Why is there less women into mainstream video games?

[UnluckyObserver]

Without looking into any other sources of information, I'd say it's because the majority that play games have been doing so since they were young in a time when games were mainly marketed towards the male gender.

When you grow up with games in your life, it's not very hard to make the transition from basic controls to more complex ones, and so you continue gaming. Most women that I know did not grow up in an environment where they had access to games, and unfortunately we still live in a society where gaming culture and women still do not meld very well. With the only socially acceptable form of gaming to most women being the games found in an iTunes App Store, you can't really blame the majority of women that choose to stick with what they and their peers are comfortable with playing instead of venturing out to other gaming platforms. The exact same thing can be said about men too, however, as there are most definitely men that do not play mainstream games and choose to stick to casual phone gaming platforms as well.

Again, I'm not making a very educated answer as this is just me going from what I've observed, but as a female gamer who has grown up in environments where I was the only girl that played games, this is just the only reasonable conclusion I can come up with.

 

[King Aragorn]

Another point I forgot to add is ''announcing'' your self as a girl/woman rarely gets good result. I was playing some Brotherhood multiplayer once, so this girl joins the lobby, she has a mic, but doesn't go ''hurr durr look at me I am a girl11!11'', she simply used it for actual in-game purposes.

What does she get?
Tons and tons of kitchen jokes, sexist insults. Don't you think such attitude might drive those who may actually have interest in gaming away?

 

[UnluckyObserver]

Another point I forgot to add is ''announcing'' your self as a girl/woman rarely gets good result. I was playing some Brotherhood multiplayer once, so this girl joins the lobby, she has a mic, but doesn't go ''hurr durr look at me I am a girl11!11'', she simply used it for actual in-game purposes.

What does she get?
Tons and tons of kitchen jokes, sexist insults. Don't you think such attitude might drive those who may actually have interest in gaming away?

THIS. I'm practically afraid to use the mic when I play tf2 or something because it's guaranteed that there'll be some joker who decides to completely stop all game related strategy discussion (not that there's much in pubs anyway, but anywho~) to tell me to go make him a sammich and get back to the kitchen. I just don't get it.

 

[chozo_hybrid]

Snip.

Huh, that comic book one seemed a little much, but then again, I'm guessing it was set in the US? One of my jobs is at a comic book store in NZ and I've never seen anything remotely like that... It was awkward to watch.

 

[Phasmal]

All of this.

Gaming shirts are so unflattering though!

More lady gaming shirts are being made now, though.
I mean, I do have a DMC shirt which I love but it was made for dudes and I got a medium so I could live in it.

I guess it depends on the type of game you are playing. This is very prevalent in MMOs, but less prevalent in more tactical games. Even then though it is still a fairly common practice. I try to make it a habit to say guy/gal, sir/maam, she/he, or her/him. Then the person in question will usually give me a gender to use, but even then I have such a horrible memory I still end up using the female/male thing. Most of the servers I play on though are dedicated to making the environment as comfortable as possible for everyone (man, woman, transsexual, gay, straight, bi, or abstinent) so it isn't as big of an issue.

I actually see the issue with a woman announcing that she is a woman and then being treated with preference to be a larger issue in the gaming community (well that and people not believing in women). This is counter productive and will generally cause whomever it is to leave the server. That is why we have our rules in the OTC.

Hmmm.
When I used to talk about people not liking ladygamers coming out, I was told it was because I was on consoles and it was different on PC and reeeally different on MMO's. It's kind of not. So I'm a little skeptical of it being radically different elsewhere, (an example game would help).

I'm not quite sure what you mean by treated with preference. I had no examples of this until very recently, actually.
When I was playing Dota 2 with some of my mates, one of them referred to me as a girl, you know, no big deal.
Then later in the game I'm by the enemies base with one of the randoms (Chen), when three of the enemy team come barrelling out. I'm like `awesome!` and get ready to pop my manta style... aaaaand I'm in the base.
Chen dies, and types `At least I saved that girl`.
Yeah, dude. You saved me. From getting a triple kill.

So I guess he was treating me with what he thought was preference?

 

[Colour Scientist]

All of this.

Gaming shirts are so unflattering though!

More lady gaming shirts are being made now, though.
I mean, I do have a DMC shirt which I love but it was made for dudes and I got a medium so I could live in it.

