Women at Play

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Women are playing more video games than ever before. Traditionally, video games were considered to be a predominantly male leisure activity1,2. However, with the introduction of new technologies, designs, platforms and distribution channels, video games have become more accessible and enjoyable for audiences beyond the traditional ‘teenage male’ demographic 1. This paper examines both the historic and current research on gender in gaming and the emerging trends within the gaming industry.

Recent studies show that woman, in addition to the general public are gaming in ever increasing numbers. A 2011 Entertainment Software Association (ESA) survey shows that currently 42% of all game players are female3. Although this rise strongly coincides with the growing popularity of mobile and social games, woman are also becoming increasingly active in the traditionally male dominated genres such as ‘Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games’ (MMORPG)4. Because of this increase, it is important to examine the historic and current research trends that address gender in gaming.

While there is a recent increase in the number of women playing video games, most of the traditional research in the field of gender in gaming examined only a limited number of issues and methods and fail to account for recent cultural developments. However, recent studies are ending this tendency, as they are starting to examine a variety of topics that are filling the voids left by older studies. Academic research has traditionally focused predominantly on the image of women in video games and their effects on the individuals playing these games. Another popular research topic focused on woman’s interests or lack thereof in video games. Although these studies do...

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...13. Kita Y. Applying Title IX to Grand Theft Auto: How Male Bias in Electronic Games Disenfranchises Girls and Women. Computer. 2009:1-23. Available at: http://web.njit.edu/~ymk4/_assets/kita-ptc603-term_paper.pdf. Accessed December 30, 2011.

14. Schröder A. We don’t want it changed, do we? - Gender and Sexuality in Role-Playing Games. Eludamos. Journal for Computer Game Culture. 2008;2(2):241–256. Available at: http://journals.sfu.ca/eludamos/index.php/eludamos/article/viewArticle/46. Accessed December 30, 2011.

15. Fullerton T, Morie J. A Game of One’s Own: Towards a New Gendered Poetics of Digital Space. 2007: The 7th International Digital Arts. 2007. Available at: http://ict.usc.edu/files/publications/Morie_LudicaSpacePaper.pdf. Accessed December 30, 2011.

16. Whitson J, Dormann C. Social gaming for change: Facebook unleashed. First Monday. 2011;16(10):1-16.

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