Women and video games

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Japan
, 2005

The relationship between

Sexism in video gaming, including sexual harassment, as well as underrepresentation of women as characters in games, is an increasing topic of discussion in video game culture
.

Advocates for increasing the number of female gamers stress the problems attending disenfranchisement of women from one of the fastest-growing cultural realms as well as the largely untapped nature of the female gamer market. Efforts to include greater female participation in the medium have addressed the problems of gendered advertising, social stereotyping, and the lack of female video game creators (coders, developers, producers, etc.). The terms "girl gamer" or "gamer girl" have been used as a reappropriated term for female players to describe themselves, but it has also been criticized as counterproductive or offensive.

Demographics of female players

Female participation in gaming is increasing. According to an Entertainment Software Association survey, women players in the United States increased from 40% in 2010 to 48% in 2014.[2][3] Today, despite the dominant perception that most gamers are men,[4] the ratio of female to male gamers is rather balanced, mirroring the population at large.[5]

In 2008, a

Pew Internet & American Life Project study found that among teens, 65% of men and 35% of women describe themselves as daily gamers. This trend was found to be stronger the younger the age group.[6] The study found that while adult men are significantly more likely to play console games than adult women, on other platforms they are equally likely to play.[7] But even in this area, the numbers are moving towards equality: in 2012, Nintendo reported that half of its users were women,[8] and in 2015 another Pew study found that more American women (42%) than men (37%) owned video game consoles.[9] In 2013, Variety reported that female participation increased with age (61% of women and 57% of men aged 45 to 64 played games).[10]

A mid-2015 survey reported by UKIE indicates that 42% of UK gamers are female.[11]

Data collection

In North America, national demographic surveys have been conducted yearly by the U.S.

Nederlandse Vereniging van Producenten en Importeurs van beeld- en geluidsdragers (NVPI), and the Association for UK Interactive Entertainment (UKIE) have also begun to collect data on female video gamers since 2012. One-off market research studies and culture surveys have been produced by a wide variety of other sources including some segments of the gaming press
and other culture writers since the 1980s as well.

Not only has the general female gaming population been tracked, but the spread of this population has been tracked over many facets of gaming. For more than 10 years, groups like the ESA and ESAC have gathered data on the gender of video game purchasers, the percentage of women gamers within certain age brackets, and the average number of years women gamers have been gaming. The ESAC in particular has gone into great depth reporting age-related segmentation of the market between both male and female gamers. Other statistics have been collected from time to time on a wide variety of facets influencing the video game market.

Survey data

ESAC-reported Canadian female to male gamer ratios
  
Video gaming [b]
IDSA/ESA-reported USA female to male gamer ratios per platform
International comparison of gamer gender ratios
Region / Country Study 2012 ratio
(female to male)
2013 ratio
(female to male)
2016 ratio
(female to male)
Australia
IGEA
47 : 53[51] 47 : 53[52]
Austria ISFE 44 : 56[53]
Belgium 46 : 54[53]
Canada ESAC 46 : 54[18] 46 : 54[19] 49 : 51[54]
China 17173 [zh] 27 : 73[55]
Czech Republic ISFE 44 : 56[53]
Denmark 42 : 58[53]
Europe 45 : 55[53]
Finland 49 : 51[53]
France 47 : 53[53] 52 : 48[56]
Germany 44 : 56[53] 49 : 51[56]
Great Britain 46 : 54[53] 42 : 58[56]
Italy 48 : 52[53]
Japan 17173 66 : 34[55]
Korea 37 : 63[55]
Netherlands ISFE 46 : 54[53]
New Zealand IGEA 46 : 54[57] 46 : 54[58]
Norway ISFE 46 : 54[53]
Poland 44 : 56[53]
Portugal 43 : 57[53]
Spain 44 : 56[53] 45 : 55[56]
Sweden 47 : 53[53]
Switzerland 44 : 56[53]
United States ESA 47 : 53[35] 45 : 55[36] 41 : 59[59]

Historical prevalence

A 1971 flyer for Computer Space
Two people play a Fairchild Channel F in 1977.
  • The author of Pac-Man, Toru Iwatani, attempted to appeal to a wider audience—beyond the typical demographics of young boys and teenagers. His intention was to attract girls to arcades because he found there were very few games that were played by women at the time.[60] Electronic Games reported in 1982 that it was "the first commercial videogame to involve large numbers of women";[61] the simple gameplay and lack of violence attracted many new players.[62] Of the nine arcade games that How to Win Video Games (1982) discussed, Pac-Man was the only one with women as a majority of players.[63] In response, the sequel Ms. Pac-Man, launched in 1981, featured a female protagonist.
    • The success of Pac-Man led to more women pursuing video game development.[64]
  • In May 1982, sociologist Sidney J. Kaplan reported the composition of arcade video game players to be roughly 80% male and 20% female.[65]
  • In a 1982 survey conducted by Electronic Games, the demographics of female arcade players were broadly similar to their male counterparts. The median age for female arcade players was 26, with a quarter under 16, a quarter between 16–25, 42% between 26–40 and 8% over 40.[61]
  • How to Win Video Games estimated that men were 95% of
    Defender and 90% of Omega Race players, while women were half the players of Centipede, Donkey Kong, and three other games.[63]
  • In 1983, researcher John W. Trinkaus published findings that there were 8 male players to every 3 female players in video game arcades.[66][67]
  • In 1983, a Coleco executive stated at the Boston Computer Society that the target audience for the new Adam home computer, based on its ColecoVision console, was "boys age 8 to 16 and their fathers. We believe those are the two groups that really fuel computer purchases". When audience members booed, he added that the marketing strategy was based on consumer research.[68]
  • In 1983, the first computer game specifically written for young girls Jenny of the Prairie was released.
  • In 1988, Epyx CEO
    playtesting.[69]
  • In 1988, Playthings reported that among primary video game users, women represented 21% of all gamers.[70]
  • In 1988, a study by Nintendo reported that 27% of NES players in the United States were female.[71]
  • A 1993 self-reported survey by Computer Gaming World found that 7% of its readers were female.[72]
  • In 1994, a survey by Electronic Games reported that, among American women gamers, the Sega Genesis was most popular, with 75% ownership, followed by the SNES with 58.3% ownership, the Game Boy with 58%, and MS-DOS with 50%.[73]
  • In 1996, Mattel, Inc. released Barbie Fashion Designer, selling over 600,000 copies. The game was considered an important step in advancing an interest in the design of games for women.[74]
  • In 1998, The Boston Globe stated that the video game market for young girls was "exploding" with titles such as The American Girls Premiere.[75]
  • In 2006, Nintendo reported that 44% of Nintendo DS owners were female, with the majority of Nintendogs owners being female.[76]

Self-identification as gamers

While 48% of women in the United States report having played a video game, only 6% identify as

PC gamers in the U.S. consider themselves to be core or hardcore gamers.[77][78] In 2012, an EEDAR survey found that nearly 60% of mobile gamers were women and that 63% of these female mobile gamers played online multiplayer mobile games.[79]

