I was motivated to post this after reading this thread: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.864050-Men-Now-a-Minority-in-PC-Gaming
I thought that I'd post a separate thread since the current one seems to have gone down the crapper with "what's a gamer" talk, which really isn't an interesting topic at all. And in that thread most of the actually thoughtful posts are ignored in favor of snarky replies for snarky posts.
Anyway, on to the topic
Studies like this are more than fine, and yes they do show that there are just about as many men and women playing PC games. Nothing wrong with that and that's how things are most likely. And 1K is a pretty good sample size too.
However the problem (and the whole debate in that thread) stems from using statistics like these as an argument for something. The thing is, "people who play games on PCs" is such a broad demographic that it's almost completely useless for anything. You're not going to be developing a game targeting that demographic, there's nothing that will please a demographic that large.
Secondly the gender split in PC gaming tells you absolutely nothing about the gender split in different genres of games. Or the gender split in the buying power of different gaming demographics. And when you're developing a game or looking to be a publisher for a game, it's those stats that you're interested in. You want to know who are the people who will bring money for the game you're making.
This good piece of info was already posted previously in the previous thread:
Now looking at those statistics would you as a developer think that women are the most important gaming demographic if you were developing for the wii u? Would you give women equal representation and attention in your games? Would you pander to women as much as you do to men? Some devs might do that, which makes sense, the amount of women buyers isn't 0%. However by and large the development is going to be targeted towards the male demographic because that's where the money is.
Now how about some other studies and statistics? The problem here is that very few people want to actually share their data. I'd love to have the full numbers and stats from all gaming sites, youtube channels, steam, PSN, XBLA, gamestop, individual devs and publishers. But unfortunately that's not happening. And the only thing we know is that those companies and people know their demographics.
Anyway I tried to find something that would offer a bit more of peek into the details. Not the normal X% / X% split across everything that most studies leave you with.
So, some studies:
2 years old yes, but still relatively recent: http://psychology.wichita.edu/surl/usabilitynews/141/pdf/Usability%20News%20141%20-%20Gender%20&%20Video%20Games.pdf
Note, this doesn't mean that there are more men playing PC games or that there are more women playing consoles. or mobile games. Just that for women consoles and handhelds are by far more popular as the main gaming platform than for males. And for males on the other hand PCs as a main gaming platform is by far the most popular.
Preference for violence in the games people play:
Men clearly prefer violent games much more than women.
What kind of gamers do people identify themselves as:
This shows that the more you're playing and the more of a "hobbyist" you are the more likely it is that you're male. Women on the other hand are much more likely to be only occasional gamers or not gamers at all.
And now for the most important table in this study, at least in my opinion.
What does this show us?
Men on average play games ~2.7x as much per week compared to women.
Men on average spend ~3.8x as much money on games compared to women.
Genre preference for men:
-Strategy
-Role Playing
-Action
-Fighting
Genre preference for women:
-Social
-Puzzle/card
-Music/Dance
-Educational
-Simulation
Preference of calling gaming their main hobbby:
Men: Yes
Women: No.
Now, what does all of this mean? It means that for the AAA industry it's men who are more likely to play their violent action and adventure and fps games. It means that it's men who will end up playing their games for a longer time. And it's men who will end up spending considerably more on those games.
Now, there was already a somewhat recent Finnish study (from 2013) posted in the aforementioned thread. Fortunately I'm Finnish so I can actually look at the data and provide some short translations.
study here: http://tampub.uta.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/95150/pelaajabarometri_2013.pdf?sequence=1
First thing to note is that this study is for all gaming. Gambling, tabletop games, and video games.
Sample size was ~1000
One interesting table, the most popular games for men and women. Also includes non digital games:
Women on the left, men on the right.
Short recap since some of the terms are Finnish:
Women:
1)solitaire games
2)mahjong games
3)Angry Birds
4)Candy crush
5)The Sims
6)Sanajahti (this is some finnish word game that I have no clue about)
7)Gambling
8)Beweled Blitz
9)Sudoku
10)Hay day
Men:
1)solitaire games
2)Gambling
3)Angry birds
4)NHL
5)Battlefield
6)CoD
7)GTA
8)Candy crush
9)Tetris
10)Fifa
Now what jumps up from these results? Video games are more likely to be on the most played game lists of men.
Now how a quote instead of a graph:
And now for a 2nd interesting graph:
This graphs tells you about how many per cent of women and men play digital games and how many per cent consider themselves active players of those games (instead of just occasional ones).
The results are:
For women:
71.1% play digital games
45.9% consider themselves active players of said games
For men:
76.0% play digital games
59.4% consider themselves active players of said games
What to note? Again, this statistic echoes the previous ones saying that men are more likely to play the games more.
PC gamers specifically?
