females in video games: finding the 50% jonathan pryke · 2019. 7. 14. · female. this percentage...
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Jonathan Pryke
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Females in Video Games: Finding the 50%
Jonathan Pryke
Jonathan Pryke
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Dedication
To Davey Wreden, for who I owe my resurgent love of video games to.
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to Neil White for guiding me through the process, and to Loading Bar: Server.
Abstract
The phrase “Females make 50% of video game players” is used a lot, but why is it that on-
line gaming communities feel like they are predominantly male? The aim of this study is to
locate the source of this commonly used statistic, as well as gaining an understanding of
female portrayal within video games as well as player habits. The research question is what
percentage of “core gamers” are female, and does female behaviour differ to male behaviour?
In order to gain data, I recorded the number of females and males in a bar dedicated to video
games, as well as creating a survey surrounding player preferences. This survey was posted
onto gaming specific Reddit pages in order to find a more accurate percentage of female core
gamers. Using this information, the video game industry can evolve to cater for potential gaps
in the market.
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Contents
Introduction - Page 5
Motivation - Page 5
Scope - Page 5
Theoretical Relevance - Page 6
Research Questions - Page 6
Chapter One - Gender Representation in Video Games - Page 7
Video Game Characters - Page 7
Female Gamers - Page 10
Chapter Two - Gender Representation and Behaviour in Dedicated Video Game
Settings - Page 14
Hypotheses - Page 14
Methods - Page 14
Results - Page 16
- Questionnaire Participants - Page 17
- Most Commonly Played Game - Page 18
- Time Spent Playing Video Games - Page 19
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- Most Commonly Used Gaming Platform - Page 20
- Genre Preference - Page 21
- Video Game Gratifications - Page 24
Chapter Three - The Future of Gendered Video Games - Page 30
Hypotheses - Page 30
4Keys2Fun - Page 31
Electronic Arts - Page 34
Player Types - Page 35
Conclusion - Page 35
The Importance of Research - Page 36
Appendices - Page 38
Bibliography - Page 39
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Introduction
Motivation
I have been a video game enthusiast for as long as I can remember. Playing Goldeneye on the
Nintendo 64, at what could be considered too early an age, James Bond holding a pistol was
my go-to pose for every photograph that I was in. Lunchtime at school would consist of
myself and other boys dodging each other’s imaginary bullets, whilst making the cliché “pew
pew pew” sound effects. We would be counting down the hours till we could finally sit back
down, five inches away from the perfectly square television, role playing as Pierce Brosnan.
Two years later, during the period of anarchy near the Christmas holidays, when we were
allowed to wear non uniform and bring in toys, you would have been able to find me with
another group of boys, playing Pokemon together on our Game Boys, making Pokemon
badges out of lined paper and tape. Looking back retrospectively, girls were not involved at
all, and still now it feels like a rarity to hear the voice of a female player whilst playing on-
line. Therefore, I was sceptical when I heard that fifty percent of the people playing video
games were female. This is my problem statement and as a male I will be unintentionally
biased. However, I do not yet believe that this is not a misleading percentage.
Scope
The first purpose of this study is to understand where the commonly used statement, that fifty
percent of gamers are female, originated. The second purpose of the thesis is to carry out
primary research regarding female behaviour in video game playing and to compare these
results to those that have previously been done. By finding out this information we can gain
an insight into how the video game industry may change in the future, to cater for a larger
market that targets a female audience equally to a male audience.
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Theoretical Relevance
I will be looking at, and taking inspiration from, texts such as “Still a Man’s Game: Gender
Representation in Online Reviews of Video Games” (Ivory, 2006), “An Examination of
Violence and Gender Role Portrayals in Video Games: Implications for Gender Socialization
and Aggressive Behaviour” (Dietz, 1998) and Anita Sarkeesian’s “Feminist Frequency”,
which looks at gender portrayal of video game characters. I will then also refer to studies and
think tanks that look into player behaviour within video games, and how these differ between
gender, such as the 2018 “Essential Facts about the Computer and Video Game industry”
published by the ESA, research carried out by The Quantic Foundry, and Statista. I will focus
particularly on two texts, which I compare to each other, as well as to my own primary
research. These texts are “Engaging girls with computers through software games” by Gorriz
and Medina (2002) and “Orientations to Video Games Among Gender and Age Groups” by
Greenberg et al (2010). The referencing of these texts along with my own primary research
will show the level of change in behaviour within video games and video game playing. By
identifying these changes, the video game industry can gain an insight into a more truthful
prediction of the future landscape.
Research Questions
My research question is thus, what percentage of core gamers are female, and how does
player behaviour differ between gender? By finding commonalities, we can produce video
games that are more inclusive. This will allow opportunity for an even more prosperous
market.