Connotations of "gamer" with sexism on the fringe of gaming culture has caused women to be less willing to adopt the label.[80] "Girl gamers" or "gamer girls" is a label for women who regularly play games. While some critics have advocated use of the label as a reappropriated term,[81] others have described the term as unhelpful,[82][83] offensive, and even harmful or misleading. The word "girl", for example, has been seen as an inherently age-linked term that glosses over the difference between women over 30 and younger women.[84] The term "girl gamer" rather than simply "gamer" has also been described as perpetuating the minority position of female gamers.[81] For many critics uncomfortable with the term "girl gamer", its over-embracing may lead to the perpetuation of negative stereotypes[81] of female gamers as oversexualized, casual, and sometimes defiant or confrontational.[85][86] This in turn can result in poor game design.[84] These critics submit that there is no single definition of a female gamer, and that women gamers are as diverse as any other group of people.[87]

A lack of role models for female gamers[88] contributes to a feeling that they should edit their femininity to maintain credibility as a gamer, and that they must fit into the caricatured role of the "girl gamer" to be accepted.[81] Negative stereotyping of female video game players as "girl gamers often comes from male gamers who have been negatively stereotyped by the broader society.[81] Social stigma against games has influenced some women to distance themselves from the term "gamer", even though they may play regularly.[89][90][91][92] Parental influence has been theorized to perpetuate some of the stereotypes that female gamers face as boys are bought gifts like an Xbox while girls are bought girl-focused games like Barbie or educational games.[89]

Controversially, some critics such as Simon Parkin have suggested that the term "gamer" is endemic to the stereotypical male audience and has become outmoded by the industry's changing demographics.[92][93]

Genre preferences

There are differences between the video game genres preferred, on average, by women and men. A 2017 report by the video game analytics company Quantic Foundry, based on surveys of about 270,000 gamers, found varying proportions of male and female players within different game genres. The study didn't attribute the cause of differences in percentages to gender alone, stating a correlation between games less played by women and features that discourage women, such as a lack of female protagonists, required communication with strangers online, or tendency to cause motion sickness.[94] The study also mentioned that, within the same genre, some specific games show a noticeably higher or lower percentage of women than other similar titles. A content analysis report of 571 games released between 1983 and 2014 with playable female characters touches on one of the possible reasons behind a lack of women in certain video game genres; women may choose to avoid certain genres depicting female characters in a negative light, such as oversexualization, in order not to become part of a "self-perpetuating cycle".[95][96]

The study reported the following proportions of male and female gamers with respect to specific genres:

Genre Women Men Outlier games within the genre
Match-3
69% 31% Candy Crush Saga (83% women)
Family or farming simulator 69% 31%
Casual puzzle 42% 58%
Atmospheric
exploration
41% 59%
Interactive drama
37% 63%
High fantasy MMO 36% 64%
Japanese RPG
33% 66%
Western RPG 26% 74% Dragon Age: Inquisition (48% women)
Survival roguelike 25% 75%
Platformer 25% 75%
City-building 22% 78%
Action RPG
20% 80%
Sandbox 18% 82%
Action-adventure 18% 82%
Sci-fi MMO 16% 84% Star Wars: The Old Republic (29% women)
Open world 14% 86% Assassin’s Creed Syndicate (27% women)
Turn-based strategy 11% 89%
MOBA
10% 90%
Grand strategy 07% 93%
First-person shooter 07% 93%
Racing
06% 94% Mario Kart Tour (40% women)
Tactical shooter 04% 96%
Sports
02% 98%

While male audiences prefer fast-paced, explosive action and combat,[83] women tend to prefer in-game communication[84] and interpersonal relationships (character development and plot dynamics).[83] Women have also been shown to prefer role-playing video games to first-person shooters,[83] and Thomas W. Malone of Stanford University found that girls preferred to play a Hangman video game over a darts simulation that boys enjoyed.[97]

In-game activities may also differ between the sexes in games with less linear plots such as the Grand Theft Auto series.[98] Women are often characterized as preferring story-driven games or constructive games like The Sims or Civilization, but this is not universally true.[87] In 2013, Variety reported that 30% of women were playing more violent games. Of this 30%, 20% played Call of Duty and 15% played Grand Theft Auto.[10] There has been persistent female interest in action-adventure games and MMORPGs like World of Warcraft and Second Life.[84] Compared to men, female MMORPG players tend to place more emphasis on socialization relative to achievement-oriented play. This emphasis on socialization extends beyond just the game itself: In a study published in the Journal of Communication in 2009, researchers found that 61% of female MMORPG players played with a romantic partner, compared to 24% of men.[99]

According to data collected by Quantic Foundry in 2016, the primary motivations why people play video games differ, on average, by gender. While men frequently want most to compete with others and destroy things, women often want most to complete challenges and immerse themselves in other worlds:[100]

Primary motivation Description Women Men
Completion Finishing everything, finding all collectibles and locations 17% 10%
Fantasy Immersion in and exploring other worlds 16% 09%
Design Expressing themselves, building or customizing things 15% 06%
Community Socializing and collaborating with others 10% 09%
Story Elaborate narrative, well-developed characters 09% 06%
Destruction Blowing things up, creating chaos 08% 12%
Discovery Asking "what if?", looking for novel outcomes 07% 06%
Competition Competing with other players 05% 14%
Strategy Decision-making and planning, balancing resources and goals 05% 08%
Power Maximizing power in the game, obtaining the best items 04% 06%
Excitement Action, thrills, fast-paced gameplay 03% 06%
Challenge Exercising personal skill and ability, requiring practice 03% 07%

While video games and advertising were initially gender-neutral, advertising began to narrow its focus to young boys as a target market following the video game crash of 1983.[1][90][101] Although commercial hits such as Myst and The Sims appealed to women, these were nonetheless seen by some as being outside the gaming mainstream. Critic Ian Bogost opined, "We're looking at where there isn't diversity and we're saying those games are the most valid games."[1] Industry studies on the lack of women in gaming have also suffered at times from biases of interpretation. Kevin Kelly of Joystiq has suggested that a high degree of circular reasoning is evident when male developers use focus groups and research numbers to determine what kinds of games girls play. After making a bad game that targets those areas suggested by the marketing research, the game's lack of popularity among both genders is often attributed to the incorrect prejudice that "girls don't play games" rather than the true underlying problems such as poor quality and playability of the game. Whereas market data and research are important to reveal that markets exist, argues Kelly, they shouldn't be the guiding factor in how to make a game that appeals to girls.[87] The argument has also been advanced that emphasis on market research is often skewed by the participants in the study. In studies on male gamers of the baby boomer generation, for example, players displayed a marked aversion to violence. The incorrect conclusion that could be drawn from this result—that men dislike violent games—may also be comparable to incorrect conclusions drawn from some female-oriented gaming studies.[84] It has been suggested that developers can learn what girls want in a game by observing similarities in how different girl teams will react to and modify a game if given the opportunity.[84]

The Casio Loopy, created by Casio and released in October 1995 in Japan, was unique in that the marketing for it was completely targeted to female gamers.[102]

In the past, "

Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?, or the King's Quest games to "girl games".[88][103]

In examining game play habits at Internet cafés, South Korea has seen a rise in female gamers publicly playing games such as Lineage, while in other Asian countries this kind of public female gaming has remained rare; similarly, games such as Tamagotchi are seen as a gender neutral in Japan, but have been regarded as girls' games in the West.[84] In other cases, female trends in one country may be indicators of associated changes in others, as in the case of a rising number of female Lineage players in Korea having led to increased number of female Lineage players in Taiwan. In Japan the rise of cute culture and its associated marketing has made gaming accessible for girls, and this trend has also carried over to Taiwan and recently China (both countries previously having focused mostly on MMOs and where parents usually place harsher restrictions on daughters than on sons).[84]

