Teenage Male Gamers No Longer Biggest Demographic

[Wulfram77]

I am really curious how different this statistic would be if you didn't lump all videogames into one catagory and just went by console market. I've played mobile games, they're neat distractions but they are entirely different beasts then what's happening on home entertainment centers and/or PCs.

http://venturebeat.com/2013/09/19/gender-inequality/2/

Quotes Nielsen as saying 31% of the HD Console Audience (which means XBox + Playstation) is female.

Though Microsoft said that 40% of the Xbox live audience was female.

 

[communist gamer]

While a interesting thing to happen, and a interesting bit of information, it means nothing to me because primo i never cared about what gender my fellow players as long as they dont try to ruin my hobby and mussel in on things that are fine and dont need changing secundo they aren?t SJW/retards who completely over look the real problems the industry has and focus on "lol there are no games that have a transgender,black,asian,otherkin,pedofile,gay,woman. This game is homophobic and misogynistic" or "i can only play a white protagonist, this is evil and white men are the cause of all the pain in the world, this game is racist". Overall, its cool that the gaming community is getting more diverse, BUT i couldn?t cear less because gamers are gamers regardless of race/gender and whatever (as long as they contribute to this great hobby and not ruin it, yes im looking at you CoD fans). About the mobile thing, mobile gamers to console/PC gamers are what twilight fans are to....lets say Vonnegut fans. Both of them read books, and both of them admit to reading books, but they read two different kinds of book readers and neither want NOR should be associated with each other. Dumping Mobile games into the same bag as Console/PC games is wrong. Mobile games are their own genera of games and should not be compared to games on a PC/Console, similar how you should not compare games from two different genres or how you shouldn?t compare the amount of players from a certain sex in gaming by age groups, you should compare them by the game genera and how much of a certain sex plays it. DONT do it. Please do not considered this as a stab at feminism, it is not.

 

[Cowabungaa]

Soooooo... What does that mean?

More women in development? More female lead characters? More characters who aren't designed to pander to heterosexual male sex drives? Maybe more character development, period?

I'm better than fine with all of that. Absolutely. Groovy.

More "free-to-play" trickery to entice the cell-phone and tablet crowd? More shallow, disposable "games of the minute"? More slot machine games? A "lost generation" as yet another group of people slowly figure out that, yes, they would actually like more out of the medium?

...Less celebratory.

Pretty much. When encountered with statistical information you always have to ask: how is it relevant?

If anything, I'd call an article like this "social justice bait" if there is such a thing. Poorly put together statistics without context just to entice a reaction. Not that we only see this on social justice topics, of course. Screwing around with statistics happens everywhere.

 

[Gorrath]

There's the usual stuff going on in this thread, but I figure I'll give some of it a go.

Women are playing more games: Yes, this is true and yes, this is a good thing. Why people would not want the hobby to grow and become bigger and more inclusive is beyond me. We see endless threads about how stagnant AAA development can be, and one of the best fixes for that stagnation is a larger and more diverse audience for which to make games.

Hardcore vs Casual: These terms are nebulous place holders filled with charged connotations. Both are gamers, both have industries that pander to them, both matter in the grand scheme of things. Do casuals count as gamers? Of course they do, pretending they don't is to blind one's self to a whole industry created around them. However, trying to pretend like both industries are the same industry is also absurd. Talking about a Candy Crush player as a gamer is fine, but pretending that because lots of people play Candy Crush that the next step is Dark Souls would need some significant evidence. These are two somewhat separate types of gamers and yes, it IS useful to make the distinction between them when talking about market forces.

Tangentially: Diversity in the AAA market: I want this and I want it bad. I want every race, color, creed, sex, gender to represented in games because this is very likely to make the games I play more interesting and diverse. I want to play as a lesbian half-black, half-asian transexual at a poetry jam where I have to compose the best possible beat box to go with my mad rhymes. I want to play as a Japanese soldier fighting on Iwo Jima, hop over to Europe as a French woman in the resistance and then take up the role of a Russian tank commander. I want to engage in a story about the heart-breaking tragic romance between two men who are torn apart by a time travel accident, each now searching for the otehr across dozens of time periods where they take on the roles of famous gay men in history. I also want to enjoy the eye-candy of X-treme Beach Volleyball: Super Fake Physics Edition. As a heterosexual white male, I can have fun with all of these things. This isn't just about making niche games to please some tiny minority of people; it's about having more and more interesting games for EVERYONE to play. This should matter to ALL of us.

 

[seditary]

So what? The nature of the statistics are meaningless and even if they were relevant, they're still ineffectual at changing anything.

What matters is who is spending the money on what games and who is making the games.

Also shoutout to LaoJim's mother.

 

[LaoJim]

Well, your mother's a badass.

Thanks I'll tell her.

http://venturebeat.com/2013/09/19/gender-inequality/2/

Thanks for posting this, it's one of the most reasonable and detailed arguments on the topic I've read.

