Think of someone playing xbox, mmo, or any other type of game. Is the person you see a overweight, geeky looking, loner guy? Well maybe you should see an average looking girl. I don’t know why people assume girls don’t game, it upsets me just a bit. Some of us like blood and fighting just as much as guys. We have just as much game as them if not more. I mean we’re ruthless in real life imagine us in a game! :POut of all the gamers out there 40% are actually women. Sure while we may not make up the majority of mmo players, as well as other game forms, women tend to be more committed and to log more hours then men. This automatically qualifies a lot of women as hardcore gamers. It was also found that in the case of who is more aggressive, that women and men both have a large range of different levels of aggressive, that there is no difference.
Research has shown that women tend to play games for different reasons then men. Men play for achievement reasons whereas women play for social reasons. I agree with this to a certain extent. I started playing mmos when my friend asked me to, and I thought oh it’ll be cool to play together. So yes, in that respect my playing is social. But also I now play a lot alone and actually enjoy it more at times. Being able to level or defeat something you could not before all by yourself without help gives one a certain mount of satisfaction. It also simply provides a great escape from daily life. So yes I agree with the studies that women start playing mainly because of social influences, but the reasons we continue to vary.
What I found really interesting about what I read was that the women in the test under reported their play time much more then men. It said this was because of the social stigma of women in games, as well as gamers in general. I think since this study was done a few years ago things have changed for the better. I know there are multiple gaming forums just for women and well as face book pages.So in conclusion, GIRLS PWN! We kick ass and look good doing it. Remember that boys. ;)
