Men: Now a Minority in PC Gaming.

[The Lunatic]

Your heard that right folks, men are now a minority in PC gaming. According to a study by SuperData Research, 50.2% of all PC gamers are women.

That number spikes up to 53.6% for RPGs and 57.8% for Mobile games.

On the flip side, 66% of all FPS and MMO players are men.

Personally, I think it's a good sign that the PC Game Market has achieved an almost-equality in the gender distribution.

It also brings about an interesting change in perception of gaming as an activity, usually seen as "Something nerdy guys do" it's nice to see that the reality is rather more different. Whilst it has been the case for a long time that men and women seem to be more prominent in certain genres that other, it's nice to see the figures that finally support that.

However, I do caution that this is only one study and suggest people consider a number of sources before forming a firm overall opinion on the matter.

For those still reading, a few questions:

1. Why do you think more women play RPGs than men?

2. Why do you think more men FPSs than women?

3. Mobile, Social or "Casual" games are included in these numbers, do you think they should be discounted, if so, why?


Now, to any men reading the thread, I'll be handing out minority cards for you to use at your leisure. (Please don't hurt me female overlords, I'm joking.)


Source: Here! [http://www.gameranx.com/updates/id/24894/article/women-play-more-pc-games-and-rpgs-than-men/]

 

[Duster]

>This study comes on the heels of SuperData Research's 2014 MMO market report, which placed League of Legends as the No. 1 game in the company's MMO category
>the company's MMO category

Lol'd. Most players ever in a league match was like 44, and that was one time in a beta test on custom servers. But that makes me really curious as to how they got so many girls because league is well over 90% male, and that includes the fact that the only way that riot games can have a perameter of their userbase is using the

>are you a male or female?

question on sign up as evidence.

 

[CrystalViolet]

I'm always sceptical about the data collection on these things. I also don't want to do a no-true-Scotsman on this but I don't think they should have included mobile games. This is just my opinion but I don't think killing time while waiting at a bus shelter with Fruit Ninja is the same as actually gaming as a hobby.

 

[BreakfastMan]

I'm always sceptical about the data collection on these things. I also don't want to do a no-true-Scotsman on this but I don't think they should have included mobile games. This is just my opinion but I don't think killing time while waiting at a bus shelter with Fruit Ninja is the same as actually gaming as a hobby.

Well... Why included shooters or sports games, then? There are a good many people for whom most of their gaming time is just a match or two of COD once or twice a week (if that), or just playing the new madden when it comes out every year. Those people aren't exactly huge game enthusiasts either.

 

[Mezahmay]

Well, there's being a minority and then there's being a minority. The actual numbers don't mean much when so much of the culture and outside perception is that gaming is male-dominated. I'm also naturally skeptical of statistics reported through media instead of directly from a study's results. I did take a look through the study results that said 50% of all gamers [from a pool of 4000 people in the UK from an advertising firm in the UK about gamers in the UK] are women and used that percentage like a club to tell male gamers to grow the fuck up. I agree the gaming community at large needs to grow the fuck up, but that is not the best way to communicate that point. This is the same nonsense that lead to the gem that "1 out of 3 men will rape a woman" from a study about a specific lower income urban neighborhood that, when filtered through the media, generalized to all men. Moving on:

[ol]
[li]I personally think more women play RPGs due to more focus on player customization and game story, which other genres like FPSs lack. It could just be me, but most complaints I hear about games not providing non-violent experiences come from women. Perhaps the lack of emphasis on killing and violence in most RPGs is appealing.[/li]
[li]Because the vast majority of FPSs are modern military or something like it built primarily around male protagonists. In the States, I understand that it's primarily men who are fascinated with fire arms and are willing to play games entirely built around gun play. There's also the whole culture built around FPSs as "guy" games and the online scene is generally unwelcoming toward women.[/li]
[li]I personally don't care for or count most mobile games since they do not provide very deep experiences and lack an overarching history/language present in "core" gaming. There are good mobile games, I've enjoyed some, but the totality of the mobile gaming experience is not enough to convince me it has the depth of core gaming yet. It's also probably because I haven't had devices that can play mobile games well for a couple years so availability bias says mobile games don't matter.[/li]
[/ol]

 

[Grizzly_Bear_1]

I'm not going to get into gender issue, but I do think that the social/casual games should be taken out of the study, or at least more specified. Are they counting games that come on an operating system for a PC or smart phone as part of the study? Do people who play those games for a few minutes count as gamers?

I've seen these kinds of studies before, and their agenda is to push games as much as they can. I am not discounting casual games, I think that this study is in line with similar ones that have been done, they are not completely honest.

 

[SacremPyrobolum]

I feel oppressed.

 

[mad825]

I will say this to every survey till the day I die. Percentages mean shit, please comeback when there are actual figures, 50.2% could be 10 people ffs.

Apparently only 1000 people were surveyed, when then gaming sales figures reach into the millions this survey is inadmissible.

 

[T_ConX]

Ok, that's great. So what?

