Pro gaming: boys/men vs girls/women

[Udyrfrykte]

Due to a lot of different reasons I got led to thinking about this:

"Why are men at the top of the food chain in gaming?"

Because afaik, girls aren't competing at the highest level. Is this because girls are worse gamers purely from a physical point of view, simply because more guys play games (increasing the chances of the very best being a boy..), girls not bothering to go that far with the game or something else?
Let's have an objective discussion about this, no "my girlfriend pwnz me in halo". I'm wondering about the HIGHEST level of play, professional

I read about a female starcraft player called tossgirl, about how she played against boys after the girl division in GSL got removed or something like that. She hasn't won anything big against boys, but at least she was competetive. She played like, a lot, though. Just as much as male pros, but still couldn't quite cut it.

 

[jamesworkshop]

It's both an imbalance in numbers, even lower numbers of thoses with competitive interest and technical ability in certain areas over the aggregate.

 

[Vivace-Vivian]

What's between your legs doesn't change the dexterity of your hands...

That being said it's likely just numbers.

 

[Thaluikhain]

simply because more guys play games (increasing the chances of the very best being a boy..),

That'd be it, yes.

It would appear to me that the games that get played competitevely tend towards those marketed firmly at the male audience as well, though I couldn't tell for sure.

 

[Sleekgiant]

More guys are into gaming than girls, deal with it.

 

[Udyrfrykte]

What's between your legs doesn't change the dexterity of your hands...

That being said it's likely just numbers.

Yes, but men and women aren't rigged quite the same in the mind either.
If the "multitasking" myth is true, then I suppose girls could have a big advantage in RTS games?

 

[SomeLameStuff]

Females tend not to play as frequently as males. Also they usually don't have that drive to win, or at least, not on the same level as guys.

Having more guys playing games than females helps skew the odds in the favour of guys.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Yes, but men and women aren't rigged quite the same in the mind either.
If the "multitasking" myth is true, then I suppose girls could have a big advantage in RTS games?

Differences like that are, I believe, purely cultural.

Also, assuming substantial mental differences between the genders, presumably games targeted predominately at males would tend to favour the male mindset anyway.

 

[DeadlyYellow]

What's between your legs doesn't change the dexterity of your hands...

Must. Avoid. Masturbation. Joke.

I'm chalkin' this up to sexism. Women have the sense to put the game down and accomplish something.

 

[Harrowdown]

Throughout history, men have been responsible for almost all scientific discoveries. Why? It is certainly not because they are better, but rather because they were given more education and more freedom to innovate than women. In the case of gaming, the market has always been male orientated, and women havn't exactly been welcomed into the online community.

 

[Outright Villainy]

Numbers would be the main reason, there's just a lot more guys than girls playing games.

This was much more apparent back in the day too, so there are more male gamers who have played for longer. That's basically it, numbers and experience.

I highly doubt women are any worse at games than men.

 

[MrAkuma201]

It the number of male too female player they are far more guys playing games then girls. Its not the differences in skill level only the numbers. One of my lady friends destroys me in black ops and next too her I'm the best player in my group of friends at that game and she plays it less then I do. On top of the numbers the gaming market is much more male orientated then female as Harrowdown has posted. The reasons why you don't see a lot of female gamers can go on for days I hope Extra Credits dose a episode on this later its a great topic.

 

[SuccessAndBiscuts]

Numbers is the main reason but there are other issues as well.

Men are generally capable of infinitely more single-mindedness than women there is a reason it was assumed that autism-aspergers were male only problems for a long time. Men tend towards specialisation in a way that women generally don't which makes issues like that more obvious.

The reason all the world records/firsts are almost exclusively men might be partially down to historical sexism but I honestly believe the single-mindedness is as responsible.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

I think that, in general, men get off more on competition and victory. I think that this is due to generally higher testosterone levels making us more prone to getting addicted to adrenaline rushes which leads us to violence and bad long term decision making but gives us a desire to seek "fight or flight" situations like competitive action games.

 

[Nemesis729]

I once saw a video about how men actually are just naturally better at gaming... I mean it was probably bull but who knows lol

 

[Udyrfrykte]

I think that, in general, men get off more on competition and victory. I think that this is due to generally higher testosterone levels making us more prone to getting addicted to adrenaline rushes which leads us to violence and bad long term decision making but gives us a desire to seek "fight or flight" situations like competitive action games.

I'm not sure though... the testostorone might worsen our "cool" and analytical abilities, thereby affecting gaming ability?

To be quite frank I think men are better at gaming biologically, something about our single-mindedness as another poster stated. One could say we are better at throwing our life into... whatever random subject we find interesting.
Just my opinion though, don't shoot!

I'm waiting for the day though when a girl comes in and wreaks havoc in the SC2 scene (the only scene I follow), and I'm sure it'll come.

 

[Sejs Cube]

Gender has no bearing on ability with games. The skew in ratio between male and female gamers means that there'll be a disproportionate amount of men in high-level professional play simply because there are more men playing in general. The gamer gender ratio doesn't match the general population gender ratio. But that doesn't have anything to do with natural ability.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

I'm not sure though... the testostorone might worsen our "cool" and analytical abilities, thereby affecting gaming ability?

My hypothesis is that these games don't need cool analysis, just enough practise to let reflexes kicks in.

 

[veloper]

What do you propose?
A seperate league for women, just like in sports?

 

[Wondermint13]

Why Guys are more into gaming than Girls is something we will never be able to solve without every girl on this on this website needing to post "I'm a girl and I game!" or guys trying to state a few facts from wikipedia about the gaming industry and its ties to the male population. And after that we'll get the neutral people who dont care and feel the need to write something anyway. And after all that somebody will still get offended and we'll all end up arguing and so the mystery will remain until another brave soul tries the same topic for the 200th time.