CNN reported: Nearly half of all video-gamers are women

[snowComet]

Female gamer may be more than we though. CNN reported, according to the "2013 Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry" report, 45% of all game players are women,46% of the most frequent purchasers of games are women. As result shown from their report, adult women had taken 31% of the game-playing population.

 

 

http://us.cnn.com/2013/08/08/tech/gaming-gadgets/female-gamers/index.html?sr=sharebar_twitter

 

"2013 Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry" report

http://www.theesa.com/facts/pdfs/ESA_EF_2013.pdf

[Matsy]

Casual games do not count (farmville, facebook, angry birds, bejeweled, phones etc)

There are still tons more men who play real games.

Also the term "gamer" needs to go away

 

[TopWargamer]

Half of the half maybe.

[Volbet]

I predict a discussion about what "gamer" means.

 

But this is something I have know for long. A lot of my female friends play games and occasionally I can get my wife to play CoD with me. There isn't any reason why the game industry should be a boys club anyway.

[Skyfire]

Wut, at least half of 46% of the purchases made by women are because men don't want to lose time that can be spent on getting EXP.

[helping]

I personally don't really find CNN to be a credible source anymore.

 

I didn't read, but I'm 99% sure they do not define what "video games" are. For all you know they're talking about Bejeweled and Angry Birds

[MdX MaxX]

I feel as though the release of the Wii and the explosion of both the mobile industry and social networking have made it impossible to define what a "gamer" really is.

 

(There was a thread about this at some point but whatever.)

[LAwLz]

I would not trust that even if my life depended on it. I have seen "statistics" which says that ~30% of hardcore gamers are ~40-50 year old women with at least 1 child.

The report says that 31% of gamers are women over the age of 18, and only 19% of gamers are male under the age of 17 which I find very hard to believe (just go to any Gamestop or other game retailer).

 

Actually, I think I found the problem with this statistic. They have taken puzzles, board games, card games and social games into consideration. That explains why the average age is so high (lots of old people, like 60+ like card games such as for example "old maid"). According to the survey, the most frequently played online games are puzzle, board, trivia, game show or card games. I find that hard to believe.

 

So, how did they get these numbers? I was never asked to participate in the survey, and I doubt any of you guys on this forum were asked either, so how are they getting these numbers? The fact that they don't tell you that should be a big alarm clock to everyone.

[Xorbot]

Casual games do not count (farmville, facebook, angry birds, bejeweled, phones etc)

There are still tons more men who play real games.

Also the term "gamer" needs to go away

 

 

Incredibly disagree.  You are certainly wrong.  Players of those games are also gamers.

[NamelessTed]

I would not trust that even if my life depended on it. I have seen "statistics" which says that ~30% of hardcore gamers are ~40-50 year old women with at least 1 child.

The report says that 31% of gamers are women over the age of 18, and only 19% of gamers are male under the age of 17 which I find very hard to believe (just go to any Gamestop or other game retailer).

 

Actually, I think I found the problem with this statistic. They have taken puzzles, board games, card games and social games into consideration. That explains why the average age is so high (lots of old people, like 60+ like card games such as for example "old maid"). According to the survey, the most frequently played online games are puzzle, board, trivia, game show or card games. I find that hard to believe.

 

So, how did they get these numbers? I was never asked to participate in the survey, and I doubt any of you guys on this forum were asked either, so how are they getting these numbers? The fact that they don't tell you that should be a big alarm clock to everyone.

Does this really matter? Do you think it is only valid if they report statistics on "hardcore gamers"? It is a completely meaningless metric, and one that nobody who plays games should ever care about. It is like saying "X"% of people watch movies. Does it really matter if some of those people only watch romantic comedies? And that some of them only watch Michael Bay movies? In the end, there is a HUGE population of people that watch movies. So what are games any different? Some people play Facebook games, some play games on the tablet/phone, and some play Call of Duty. 

[Keystone Nyan Cat]

I'm guessing this is on casual, browser based games...

[Langdon]

I honestly don't find it surprising but maybe it's because most of my friends are girls. They all play videogames with my encouragement and by their own means.

I don't know if Candy Crush Saga or Angry Birds should count for a "gamer" but they're still technically games.