The first chapter is a review of the relevant literature that is mentioned above. This enables us
to achieve an understanding of the current situation regarding gender in video games, as well
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as the gender of the players and their gaming habits. The second chapter explains my primary
research, which consists of a tally of male and female customers within a gaming orientated
bar, and a questionnaire posted onto gaming specific Reddit pages. The third chapter then
explores the results from this research, in an attempt to understand whether video games
should change, and if so, how should they change?
Chapter One – Gender Representation in Video Games
Video Game Characters
If we look at representation of gender in video games, it is necessary that we look at the
gender of their characters. “Still a Man’s Game: Gender Representation in Online Reviews of
Video Games” (Ivory, 2006), constructed a content analysis that used on-line reviews of
video games across multiple platforms to investigate the representation of their characters. As
mentioned by Ivory, the form of video games is ‘radically different’ to most other forms of
media and therefore complicates traditional measurement techniques. The investigations
carried out by those before him are known to be lacking thorough game-play, with users skill
level and time spent playing the game omitted. Therefore, Ivory’s approach allows us to see
results produced by those who are more familiar with video games, with a presumably larger
expertise.
His results found that active female characters were mentioned in only 33% of the reviews
within his sample, whereas 75% of the reviews mentioned active male characters. “Active”
meaning that the player can interact with the character, or that the character has certain
interferences with the game-play. In regards to the playable characters, only 22% of the
reviews mentioned female characters, which is dwarfed by the 65% of reviews mentioning
male characters. With passive characters who make zero difference to the playability of a
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game, there was only a small difference in mentions within the reviews. Passive female
characters appeared in 9% of the reviews, whilst only 8% of the reviews had passive males
included. When researching sexually suggestive depictions of characters, Ivory found that
12% of the reviews, which mentioned female characters, also referenced their attractiveness
or sex appeal. Less than 1% of the reviews mentioning male characters made the same
references.
The results that show a large difference between male and female characters support the
findings from a previous investigation titled “An Examination of Violence and Gender Role
Portrayals in Video Games: Implications for Gender Socialization and Aggressive
Behaviour” (Dietz, 1998). Although Dietz’s investigation is now outdated, Ivory reaffirms his
findings in “The virtual census: representations of gender, race and age in video games”
(Williams et al, 2009). However, results from the research that focused on the sexually
suggestive depictions is lower than what might have been assumed, which raises further
questions. Why were the female characters’ attractiveness not mentioned more? Could it be
due to a lack of sexualised characters, a disinterest in the sexualisation, or embarrassment to
mention an awareness? Ivory tells us that the reviews came from the ‘top rated’ and ‘most
popular’ games listed on Gamespot, but does not tell us which games specifically, therefore
we are unable to come to a more informed conclusion to why the sexualisation of characters
was not mentioned as much as what one may have imagined.
Feminist Frequency, created by Anita Sarkeesian, is an organisation that analyses “media’s
relationship to societal issues” (Feminist Frequency, 2018). As well as other data collections,
they examine the popular E3 press conferences that are held once every year. They record
every game that is showcased, at the large events, held by EA, Microsoft, Square Enix,
Ubisoft, Sony, Bethesda, PC Gaming and Nintendo Direct, with the aim being to find out
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what percentage of protagonists shown are female, male, multi or gender-ambiguous. The
results are illustrated below:
(Feminist Frequency, 2018)
From the past three years, Feminist Frequency state that 7-9% of games shown at E3 focus on
female protagonists. The results from this year’s conference show that there is no
considerable change, with 8% of the games focusing on women and 24% focusing on men.
However, it is also important to know what percentage of the audience were female, which
Feminist Frequency does not address. If the majority of the audience are male, it could be
argued that it would be nonsensical to not showcase their male orientated games more
intensely. As it is not possible to find out what percentage of the live audience was female,
looking to social media would be a logical alternative. Brandwatch are a data collection
company who gathered over one million mentions of the E3 conference across social media.
Their results state that on Twitter alone, only 23% of gender-categorised authors were
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female. This percentage is not representative of the commonly used statistic that 50% of
gamers are female, as reported by the ESA.
Female Gamers
The ESA is the Entertainment Software Association, which self describes itself as “dedicated
to serving the business and public affairs needs of companies that publish computer and video
games” (The Entertainment Software Association, 2018). The 2018 “Essential Facts about
the Computer and Video Game industry” states that 45% of gamers in the United States are
women. However they do not define the term “gamer”. It could be argued that to deserve the
title of a ‘gamer’ one would have to play video games a certain amount of time on dedicated
game platforms. These gamers would be labelled as core gamers, rather than casual gamers
who play on smart phones and wireless devices such as tablets, which amount to 60% of the
devices that US households play games on. The reports also states that 61% of the most
frequent game purchasers are male, which could imply that more females are using their
smart-phones to play games rather than using consoles or PCs, as many application based
games are free to download.