Skill levels

An aspect of game design that has been identified as negatively impacting female interest is the degree of expertise with gaming conventions and familiarity with game controls required to play the game.[89] In-game tutorials have been found to bring both sexes into games faster,[87] and new controllers such as Nintendo's Wii Remote, Microsoft's Kinect, and the various rhythm game controllers have affected demographics by making games easier to pick up and provide a better level playing-field.[89] This trend has continued through the efforts of Nintendo in its release of the Wii.[105] Leigh Alexander argued that appealing to women does not necessarily entail reduced difficulty or complexity.[106] The perceived skill or performance gap between men and women may be fueled by other factors besides gender. In a 2016 study published in the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, researchers found that, after controlling for confounds such as the amount of play time and guild membership, women players advance at least as fast as men do in two MMOs, the Western EverQuest II and the Chinese Chevaliers' Romance III.[107]

Male behavior towards female gamers

A 2015 study found that lower-skilled male players of Halo 3 were more hostile towards teammates with a female voice, but behaved more submissively to players with a male voice. Higher-skilled male players, on the other hand, behaved more positively towards female players. The authors argued the male hostility towards female gamers in terms of evolutionary psychology, writing, "female-initiated disruption of a male hierarchy incites hostile behaviour from poor performing males who stand to lose the most status".[108] In another study, it was found that female gamers who score lower on the synthesis dimension of feminist identity hold internalized misogyny, while female gamers who score higher are more resistant against it. Though this study pertains only to popular console video games, the results gives a possible reason as to why certain female players may continue playing despite hostile male attitudes in online games.[109]

Women in competitive gaming

PAX South 2016, Texas, U.S.

The top female players in competitive gaming mainly get exposure in female-only tournaments, including such games as Counter-Strike, Dead or Alive 4, and StarCraft II.

  • Canadian StarCraft II player
    Sasha Hostyn (Scarlett) first gained notoriety in the open qualifiers of IGN ProLeague 4, where she defeated top-tier Korean players. She is well known for being one of the few non-Korean players who can play at the same skill level as male Korean players.[110]
  • In 2012,
    Street Fighter x Tekken player Aris Bakhtanians commented on the lack of female players in the community, saying "sexual harassment is part of a culture, and if you remove that from the fighting game community, it's not the fighting game community."[111] He later apologized for his comments.[112]
  • In 2014, organizers for a
    Hearthstone tournament in Finland were criticized for limiting registrations to male players only.[113] This was due to the tournament being an offline qualifier for the IeSF World Championship, with its Hearthstone tournament open only to male players. The winner of the Finnish qualifier would risk not being eligible to participate in the main event if that player were female.[114] The IeSF organization ultimately removed the male-only restriction from all of their tournaments, and in turn the Finnish qualifier that originally sparked the controversy also removed this restriction.[115]
  • In December 2015, Kayla "Squizzy" Squires became the first female Call of Duty player to turn professional upon qualifying for the Call of Duty World League in the Australian region.[116]
  • Maria "Remilia" Creveling, finished first in the 2015 Challenger Series Summer Split along with her teammates Renegades, which qualified the team for the 2016 North America League Championship Series (NA LCS) Spring Split.[117] She became both the first woman and also the first transgender player to compete professionally in the (NA LCS). She joined Renegades as their support player but decided to step down from the team's starting roster three weeks into the 2016 (NA LCS) Spring Split citing anxiety and self-esteem issues as part of her reasoning behind leaving the team.[118][119]
  • On March 17, 2016, the esports organization Team Secret entered the CS:GO competitive scene with female player Julia "juliano" Kiran as the in-game leader.[120] They proceeded to win the female tournament at Copenhagen Games 2016.[121]

Women in the video game industry

Video game composer, Kumi Tanioka in 2007
Siobhan Reddy speaking at the 2019 Game Developers Conference
Robin Hunicke speaking at the 2018 Game Developers Conference

Women have been part of the video game industry since the 1960s.

Sierra On-Line.[123]

In 1989, according to

Gamasutra's Game Developer Salary Survey 2014, women in the United States made 86 cents for every dollar men made. Game-designing women had the closest equity, making 96 cents for every dollar men made in the same job.[124] Women in game audio make approximately 90 cents for every dollar that men made, according to GameSoundCon's Audio Industry Survey for 2019, although women in general have 2.4 years less experience than men in audio. However accounting for the experience difference, "the cost of being female [in game audio] is 2.15 years of experience."[125] Women and non-binary people make up approximately 14% of game audio professionals[126]

The following table shows the proportion of women among game developers in several countries in 2005 to 2010.[127]

Country Year Percentage
Japan 2010 12.8%[128][full citation needed]
Canada 2005 10–15%[129]
Australia 2010 >10%[130][failed verification]
United States 2005 11.5%[131]
UK
2009 4%[132]

Support groups for women in the video game industry

WIGSIG (Women In Games Special Interest Group)

WIGSIG is a special interest group of IDGA (International Game Developers Association). The group was formed in order to foster a positive impact on the game industry regarding gender balance in the workplace and/or marketplace. It provides a community, resources, and opportunities for people in the gaming industry. It also works to assess the numbers of the women in the games industry and tracks the changes of these numbers over time. Additionally, it works to recruit women into the games industry and make the field more attractive to women while providing them with the support and connections they need to be successful.[133]

Women in Games International

Founded in 2005, Women in Games International (WIGI), made up of both female and male professionals, works to promote the inclusion and advancement of women in the global games industry. WIGI promotes diversity in video game development, publishing, media, education, and workplaces, based on a fundamental belief that increased equality and camaraderie among genders can make global impacts for superior products, more consumer enjoyment, and a stronger gaming industry. Women In Games International stands as strong advocates for issues crucial to the success of women and men in the games industry, including a better work/life balance, healthy working conditions, increased opportunities for success, and resources for career support.[134][135]

WIGJ (Women In Games Jobs)

WIGJ is a group that works to recruit, preserve, and provide support for the advancement of women in the games industry by positively and energetically endorsing female role models and providing encouragement and information to women interested in working in the gaming field. The group was incorporated under the UK's Companies Act 2006 on June 2, 2011, as a "not for profit" or Community Interest Company. Companies in the game development industry have, in recent years, been seeking to balance the gender ratios on development teams, and consoles like the Wii and Nintendo DS have seen increased numbers of female players. In addition to using this growing interest in women in the game-developing industry, WIGJ works to put more women in traditional game development with less stigma attached to them. WIGJ seeks to help women find their place within the growing and rewarding field of game development.[136]

Treatment of women in the industry

Women had generally always been a minority demographic of the video game development community and work in a male-dominated culture; as of 2021, while women make up at least half of all video game players, they represent only about 25% of all developers.[137]

In the early days of video game history among the 1970s and 1980s, due to the more casual nature of relationships between genders due to the

Sexual Revolution, many stories had emerged from companies like Atari, Inc. where female employees were treated more as sexual objects than fellow employees. Notable, Atari's founder Nolan Bushnell had been nominated for a Pioneer Award for the 2019 Game Developers Choice Awards, but several advocates came forward to denounce this, given the stories of the sexist atmosphere Bushnell had promoted at Atari. While Bushnell accepted to decline the award and apologized to anyone he may have offended in the past, other former female Atari employees stepped forward to defend Bushnell, stating that they all voluntarily participating in that workplace culture, though acknowledging its acceptability had long since passed.[138][139]

The 2014

Me Too movement in the 2010s, the Gamergate controversy was seen as a potential prelude to the industry experiencing its own Me Too moment as to come to recognize the hostility that women in the industry often faced. However, by 2018, as recognized by Keza MacDonald of The Guardian, "The video games industry has not yet had its #MeToo moment."[141]

While some individual stories of specific developers being accused of sexual misconduct against female coworkers occurred from 2014 to 2018, the industry saw its first major wide-scale incident occur later in 2018.

Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) found that there was more issues at Riot than previously disclosed, and challenged the settlement arguing that the employees were due a larger compensation for Riot's past behavior as much as $400 million.[144] The class withdrew from the prior settlement and as of February 2021 are continuing to seek legal action against Riot.[145]

The situation at Riot subsequently led to a scenario in August 2019 when several female and non-binary developers separately stepped forward to accuse coworkers and others in the industry of sexual misconduct. The number of accusations was considered a first major turning point of the industry having to deal with long-standing problems of how women were treated by the industry.[146]

In early 2020, several Ubisoft employees accused numerous executives of sexual misconduct and that the company's human resources department did little to respond to internal complaints.[147] Internal reviews of these complaints led to the dismissal of several executives and managing studio directors over 2020 and a commitment by the company to better heed these issues, though the company was still sued by a French labor union group in 2021 as they had found very little had changed within the company as a result of the complaints and subsequent changes.[148]

Activision Blizzard also came under scrutiny by the California DFEH in July 2021, where they filed a legal complaint against the company based on a two-year investigation for maintaining a "frat boy" culture that promoted sexual misconduct against female employees within the company and discouraging promotions of women.[149][150] Initial responses to the DFEH by current management appeared to dismiss the concerns of the lawsuit, leading to both employees within the company demanding that management treat the complaints as valid, as well as contempt by outside groups against Activision and Blizzard products.[151][152]

Despite the incidents with Riot and Ubisoft, these had not yet had a larger effect on the industry as of 2021, and generally were dismissed by the larger media, in contrast to stories of sexual misconduct that occurred in film or television in earlier Me Too events. These companies had some turbulent months as these suits or incidents were brought forward but otherwise appeared to try to cover up the situation and return to the status quo as quickly as possible.[137]

Women in video game streaming


The relationship between women and

video game live streaming has been characterized by various dynamics. With the increasing popularity of streaming platforms such as YouTube and Twitch , female gamers have become more prevalent in this space. Research suggests that women make up 52% of the gaming population,[153] yet they may still be less visible[how?] within the dominant gaming culture, possibly due to prevailing stereotypes linking gaming with masculinity.[154]

Gender disparity

Critics attribute the seeming lack of female interest in video games to the negative

portrayal of women in video games and to misogynistic attitudes common among professional and hardcore gamers.[155][unreliable source?] A 2012 Twitter discussion among women working in games, collated under the hashtag #1reasonwhy, argued that sexist practices such as the over-sexualization of female characters, disinterest in topics that matter to women, as well as workplace harassment and unequal pay for men and women were common in the games industry.[156][157][158]

Regarding elements of game design, areas such as gameplay, mechanics, and similar features have been described as gender neutral; however, presentational aspects of games have been identified as strongly gender-linked. Specifically, gaming is often seen as fantasy and escapism in which empathy and identification with the character is much more easily achieved if the character shares the same gender as the player.[81] Gamers of both genders tend to crave realism and the more realistic the gender of the character, the easier it is for a player to identify with the character.[82] A 2009 academic study published in New Media & Society, however, found that 85% of playable characters in video games are male.[89][159] Erin Hamilton argues that part of the problem comes from the difficulty in "juxtaposing femininity and feminism in a good video game."[83] When female characters do appear in video games, they are regarded by some as presenting unhealthy messages concerning unrealistic body images and provocative sexual and violent behaviors for players of both genders.[160] Stereotypical female behaviors such as giggling or sighing are often presented non-ironically, and this might lead young children (especially girls who identify with the female character) to think that this is how girls are supposed to look and act.[161] Furthermore, over-sexualized depictions[82][89] of scantily clad female video game characters such as Tomb Raider's Lara Croft[83] are not appealing to some girls.[87][162] However, females still composed 40% of early Tomb Raider players, and some enjoyed seeing a "beautiful woman who was so powerful and in control."[163]

Although some of the population of male gamers have been the source of

harassment towards female gamers and over-sexualization of the characters,[164] many men in the gaming industry agree that there is a problem with female over-sexualization in gaming.[165] There are also male gamers who argue that some of the sexualization of women in video games also applies to men in video games and that portraying a man or woman in a video game in a sexual way can be acceptable if done in the right context.[166] Perceptions about stereotypes concerning gamers themselves also vary among genders, as well as playing frequency of game genres. A study in the Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media said that women who play a lot of video games disagree more with stereotypes concerning gender in gaming and are more strongly drawn towards specific gaming genres than men, regardless of the men's gaming frequency.[167]

Effects

The concept that

gaming genres particularly lacking in female players such as the first-person shooter game have been shown to increase spatial skills thereby giving advantages to players of the games that are currently skewed along gender lines.[89] Video games have also been determined to provide an easy lead-in to computer literacy for children, and correlations have been drawn between male video gaming and the predominance of male workers within the computer industry.[104] With the increasing importance of tech jobs in the 21st century and the increased role of online networking, the lack of female video game players suggests a loss of future career opportunities for women.[89]

Video games have also been used in academic settings to help develop the confidence of young girls in expressing their individual voices online and in their real lives. Video games that promote creative thinking and multiplayer interactions (e.g., Minecraft) have helped young girls to communicate sense of authority and confidence in their social and academic lives.[169][170]

Responses

The majority of the people who work on game development teams are men.

Her Interactive, Silicon Sisters and Purple Moon have openly courted female coders and developers.[103][104]

In addressing the future of the medium, many researchers have argued for the improvement of the gaming industry to appeal to a more general gender-neutral audience and others have suggested that the appeal should be directed to women in particular.[81][83][174] One of the earliest attempts to broaden the market to include women could be seen in Sega's[83] use of the increased number of female protagonists in fighting games.[104] Other examples of this include games like Mass Effect 3, Remember Me, and the Last of Us, which include a female option for the main character.[175] The decision to use strong female characters in important roles, however, is often met with skepticism by marketers concerned with sales.[176] Examination of IGN's "Big Games at E3 2012"[177] and "Big Games at E3 2013"[178] shows growth of the female protagonist in video games, rising 4% from 2012 to 2013.[179] Other efforts outside of making games with female characters have also started to occur. One example is that Women in Games International has teamed up with the Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles in order to create a video game patch, which the two organizations hope will encourage Girl Scouts to develop an interest in science, technology, engineering, and math.[180] Activism and specifically female-targeted LAN parties in Scandinavia have helped boost female game playing.[84]

Women in Esports

Gaming has long been seen as a male-dominated hobby. However, 2021 research done by the Entertainment Software Association found that 45% of American gamers are female. There are now a number of professional esports leagues and tournaments that feature female gamers. Some of the most popular esports leagues and tournaments that feature female gamers include:[181]

