Adult females overthrown teen males as largest gaming demographic

[Bryy]

In the US, at least.

 

Next year is going to look very interesting in terms of what games look like in terms of inclusion.

[Gromnir]

In the US, at least.

 

Next year is going to look very interesting in terms of what games look like in terms of inclusion.

doubt it

 

"The spike in the number female gamers is likely tied to widespread smartphone adoption."

 

female gamers is still a distinct minority as it relates to pc and console games. sure, nearly a bazillion women played angry birds, but if you think that fact is gonna do anything other than prompt game developers to make more smart phone games that appeal to women, we suspect you will be in for a surprise.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Keyrock]

I, for one, welcome our new adult female overlords.

[Enoch]

Indeed.  My wife and I are both "gamers" in that I play RPGs and strategy games on a PC, while she plays Hearts and Candy Crush on an ipad. 

 

(I have gotten her to participate in some pencil-and-paper RPG campaigns, but so far it hasn't translated to the electronic equivalent.)

Edited August 21, 2014 by Enoch

[Malcador]

In the US, at least.

 

Next year is going to look very interesting in terms of what games look like in terms of inclusion.

Yeah, there'll be more hand wringing SJW clickbait blogs and scolding articles. Other than that, things will change independently of this.

[Orogun01]

In the US, at least.

 

Next year is going to look very interesting in terms of what games look like in terms of inclusion.

I don't think so, women play games as a way to spend time while waiting for a response on her tweets or facebook posts.

 

Manly men do the same with forum posts, but they're manly posts.

[Ahvz]

"The spike in the number female gamers is likely tied to widespread smartphone adoption."

 

Gromnir's right. Casual/smartphone users are included in those stats, but that's a separate market from PC and console games. The games that most of us think of when we think about increasing inclusion probably only comprise ~30-50% of the study (MMOs and the Action/RPG sections)*. It would have been nice if the study had included the gender breakdown for each individual category, and I'm pretty sure such a breakdown would've revealed that men still make up the majority of players in those categories. 

 

That's not to say that equal, positive representation of both genders isn't something to strive for in video games... but the way people are citing that study is misleading.

 

*I'm guessing based on the numbers on the social game breakdown page, since I can't find a better breakdown

Edited August 21, 2014 by Ahvz

[DarthDeven]

i only care if the market is making good games for us gamers,i don't give a **** about pointless statistics stating if there are more casual women gamers than more 'hardcore' male gamers,seriously who needs this? is some kind of news made to appease feminists or market corporates?

[Keyrock]

I doubt this will change anything as far as "core games" go at least not right away.  Personally I would welcome a bit of a shift.  I've had my fill of **** yeah, bro! *brofist* games, I wouldn't mind playing something different.  Plus, even with a bit of a shift, I can pretty much guarantee that plenty of brotastic games would still get made.

[Bryy]

i only care if the market is making good games for us gamers,i don't give a **** about pointless statistics stating if there are more casual women gamers than more 'hardcore' male gamers,seriously who needs this? is some kind of news made to appease feminists or market corporates?

Who needs this?

 

Considering the sexism in the industry, the industry does. Inclusion and diversity only help. 

[HoonDing]

Cool.

[AGX-17]

In the US, at least.

 

Next year is going to look very interesting in terms of what games look like in terms of inclusion.

Interesting in that the industry at large will still behave as though teen boys playing cawwadoody and madden are the sole audience for video games, right? And that they're dependent on Christmas presents from mommy and daddy for new games and thus major game releases will be focused in the fall of any given fiscal year.

Edited August 21, 2014 by AGX-17

[Barothmuk]

I'd love to see games with AAA budgets targeted at women made by the same out-of-touch stuffy old white guys.

 

**** like Cooking Mama would be the new COD.

[Keyrock]

In fairness, Cooking Mama is pretty ace.

[BruceVC]

I doubt this will change anything as far as "core games" go at least not right away.  Personally I would welcome a bit of a shift.  I've had my fill of **** yeah, bro! *brofist* games, I wouldn't mind playing something different.  Plus, even with a bit of a shift, I can pretty much guarantee that plenty of brotastic games would still get made.

