'We're not gamers', say 60% of female gamers
2/3 Americans play games, claims study - and 87% of those are on PC/Mac
60 per cent of women who play games would not call themselves gamers, according to a new survey commissioned by Diner Dash developer/publisher PlayFirst.
The survey of 2075 Americans, carried out by Frank N. Magid Associates, claimed that 40 per cent of men would "strongly agree" that they were gamers (with that statement being ranked 5 on a 1 to 5 scale).
The report also asserted that, regardless of whatever label they might give themselves, two in every three Americans play games, with one in three apparently playing casual games (on computers or phones) regularly.
The survey was conducted purely online, PlayFirst explained to GamesIndustry.biz, thus perhaps skewing results towards a tech-acclimatised audience, but it was sent to a general population rather than specifically gamers.
80 per cent of those who claimed to be games players said they preferred gaming to the likes of movies, music or reading.
The survey's results also posited that while 90 per cent of women listed 'entertaining' as their primary requirement for a game, the majority response (at 79 per cent) for men was 'challenging to finish.'
"The face of gaming is evolving to a broader group more representative of the overall population,""said Magid's Mike Vorhaus. "Gaming is a cross-generational, cross-platform activity that's ubiquitous, yet requires unique and targeted experiences to be successful.
"Different groups value different things on different platforms, and by honing in on those differences, a multi-platform publisher can further optimize its product strategy."
87 per cent of those identified as gamers had recently played on PC or Mac, 50 per cent on Facebook and 28 per cent on smartphones.
The report asserted a trend towards multi-platform gaming, having surmised that 52 per cent play on at least two of those three platforms, and some 14 per cent all three.
While console-only players were screened out of the report due to its focus on casual games, PlayFirst revealed, 40 per cent of those who were deemed qualified had played a console game in the last week.
The BBC asked the right question in a survey of a large sample of UK 6-65 year olds in 2005 (pre-Wii, pre-Facebook et al) and found that 59% actually played. So a conservative estimate of UK gaming habits today would probably find that 70%+ actually play.
Another example of under-reporting was Ofcom recent media usage survey which failed to classify social network usage as gaming (at least half of all social network users play games every month - e.g. 13m UK Facebook accounts each month), thus (again) dramatically under-reporting online gaming usage.
Why's this important? If you're talking to middle aged politicians, they will look at 32% penetration and easily dismiss our industry as a marginal activity, as opposed to one at the heart of our media usage.
LOGIC!!
"Logic is the beginning of wisdom, not the end of it"
Having said that, I revel in my gamer status :)
I did a survey for a specific game recently, however, and had to estimate how much of my time was spent playing various games in addition to the main one. I didn't like having to think about how big of a percentage that was. Then again, how many male gamers knit things at keyboard during boring moments?
Games are virtual goods which are consumed by virtually everybody virtually all the time whenever and wherever there is an opportunity to do so.The delivery platforms are making this possible right now right across the planet.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Mike Clegg on 23rd September 2010 9:42pm
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Feargus Carroll on 24th September 2010 1:08am
It's this type of bull that's used to continue the spread of stereotypes in the name of "science." I'm female and have identified as a gamer since I was about 8 years old and received my first GameBoy.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Katheryn Christy on 24th September 2010 4:52pm
Fineprint: Out of 103 women tested. It's a ridiculous poll.
The gaming world has branded these people as 'casual gamers' and when asked they said they weren't 'gamers' - it seems everyone was in agreement on this one!
I'm assuming that if 60% said No that the remaining 40% either said Yes or were undecided. The stats say that 40 per cent of men would "strongly agree" that they were gamers. What about the remaining 60%? You could probably assume that they either said Yes or were undecided.
With these other stats in the picture do the figures look so bad?