  • The International is an annual Dota 2 tournament that is considered to be the most prestigious esports tournament in the world. In 2019, the tournament featured a female-only team, which was the first time that a female-only team had competed in the tournament.
  • The Overwatch League is a professional Overwatch league that features teams from all over the world. In 2020, the league announced that it would be creating a female-only league, which is set to launch in 2023.
  • The Call of Duty League is a professional Call of Duty league that features teams from all over the world. In 2021, the league announced that it would be creating a female-only league, which is set to launch in 2022.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The ESA was known as the Interactive Digital Software Association (IDSA) prior to 16 July 2003.
  2. ^ ESAC-reported Canadian female to male gamer ratios:[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]
  3. ^ IDSA/ESA-reported USA female to male gamer ratios per platform - Video gaming:[26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44]
  4. ^ IDSA/ESA-reported USA female to male gamer ratios per platform - PC gaming:[45][46][47][48][49][50]
  5. ^ IDSA/ESA-reported USA female to male gamer ratios per platform - Console gaming:[45][46][47][48][49][50]
  6. ^ IDSA/ESA-reported USA female to male gamer ratios per platform - Online gaming:[27][28][29][30][31][32][33]

References

  1. ^ a b c Lien, Tracey (December 2, 2013). "No Girls Allowed". Polygon. Archived from the original on February 22, 2017. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
  2. ^ Grundberg, Sven; Hansegard, Jens (20 August 2014). "Women Now Make Up Almost Half of Gamers". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 17 January 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
  3. ^ Sullivan, Gail (August 22, 2014). "Study: More women than teenage boys are gamers". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on August 22, 2016. Retrieved November 15, 2016.
  4. ^ a b Duggan, Maeve (15 December 2015). "Gaming and Gamers". Pew Research Center. Archived from the original on 2015-12-19. Retrieved 2015-12-15.
  5. ^ Romano, Aja (2014). "Adult women are now the largest demographic in gaming". The Daily Dot. Nicholas White. Archived from the original on March 7, 2016. Retrieved September 9, 2016.
  6. ^ Lenhart, Amanda; Kahna, Joseph; Middaugh, Ellen; Macgill, Alexandra Rankin; Evans, Chris; Vitak, Jessica (16 September 2008), Teens, Video Games, and Civics (PDF), Washington D.C.: Pew Research Center, archived (PDF) from the original on 12 July 2013, retrieved 11 November 2014
  7. ^ Lenhart, Amanda; Jones, Sydney; Macgill, Alexandra Rankin (7 December 2008), Pew Internet Project Data Memo (PDF), Pew Research Center, archived (PDF) from the original on 12 July 2013, retrieved 11 November 2014
  8. ^ Not just dudes: 38% of Xbox users female, 51% have kids, Geek Wire, 2013, archived from the original on 2013-10-23, retrieved 2013-10-20
  9. ^ Frank, Allegra (4 November 2015). "New survey findings show more women own game consoles than men". Polygon. Archived from the original on 6 November 2015. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
  10. ^ a b c d Marc Graser (2013), Videogame Biz: Women Still Very Much in the Minority, Variety, archived from the original on 2016-05-04, retrieved 2013-10-20
  11. ^ "UK Video Games Fact Sheet" (PDF). The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment. 26 August 2016. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 April 2016. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
  12. ^ "2006 Sales, Demographics and Usage Data – Essential Facts About the Canadian Computer & Video Game Industry Archived 2013-06-18 at the Wayback Machine." Entertainment Software Association of Canada. Pg.5. 2006.
  13. ^ "2007 Sales, Demographics and Usage Data – Essential Facts About the Canadian Computer & Video Game Industry Archived 2013-06-18 at the Wayback Machine." Entertainment Software Association of Canada. Pg.5. 2007.
  14. ^ "Essential Facts About the Canadian Computer and Video Game Industry – 2008." Entertainment Software Association of Canada. Pg.2. 2008.
  15. ^ "2009 Essential Facts About the Canadian Computer and Video Game Industry Archived 2014-10-06 at the Wayback Machine." Entertainment Software Association of Canada. Pg.4. 2009.
  16. ^ "2010 Essential Facts About the Canadian Computer and Video Game Industry Archived 2014-10-06 at the Wayback Machine." Entertainment Software Association of Canada. Pg.8. 2010.
  17. ^ "2011 Essential Facts About the Canadian Computer and Video Game Industry Archived 2013-11-26 at the Wayback Machine." Entertainment Software Association of Canada. Pg.14. 2011.
  18. ^ a b "Essential Facts 2012 Archived 2014-10-05 at the Wayback Machine." Entertainment Software Association of Canada. Pg.3. 2012.
  19. ^ a b "2013 Essential Facts About the Canadian Video Game Industry Archived 2013-10-28 at the Wayback Machine." Entertainment Software Association of Canada. Pp.16-17. 2013.
  20. ^ "2014 Essential Facts About the Canadian Video Game Industry Archived 2015-01-21 at the Wayback Machine." Entertainment Software Association of Canada. Pg.15. 2014.
  21. ^ "2015 Essential Facts About the Canadian Video Game Industry Archived 2015-12-08 at the Wayback Machine." Entertainment Software Association of Canada. Pg.14. 2015.
  22. ^ "Essential Facts 2016 Archived 2016-12-01 at the Wayback Machine." Entertainment Software Association of Canada. Pg.4. 2016.
  23. ^ "Essential Facts About the Canadian Video Game Industry! 2017 Archived 2017-12-04 at the Wayback Machine." Entertainment Software Association of Canada. Pg.10. 2017.
  24. ^ "Essential Facts About the Canadian Video Game Industry 2018 Archived 2018-11-04 at the Wayback Machine." Entertainment Software Association of Canada. Pg.2. 2018.
  25. ^ "Real Canadian Gamer Essential Facts 2020". Entertainment Software Association of Canada. Pg.7. 2020.
  26. Interactive Digital Software Association
    . 2000.
  27. ^ a b "2004 Sales, Demographics and Usage Data – Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry." Entertainment Software Association. Pg.2. 2004.
  28. ^ a b "2005 Sales, Demographics and Usage Data – Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry." Entertainment Software Association. Pg.3. 2005.
  29. ^ a b "2006 Sales, Demographic and Usage Data – Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry Archived 2014-11-13 at the Wayback Machine." Entertainment Software Association. Pg.3. 2006.
  30. ^ a b "2007 Sales, Demographic and Usage Data – Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry Archived 2014-06-24 at the Wayback Machine." Entertainment Software Association. Pg.3. 2007.
  31. ^ a b "2008 Sales, Demographic and Usage Data – Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry Archived 2014-10-18 at the Wayback Machine." Entertainment Software Association. Pg.3. 2008.
  32. ^ a b "2009 Sales, Demographic and Usage Data – Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry Archived 2009-06-11 at the Wayback Machine." Entertainment Software Association. Pg.3. 2009.
  33. ^ a b "2010 Sales, Demographic and Usage Data – Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry." Entertainment Software Association. Pg.3. 2010.
  34. ^ "2011 Sales, Demographic and Usage Data – Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry Archived 2014-10-20 at the Wayback Machine." Entertainment Software Association. Pg.3. 2011.
