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]
Dale North is Destructoid's Editor-In-Chief, a founding editor, and specialist in Japanese gaming. An accomplished musician, Dale was reporting from Japan during the earthquakes of 2011. Luckily, he got the fuck out alive and is home in America now with his wife and beloved corgi, Einstein. Dale is also a co-founder of Destructoid's sister anime site
Japanator. Likes Corgis, Sega Saturn, PSP, iPhone, Photographic tools.
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Contest:
10:37 AM on 03.03.2008
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I'm tired of this as well.
Yes, we exist.
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.
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.
Like "women's basketball".
this stuff is getting out of hand.
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
Can we stop making this a news item? Girls play games, we get it!
--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.
'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. :)
GOGOGO.
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.
And even I'm bored of being told I play games. Let's see how many men are hairdressers. That's a fun statistic.
And even I'm bored of being told I play games. Let's see how many men are hairdressers. That's a fun statistic.
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.