Implying that women playing a game would be the one and only valid reason for fair and/or equal representation in a form of media. But that's still a discussion for another time.

It's not a question of representation as such. Its reasonable that there should be female NPCs in games regardless of the user demographic. When it comes to the player avatar however, I'm assuming based on other discussions on this forum, that there are some players who feel more comfortable playing as their own gender and there are those who don't care about the gender of the avatar. As far as I know, there are few players who feel uncomfortable playing as their own gender. Thus if Ubisoft knows that 100% of its player base is going to be male, it is not really fair to criticise them for making the player character male as well.

At this point your argument basically boils down to: I think this study is bad because it isn't another study. You can't fault research for not being other research.

At this point I wasn't criticising the study for not giving numbers about AC. In developing the argument, I needed to acknowledge that we didn't have data for the topic at hand.

I have a hard time seeing how this is relevant.
...
This is the first time I've ever seen that argument, but sure. Let's go with that. Equally hilarious though.

Let me put it in another way. The argument in its most basic form.

1. Candy Crush is a bad thing.
2. Women gamers play Candy Crush.
3. Therefore Women gamers are a bad thing.

I'm suggesting that this argument, while never stated, seems to underlie a lot of the anti-women comments that get thrown around in these kind of discussions. I'm also suggesting that this argument is wrong even if you think steps 1 and 2 are true.

 

[Savagezion]

Mobile doesn't count. Lemme explain why. This is a gaming site where we come to talk about games. We talk about games on console mostly here with the occassional PC exclusive title coming up. Most of those PC titles we discuss become console ports down the road on the wave of their success. (Ex: Crysis, Witcher, Fallout) Then threads of dumbing down follow suit. You all know the drill. These are the games we come here to discuss.

Every once in a blue moon a thread pops up where people request mobile games and then we all spout out the ones we like as if we had iOS/GooglePlay tourette syndrome. The thread will make it 2-4 pages and then die. Threads like that can't even stay afloat long. However, threads like "Help me remember the name of a [console] video game" will stay afloat for 20+ pages.

This is because we at this site are core gamers. We are the people Microsoft, Sony, Ubisoft, etc need to focus on because we are the ones buying THEIR products. $400 consoles, $60 games at release, additional controllers, etc. $2 apps are not really our focus. We don't focus on mobile games which is an entirely different kind of architecture in game design. It is different at a fundamental level.

To post numbers that includes a completely different demographic (mobile) is misleading and is in no way relevant to the charges the core gaming community is heaving at Ubisoft and other publishers of the core (console) gaming industry. While someone who plays Temple Run, Candy Crush, and Hungry Fish (all under $2 a game) on a mobile phone (valuable tool for daily life) is a gamer, they are a mobile gamer. They are not the same as someone who plays Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty, and Heavy Rain (all $60 a game) on a console (not necessary in daily life and costs $400+) You can be both, but being one doesn't make you both.

You could argue that they spend money on micro-transactions to try and dispute the money difference but then are you saying you want to see micro-transactions invade consoles the way they do with mobile apps? (Dungeon Keeper) It is a different architecture. You have mobile gamers and core gamers, they are different animals. Mobile doesn't count.

 

[visiblenoise]

And you know what? They wouldn't either.

Great distinction, I have actually never thought of it from their perspective.

It really is up to the individual to decide whether they're part of the "gaming community."

 

[AgedGrunt]

We've been through this before, and the definition of a gamer is not what you think it is.

the number of women playing games on both consoles and mobile devices is up to 48 percent, from 40 percent in 2010.

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

Phone games are, for the most part, considered throwaway. They're cheap, simple, and, yes, played while you're riding the bus or trying to avoid social encounters and then put away.

Facebook: Mom just downloaded Swing Copters! "omg my first gamer rage, right! LOL i need a cheat code"

A gamer is now anyone that so much as plays Bejeweled or gets in a daily dose of Plants vs. Zombies. This is not like adult women are outnumbering teenage boys playing on Steam or dominate the MMO market (though in my experience it's remarkable how many women are on MMOs, and are great players; that male-in-basement cliche no longer applies).

 

[Savagezion]

I feel like I should paste this here so people get a better idea how the male/female demographic is split up.

Some Notes:

Football is soccer
Voitures is Racing
Cartes is Cards
Autres is Others

People say that females are only large because of social games but it actually is fairly evenly split. Sure, there is more groups that favor males over females but it isn't as big as people might think.

I am pretty sure musique games is the genre. Like Rock Band, Guitar Hero, Dance Central, etc. Additionally, this source doesn't clarify what platforms these are going off of. All of these genres are on mobile stores. Considering the chart shows about 45% of the population being women, I am inclined to guess that this includes mobile considering it matches the numbers of the study that includes mobile.

I am not actively trying to tear down your numbers but unfortunately this charts simply says "people who play games (of some kind) by genre".

 

[Zac Jovanovic]

I feel like I should paste this here so people get a better idea how the male/female demographic is split up.