  35. ^ a b "2012 Sales, Demographic and Usage Data – Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry Archived 2017-12-09 at the Wayback Machine." Entertainment Software Association. Pg.3. 2012.
  36. ^ a b "2013 Sales, Demographic and Usage Data – Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry Archived 2014-11-26 at the Wayback Machine." Entertainment Software Association. Pg.3. 2013.
  37. ^ "2014 Sales, Demographic, and Usage Data – Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry Archived 2014-10-11 at the Wayback Machine." Entertainment Software Association. Pg.3. 2014.
  38. ^ "2015 Sales, Demographic and Usage Data – Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry Archived 2015-11-26 at the Wayback Machine." Entertainment Software Association. Pg.3. 2015.
  39. ^ "2016 Sales, Demographic and Usage Data – Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry Archived 2016-07-08 at the Wayback Machine." Entertainment Software Association. Pg.3. 2016.
  40. ^ "2017 Sales, Demographic, and Usage Data – Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry Archived 2017-07-20 at the Wayback Machine." Entertainment Software Association. Pg.7. 2017.
  41. ^ "2018 Sales, Demographic, and Usage Data – Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry Archived 2018-09-20 at the Wayback Machine." Entertainment Software Association. Pg.6. 2018.
  42. ^ "2019 Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry Archived 2019-08-03 at the Wayback Machine." Entertainment Software Association. Pg.7. 2019.
  43. ^ "2020 Essential Facts About the Video Game Industry Archived 2020-08-08 at the Wayback Machine." Entertainment Software Association. Pg.5. 2020.
  44. ^ "2022 Essential Facts About the Video Game Industry Archived 2022-06-07 at the Wayback Machine." Entertainment Software Association. Pg.2. 2022.
  45. ^
    E3 1997
    and reprinted in "The State of the Entertainment Software Industry: 1997—An IDSA Report," Computer Graphics World. Pg.10. July 1997.)
  46. ^
    Interactive Digital Software Association
    . 28 May 1998.
  47. ^
    Interactive Digital Software Association
    . Pg.5. 1999.
  48. ^
    Interactive Digital Software Association
    . 17 May 2001.
  49. ^
    Interactive Digital Software Association
    . Pg.5. 2002.
  50. ^
    Interactive Digital Software Association
    . Pg.3. 2003.
  51. ^ Brand, Jeffrey E.; Pascaline Lorentz; and Trishita Mathew. "Digital Australia DA14 Archived 2016-07-21 at the Wayback Machine." Interactive Games & Entertainment Association. Pg.3. 2014.
  52. ^ Brand, Jeffrey; S., Todhunter. "Digital Australia (2016)" (PDF). www.IGEA.net. Interactive Games & Entertainment Association 2015. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 January 2017. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  53. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Bosmans, Dirk and Paul Maskell. "Videogames in Europe: Consumer Study Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine." Interactive Software Federation of Europe. Pp.11, 36-51. November 2012.
  54. ^ "Essential Facts 2016" (PDF). Entertainment Software Association of Canada. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 December 2016. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  55. ^ a b c "Tech in Asia - Connecting Asia's startup ecosystem". Archived from the original on 2017-03-12. Retrieved 2015-08-06.
  56. ^ a b c d "GameTrack Digest: Quarter 1 2016" (PDF). Interactive Software Federation of Europe. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 December 2016. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  57. ^ Brand, Jeffrey E.; Pascaline Lorentz; and Trishita Mathew. "Digital New Zealand DNZ14 Archived 2014-05-05 at the Wayback Machine." Interactive Games & Entertainment Association. Pg.3. 2014.
  58. ^ Brand, Jeffrey; S., Todhunter. "Digital Australia (2016)" (PDF). Interactive Software Federation of Europe. Interactive Games & Entertainment Association 2015. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 August 2016. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  59. ^ "ESSENTIAL FACTS ABOUT THE COMPUTER AND VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY" (PDF). www.theesa.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 January 2019. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  60. ^ Morris, Chris (March 3, 2011). "Five Things You Never Knew About Pac-Man". CNBC. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved December 30, 2016.
  61. ^ a b Worley, Joyce (May 1982). "Women Join the Arcade Revolution". Electronic Games. 1 (3): 30–33.
  62. Cash Box
    . Cash Box Pub. Co. pp. 52–56 (56).
  63. ^ .
  64. Gamasutra
    . Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  65. ISSN 0022-3840 (Presented as "Amusement Arcades: Video Games and Differences in Male and Female Participation" before the North Central Sociological Association
    . Detroit Michigan. May 1982 annual meeting.)
  66. ^ Coleco Presents The Adam Computer System. YouTube. 2016-05-03 [1983-09-28]. Event occurs at 44:30. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. We're doing that with five new television commercials, which have just been completed, and which will be shown in conjunction with the Adam launch date. These commercials are each directed to our target audience, which is composed of our friendly neighborhood children, boys age 8 to 16 and their fathers. We believe those are the two groups that really fuel computer purchases, [boos] and we've directed right at 'em [more boos] - oh, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. Women, we've a commercial for you, trust me, but the key point is that our research, which is consumer research, directed that thought [inaudible] from the research, and we've directed our commercials at that target user group.
  67. ^ Ferrell, Keith; Keizer, Gregg (September 1988). "Epyx Grows with David Morse". Compute!. p. 10. Retrieved November 10, 2013.
  68. ^ Main, Peter (1 October 1988), Column: How high is up for video games? (forecast for 1989), Playthings
  69. ^ "Video Game: Past, Present and Future. An Industry Overview".
  70. ^ "What You've Been Playing Lately". Computer Gaming World. 1993-04-01. p. 176. Archived from the original on 2014-07-02. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  71. ^ Electronic Games, issue 23 (August 1994), pages 36-42
  72. ISSN 0007-1013
    .
  73. ^ Muller, Joann (March 29, 1998). "VIRTUAL EQUALITY? SOFTWARE FIRMS FIND NEW NICHE: GAMES FOR GIRLS". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on October 8, 2016 – via Highbeam.
  74. ^ Jordan, Jon (27 October 2006). "How DS created a new generation of girl gamers". Pocket Gamer. Retrieved 2022-05-19.
  75. ^ "Researchers find that female PC gamers outnumber males". Pc Gamer. 29 October 2014. Archived from the original on 2015-12-18. Retrieved 2015-10-27.
  76. ^ "SuperData Research - Games data and market research » Why ALL gamers matter — my view as a female games analyst". Archived from the original on 2015-12-24. Retrieved 2015-10-27.
  77. ^ "Nearly 60% of mobile gamers are women, says analyst". Vg247.com. 3 October 2012. Archived from the original on 2015-04-15. Retrieved 2015-04-09.
  78. ^ McPhate, Mike (16 December 2015). "Women Who Play Games Shun 'Gamer' Label". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2017-07-08. Retrieved 2017-03-03.
  79. ^ a b c d e f g Bendixsen, Stephanie 'Hex'. Games 4 Girlz? Archived 2016-11-09 at the Wayback Machine. ABC. 16 February 2011.
  80. ^ a b c Ng, Amy. What it takes to entice the female gamer Archived 2016-03-17 at the Wayback Machine. CNN. 25 May 1998.
  81. ^ a b c d e f g h i Hamilton, Erin. "The Girl Gamer's Manifesto". GameSpot. 2008.