Furthering the research of the statistic from the ESA, the Quantic Foundry conducted a
similar study with a sample size of over 270,000. The Quantic Foundry is a market research
company dedicated to what motivates video game players. Their results found that only
18.5% of the video game enthusiasts, involved in their study, were female. This correlates
with Brandwatch’s findings where only 23% of the gender-categorised authors were female.
This could be an indication as to what the results would be if the ESA were to define the term
“gamer” with more specificity. The Quantic Foundry believe this disparity is due to the
difference in research methods. As mentioned earlier, the ESA does not define what a gamer
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is, therefore someone who played minesweeper once in the last twelve months could be
included in their results. However, the Quantic Foundry’s results are, self admittedly, “biased
towards core gamers” as their participants would have had to have the motivation to complete
a “Gamer Motivation Profile” simply because they wanted to.
The Quantic Foundry also looked into what percentage of gamers were female within certain
genres. Below are their results:
(Quantic Foundry, 2018)
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They found that the genres with the highest percentage of female gamers were Match 3 and
Family/Farm Sim games. Match 3 games are puzzle games where the user has to manipulate
tiles so that they match and thus disappear. The Match 3 games used in The Quantic
Foundry’s survey were Candy Crush Saga, Bejeweled (series) and Farm Heroes Saga. The
results shown that 69% of the players playing Match 3 games were female. Joint highest at
69% were Family/Farm Sim games which included The Sims (series), Harvest Moon (series),
Animal Crossing (series), Story of Seasons and Stardew Valley.
These results could be used to reinforce the ESA report that states that 61% of the most
frequent game purchasers are male, as Match 3 games are typically free due to usually being
played on a smart-phone where dedicated hardware is not necessary. However, it must be
noted that players could play multiple genres, and Match 3 games are easily accessible as
well as not requiring long periods of time devoted to them, hence why a large amount of
people play them. Barbara Lanza, a game designer and gender theorist, claims this easily
accessible and interruptible type of game appeals to females casual gamers more that it does
to male casual gamers. Lanza goes on to say the following:
…boys and girls really aren’t the same, especially when they’re little…when they’re
young, they’re really not like each other. They’re looking for different things. Girls
are looking for experiences, and boys are looking for bragging rights. And also,
boys are looking for something that they can learn to do that mostly takes
perseverance… A girl will look at that and say, ‘Let me get this straight: you spent
three hours, three whole hours, pushing a button… (qtd. in Herz, 1997)
This does not mean it is what they play the most. Along with the survey being a self-
completed questionnaire, unlike ESA where they used more representative means, The
Quantic Foundry’s survey was worldwide. These two factors are possible reasons as to why
their results are so different. I believe it would be useful to compare the genre preferences
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between females in the Western world to those in the East, specifically East Asia where e-
sports are a huge phenomenon.
When focusing on e-sports, there are many complaints regarding the small amount of
professional female gamers. However, there appears to be little numerical information about
the difference in numbers between professional female and male video game players. One
approach would be to note the difference in numbers on Twitch, a live streaming site where
players from around the world share their game-play and interact with viewers. Arguably,
there should be a direct correlation between professional female gamers and female twitch
streamers, as the live streaming site is often used to supplement a professional gamer’s
income, whilst training and attracting a fan base. According to data provider “Statista”, the
percentage of Twitch users that were female “as of 3rd quarter 2016”was 35%. However, it
should be noted that this is not the percentage of female streamers, but users who visited the
platform. If we are to assume this number is similar to that of professional gamers, why is it
so low if females make up 45% of video game players, as the ESA states they do? It could be
due to females generally preferring cooperation over competition (Gorriz and Medina, 2002),
which could explain the low numbers of professional female gamers. According to Gorriz
and Medina, male gamers are drawn to games that incorporate fighting and scoring, whilst
female gamers gravitate towards adventure and games with a narrative. Not the types of
games involved in e-sports. This conflicts with the study by Greenberg et al, whose results
found that males play video games for the following reasons: “competition, challenge,
arousal, diversion, social interaction and fantasy”, whilst females only play for competition.
Gorriz and Medina state that females do play for competition, however less so than males.
This could indicate that whilst males play for competition more, they also play for other
gratifications much more also.
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Chapter 2 – Gender Representation in Dedicated Video Game Settings
Hypotheses
Hypothesis 1: More males will be at the video game bar than females.
Hypothesis 2: Males will prefer “Physical” games to “Imagination” and “Traditional” games,
whereas females will prefer “Traditional” due to their similarities to app based games.
Hypothesis 3: Males will spend more time playing video games than females.
Hypothesis 4: Females will play more games using a mobile phone, or tablet, than males.
Hypothesis 5: Females will seek less competitive gratifications than males.
Methods
In order to further the research and statistics discussed earlier, I thought that it would be
useful to measure the difference in numbers between females and males at a gamer orientated
location to target those who may be considered “core gamers” rather than “casual gamers”.
For four nights I visited a bar in Shepherd’s Bush, London, that is dedicated to video games.
