Current Statistics

Sometime back, David Gardner, the COO of Electronic Arts (EA) said ‘The computer gaming industry is continuing to fail women by not producing suitable content for them.’ As a result, the percentage of women actively involved in gaming (as players or as developers) is very low.

Electronic Arts found that 40% of all teenage girls played video games as compared to 90% of teenage boys. Besides, most young girls lost interest in these games in less than a year.

Statistics: Game Players (Source: Entertainment Software Association 2006)
Average Age: 33
Playing Hours Per Week:
Women: 7.4
Men: 7.6

 

However, figures do show that the number of women gamers is picking up.  The results of a 2003 consumer survey conducted by Interactive Digital Software Association (IDSA) shows that about 42% of American computer gamers and about 29% of video game players are women. According to the 2002 Consumer Survey, 38% of computer game players and 28% of video game players were women. So, the number of women gamers is increasing steadily. In fact, the number of women gamers who are 18 or older account for a large proportion of all gamers (30%), and this figure is even larger than the number of male gamers who are 17 years old or younger.

Statistics: Game Developers (Source: International Game Developers Association 2005)
Average Age: 31
Years in the Industry: 5.4
Education: 80% are university-level-educated or above

 

Though the number of women who play computer games is still high, women make up only about 12 percent of the gaming industry. Most women learning game development or already in the industry believe that pre-existing male dominance in the gaming industry is the biggest deterrent to more women joining game development.

What Women Want

Women are a very broad and diverse group. Yet, individual women have their own likes and dislikes with respect to computer games. This part discusses some factors that shut women out of the world of computer games.

Men usually enjoy taking risks and exploring things on their own. They are likely to try out all the command buttons and figure them out themselves. Women would rather read the instructions, read which control does what before actually laying their hands on the controls. Currently, there are game tutorials but they are more suited to the risk takers. Game makers must try and structure games that are suited to those who take the risks and those who’d rather not. ‘Anti-female’ themes and negative and ‘sexed-up’ portrayals of women are also another reason why women would rather not play games which are otherwise very popular with the men. The percentage of women playing computer games would also increase if they were electronically represented more accurately and in a better way.

Girls are more interested in strategy games and puzzles instead of say, shooting and racing games. Women would rather play card games, board games or puzzles. Women video game players, who form a small part of the video game market, are now trying more adventurous avatars of the game. Presently, most games aren’t designed or marketed towards women. Besides, women generally are not flocking to those games that are the gaming industry's current bread and butter.

Many gaming corporations are aware of this gap, and are taking steps to bring more women into the fray. For example, Sony has cottoned on to this new market and is due to bring out pink PlayStations to appeal specifically to young girls. However, some adult women gamers are offended by that. Pink is not enough. There need to be changes across the board. So, for example, if a woman goes to choose a character to play as and since they are all male then she would obviously think that the particular game isn't aimed at her.

Females don't necessarily want 'pink games'. Games such as The Sims have shown that there is a market for women gamers. The Sims Series is currently the one of the world's most successful games - with more than 40 million copies sold worldwide. The Sims, are simulations in which players can control characters and using artificial intelligence, interact with other characters and perform a host of other activities. Most of the Sims players are girls- 70% of the players are women younger than 25. Certain studies and sales data have shown that hand-held casual games like the Nintendo DS, and social oriented games like The Sims series are the most popular types of games among the women. Other games such as The Second Life show that the emphasis on community and building things rather than traditional shoot-em-ups appeals to females, as is the sense of creating a character that can live out real-life fantasies.  However, games in which women can do ‘women- things’ has not proven to be a very successful strategy. It is easy to assume that women are the social kind while men are the fighting kind, but women also enjoy combats and go beyond the usual stereotype.

Analysts have cited a few reasons why the industry doesn't seem to be rushing to make bigger, better games that have a much greater appeal to women. Firstly, the gaming industry is particularly sensitive to risky propositions as the budget involved with game development is high. The industry would rather rely on tried and tested formulas for games.

Another factor is that designers have not developed ways to design more games with feminine appeal without being overtly ‘girly’. Perhaps this is because there are such a small number of women designers and game developers -- they are slowly penetrating production and development teams in the industry.

Other proposed ways to reach out to the women is by having more female characters in games.  Games that appeal to women have to be marketed in places they can be seen by the audience they are aimed at. For example, games could perhaps be sold in bookstores instead of only gaming stores or the game section of a departmental store.

Implications for the gaming industry

Analysts estimate that the industry, with US revenues at $6.9 billion in 2002, earns a measly 25% of its annual revenue from its female consumer group. This industry is hardly exploiting its potential large potential source of revenue in girls and women. Evidently, the gaming industry could earn billions of dollars more of revenue by targeting the female audience more rigorously, with more games developed to their gaming needs.

Women in Game Development

If we want to have game titles and ideas that reach a diverse audience, the gaming workforce has to be just as diverse. The desire to have more female-centric games builds opportunities for females as technologists who can bring story ideas and perspectives to the gaming industry and market. Besides, as the overall number of gamers grows rapidly, the need for game developers is also exploding and this presents tremendous opportunities for women. Yet, similar to the trends of women in computer science or IT, the percentage figures of women in the gaming industry also remain low.

Also, similar to the field of computer science or computer engineering, recruiters say they’re trying to draw more women into the field, although gender alone won’t get them the job.  Many others say, in contrast, that instead of a lack of female game developers leading to fewer games targeting women gamers, more women would enter the field if there were more games on the market to inspire them. Many analysts also point out that this is gradually happening. The gaming industry is broadening, so technology professionals are identifying more options, opportunities and reasons to enter the field. Interestingly, 50% of the Sims design team was female, and 40% of the producers were female. It can be said that such a gender balance in the production of the game has led to its massive popularity among a female audience; the more obvious point to note is that there lie several opportunities that women can tap into in the game development field.

Other factors that explain the lack of women in game development can be lack of industry awareness and a general low participation of women in computer science. Since, very few women major in pure sciences or in computer science, the percentage of women narrowing their career to gaming becomes even smaller. Besides, there is a notion that the opportunities in the gaming industry are very limited and highly specialised whereas this is not necessarily true.

Insufficient Games for women – A Deterrent to women joining IT

Computer games are a source of early exposure to use of computers and technology. From studies and figures, it is obvious that more boys access and use computers, mainly through computer games, at a very young age as compared to girls.

Among children aged 14 years and below, nearly a third of the boys play computer games almost everyday.  In comparison, in the same age group, one in ten girls plays computer games. Also, on an average boys spend 57 minutes a day playing computer games whereas on an average, girls play computer games for 24 minutes everyday.

Insufficient games targeting a female audience, and reduced female participation in computer games, particularly among younger women, might not directly be linked to the dwindling number of women in IT and computing. However, the lack of exposure to computers does have an impact at an earlier stage, when women choose computing as their major. Many individuals begin getting familiar with computers through gaming itself, and as a result, more men are familiar with computers than women, not just at a specialised level but also at a more general level where computers are used daily.

When high school students who chose computer science as their field of interest were interviewed, many said that they did so because computers seemed more interesting because of the computer games that they have played. Many women once in the computing field, decide to leave it and move to other fields, due to several other reasons. Yet, the lack of computer games for women has a significant impact on the initial decision among many women to choose the field.