Do we finally get a reprieve from the 'Gaming Culture is hostile towards women' narrative, seeing as how it's clearly not?

Will we be free from the 'Game devs need to do more to satisfy the female audience' topic, considering that these numbers clearly prove there's no more need?

Or can I start complaining about how oppressed I feel and be rewarded with a giant pile of cash to make a new YouTube video every six months?

 

[Rozalia1]

Why are these surveys (especially regarding PC which you've singled out) trotted out always such a pile of unreliable old poppycock. I think there is a motive here in why you're creating this thread (and its not a good one) so I'm not going to bother to talk specifics as its a waste of time.

To add something however that is merely the US so even if it were credible (which it isn't), you'd still have to add that it would only be in the US.

 

[Pr0]

Why is everything a penis or vagina polemic these days?

Games are games

Humans are evolved primates.

Can we please move on from these meaningless debates and focus on shit that matters, like surviving long enough as a species to get off this rock before the sun explodes. I mean I realize that roughly five billion years is a pretty long time table but given the preponderance of our species to get hung up on bullshit that doesn't even matter I am assuming its going to take about 4.99 billion of those year for us to realize we might want to get the fuck out of here one of these days and stop obsessing about the color of peoples underwear.

 

[Something Amyss]

Apparently only 1000 people were surveyed, when then gaming sales figures reach into the millions this survey is inadmissible.

Yes, and surveys that do smaller numbers are used to accurately predict the whole of the United States (hundreds of millions) to pretty good accuracy.

You can question the methodology, but if you think a thousand is a poor sample size for a body that reaches into the millions, you might want to look into the way surveys work before discounting them.

 

[VoidOfOne]

As long as this means I have a higher chance at dating a gamer, I got no complaints.

Go women!

 

[Pr0]

As long as this means I have a higher chance at dating a gamer, I got no complaints.

Go women!

My girlfriend/fiancee that I've lived with for the last three years is a gamer, its not as cool as the idea sounds.

Basically imagine your computer space where you game. Now imagine that place occupied by another human being, every single day for the rest of your life, constantly interrupting your train of thought or focus on whatever you're doing by interjecting random conversation and demanding more or less constant attention.

Suffice it to say I haven't finished a deeply engrossing game that requires a lot of immersive focus in three years.

Whats worse is I'm also a 3D/2D art designer and I can't work at home because the office happens to constantly have a second human addition in it and while being alone can suck, not having a quiet moment to yourself for years at a time also kinda sucks.

Suffice it to say her and I really do like each other a lot because spending 3 years with someone literally a two feet behind you at all times is a huge test of the potential viability of a relationship..but the whole "dating a gamer/having a gamer girlfriend"...yeah, not the golden apple everyone thinks it is.

 

[mad825]

Yes, and surveys that do smaller numbers are used to accurately predict the whole of the United States (hundreds of millions) to pretty good accuracy.

You can question the methodology, but if you think a thousand is a poor sample size for a body that reaches into the millions, you might want to look into the way surveys work before discounting them.

lol wat? This is not a opinion poll. This is objective information that is being gathered here. Surveys need a large sample size, have you never done a scientific survey before?

Also, how can bad methodology be representative? please tell me. They don't even disclose the Male:felmale ratio being questioned. I did better in my GCSE psychology surveys in secondary....And I got an average grade for it.

 

[Kyrian007]

Why is everything a penis or vagina polemic these days?

Games are games

Humans are evolved primates.

Yeah, I agree. So basically this poll tells me that there is an increased possibility that the barbarian tanking out front, or that scout, or the teemmate in mid lane, might have different plumbing than I got?

Whoop-De-Freaking-Do.

This increases the chances I'll turn on teamspeak or similar features from 0% toooooo.... 0%. That person controling that other character is a faceless, featureless, teemmate or opponent. Either a good player that can help me or I need to watch out for, or a bad player I can help or exploit. Gaming is a completely genderless hobby because unless I'm playing a splitscreen game with friends or at a LAN party (both have a decent chance of involving both genders anyway) then gender has no bearing on the situation because I am alone. I can't think of a single situation in which a players gender has affected me in any way.

And because I'm pretty self-centered, if it's not a problem for me... it's not important at all.

Ta

 

[communist gamer]

the study takes into account people who only play facebook games/flash games, if you cut them out, the number will become very different. So no the study is poorly done and false (no, i am not willing to call people who play farmville a hour a day, or jump on newgrounds to play a quick flashgame a gamer, and you shouldent eather, that like calling someone who play poker with his freinds once or twice a year a profesional poker player(

 

[jecjs24]

Just found the hole in the data

Women compose 57.8 percent of the mobile market, 53.6 percent of the RPG market and 50.2 percent of the PC market (including social games)

So that includes people playing

hahahahaha...
IT REALLY MAKES ME LAUGH..

 

[Doom972]

Any study that counts people who play Farmville as PC gamers isn't reliable. I know we don't have a solid definition of video games but this is just ridiculous.