The bar allows free access to multiple consoles, as well as showing broadcasts from live
streaming site Twitch. Each night I noted the number of males and females when I entered,
and again when I left, an hour later.
In order to gain some more data, including qualitative, I produced a self-completion
questionnaire that focuses on player behaviour and gaming preference. The survey was
posted onto game specific pages on the forum website, Reddit. This was a deliberate choice,
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in order to target core gamers, and to differentiate those from casual gamers that may play a
phone app-based game sporadically. The pages on Reddit that I chose to post my survey on
included “/gaming” and “/games”. The survey asks for the participant to include their age,
gender, which game they currently play the most frequently, how much time each participant
spends playing video games per day, what genres of video games they prefer and lastly a
multiple choice question for the reasons behind why the participant plays video games. The
multiple choice options for why the participant plays video games are from Greenberg et al’s
“Orientations to Video Games among Gender and Age Groups” (2010). As this study was
conducted in 2010, and its results conflicted with Gorriz and Medina’s “Engaging girls with
computers through software games.” From 2002, I believed that it would be interesting to see
if my own results would show any differences due to time that has since passed, or whether it
would reaffirm Greenberg et al’s findings. With the addition of Narrative and Violence, the
multiple choice options were: Competition, Challenge, Arousal, Diversion, Social Interaction,
Fantasy, Hi Tech, Realism and Ego. The justification for adding Narrative to the list of
choices was that I wanted to find out whether Gorriz and Medina’s findings regarding
females being drawn to narrative, more so than males, were still relevant. The reasoning
behind adding Violence as a choice was to see whether this common characteristic within
video games actually does entice a male audience.
I received a total of 154 responses to the survey, 61.7% were male, 33.8% were female and
4.5% identified as neither. Already, we are able to see there is a large difference in number
between male and female participants. However, as of January 2018, the percentage of male
Internet users in the United States, that also used Reddit, was 32%, whilst only 17% were
female (We Are Flint, 2018). Therefore, this is more likely due to Reddit’s demographics,
rather than a representation of gender within gaming.
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In regards to the age of the participants, they ranged from 14 to 44 years old. The most
common age of participants was 16 to 27 years of age, with the mode being 18 and the mean
average as 22.8 (to the nearest decimal point). If we examine the participants age between
genders, the average age for male participants is 22.4 and the average age for those who are
female is 23.7. I also separated the participants into age categories of 14-19 year olds, 20-24
year olds, 25-29 year olds and 30-35 year olds. I chose to omit the results given by
participants aged over 35 as there were not enough respondents and therefore would not be an
accurate representation of that age group.
Results
Gaming Bar Attendance
Below is a chart showing the number of males and females in attendance at the gaming bar
(Table 1):
Date/Time Number of Males Number of Females
Thursday 1st November
20:00 14 6
21:00 10 5
Friday 2nd November
20:00 31 10
21:00 39 10
Monday 5th November
20:00 8 3
21:00 11 5
Wednesday 7th November
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20:00 2 3
21:00 4 2
If we put the results together, the mean value of males in attendance (to the nearest decimal
point) is 14.9, whilst the mean value for females is 5.5. Meaning that the percentage of
females equates to 27%. This number correlates with Statista and The Quantic Foundry more
closely than it does with the ESA’s figures. Although these results are similar to those
mentioned, the sample size is not. The amount of time spent in the gaming facility was short
and therefore could be seen as not reliable. It should also be noted that this gaming facility is
a public house and because of that it could be argued as to whether this is a gender neutral
environment.
Questionnaire Participants
Below is chart that shows the number of participants by gender, as well as age (Fig. 1):
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
14-19y 20-24y 25-29y 30-35y
Number Of Participants By Gender
Male Female
Table 1
Fig. 1
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We can see that there is a large disparity between the number of male and female participants
for 14-19 year olds, as well as 20-24 year olds. The difference then begins to decrease as age
increases. This could be an indication of gender representation within the gaming community,
but again, could be a product of Reddit’s demographic.
Most Commonly Played Game
The most popular game currently being played is Read Dead Redemption 2. This is the most
played game for both male and female participants, however this is most likely due to its
recent release. If we are to ignore this title and look at the next most popular game that has
not been released so recently, it appears to be World of Warcraft. Below is the chart for the
most popular games played by the male participants, followed by the female participants
(Fig. 2 & 3):
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Most Common Games Played By Males
Fig. 2
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Time Spent Playing Video Games
When looking at time spent playing video games per day (Fig. 4), the mean average for males
is 2.2 hours. This is less than the female participants who spend 2.5 hours. In regards to the
mode, for both genders it is 2 hours. These results differ greatly to those of Greenberg et al’s
which state that the average time spent by males is 18.56 hours a week, and only 8.16 hours
spent by females. As their results were collected in 2010, this could be a positive sign of
change that has occurred within the last 8 years. However, as the survey was shared on gamer
specific pages within the Reddit site, it does not take into account those who do not play
video games, which Greenberg et al’s does do.