[EChondo]

Does this really matter? Do you think it is only valid if they report statistics on "hardcore gamers"? It is a completely meaningless metric, and one that nobody who plays games should ever care about. It is like saying "X"% of people watch movies. Does it really matter if some of those people only watch romantic comedies? And that some of them only watch Michael Bay movies? In the end, there is a HUGE population of people that watch movies. So what are games any different? Some people play Facebook games, some play games on the tablet/phone, and some play Call of Duty. 

Except that board games are NOT video games.

 

You know, video games.

[That Norwegian Guy]

Incredibly disagree.  You are certainly wrong.  Players of those games are also gamers.

 

No IMO they are (the majority anyway) game consumers.

 

Prerequisites to be a 'gamer': To care about games beyond just playing them. To care about where the medium is going, to not only "eat" games as if they were food and throwaway at that, but to speak with your wallet if there is something you don't like. To be a gamer you must be a big fan of minimum of one game that was never heavily advertised. Playing only games that are heavily advertised is the domain of the game consumers. So are pre-orders, and letting yourself get pressured into buying games for social/ "watercooler" reasons. (Bandwagoneering) A gamer is also usually aware of several games they are anticipating because they took the time to do the research, not because they saw a Facebook ad or a TV spot about it.

[LAwLz]

Does this really matter? Do you think it is only valid if they report statistics on "hardcore gamers"? It is a completely meaningless metric, and one that nobody who plays games should ever care about. It is like saying "X"% of people watch movies. Does it really matter if some of those people only watch romantic comedies? And that some of them only watch Michael Bay movies? In the end, there is a HUGE population of people that watch movies. So what are games any different? Some people play Facebook games, some play games on the tablet/phone, and some play Call of Duty. 

Well we are getting into semantics here but most people would agree that "gamer" is not just "I played games once and it was fun" or "yeah I am a gamer, my favorite game is solitaire!". I wouldn't call myself a food critic just because I once said Burger King is better than Mc Donald's. I wouldn't call myself a film critic for saying that Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a really funny movie either.

[NamelessTed]

Well we are getting into semantics here but most people would agree that "gamer" is not just "I played games once and it was fun" or "yeah I am a gamer, my favorite game is solitaire!". I wouldn't call myself a food critic just because I once said Burger King is better than Mc Donald's. I wouldn't call myself a film critic for saying that Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a really funny movie either.

Yeah, being a critic of something is totally different that just being a consumer of some product. Just because you are a "gamer" doesn't mean you are a game critic either. I do understand there is a difference between somebody who just watched movies and somebody who is a "film buff". Same thing can be said for audiophile, gearhead, a foodie or whatever else. There are a bunch of people who do action X, and there is a smaller % of those people who are enthusiasts. By and large, the word "gamer" is simply a word to describe someone that plays games.

 

In regards to whether we need a new word, maybe. "gamer" seems a bit too generic of a term to apply but I don't have a better alternative.

[Xorbot]

No IMO they are (the majority anyway) game consumers.

 

Prerequisites to be a 'gamer': To care about games beyond just playing them. To care about where the medium is going, to not only "eat" games as if they were food and throwaway at that, but to speak with your wallet if there is something you don't like. To be a gamer you must be a big fan of minimum of one game that was never heavily advertised. Playing only games that are heavily advertised is the domain of the game consumers. So are pre-orders, and letting yourself get pressured into buying games for social/ "watercooler" reasons. (Bandwagoneering) A gamer is also usually aware of several games they are anticipating because they took the time to do the research, not because they saw a Facebook ad or a TV spot about it.

 

Wow, someone made you the arbiter of definition of "gamer".  Actually, *no one* made you that.  Everything you just said is what you made up in your mind, including every single one of those criteria.

 

Players of Farmville (a game which I never played, btw), are gamers.  They are playing a game.  From what little I've seen about Farmville, it is not that far off of a comparison to Transport Tycoon for DOS in the 386 days.  Sure, one game is about building farms, and the other game is about building transport networks, but both have charming graphics, cute UI, and a drive for the gamer to build a successful venture.

 

Either players of both Farmville and Transport Tycoon are not "gamers" in your mind, or both are.

[That Norwegian Guy]

Wow, someone made you the arbiter of definition of "gamer".  Actually, *no one* made you that.  Everything you just said is what you made up in your mind, including every single one of those criteria.