  82. ^
    Gamasutra
    . 18 May 2006.
  83. GamesRadar
    . 18 August 2008.
  84. Stuff.co.nz
    . 29 September 2008.
  85. ^ a b c d e Kelly, Kevin. SXSW: Getting Girls Into The Game: Designing and Marketing Games for Female Players Archived 2019-11-12 at the Wayback Machine. Joystiq (now readable on Engadget). 21 March 2007.
  86. ^ a b c Brown, Janelle. Girl Gamers: Sugar, Spice, Everything Profitable? Archived 2013-07-21 at the Wayback Machine. Wired. 19 November 1996.
  87. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Young, Nora & Misener, Dan. Repeat of Spark 126 – October 16 & 19, 2011: Games and Girls Archived 2014-10-06 at the Wayback Machine (Podcast available: Full Interview: Jennifer Jenson on Girls & Gaming Archived 2010-11-03 at the Wayback Machine). Spark. 7 November 2010.
  88. ^ from the original on 2015-11-23. Retrieved 2015-10-27.
  89. .
  90. ^ a b Parkin, Simon (December 9, 2013). "If you love games, you should refuse to be called a gamer". New Statesman. Archived from the original on November 17, 2015. Retrieved October 27, 2015.
  91. ^ Auerbach, David (4 September 2014). "Gaming Journalism Is Over". Archived from the original on 13 September 2014. Retrieved 27 October 2015 – via Slate.
  92. ^ Yee, Nick (19 January 2017). "Beyond 50/50: Breaking Down The Percentage of Female Gamers By Genre". Quantic Foundry. Archived from the original on 19 January 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2017. "For example, games on the bottom of the chart tend to not have female protagonists, tend to involve playing with strangers online, and tend to have a lot of rapid 3D movement which can lead to motion sickness (which women are more susceptible to). Low female gamer participation in certain genres may be a historical artifact of how motivations and presentation have been bundled together and marketed."
  93. ISSN 0021-9916
    .
  94. .
  95. ^ Malone, Thomas W. (December 1981). "What Makes Computer Games Fun?". BYTE. pp. 258–277. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  96. ^ "Grand Theft Auto 6: Meet Lucia!". XyberBara. February 6, 2024. Retrieved February 6, 2024.
  97. .
  98. ^ Yee, Nick (15 December 2016). "7 Things We Learned About Primary Gaming Motivations From Over 250,000 Gamers". Quantic Foundry. Archived from the original on 29 January 2017. Retrieved 20 January 2017.
  99. ^ Keogh, Brendan (Autumn 2015). "Hackers, gamers and cyborgs". overland.org.au. Archived from the original on 2015-08-23. Retrieved 2015-10-27.
  100. IGN.com. Archived
    from the original on 12 February 2018. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
  101. ^ a b c Yap, Tammy. What's So Great About Computer Games?. MIT. 2002.
  102. ^ a b c d Nzegwu, Uzoamaka. Gender and Computer/Video games Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine. Swarthmore. 15 May 2000.
  103. 1UP.com
    . 29 June 2009.
  104. ^ Alexander, Leigh (August 16, 2013). "Too many gamers think diversity means dumbing down – it's time to forget that outmoded view". Edge. Archived from the original on July 13, 2014.
  105. (PDF) from the original on 2020-03-14. Retrieved 2019-09-03.
  106. .
  107. .
  108. ^ "Meet Scarlett, the 20-year-old woman who's blazing trails in 'StarCraft'". The Daily Dot. dailydot.com. 21 December 2013. Archived from the original on 29 October 2016.
  109. ^ Kyle Orland (29 Feb 2012). "Is pervasive sexism holding the professional fighting game community back?". ARS Technica. Archived from the original on 7 December 2014. Retrieved 27 Dec 2014.
  110. ^ Casey Johnston (18 Feb 2014). "Women are gamers, but largely absent from "e-sports"". ARS Technica. Archived from the original on 9 November 2014. Retrieved 27 Dec 2014.
  111. ^ "Hearthstone gaming tournament bans women players – ignites 'sexism' row". theguardian.com. 2 July 2014. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
  112. ^ "Hearthstone tournament explains why women aren't allowed to play [updated]". pcgamer.com. 2 July 2014. Archived from the original on 7 September 2014. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
  113. ^ "IeSF removes male-only restriction from its e-sports tournaments". pcgamer.com. 3 July 2014. Archived from the original on 8 September 2014. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
  114. ^ "The First Female To Qualify For The Call Of Duty World League Is Australian". www.kotaku.com.au. 16 December 2015. Archived from the original on 17 December 2015. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  115. ^ "Sakuya on returning to competitive LoL and entering the Latin American scene". Archived from the original on 2017-01-06. Retrieved 2016-10-31.
  116. ^ JT Eberhard (August 15, 2015). "Professional League of Legends to get its first female and transgender player". Patheos. Archived from the original on November 20, 2016. Retrieved October 31, 2016.
  117. ^ LeJacq, Yannick (14 August 2015). "The League Of Legends Championship Series Has Its First Woman Player". Archived from the original on 2017-06-13. Retrieved 2016-10-31.
  118. ^ "GreatFrag - WeRunThisPlace signed by Team Secret". greatfrag.com. 17 March 2016. Archived from the original on 25 October 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  119. ^ "Copenhagen Games 2016 sind beendet". 99damage.de. 26 March 2016. Archived from the original on 25 October 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  120. ^ Willaert, Kate (2019-09-09). "The Sumerian Game: The Most Important Video Game You've Never Heard Of". A Critical Hit. Archived from the original on 2019-09-09. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
  121. ^ Sullentop, Chris (August 20, 2014). "Saluting the Women Behind the Screen". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 17, 2019. Retrieved August 21, 2019.
  122. Gamasutra. Archived
    from the original on January 27, 2016. Retrieved December 27, 2015.
  123. ^ Schmidt, Brian (2016-08-30). "Analysis: The Game Audio Gender Gap". gamesoundcon. Archived from the original on 2020-07-27. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
  124. ^ "Video Game Sound/Music Salary Data". gamesoundcon. Archived from the original on 2020-07-27. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
  125. ^ Okabe, Mimi (2016). Harnessing the Power of Persuasion: Strategies towards Increasing Women's Participation in Japan's Game Industry (Key Note Speech). Replaying Japan 2016. Leipzig, Germany.
  126. ^ Fujihara (2010)
  127. from the original on 18 January 2018. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  128. ^ Geneve, Anitza; Nelson, Karen J.; Christie, Ruth J. (12–13 June 2008). Girly girls and geeky guys. Investigating the Theory and Practice of Gender and Sexuality in the Workplace. Surrey, United Kingdom.
  129. ^ Gourdin, A. (2005). Game developers demographics: An exploration of workforce diversity (PDF) (Report). International Game Developers Association. p. 12. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
  130. ^ The results of the seventh census of the Creative Media Industries (PDF) (Report). CreativeSkillset.org. 2009. p. 16. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2014-09-13. (also available via the EIGE here Archived 2018-12-07 at the Wayback Machine)
  131. ^ "About | WIGSIG". Women.igda.org. Archived from the original on 2016-07-25. Retrieved 2015-04-08.
  132. ^ "missionstatement". getwigi.com. Archived from the original on 2016-09-21. Retrieved 2016-09-07.
  133. ^ "WIGI Home". Archived from the original on 2016-09-21. Retrieved 2016-09-07.