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Most Common Games Played By Females
Fig. 3
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There appears to be no pattern linking playing time with age, however there is a notably
larger amount of time spent playing video games per day by 25-29 year old females
compared to their male counterparts.
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female
14-19y 20-24y 25-29y 30-35y
Hours Played Per Day
Fig. 4
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Most Commonly Used Gaming Platform
When playing video games, 60.4% stated that they used a PC to do so the most. This was
followed by 32.5% playing on console and 7.1% using a smart phone. The pie charts below
show the hardware used by females, and then by males (Fig. 5 & 6):
The charts show only a minor difference between the male and female participants. However,
it does show that even when targeting core gamers, female users are more likely to play app-
36%
56%
8%
USED MOST FREQUENTLY BY FEMALE PARTICIPANTS
Console PC Smart Phone
32%
63%
5%
USED MOST FREQUENTLY BY MALE PARTICIPANTS
Console PC Smart Phone
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
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based games and are less likely to spend money on advanced PC hardware that is needed to
play more technologically demanding games.
Genre Preference
With genre preference, I clustered the genres into three game types, replicating Greenberg et
al’s method, in order to compare results. The first type being “imagination” games, which
consists of Sci-Fi, Role Playing Games, Adventure, Fantasy, Open World, and Sandbox
games due to their “emphasis on imaginary lands”. The second type of game is “traditional”,
which includes Strategy, Puzzle, and Platformers. These have been labelled traditional as
they are video games that have been around for a long period of time, such as classic arcade
games. The third cluster is ‘physical’. This cluster includes genres that imitate “real world
physical competition”. Like Greenberg et al, I have ignored preference for simulation games
as they could apply to all of the 3 game types. This does not have an effect on the outcome of
the results as only three participants listed this specific genre. Below are the results for the
most preferred game type when all genders are included (Fig. 7):
55%
26%
19%
GAME TYPE PREFERENCE
imagination physical traditional
Fig. 7
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Undoubtedly, the “imagination” game type is the most popular, having a higher percentage
than the “physical” and “traditional” game types combined. To see how the results compare
to Greenberg et al’s we need to isolate the genders. Below are the charts to show the game
type preferences for females and males, independent from one another (Fig. 8 & 9):
71%
12%
17%
GAME TYPE PREFERENCE (FEMALE)
imagination physical traditional
45%
37%
18%
GAME TYPE PREFERENCE (MALE)
imagination physical traditional
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
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Other than “traditional” games, there is a large difference between the percentage of female
and male participants preference for “imagination” and “physical” games. Compared to
Greenberg et al, there are large differences. In their study they found that males preferred
“physical” games, with “imagination” games a close second. For females, they found that,
overall, “traditional” games were the most preferred, followed closely by “imagination”
games.
If we then also filter the results by age (Fig. 10), we are able to see that the male preference
for “Physical” games declines with age, whilst preference for “Imagination” games generally
increases with both males and females, omitting the 25-29 year old category. Not only does
the male 25-29 year old category appear as an anomaly in regards to “Imagination” games,
both male and female respondents in that age bracket show a preference for “Traditional”
games, more so than the other age categories.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female
14-19y 20-24y 25-29y 30-35y
%
Genre Preference By Age And Gender
Imagination Physical Traditional
Fig. 10
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Video Game Gratifications
The next set of results show what percentage of participants selected each option for what
gratifications they receive from playing video games (Fig. 11, 12 & 13):
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%
Video Game Gratifications
Male Female
0.00%
10.00%
20.00%
30.00%
40.00%
50.00%
60.00%
70.00%
80.00%
90.00%
Female Gratifications
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
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The most common gratification for males was narrative, followed extremely closely by
challenge which was only .2% less common. Narrative was also the most common
gratification chosen by the female participants, followed by diversion. The most notable
difference in percentage between the two genders is Competition, with a gap of 17.6%. The
gratification with the least amount of difference in percentage between the genders was
Diversion, being selected 0.3% more by females. The least common gratification selected by
females was Hi Tech (6.1%), followed by Violence (8.2%). The gratification selected the
least amount of times by the male participants was Ego (3.2%), followed by Arousal (12.8%)
and Violence (13.8%). Greenberg et al’s results state that Competition was the most common
gratification for both males and females, followed by Challenge.