 

Players of Farmville (a game which I never played, btw), are gamers.  They are playing a game.  From what little I've seen about Farmville, it is not that far off of a comparison to Transport Tycoon for DOS in the 386 days.  Sure, one game is about building farms, and the other game is about building transport networks, but both have charming graphics, cute UI, and a drive for the gamer to build a successful venture.

 

Either players of both Farmville and Transport Tycoon are not "gamers" in your mind, or both are.

 

Hence the qualifier 'IMO'. And my opinion is the only thing that matters to me, they are not gamers to me, you can't change my mind. There's a distinction between game consumers and gamers to me: I do not identify with people who pick up every Assassin's Creed, GTA, Warcraft, Guild Wars, Dead Space, FIFA, Madden, Gears of War or Sims game on pre-order because they were influenced/ pressured by media or their social circle to do so whilst simultaneously being completely clueless as to the difference between Amnesia: Dark Descent and Star Citizen. Nor do I identify with people who click links on Facebook that read: "New BRUTAL MMO, must be 18+ to play!" just because it has a picture of a scantily clad lady on the ad, and then ends up not only playing the piece of shit for weeks but buys ingame items for $50 and spams their acquaintances with shitty invites every day.

 

No. I do not belong in the same group with those people, and nobody is going to put me in the same booth as them. Deal with it.

[NamelessTed]

Except that board games are NOT video games.

 

You know, video games.

Are we reading the same article? The publication from the ESA is strictly about computer and video games. There is a statistic showing that people are playing physical board games LESS than they used to because they are spending more time playing video games. Just because you are playing a puzzle game on your computer doesn't mean you aren't playing a video game. Or do we no longer count games like Tetris, Professor Layton, or Bejeweled as video games?

[bcredeur97]

ummm.... am i the only one who is like: Who cares? on this article.

[Nort]

Why do I have a feeling the most of the games "purchased by woman" were teenage boys using their mom's credit card?

[NamelessTed]

Hence the qualifier 'IMO'. And my opinion is the only thing that matters to me, they are not gamers to me, you can't change my mind. There's a distinction between game consumers and gamers to me: I do not identify with people who pick up every Assassin's Creed, GTA, Warcraft, Guild Wars, Dead Space, FIFA, Madden, Gears of War or Sims game on pre-order because they were influenced/ pressured by media or their social circle to do so whilst simultaneously being completely clueless as to the difference between Amnesia: Dark Descent and Star Citizen. Nor do I identify with people who click links on Facebook that read: "New BRUTAL MMO, must be 18+ to play!" just because it has a picture of a scantily clad lady on the ad, and then ends up not only playing the piece of shit for weeks but buys ingame items for $50 and spams their acquaintances with shitty invites every day.

 

No. I do not belong in the same group with those people, and nobody is going to put me in the same booth as them. Deal with it.

Dude, you are such a snob. You ever think that people that play any of the games you mentioned play them simply because they really enjoy them and not because somebody told them that they should? Different people like different types of games. Your view of "gamer" is so fucking narrow-minded it is sad. You have basically decided that there are games that you just don't like, and anybody who plays those games isn't a real gamer. You have fallen into the classic "no true Scotsman" fallacy and your assertion on what makes a "gamer" is completely invalid.

 

Isn't it better that more and more people are playing video games more often? Sure, maybe they start with Facebook games or the Sims or some other game you wouldn't approve of. But once they start playing video games they might find something else that they enjoy even more. Or maybe they don't, maybe they just play every new Sims games that comes out, but if they have fun and enjoy playing the Sims, then why should they play anything else? Playing video games is primarily about having fun, right? So why not just accept that people enjoy playing a wide variety of video games of varying genres?

[Night]

Casual gamers. Obviously anyone who plays games is a gamer. Anyone who plays games, and builds computers and mods games...is like...a Hyper Gamer.

[kuddlesworth9419]

Playing casual games doesn't make someone a gamer. But if you play other titles then you could be considered a gamer. I'm not gonna lie and say there are no female gamers but there are probably 1/10 of all gamers are female. Just a guess.

[Esivo]

A similar post has been made about this I think. I believe BBC made had a report saying women gamers will outnumber men gamers, but again, as everyone said playing Facebook games doesn't make you a gamer.