Women Finding Huge Success in the Gaming World
By Space Coast Daily // August 1, 2021
Last year, women accounted for about 41% of the total gaming population in the US. In Asia, which controls about 48% of the global gaming revenue, women make up about 40-45% of all gamers in the continent, says Niko Partners and Google.
Female gamers are rising and various studies are seeking to understand whether women in the gaming world have specific gameplay behaviors and motivations.
Some country-based studies show that gaming motivations differ cross-culturally across genders. Besides escapism, some female gamers are seeking to challenge themselves whether they choose to play real money online poker or compete in tournaments.
A Taiwanese study reveals that women play for achievements and social reasons, while men play to pass their time. In the US, it seems like women play for achievement and to engage socially in maintaining their relationships with friends and family. A recent study also shows that women in the gaming world engage in all kinds of games (mainly popular online titles) using various platforms and devices,
These studies show the rich complexity of women in the gaming world. However, there are people who question whether the industry is well structured to offer the growing population of female gamers the full equality of opportunity, conditions, and treatment.
Organizations like Women in Games are focusing on advocating for the gaming industry to be reimagined to be free of gender discrimination. That can be done by addressing the culture in the product, workforce, and the gaming community’s perspective.
Workforce Perspective
According to a 2020 study done by the best fourteen global gaming companies, men hold about 84% of all executive positions in the gaming community. Besides executive positions, only about 24% of women are working in the industry. That shows female representation is still an issue and even for those already in the industry, their gender might work against them.
A 2015 survey on women working in the UK’s gaming industry revealed that 45% felt their gender was a limiting factor from progressing in their career. 33% of respondents also revealed they’ve experienced direct bullying or harassment based on their gender.
Product Perspective
Only 5% of the current video games feature a female protagonist. Several studies also show that gender stereotypes are continuing to prevail in video games, with lots of titles objectifying and hyper-sexualizing female characters. Female characters are also portrayed as innocent, love interests, and needing to be rescued by men. Fortunate, the feminist frequency has increased the number of female protagonists featured in video games over the last half a decade.
A More Inclusive Gaming World
A lot of stakeholders in the gaming industry are working hard to ensure it becomes more inclusive and features more female designers, players, activists, and voice actors.
Programs like Women in Games also have lots of ambassadors worldwide working to support women to get a better understanding of the gaming world. However, many industry insiders admit there’s still a long way to go, although these initiatives are a great first step in bringing in more women in the industry.
