'm attempting to illustrate is that this statistic is pointless. I don't really think it's going to get rid of any perceptions, negative or otherwise, about girls playing games. We all know girls play games, sometimes they even play lots of them. Now let's all go back to Call of Duty 4 to play team deathmatch with 12 other dudes.
Horatio Caine's Avatar
Horatio Caine at 03/03/2008 13:07
Those statistics seem pretty accurate.
Sharpless's Avatar
Sharpless at 03/03/2008 13:08
Yay, statistics! I can never get enough statistics! They're always relevant and totally accurate! And these statistics are about girl gamers! I love girl gamers, and I like to have constant updates on them! I CAN'T FUCKING GET ENOUGH OF THIS SHIT.
tincow's Avatar
tincow at 03/03/2008 13:20
akathatoneguy:

'Gamer' pretty much has to mean 'consumer', as this is supposedly industry-related research. They don't really care how hardcore you are, in fact nobody really does.

Basically, if your household has at least one console and have purchased one or more games in the last year and plan to purchase one or more games in the next year...you = gamer.

Number of games or hours spent don't tell you much, either. Just look at how the bazillion of people who play WoW 250 hours a week and only bought one other game in the last year would skew the results. :)
Kaspar's Avatar
Kaspar at 03/03/2008 13:32
It's funny, how the great USA is all out for everyone being equal and how distinguishing people based on their gender is really-really bad and then we have shit like this.

GOGOGO.
Mizruko's Avatar
Mizruko at 03/03/2008 13:48
Issues like these always bother me gamers are gamers imo regardless of sex. The preference in game genre issue i feel has been raised by the sudden influx of people who have played a few rounds of wii sports and suddenly find themselves pigion holed into a casual gamer catagory that has very little in the way of a true definition.

Also whats this whole girls prefer casual games nonsense, i can understand that a killfest of a game may not rank highly in some girls choices but this does not mean they are all running off to buy hello kitty island adventure but unfortunatly this is the image i feel this sort of talk conveys and in the end it only lends it self to creating negative stereotypes.
Jim's Avatar
Jim at 03/03/2008 14:59
70% of the 38% women were actually female!
episodic's Avatar
episodic at 03/03/2008 15:11
I'm a girl, and a gamer. This was all about me. Me me me me me.

And even I'm bored of being told I play games. Let's see how many men are hairdressers. That's a fun statistic.
episodic's Avatar
episodic at 03/03/2008 15:53
I'm a girl, and a gamer. This was all about me. Me me me me me.

And even I'm bored of being told I play games. Let's see how many men are hairdressers. That's a fun statistic.
Velt's Avatar
Velt at 03/03/2008 16:08
come on they are all just playing the games that windows vista has.
BlackSunEmpire's Avatar
BlackSunEmpire at 03/03/2008 18:07
@big filth

You've got it all wrong, their breasts don't get in the way of the controller, haven't you seen the pictures??

Their controllers seem to get in the way of their breasts.
Pixel Blue's Avatar
Pixel Blue at 03/03/2008 18:53
Hey, as long as they aren't using the statistic to justify really terrible games with pink flowery labels, I don't care.
Clockwork's Avatar
Clockwork at 03/03/2008 20:09
Wow, what a predictable study. There nothing that surprised me here! This is just SO [not] shocking!
Necros's Avatar
Necros at 03/03/2008 22:47
God, people still do these studies?
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