I'm pretty into clothes and fashion though so I don't like the high necklines, they're fairly unflattering because I have a big enough chest. If they started making fitted ones I'd probably wear them more. For now I think I'll stick to subtle badges and jewellery.

As for announcing you're a girl, I tend not to when I play online but I only ever play Halo online.
I used to get a lot of friend requests from randomers because my spartan is female (not so much anymore because I'm on a pretty high level now,I guess people now assume I'm just a guy). I never accepted them but I'd always send a message asking "why?". You know, I never got a response.

 

[ItsNotRudy]

The massive horde of girls playing casual games or competitive games very badly and wearing t-shirts for games they never played whilst declaring "hee hee im a gamer gurl" on tumblr and facebook kind of ruin it for the rest of you.

 

[barbzilla]

All of this.

Gaming shirts are so unflattering though!

More lady gaming shirts are being made now, though.
I mean, I do have a DMC shirt which I love but it was made for dudes and I got a medium so I could live in it.

I guess it depends on the type of game you are playing. This is very prevalent in MMOs, but less prevalent in more tactical games. Even then though it is still a fairly common practice. I try to make it a habit to say guy/gal, sir/maam, she/he, or her/him. Then the person in question will usually give me a gender to use, but even then I have such a horrible memory I still end up using the female/male thing. Most of the servers I play on though are dedicated to making the environment as comfortable as possible for everyone (man, woman, transsexual, gay, straight, bi, or abstinent) so it isn't as big of an issue.

I actually see the issue with a woman announcing that she is a woman and then being treated with preference to be a larger issue in the gaming community (well that and people not believing in women). This is counter productive and will generally cause whomever it is to leave the server. That is why we have our rules in the OTC.

Hmmm.
When I used to talk about people not liking ladygamers coming out, I was told it was because I was on consoles and it was different on PC and reeeally different on MMO's. It's kind of not. So I'm a little skeptical of it being radically different elsewhere, (an example game would help).

I'm not quite sure what you mean by treated with preference. I had no examples of this until very recently, actually.
When I was playing Dota 2 with some of my mates, one of them referred to me as a girl, you know, no big deal.
Then later in the game I'm by the enemies base with one of the randoms (Chen), when three of the enemy team come barrelling out. I'm like `awesome!` and get ready to pop my manta style... aaaaand I'm in the base.
Chen dies, and types `At least I saved that girl`.
Yeah, dude. You saved me. From getting a triple kill.

So I guess he was treating me with what he thought was preference?

Odd, I guess it is just because of the community I play with. We play many games, all PC though. I can't speak much about console multiplayer as I rarely do it, but I know PC multiplayer tends to either go the oh its a girl, she sucks route, or they go oh its a girl, lets protect her and hit on her route (this being what I mean by preferential treatment, but I have seen a few times where guys just give people stuff because they are girls). I think both ways are sexist, as does my club, thus the reason we don't allow people to treat others in such a way (no matter race, creed, religion, or sex), with the possible exception of couples who favor their mate (but that becomes their business).

The most played game for the OTC is counter strike: source, but we have closed our server there because we don't have enough consistent players on the server to warrant us keeping it up. We have servers on BFBC2, BF3, L4D2, Chivalry, and a few others that I can't think of off hand. OTC is the Over Thirty Club if you are curious about checking us out to see if I am full of it, I'm not going to link the website or anything though because I don't want to seem as though I'm trying to recruit here.

OT: I think there are plenty of women in mainstream gaming. We just don't realize it as much, because of the way they are treated when they reveal they are a woman. Whether it be because people are rude to them or people are overly nice to them, either way it detracts from the game. They are there for the same reason you are, to play the game and have a good time. As a guy, how would you feel if you revealed your sex and suddenly everyone else on the server was trying to get your phone number, or wanted pictures of you, or decided that you weren't worthy of playing on their team because you are only a guy. That is why you don't notice them, they just play the game and try to enjoy it without being harassed.

 

[likalaruku]

I went though a bout of Gurl Gamer Syndrome in my early gamer years, but almost all the other players I knew at the time were obnoxious preteen boys.

I'd wader it's a phase girls go through & grow out of when they either become real normal gamers or move onto some other unrelated interest like parenting or some shit. I really don't understand women who eagerly toss aside their best years slaving away in an office only to come home & spend all their free time herding smelly noise bags when they could be doing something less productive & more fun.