It is also important to see how age alters the results for gratifications, and if they differ
between genders within the same age group. I have separated the participants into four
groups. These groups are 14-19 year olds, 20-24 year olds, 25-29 year olds and, lastly, 30-35
year olds. The results for these groups are below (Fig. 14, 15, 16 & 17):
0.00%
10.00%
20.00%
30.00%
40.00%
50.00%
60.00%
70.00%
80.00%
Male Gratifications
Fig. 13
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0102030405060708090
100%
14-19 Year Old's Gratifications
14-19y Male 14-19y Female
0102030405060708090
100
%
20-24 Year Old's Gratifications
20-24y Male 20-24y Female
0102030405060708090
100
%
25-29 Year Old's Gratifications
25-29y Male 25-29y Female
Fig. 14
Fig. 15
Fig. 16
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There is little difference between genders within the 14-19 year old age category, other than
Competition and Challenge. 57.6% of male participants in this age range selected
Competition as a gratification, whereas only 33.3% of females did. With Challenge, 78.8% of
the 14-19 year old males identified it as a gratification, 37.1% higher than the females.
Challenge was the most selected gratification chosen by males in this age range, whilst
Narrative was the most selected for the females.
With the 20-24 year old category, there is still a difference between the genders seeking
Competition and Challenge, although, the gap between them is less than the 14-19 age
category. There is a 13.4% difference between males and females in regards to Competition,
and a difference of 15% for those who selected Challenge. The most popular gratification
was almost identical in percentage with both the male and female participants. Narrative was
selected by 68.4% of the males and 68.2% of the females. However, for females, Narrative
was joint highest with Fantasy.
0102030405060708090
100
%
30-35 Year Old's Gratifications
30-35y Male 30-35y Female
Fig. 17
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When looking at the next age group, 25-29 year olds, the differences between the two
genders become much more noticeable, highlighting multiple gratifications and not limited to
just Competition and Challenge. The most prominent difference in results between the two
genders, in this age category, is for Social Interaction. 53.8% of the male participants selected
it as one of their chosen gratifications, whilst only 10% of the female participants felt the
same. Like the younger groups, Narrative was the most chosen gratification by females,
whilst Diversion was the most popular among the males.
With the last age group, 30-35 year olds, the gratifications with the largest difference in
percentage are Diversion and Realism. 100% of males selected Diversion as a gratification,
whereas only 66.7% of females did the same. With Realism, 33.3% of the female participants
stated that they seek it in video games, whilst no male participants selected it at all. Like the
25-29 year olds, Diversion was the most selected gratification by the male participants, whilst
four gratifications were joint highest for the females. The gratifications were Challenge,
Diversion, Fantasy and Narrative.
If we look at male gratifications by age (Fig. 18), we can see an increase in the need for
Diversion as males get older. Fantasy, Challenge and Narrative are seemingly important to all
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age categories, however Fantasy appears to be a key factor to keeping older players interested
in particular.
With female gratifications (Fig. 19), there is a positive correlation with Challenge and age.
The same applies to Diversion, despite the slight drop within the 30-35 year old age group.
Like the male participants, Narrative remains constantly important for all age groups, along
with Fantasy, which is important to at least 50% of the females from each age category.
0102030405060708090
100
%
Male Gratifications By Age
14-19y Male 20-24y Male 25-29y Male 30-35y Male
0102030405060708090
100
%
Female Gratifications By Age
14-19y Female 20-24y Female 25-29y Female 30-35y Female
Fig. 18
Fig. 19
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It is important to note that although this research may be useful, like all research before it, it
does contains causes for concern. As the survey was posted on-line, it is necessary for the
participant to complete the form themselves. This brings about the opportunity for the
respondents to falsify their answers and to complete the survey more than once, resulting in a
set of results that are not legitimate. Although these circumstances could be possible, I am
confident that my results have not been altered by such occurrences, and that the high amount
of responses was due to the survey being up-voted on the gaming specific Reddit pages,
resulting in a large amount of Reddit users interacting with the hyper link that forwards the
user to the survey. Due to the Reddit post becoming so popular, it was necessary for me to
stop any more participants completing the survey, otherwise the amount of data would have
been unmanageable. Therefore it is also important to remember that although 154
respondent’s answers can be an indicator of a much larger group of people, it is an incredibly
small sample size.
Chapter 3 – The Future of Gendered Video Games
Hypotheses:
Hypothesis 1: More males will be at the video game bar than females.
My hypothesis that there would be more males at the gaming bar than females was correct.
As to why there were more males, could be due to it being a public house as explained in the
second chapter. However, it is most likely a product of the two. If less females are playing
video games that are not played on smart phones and tablets, it makes logical sense that there
would be less females at a bar marketed towards core gamers.
Hypothesis 2: Males will prefer “Physical” games to “Imagination” and “Traditional”
games, whereas females will prefer “Traditional” due to their similarities to app games.
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My estimation that “Physical” games would be the most preferred genre for males was
incorrect, as was my hypothesis that females would prefer “Traditional” games. The findings
could be seen as encouraging, showing that both males and females enjoyed “Imagination”
games the most, reaffirming Nicole Lazzaro’s argument that “what is fun for both sexes is
more similar than different” (Kafai, 2015).
Hypothesis 3: Males will spend more time playing video games than females.