Now. Since the original thread was also specifically talking about PC gamers and at least some people were making comments about how the "masterrace" is now apparently made out of mostly women, I wanted to address this point as well. The "pcmasterrace" demographic are usually PC gamers who care about hardware, PC gamers who care about graphics, PC gamers who spend huge amounts of money chasing those graphics and buying hardware. Yes there are exceptions and others might have different definitions of the specific demographic, however the fact remains that the people who spend huge amounts of money on hardware and games are a pool of money for companies looking to target the "hobbyist" side of PC gaming.
And since I'm part of that category of people who spend way too much money buying hardware and games I'll let you in on a 'secret' that very often gets disregarded on gaming sites because it's not their primary focus. Men are much more interested in hardware, and especially PC hardware.
~800+ sample size: http://www.overclock.net/t/1417914/poll-are-you-a-guy-or-a-girl
774 men (93%)
50 women (6%)
And the forum is a hardware enthusiast and gaming forum.
--------------
Conclusion
Personally I think the normal 50/50 statistic is almost useless, can't actually be used by people making games, and because of that only leads into arguments on what the term "gamer" means. And what the term itself means is mostly semantics. What matters is actual discussion on what demographics should be targeted when it comes to individual games and genres. For these discussions you really need much more information than how many per cent of men or women play games in general.
My personal belief and guess from looking at the very few available statistics and studies is that in the past and even in the present when it comes to the games people discuss on gaming forums like escapist, neogaf, and games that most gaming media cover, men still have the overwhelming advantage in buying power. However that again is a generalization and what we really should be doing instead of pulling a 50/50 study out of nowhere is to look at specific game series and genres when making arguments on the demographics.
And on an additional note I don't really care about the whole gamergate thing. I've been following various forums for years so of course I'm aware of what's happening. But I think we should just focus on specific issues. I hate politicized yellow journalism, I hate harassing trolls, I hate intellectual dishonesty, I hate moral crusading, I hate far fetched conspiracy theories without proof. I like to have all sorts of gaming niches, I like variety, I think there's room for everyone, but not everyone needs to like everything.
And phew this post that was originally mean to be a reply in the previous thread grew into something else. I feel for you if you've read everything before this line.
Some random questions
-So do you find the use of vague studies with really broad definitions troublesome?
-Is the term gamer just an obstruction for actual discussion on these issues?
-Do you think everyone would just be better off focusing on actual specific issues than trying to sort out some quite meaningless definitions?
-Do you believe that women are as big consumers of AAA games as men are?
-What genres do you think are dominated by women? Which ones by men? Are there any problems with that?
-Biggest case of TL;DR ever?
I thought that I'd post a separate thread since the current one seems to have gone down the crapper with "what's a gamer" talk, which really isn't an interesting topic at all. And in that thread most of the actually thoughtful posts are ignored in favor of snarky replies for snarky posts.
Anyway, on to the topic
Studies like this are more than fine, and yes they do show that there are just about as many men and women playing PC games. Nothing wrong with that and that's how things are most likely. And 1K is a pretty good sample size too.
However the problem (and the whole debate in that thread) stems from using statistics like these as an argument for something. The thing is, "people who play games on PCs" is such a broad demographic that it's almost completely useless for anything. You're not going to be developing a game targeting that demographic, there's nothing that will please a demographic that large.
Secondly the gender split in PC gaming tells you absolutely nothing about the gender split in different genres of games. Or the gender split in the buying power of different gaming demographics. And when you're developing a game or looking to be a publisher for a game, it's those stats that you're interested in. You want to know who are the people who will bring money for the game you're making.
This good piece of info was already posted previously in the previous thread:
Now looking at those statistics would you as a developer think that women are the most important gaming demographic if you were developing for the wii u? Would you give women equal representation and attention in your games? Would you pander to women as much as you do to men? Some devs might do that, which makes sense, the amount of women buyers isn't 0%. However by and large the development is going to be targeted towards the male demographic because that's where the money is.
Now how about some other studies and statistics? The problem here is that very few people want to actually share their data. I'd love to have the full numbers and stats from all gaming sites, youtube channels, steam, PSN, XBLA, gamestop, individual devs and publishers. But unfortunately that's not happening. And the only thing we know is that those companies and people know their demographics.
Anyway I tried to find something that would offer a bit more of peek into the details. Not the normal X% / X% split across everything that most studies leave you with.
So, some studies:
2 years old yes, but still relatively recent: http://psychology.wichita.edu/surl/usabilitynews/141/pdf/Usability%20News%20141%20-%20Gender%20&%20Video%20Games.pdf
Most preferred gaming device:
Note, this doesn't mean that there are more men playing PC games or that there are more women playing consoles. or mobile games. Just that for women consoles and handhelds are by far more popular as the main gaming platform than for males. And for males on the other hand PCs as a main gaming platform is by far the most popular.
Preference for violence in the games people play:
Men clearly prefer violent games much more than women.
What kind of gamers do people identify themselves as:
This shows that the more you're playing and the more of a "hobbyist" you are the more likely it is that you're male. Women on the other hand are much more likely to be only occasional gamers or not gamers at all.