Some Notes:

Football is soccer
Voitures is Racing
Cartes is Cards
Autres is Others

People say that females are only large because of social games but it actually is fairly evenly split. Sure, there is more groups that favor males over females but it isn't as big as people might think.

This needs context and explanations. How was this data gathered? What kind of sample? Which platforms?

I can buy that this is data from video game store sales or something, but as actual player data this list is ridiculous.

Anyone who actively plays MMOs knows how ridiculous 42% is. Since I started playing in early 2000s none of my MMO communities had even 10% female members. From my personal experience I'd ballpark the number to about 8% but a quick google search shows most MMOs have around 15% female players, with few exceptions like GW2 where it gets closer to 20%. Which is still not even half of what this list claims.

And then 52% strategy games... Which strategy games? :S Until recently Starcraft had less than 5% female players...

As much I'd love it to be true this list is just completely devoid of reality.

 

[chikusho]

Another year, another study, and the amount of female gamers has yet again grown exponentially.

And yet again people tries to shit over the stats instead of 1. realizing the actual significance, and 2. being supportive, welcoming and inclusive into this great hobby of ours.

Stay classy, internet. Stay classy.

What "real significance"? Did you actually read the study? It tells us absolutely nothing we don't already know (that females make up about half of the gaming community), and it exaggerates the "adult" age group as anyone above 18 years old (so of course the 18-100+ year old group will outnumber the 0-18 group, through sheer statistics).

And on top of that, it asserts that the rise of female gaming is most likely connected to the rise of mobile gaming. In other words, it's less indicative of a rise in "hardcore gamer girls" and more of an indication that a lot of female gamers play games like Candy Crush and Flappy Bird. That's not going to affect the console market as much as you might think. Especially since game devs nowadays actually think that "male scruff beard" lead characters are appealing to women simply because they're not over-sexualized power fantasy males.

So yeah, this study doesn't have nearly the sort of impact on the console market as you want to pretend it should. It's not even a very meaningful study in general. Nothing's going to radically change as a result of this.

Sorry, but I think you're mistaking me for Mr. Straw. Seems he's getting a lot of attention these days.
Also, thank you for proving my point.

I'm also suggesting that this argument is wrong even if you think steps 1 and 2 are true.

Yeah, I figured as much.

 

[Savagezion]

And yet again people tries to shit over the stats instead of

1. realizing the actual significance,

Which is? Assume I am actually unable to see it. Indulge me.

2. being supportive, welcoming and inclusive into this great hobby of ours.

Being supportive of what? Women gaming? Done. Of this study? No, it's misleading by pooling two very different markets and saying it is one market.

This isn't a matter of keeping women out, it is merely pointing out that they haven't arrived the way this study claims they have. Many men in the same study are probably also strictly mobile gamers and don't play anything outside of apps meant to kill time. They don't count either.

 

[chikusho]

And yet again people tries to shit over the stats instead of

1. realizing the actual significance,

Which is? Assume I am actually unable to see it. Indulge me.

For one, the exponential growth and diversity of the medium.

2. being supportive, welcoming and inclusive into this great hobby of ours.

Being supportive of what? Women gaming? Done. Of this study? No, it's misleading by pooling two very different markets and saying it is one market.

Misleading whom as to what, pray tell?

This isn't a matter of keeping women out, it is merely pointing out that they haven't arrived the way this study claims they have. Many men in the same study are probably also strictly mobile gamers and don't play anything outside of apps meant to kill time. They don't count either.

And what is it they incorrectly claim again, you say? That women play games, but because some of them might not play your games it doesn't count?
You basically seem mad that at this study because it isn't another study . You can't fault research for not being other research.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

why for the love of god can I never find all these girls that love/like video games? Seriously it's like mentioning Voldemort around my parts, you say you enjoy playing video games and every girl empties the room like I just said I have cooties or something.

My wife does.
And not just the casual mobile crap either - which is what I suspect this article has failed to distinguish in the majority.

Of course, she is Japanese, so maybe that helps. ;P

I'm going to be racist here...and say yes. It does help alot

that's cool though, and not that I require my female friends or eventual spouse to be a gamer, it just seems to be such a black and white thing of I either meet a girl who plays games, or I meet the girls who shriek in terror like I just admitted to being a leper a couple centuries ago. (slightly extreme example, but you get my point.)

I do agree that this article is clickbait and that the mobile gaming industry =/= the console and pc gaming industry, not by a longshot, so I feel if anyone was getting their hopes up that somehow new AAA or AA games would come out in that interest, they'll be quite disappointed.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

The only thing that grew is the amount of people who have a gaming platform.

Fixed that for you.

I think calling people gamers because they have a Smartphone is like calling them writers because they can also text with them, or photographers because they can take pictures of their cats with them. Mobile phones are the lowest common denominator of anything that isn't calling people with them. I don't think Smartphones are indicative of anything other than themselves.