Although this hypothesis was incorrect, the questionnaire was directed towards core gamers
and not a generalised proportion of the public. If a broader group of respondents including
lesser game enthusiasts had completed the questionnaire, the results may differ. However, the
findings show that female core gamers play slightly longer than male core gamers, except for
the 30-35 year old age group.
Hypothesis 4: Females will play more games using a smart phone, or tablet, than males.
This hypothesis was correct, however the percentage of females who used a smart phone to
play games most often was much lower than I would have assumed. Only 3% more females
selected smart phone on the questionnaire than males, which I believe is due to the survey
being shared on gaming specific Reddit pages. As with the results for hours played, I would
hypothesise that more females would claim to play more smart phone and tablet based games
if the participants were more representative of the general public.
Hypothesis 5: Females will seek less competitive gratifications than males.
This was true as 17.6% more male participants selected Competition as a gratification that
they received from playing video games. I did find it interesting how little the male
participants valued Competition compared to Narrative, Challenge, Diversion, Fantasy and
how these were the top four gratifications chosen by the female participants also.
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4Keys2Fun
This sharing of gratifications and preference of genre sets up an understandably strong
argument regarding the unnecessary nature of targeting games towards a specific gender.
Nicole Lazzaro is the founder of XEODesign and widely recognised as an influential female
figure within video games. Lazzaro supports this argument and believes that although video
games attract a large amount of players worldwide, their “narrow range of offerings attracts a
smaller audience than possible” (2008). To combat this, Lazzaro states that video game
companies need to lose their obsession with catering for “extreme male-stereotyped play
patterns” and instead realise that both male and female gamers, of all ages, “just want to have
fun”. Lazzaro claims that market research asks the wrong questions, and ignores what video
game players most enjoy about games. To combat this, Lazzaro has created the
“4Keys2Fun”, which she believes if video games are to be successful, they will apply at least
3 of the said keys. These four keys are :
1. Hard Fun
2. Easy Fun
3. Serious Fun
4. People Fun
Hard Fun is the feeling of achievement, mastering a game that results in “personal triumph
over adversity” (Lazzaro, n.d.). For example, not being able to defeat the boss character until
after multiple attempts. Easy Fun can be seen as the curiosity that is created through an
interesting user face, a much more superficial gratification. Serious Fun is where the player
sees progression over time, for example, advancing through levels in Candy Crush Saga,
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gaining rewards in the process. Lastly, People Fun is the amusement that comes with playing
with friends and fellow players.
According to this theory, World of Warcraft and Red Dead Redemption 2, the two most
popular games for both male and female survey participants, should have at least three of the
four keys. In regards to Hard Fun, there are bosses to beat, such as G’huun (Appendix A),
which take cooperation and possibly multiple attempts to defeat. World of Warcraft also
implements Easy Fun by allowing the player to customise their character, as well as allowing
them freedom of choice through their free roam settings. By implementing a levelling system,
Serious Fun is also a key, ensuring that the player sees a direct correlation between
progression and playing time. As World of Warcraft is an on line multi-player game, People
Fun is undoubtedly present. Without the help of other players, it would be impossible to
defeat bosses and therefore on line cooperation is a necessity.
Read Dead Redemption is similar in regards to the game becoming harder as you progress.
Like Rockstar’s notable Grand Theft Auto games, the player is allowed to roam freely as well
as allowing character customisation. As you progress through the game, you earn more
money and unlock items that are only available to the player once a considerable amount of
progression has been made. There is also an on-line mode which allows the player to connect
and play with other users.
These two games certainly correlate with Lazzaro’s theory. However, she does not give any
guidance on how these keys should be achieved. The way in which a game is made difficult,
or the way a player is supposed to interact with another could take many forms. For example,
does the difficulty take the form of defeating an opponent with violent means, or does it come
in a puzzle like form. Does the social interaction require cooperation or competition against
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one another? Having these four keys do not stop video games from appearing to target a
particular demographic.
I believe that video game companies are making games that they would like to play
themselves, which happens to appeal to the “narrow” audience that Lazarro claims it be,
because they themselves are that narrow audience. In 2017, the majority of game developers
worldwide were male as only 21% were female (Statista, 2018). Jessie Cameron Herz
addresses this in a chapter titled “Boys versus Girls” from her book “Joystick Nation”.
Although the book was published in 1997, statistics from 2017 regarding gender diversity
among game developers show how her writing is still relevant. Herz is rightly doubtful that a
group of men could design a game “that resonates in the mind of a fourteen year old girl”and
as a consequence of this, the types of games created for girls can largely be placed into two
types. The first type being “boys games in drag” as Herz labels them, and the second type
being hyper-feminine. There is an obvious space being neglected for video games that appeal
to, and offer gratifications for, people of all player types. Rather than create video games for
groups of people that the creators cannot enter the minds of, Triple A (Appendix B) video
game companies should be pushing for a much more diverse catalogue of employees. This
could potentially lead to being able to cast a much wider net over a more diverse, and
consequently larger, audience.