And now for the most important table in this study, at least in my opinion.
What does this show us?
Men on average play games ~2.7x as much per week compared to women.
Men on average spend ~3.8x as much money on games compared to women.
Genre preference for men:
-Strategy
-Role Playing
-Action
-Fighting
Genre preference for women:
-Social
-Puzzle/card
-Music/Dance
-Educational
-Simulation
Preference of calling gaming their main hobbby:
Men: Yes
Women: No.
Now, what does all of this mean? It means that for the AAA industry it's men who are more likely to play their violent action and adventure and fps games. It means that it's men who will end up playing their games for a longer time. And it's men who will end up spending considerably more on those games.
Now, there was already a somewhat recent Finnish study (from 2013) posted in the aforementioned thread. Fortunately I'm Finnish so I can actually look at the data and provide some short translations.
study here: http://tampub.uta.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/95150/pelaajabarometri_2013.pdf?sequence=1
First thing to note is that this study is for all gaming. Gambling, tabletop games, and video games.
Sample size was ~1000
One interesting table, the most popular games for men and women. Also includes non digital games:
Women on the left, men on the right.
Short recap since some of the terms are Finnish:
Women:
1)solitaire games
2)mahjong games
3)Angry Birds
4)Candy crush
5)The Sims
6)Sanajahti (this is some finnish word game that I have no clue about)
7)Gambling
8)Beweled Blitz
9)Sudoku
10)Hay day
Men:
1)solitaire games
2)Gambling
3)Angry birds
4)NHL
5)Battlefield
6)CoD
7)GTA
8)Candy crush
9)Tetris
10)Fifa
Now what jumps up from these results? Video games are more likely to be on the most played game lists of men.
Now how a quote instead of a graph:
Translation:
Again echoing what the previous study said as well, men spend more time playing games than women do. And the difference is much, much bigger than the gender gap would have you believe.
And now for a 2nd interesting graph:
This graphs tells you about how many per cent of women and men play digital games and how many per cent consider themselves active players of those games (instead of just occasional ones).
The results are:
For women:
71.1% play digital games
45.9% consider themselves active players of said games
For men:
76.0% play digital games
59.4% consider themselves active players of said games
What to note? Again, this statistic echoes the previous ones saying that men are more likely to play the games more.
PC gamers specifically?
Now. Since the original thread was also specifically talking about PC gamers and at least some people were making comments about how the "masterrace" is now apparently made out of mostly women, I wanted to address this point as well. The "pcmasterrace" demographic are usually PC gamers who care about hardware, PC gamers who care about graphics, PC gamers who spend huge amounts of money chasing those graphics and buying hardware. Yes there are exceptions and others might have different definitions of the specific demographic, however the fact remains that the people who spend huge amounts of money on hardware and games are a pool of money for companies looking to target the "hobbyist" side of PC gaming.
And since I'm part of that category of people who spend way too much money buying hardware and games I'll let you in on a 'secret' that very often gets disregarded on gaming sites because it's not their primary focus. Men are much more interested in hardware, and especially PC hardware.
~800+ sample size: http://www.overclock.net/t/1417914/poll-are-you-a-guy-or-a-girl
774 men (93%)
50 women (6%)
And the forum is a hardware enthusiast and gaming forum.
--------------
Conclusion
Personally I think the normal 50/50 statistic is almost useless, can't actually be used by people making games, and because of that only leads into arguments on what the term "gamer" means. And what the term itself means is mostly semantics. What matters is actual discussion on what demographics should be targeted when it comes to individual games and genres. For these discussions you really need much more information than how many per cent of men or women play games in general.
My personal belief and guess from looking at the very few available statistics and studies is that in the past and even in the present when it comes to the games people discuss on gaming forums like escapist, neogaf, and games that most gaming media cover, men still have the overwhelming advantage in buying power. However that again is a generalization and what we really should be doing instead of pulling a 50/50 study out of nowhere is to look at specific game series and genres when making arguments on the demographics.
And on an additional note I don't really care about the whole gamergate thing. I've been following various forums for years so of course I'm aware of what's happening. But I think we should just focus on specific issues. I hate politicized yellow journalism, I hate harassing trolls, I hate intellectual dishonesty, I hate moral crusading, I hate far fetched conspiracy theories without proof. I like to have all sorts of gaming niches, I like variety, I think there's room for everyone, but not everyone needs to like everything.
And phew this post that was originally mean to be a reply in the previous thread grew into something else. I feel for you if you've read everything before this line.
Some random questions
-So do you find the use of vague studies with really broad definitions troublesome?
-Is the term gamer just an obstruction for actual discussion on these issues?
-Do you think everyone would just be better off focusing on actual specific issues than trying to sort out some quite meaningless definitions?
-Do you believe that women are as big consumers of AAA games as men are?
-What genres do you think are dominated by women? Which ones by men? Are there any problems with that?
-Biggest case of TL;DR ever?