Yes, I'm afraid my inability to relate to people of my own gender in my teens & twenties has given me a rather self-sexist outlook on things. & to think as a preteen I was a man-hating nazi feminist who grew up with almost entirely male friends...That was certainly some kind of self-correcting something.

 

[Voulan]

For many girls it's just finding the right game. I've had many a moment where my friends who think gaming is a boys thing would come around to my house, and play a game, and become obsessed with it. And these would range from nearly every type of game - one of my friends adored Kingdom Hearts, another Mirror's Edge, another Assassin's Creed, and another Grand Theft Auto. They'll quite happily play games when given the chance.

But anyway, there is no generalized answer for this, because there are no generalized things, ever. Women do play games, and most of the time (when online) you won't even know the difference. I've seen many people here claim they've never played with nor seen a girl in any online games, but guaranteed they have at some point, and couldn't tell. If you don't know any girls that do, that doesn't mean none do at all. This assumption is from media-created stereotypes and advertising towards a male demographic - bear in mind gaming is a very young industry, so people still assume what was true only 10 years ago is still the case. It isn't, of course - nearly everyone plays some sort of game at some point.

So long answer short, they are into mainstream games, and there's more than you realize.

 

[Winnosh]

I run a game store and one of the most common questions I get from parents is this one. "What's a good girl game? " Most of the time I have to speak with them and ask them the counter question. " What things does your daughter like to do? And what shoes does she like to watch?

Too many people have the idea that games are seperated into pure boys games and pure girls games already and that is something that carries on making it more difficult to even get girls into gaming.

 

[sethisjimmy]

I'd ascribe it to at least two key issues: Gender roles and traditional marketing.

Gender roles subtly reinforce the idea that "nerdy" activities and "games/sports" are meant to be interesting to men exclusively. That's not to say there's not a choice on every women's part whether they enjoy these activities, but society has subtly drilled it into their head since the day they were born that women are supposed to like certain things and men are supposed to like certain things.

Traditional marketing sees boys and men as the consumers of video games. AAA titles in particular have massive preconceptions and misgivings about the opposite gender. Many publishers believe that a game with a female lead simply will not sell, and therefore won't support it. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy type thing. If the industry doesn't market towards females more, then it becomes true that less females will play and buy games, leading publishers to assert that they aren't worth pursuing as a target market.

Do I know how to solve the issue? Hell fucking no, but that's the situation as I see it currently.

 

[Something Amyss]

They'll quite happily play games when given the chance.

I'd also add "and not actively dissuaded."

 

[Something Amyss]

Do I know how to solve the issue? Hell fucking no, but that's the situation as I see it currently.

One step would be to add more female characters. We stick to generic white boys because we fear men can't relate to anyone not like them, then wonder why women aren't involved in gaming. Now, it doesn't have to be every game, but what about just adding female options to games where the player character is a generic avatar, especially if we're talking silent protagonist. There's a fair share of games where a token effort would go a long way.

I'm not saying it's a catch-all or anything. Just a small olive branch to show that the industry isn't all "lolwimminz."

Unfortunately, many companies make excuses as to why even that's not possible, even while other groups are demonstrating it is.

 

[Product Placement]

Honestly I actually find it harder finding men who play games. I would actually love to have a boyfriend who shared this interest with me.

This. Wholeheartedly.

How are the two of you having difficulties finding guys who play games, when guy gamers are complaining about the exact opposite thing? Are girl players playing in a parallel universe where there are no guy gamers?

Because that would explain allot, actually.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

What makes you think this is limited to women? I know loads of guys who aren't into gaming beyond Fruit Ninja and Angry Birds, no matter how many times I beg them to just try out Bioshock or Deus Ex.

May as well change the thread title to "why isn't everyone into mainstream video games"? To which the answer is ... different strokes for different folks.

this

anytime someone says "why isn't *insert* playing this?"

they probably are, they are just too busy over there being awesome and playing the game, rather than vocalizing about it.

i've played with tons of girls online before, hell at least half of them showed me up in whatever game we were playing at the time, especially a few RTS's i got my ass handed to me in 5 minutes flat.

Spoiler

unfortunately there is a severe lack of girl gamers in my area..it is quite depressing,i feel like i'm stuck in the 1980's or something when i remotely bring up video games around people outside my own group of friends.