 

I'm also looking forward to what the increasing number of female gaming fans means for the future of gaming,  my favourite genre is obviously RPG. And RPG are mostly pretty inclusive when it comes to gender representation but I wonder what, if anything, would change if you take a game like PoE and now say  " our target market is primarily female" ?

 

I don't expect too much would be different because a RPG like PoE has universal themes that appeal to everyone, its more about the love of fantasy that both genders play these types of games?

[HoonDing]

Go girl gamers!!

 

[Keeba_PMS]

As an adult female gamer I love to see that we are getting a bigger share of the playing market. Granted, some of this is indeed because of Facebook games and mobile games, but they're still games. Who knows? Maybe they will be gateway games and the adult female gamers who aren't currently playing PC or console games will eventually start to because the casual games just stop satisfying them. THAT would be amazing! 

[BruceVC]

As an adult female gamer I love to see that we are getting a bigger share of the playing market. Granted, some of this is indeed because of Facebook games and mobile games, but they're still games. Who knows? Maybe they will be gateway games and the adult female gamers who aren't currently playing PC or console games will eventually start to because the casual games just stop satisfying them. THAT would be amazing! 

 

That's the outcome I hope we see, basically a migration of more adult female gamers to RPG and the more popular genres that run on PC and console. We also could really do with more input from ladies on these forums, there is an irrefutable lack of active female gamers that contribute towards topics and I imagine if more played games like PoE this would change ?

[Monte Carlo]

I'm so sorry I've got a **** Bruce. It wasn't my fault, it was a cruel twist of fate.

[BruceVC]

I'm so sorry I've got a **** Bruce. It wasn't my fault, it was a cruel twist of fate.

 

No need to apologize for something you can't help  Monte. But that doesn't change the fact we should still  be asking " why is  there such a lack  female participation on these forums and how can we change this" ?

 

I can't be the only one who has noticed the gender disparity on these forums?

[Monte Carlo]

In my experience, chicks have usually got better things to do.

[Meshugger]

 

i only care if the market is making good games for us gamers,i don't give a **** about pointless statistics stating if there are more casual women gamers than more 'hardcore' male gamers,seriously who needs this? is some kind of news made to appease feminists or market corporates?

Who needs this?

 

Considering the sexism in the industry, the industry does. Inclusion and diversity only help. 

 

 

Care to elaborate on the sexism part? Is it worse than the pharmaceutical industry, mining, engineering or any other sector? How do you measure it to begin with, what are the metrics?

 

Why is inclusion and diversity necessary in itself? What instrinsic value is there to divide humans in a sector into different classes and genders instead of treating them like persons?

[Bester]

 

 

i only care if the market is making good games for us gamers,i don't give a **** about pointless statistics stating if there are more casual women gamers than more 'hardcore' male gamers,seriously who needs this? is some kind of news made to appease feminists or market corporates?

Who needs this?

 

Considering the sexism in the industry, the industry does. Inclusion and diversity only help. 

 

 

Care to elaborate on the sexism part? Is it worse than the pharmaceutical industry, mining, engineering or any other sector? How do you measure it to begin with, what are the metrics?

 

Why is inclusion and diversity necessary in itself? What instrinsic value is there to divide humans in a sector into different classes and genders instead of treating them like persons?

 

 

STOP STEALING HER WIND WITH YOUR STUPID QUESTIONS, YOU SELF-CENTERED MALE!

[Volourn]

|"chicks have usually got better things to do."

 

Men... or other 'chicks' (or PCish other women)?

[Bryy]

 

 

i only care if the market is making good games for us gamers,i don't give a **** about pointless statistics stating if there are more casual women gamers than more 'hardcore' male gamers,seriously who needs this? is some kind of news made to appease feminists or market corporates?

Who needs this?

 

Considering the sexism in the industry, the industry does. Inclusion and diversity only help. 

 

 

Care to elaborate on the sexism part? Is it worse than the pharmaceutical industry, mining, engineering or any other sector? How do you measure it to begin with, what are the metrics?

 

Why is inclusion and diversity necessary in itself? What instrinsic value is there to divide humans in a sector into different classes and genders instead of treating them like persons?

 

Sexism in any industry is ridiculous, but we're talking about video games here.