WOMEN IN GAMING: BY THE NUMBERS

BY JOCEE HOLLADAY

You are likely familiar with the “gamer” stereotype – a teenage boy sneaking downstairs to his Xbox to play a first-person shooter game, like Call of Duty. The media shows this “gamer” stereotype often. In fact, this is the demographic of players that game studios thought were playing their games.

In reality, this gamer stereotype is far from the truth: the numbers show a completely different story. The typical gamer stereotype is an outdated and outrageously incorrect representation of who gamers are. Today, gamers come in all different shapes, sizes, ethnicities, genders, ages, and life stages.

According to the Bryter Female Gaming study, 46% of all gamers and gaming enthusiasts in the United States and United Kingdom are women, the average age of a gamer is 33 years old, and one of the more prominent demographics of gamers is drum roll, please mothers!

A research paper titled "Mom Gamers Study: A New Generation of Gamer" conducted by Entertainment Software Association illustrated that over 74% of moms play video games. This is a surprising statistic, even for mothers themselves. Only 48% of moms playing games consider themselves gamers. This percentage is slightly lower than the 54% of dads who self-identify as gamers. The lack of self-identifying “gamer moms ” is one of the many reasons why gaming is considered an activity that men enjoy.

Even though many women are playing video games, the gaming industry is still rife with sexism According to the Diversity in Gaming Study by Diamond Lobby, 80% of all video game characters are male Additionally, 32% of games have only male characters, compared to 5% of games that have only female characters

When women are featured in video games, they are often hyper-sexualized and fit into a typical trope, either as the villain (Resident Evil 8), the love interest (Super Mario), the damsel in distress (Legend of Zelda), the prize (The Witcher 2), or the sidekick (Ico). However, this is not a surprising statistic – the gaming industry is dominated by men. Men claim 84% of executive positions and 76% of non-executive roles in the gaming industry.

The outcome of the lack of diversity in the gaming industry is the lack of diversity in games. Despite women making up almost half of all gamers, they represent less than 25% of game creators. The result of women not being decisionmakers in the gaming industry is that less than 20% of all video game characters are women, and less than 8.3% of games showcase a woman of color.

Luckily, the industry is currently changing: In 2020, there was a 13% increase in female videogame characters compared to the previous year This is likely due to the fact that many game studios are emphasizing diversity and inclusion efforts For example, in the popular game Apex Legends, 50% of the playable characters, called legends, are women! These female characters aren’t stereotypical tropes either; they are badass women with unique backstories and lore who can save themselves and the world. Best of all, both men and women are choosing to play these female-presenting characters!

Quantic Foundry conducted a study which analyzed the character preference of nearly half a million gamers, where they found that 1 out of 3 men will choose to play as a female character. When given the option to select a character, people of all genders preferred to play as a character that most closely represents themselves (this is a great reason as to why we need diversity in games). Not only this, but 90% of women also chose to play as female characters, and only 10% of women liked to play as male characters A similar pattern occurred for non-binary players: they preferred to play as non-binary characters 38% of the time, as female-presenting characters 33% of the time, and male-presenting characters only 10% of the time

The industry is heading in the right direction when it comes to diversity in gaming, but being a woman in games, as both a player and an industry professional, continues to be challenging. A 2019 International Game Developers Association (IGDA) survey found that 74% of women, non-binary, or genderqueer individuals reported experiencing discrimination in the industry. In 2018, Riot Games settled a $100 million lawsuit for their mistreatment and sexual harassment of female employees In 2020, California sued Activision Blizzard for creating a toxic workplace and mishandling sexual harassment claims from their female employees Sexism and misogyny was also reflected in the gaming communities themselves In fact, a recent study found that nearly 60% of female players hide their gender for fear of experiencing harassment online Sex-based discrimination is similarly observed at the intersection of gaming and academia. Over 90% of eSports scholarships go to men, even though half of all gamers are women. Clearly, there is still a long way to go for the video game industry to be an equitable and welcoming place for women and nonbinary people. The past few years have seen the beginning of a turning point for the gaming industry, thanks to the awareness, leadership, training, and accountability provided by many amazing women, some of whom we feature in this issue!