Electronic Arts
One video game company that appears to be making a conscious effort to incorporate more
females is Electronic Arts. In 2017, EA revealed that their CEO, Andrew Wilson, had
partnered with the United Nation’s HeForShe campaign. The HeForShe campaign is an
“invitation for men and people of all genders” to take a stand, in solidarity with women, to
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ensure the future holds a gender equal world (Heforshe.org, 2018). Other notable figures
partnered with HeForShe include Simon Pegg, David Tennant, Harry Styles and Eddie
Redmayne. By partnering with HeForShe, EA has set three commitments to “advance gender
equality” (Arts, 2017). To lead in the representation of women in games, empower an
inclusive culture for EA employees and promoting the gender equality movement through
their industry and their communities. This could be seen by some as tokenistic, however it is
also worth mentioning that in 2008 EA donated “The Sims 2” character library to a software
called “Storytelling Alice”, a program that aimed to interest girls into technology (Kelleher
and Pausch, 2007). This in turn shows EA’s commitment to gender equality is legitimate, and
already the diversity of their audience is greater than most. The Sims series is one of EA’s
most popular titles, and have themselves estimated that sixty five percent of the players are in
fact female (Sapieha, 2014). This shows that females are willing to buy games for a dedicated
console or PC if the game appeals to them. This in itself is an indicator that females may be
less inclined to spend money on dedicated hardware due to the narrow video game market,
rather than for societal reasons.
Player Types
Although it is important that video game companies address gender diversity, I believe it is
time to target less towards a specific gender, and instead to player types. Richard Bartle
addresses four player types within multi player games, in “Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds, Spades:
Players Who Suit Muds” (1996). These four types of players are Killers, Achievers,
Explorers and Socializers. Killers gain pleasure by interfering and altering the experience for
other players. Achievers enjoy gaining rewards by winning via the rule based play. Explorers
interact with the world that the game has presented them with and Socializers form bonds
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with other players. I believe player types like these will soon be the new way in which users
will search for new games and therefore video game companies should begin to broaden their
target audiences.
Conclusion
It seems that when you dismiss casual gamers, the percentage of core gamers that are female
ranges from approximately 18.5 to 27% according to the Quantic Foundry, Brandwatch and
my own research from the dedicated gaming bar. Having learned from Anita Sarkeesian’s,
Feminist Frequency, that only eight percent of the games featured at E3 in 2018 featured
female protagonists, I didn’t expect to gain many responses from females due to the
seemingly unappealing and narrow range of choice. Although there were more male
respondents than female, the number of female participants was still an enlightening surprise.
Learning that both male and female participants of my survey most enjoyed “Imaginaton”
games was also a surprise to me, albeit positive, showing a commonality within the two
genders. In regards to the amount of time spent, finding out my hypothesis was incorrect and
that the amounts of time were very similar across both genders was partly expected due to the
survey being on Reddit and, like the Quantic Foundry, is biased towards core gamers.
Therefore playing time is not going to differ by large amounts. This can be applied to the
results stating that only a small minority of participants used a smart phone or tablet to play
games on also, as technologically demanding games that core gamers play would be unable
to run on such a device. In regards to gratifications, it was a positive realisation that gender
did not alter results to the extent that I first thought it might. Other than a slight increase in
males seeking competition, it appears that within the two groups of gamers, there are players
seeking the same multitude of different pleasures from video games.
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The conclusion that I have drawn from my research is that video game companies need to
begin broadening their games to incorporate multiple player types, as well as increasing
female representation. In a time where the video game market is flourishing, it is also
becoming ever more competitive, and in order for studios to survive, larger markets are going
to be needed. Therefore, I believe future market research, carried out by video game creators,
need to explore player types, and ways in which all types can be fulfilled within one game,
rather than being segregated into games labelled as stereotypically male or female.
The Importance of Research
The research that I have carried out is important as it examines more closely the relationship
the video game industry has with females. I do not believe the commonly used, yet rarely
looked into, statement by the ESA is productive in making any change. It could be seen as
motivation for video game companies to start making more female tailored games, however if
already fifty percent of gamers are female, where is the motivation to change? In realising
that the statistic from the ESA is misleading and that the actual percentage of players who
could be considered as core gamers is much lower, game companies are more likely to push
for more women to embark in careers in the video game sector.
To further my own research I would focus in on different parts of the world to see if results
differ. South Korea in particular has a large and very successful e-sports community, and
being able to understand their motivation for playing video games would prove beneficial to
ensuring video games reach a market that does not end in the Western world.
I fear that failure to appeal to more than the twenty-something year old male, will result in
game over for many video game studios.
Achievement for most intentional pun unlocked.
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Appendices
Appendix A - A group of players defeat G’huun from World of Warcraft
(Nevermind, 2018)
Appendix B - Triple A or AAA is a term used for games that are created by a large
publisher. Similar to the definition of Blockbuster within film.
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