  134. ^ "(WIGJ) for more women in gaming". Womeningamesjobs.com. Archived from the original on 2015-04-14. Retrieved 2015-04-08.
  135. ^ a b Martens, Todd (July 27, 2021). "With the suit against Activision Blizzard, gaming faces another #MeToo moment. Will it finally bring change?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 27, 2021.
  136. ^ D'Anastasio, Cecilia (February 12, 2018). "Sex, Pong, And Pioneers: What Atari Was Really Like, According To Women Who Were There". Kotaku. Retrieved February 12, 2018.
  137. Venture Beat
    . Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  138. ^ Lewis, Helen (January 11, 2015). "Gamergate: a brief history of a computer-age war". The Guardian. Retrieved July 26, 2021.
  139. ^ MacDonald, Keza (January 24, 2018). "The video games industry isn't yet ready for its #MeToo moment". The Guardian. Retrieved July 26, 2021.
  140. ^ D'Anastasio, Cecilia (August 7, 2018). "Inside The Culture Of Sexism At Riot Games". Kotaku. Archived from the original on August 9, 2018. Retrieved August 8, 2018.
  141. ^ Dean, Sam (December 2, 2019). "Riot Games will pay $10 million to settle gender discrimination suit". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on December 2, 2019. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
  142. ^ Pettersson, Edvard (January 21, 2020). "California Slams $10 Million Riot Games Sex Bias Settlement". Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on January 23, 2020. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
  143. GamesIndustry.biz. Archived
    from the original on February 21, 2020. Retrieved February 21, 2020.
  144. ^ Webster, Andrew (August 27, 2019). "Several high-profile game developers publicly accused of sexual assault". The Verge. Retrieved July 26, 2021.
  145. ^ "Ubisoft: Sexual misconduct probe sees three senior heads resign". BBC. July 13, 2020. Retrieved July 26, 2021.
  146. GamesIndustry.biz
    . Retrieved May 23, 2021.
  147. ^ Allsup, Maeve (July 21, 2021). "Activision Blizzard Sued Over 'Frat Boy' culture, Harassment". Bloomberg Law.
  148. ^ "California sues Activision Blizzard over alleged harassment". BBC. July 21, 2021.
  149. Gamasutra
    . Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  150. ^ Chalk, Andy (July 26, 2021). "More than 1,500 Activision Blizzard employees condemn company leadership, call for 'compassion for victims'". PC Gamer. Retrieved July 26, 2021.
  151. ^ "52% of gamers are women – but the industry doesn't know it | Meg Jayanth". the Guardian. 18 September 2014. Archived from the original on 2018-02-26. Retrieved 2015-12-08.
  152. (PDF) from the original on 2018-07-19. Retrieved 2020-03-19.
  153. ^ Geordie Tait (16 September 2011). "To My Someday Daughter". Starcitygames.com. Archived from the original on 2012-11-17. Retrieved 2015-04-08.
  154. TIME magazine. Archived
    from the original on 30 November 2012. Retrieved 29 November 2012.
  155. ^ Plunkett, Luke (27 November 2012). "Here's a Devastating Account of the Crap Women in the Games Business Have to Deal With. In 2012". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 29 November 2012. Retrieved 29 November 2012.
  156. ^ Hamilton, Mary (28 November 2012). "#1reasonwhy: the hashtag that exposed games industry sexism". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 23 September 2013. Retrieved 29 November 2012.
  157. S2CID 18036858
    .
  158. Stuff.co.nz
    . 9 May 2009.
  159. ^ Not a Pretty Picture. Reuters (via ABC News). 2000.
  160. ^ Behm-Morawitz, Elizabeth. "The Effects of the Sexualization of Female VideoGame Characters on Gender Stereotypingand Female Self-Concept". Department of Communication, University of Missouri-Columbia. Archived from the original on 20 November 2020. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
  161. ^ "Tomb Raider: How Lara Croft became a game changer". BBC News. 2016-10-24. Retrieved 2023-11-19.
  162. ^ Wallace, Amanda (21 February 2014). "Your Argument is Invalid: Harassment Against Female Gamers". Game Skinny. Archived from the original on 7 May 2014. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
  163. ^ Meixsell, Jesse. "Female sexualization in gaming: a male gamer's perspective". Games Beat. Archived from the original on 5 May 2014. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
  164. ^ Pleasure, Crymson Pleasure (5 April 2014). "He said what? A male perspective on females in gaming". Real Women of Gaming. Archived from the original on 5 May 2014. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
  165. from the original on 2020-09-01. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
  166. ^ Funk, John (2011-05-06). "Games Now Legally Considered an Art Form (in the USA)". The Escapist. Archived from the original on 2011-05-09. Retrieved 2011-05-06.
  167. .
  168. .
  169. ^ Burrows, Leah. "Women remain outsiders in video game industry". The Boston Globe. Globe Correspondent. Archived from the original on 2 October 2015. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  170. ^ Caron, Frank. Girl gamer scholarship hopes to interest females in games industry Archived 2011-09-10 at the Wayback Machine. Ars Technica. 2008.
  171. ^ "SONY ONLINE ENTERTAINMENT NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR THE 2014 G.I.R.L. SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM". soe. Sony. Archived from the original on 21 April 2014. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
  172. ^ Rosen, Jill (September 2008). "The gender divide: video-gaming has been largely a man's- or boy's- world, but with games by and for women, that's starting to change". The Baltimore Sun (Print). Maryland. p. C1.
  173. ^ Dewitt, James. "Lara Croft and the Future of Women in Videogames". Thunderboltgames.com. Archived from the original on 23 October 2013. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
  174. ^ Dring, Christopher. ""Women are the future of gaming" - how Tomb Raider and co have put females back on the agenda". Mcvuk.com. Archived from the original on 27 October 2013. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
  175. ^ "Big Games at E3 2012 - E3 - Electronics Entertainment Expo Wiki Guide - IGN". Archived from the original on 2016-10-15. Retrieved 2014-02-27.
  176. ^ "Big Games at E3 2013 - E3 - Electronics Entertainment Expo Wiki Guide - IGN". Archived from the original on 2016-10-27. Retrieved 2014-02-27.
  177. ^ Starr, Kyle. "E3 2013: Genre/Gender Breakdown" (via Internet Archive). Thestarrlist.com. 1 August 2013.
  178. ^ "Girl Scout Patch". Womeningamesinternational.org. Archived from the original on 23 October 2013. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
  179. ^ "Gaming and Gender: A Look at the Past, Present, and Future". Adrelien Gaming. 2023-05-16. Retrieved 2023-05-16.

Further reading

  • Beck, John C., and Mitchell Wade. "Got Game How the Gamer Generation Is Reshaping Business Forever". New York: Harvard Business School P, 2004.
  • Bryce, J. and J. Ruttner, "The Gendering of Computer Gaming: Experience and Space", in S. Fleming & I. Jones, Leisure Cultures: Investigations in Sport, Media and Technology, Leisure Studies Association, 2003, pp. 3–22.
  • Cassell, J. and H. Jenkins, From Barbie to Mortal Kombat: Gender and Computer Games. Boston: MIT Press, 1998.
  • Kafai, Yasmin B., Carrie Heeter, Jill Denner, and Jennifer Y. Sun, eds. Beyond Barbie & Mortal Kombat: New Perspectives on Gender and Gaming. Boston: The MIT Press, 2008.
  • Lucas, K. and Sherry, J.L., 2004. Sex differences in video game play: A communication-based explanation. Communication research, 31(5), pp. 499–523.

External links