Women in Gaming
Console and online Video games have predominantly been a male recreational activity since their debut in the middle of the 20th century. While men have continuously been both the driving force and target audience behind the creation of video games, the female gamer population has seen significant growth over the years. Video games are increasingly encompassing characteristics that are of interest to the female population and the gaming environment is becoming a much more gender neutral playing field. [1]
Contents
History
There are many arguments, developed by researchers and software developers alike, that seek to explain why women have been absent from the gaming scene until recent years. Some of the most notable theories include:
- Innate tendency for females to be more social beings than males
- Trends in video game content
- Extreme gender stereotyping found in many video games today
- Social constructs that yield a greater likelihood of the male population being introduced, and granted access, to games at an earlier age
Females As Socializers
One explanation for why women have not played a significant role in the history of gaming relates to the notion that females are inherently more social creatures than men; under this view, gaming is likely to be viewed as an asocial behavior. Women are more affiliative than men [2] and have greater concern towards domestic and/or social activities in comparison to leisure activities such as gameplay. From this argument, due to other priorities and interests, women have not exerted a great deal of time and effort towards becoming active members of the gaming world, preferring social interaction in the physical world.
Game Content
The 1980’s brought about drastic changes to the gaming environment, as it introduced several groundbreaking genres such as adventure, platform, racing and role-playing games. While the varying styles of gameplay certainly encouraged a more diverse gamer population, catering to many different interests and skills, games of violent nature have dominated the game sales market throughout the decades. Initially, games such as Renegade and Karate Champ ranked high on the popular games list, as they marked the beginning of beat ‘em up and one-on-one fighting gameplay. Although these games were, and still are, successful with male gamers, the violent and aggressive nature proved to be less appealing to women.
Gender Stereotyping Extremes
More complex arguments that have emerged in response to the historically lacking female gaming population pertain to the extreme gender stereotyping found in many video games today. The gender stereotyping view explores the neglect of, aggression towards, and eroticisation of female characters in video games. All three of these discriminatory tendencies have produced an environment where female representations fall victim to male supremacy. [3].
Absence of Female Characters
Since the creation of video games, female characters were primarily included in story-lines as objects rather than actual players. Often portrayed as victims, such as a damsel in distress , females served as a target for male players to rescue via their heroic actions. [4] This brings to light the idea that with only male characters to choose from, it is possible that the video game environment began constructing male-only players from its very start.
Aggression Towards Female Characters
Similar to their false portrayal, actions that demonstrate aggression and violence towards females are highly common in video games today. Some games, such as Quake and Doom, have been accused of crossing a line with the inclusion of dialogue and actions that enable sexual harassment towards women. [5]
Eroticisation of Female Characters
A fairly new, yet very persistent, criticism of video games is the unrealistic representation and objectification of female characters. Such an argument likely began upon the creation of Lara Croft in 1996. Lara has unrealistic, and arguably impossible, body proportions and her character embodies the very argument that gender abuse in video games reaffirms sexist aesthetic. [6]
Access and Training
Cultural ideals and norms, in regards to what activities are appropriate for males and females, carry over into the gaming world. According to the studies of Bryce & Rutter, males have traditionally had more access and control over leisure spaces such as video arcades and sports venues as a result of these very norms. [7] Upon having access, it has also been argued that males have a greater probability of learning through action, even though they may not necessarily comprehend all of the rules of a particular game [8]. This access and training has been used as justification for why there are more male, or less female, gamers.
Emergence of Girl Gaming Culture
First Female Games
In 1997, Mattel released Barbie Fashion Designer, one of the first games designed particularly with girls in mind. Barbie Fashion Designer sold over 600 000 copies [9] and is considered to be the first entertainment software to capture a mass female market. The tremendous success of this game brought about a movement towards the development and production of games designed specifically for girls. Applications such as Barbie Fashion Designer, American Girl interactive software, and the Nancy Drew adventure games did remarkably well and their success is attributed to the high appeal of real life, everyday characters to the female population.
Research and Findings
According to the Entertainment Software Association, roughly 40% of all video game players are female. [10] In addition, the female population represents over 43% of online players and are the fastest growing demographic in the gaming industry.
Various studies of female preferences in game design, conducted by various research groups such as the American Association of University Women Educational Foundation Commission on Technology, Gender and Teacher Education, reveal that game preferences of women consist of, but are not limited to:
- Collaboration
- Communication
- Positive action
- Challenge
- Use of strategies and skills
- Ability to design and create
- Adventure
While there are many similarities among female gaming preferences, the most prominent are communication, collaboration and positive representation. Games, especially those online, are beginning to adopt these characteristics, in an attempt to draw in greater female participation. For example, EverQuest (EQ) provides appropriate levels of challenge, collaboration, communication, self-selection roles, and exploration; all of which appeal to a female audience. [11] such elements as narratives, ability to self-select roles, interactive challenges, collaboration and community are all drawing in a higher percentage of female players. [12]
In addition to focus groups and observational studies, a good amount of research has gone into evaluating television and reading preferences among females. [13] Common themes that are of interest to females are those involving romance, family relationships, and realistic settings. With emphasis on the drama of human relationships, video games have the potential to be even more successful by allowing women to apply their social and emotional revelations from the game to their actual lives. [14]
Different Interests
Extensive research [15] has been conducted to better gauge the interests and preferences of women in relation to video games. While all studies confirm that men still dominate the virtual gaming world [16] women are becoming a more active part of the community and have even dispersed into their own subgroups. Such distinctions among the female population have been made based on different reasons for gaming, varying interests and preferable gaming genres [17]. These subclasses of female gamers can be defined as Power-gamers, Moderate-gamers and Non-gamers. [18]
Women in Professional Gaming
The PMS (Pandora's Mighty Soldiers) clan was formed in 2002 by twin sisters Amber Dalton and Amy Brady. The PMS clan has an international roster of over 500 ladies, and is one of several professional female gaming organizations.
Significance
Apart from attempts and incremental successes by developers and marketing teams to seek out and create a market for female gamers, there are other significant implications for this emerging group of gamers. The Information Society that exists today has brought about a vast increase in computer use and knowledge share throughout the world. Where as literacy used to be defined in terms of possessing the ability to read and write, there now exists a requirement to be knowledgable about emerging technologies as well - computer literacy.
Computer games are commonly the first and dominant form of interaction children have with technology. These games are likely to promote an interest in technology, among both males and females, and can serve as a direct lead-in to computer literacy. [19]. However, there is some concern as to whether this apparent correlation between gaming and computer literacy will place females at a disadvantage, not only in their educational experience but in their future career endeavors.
Past trends indicate that boys adopt gaming habits early in their adolescence, where as females, for the most part, do not latch on to games until young adulthood; some females ceasing to find an interest in video games at any point in life. This delayed emergence into the gaming environment could extend the time and/or education required for a female to become proficient with computers and technology. In addition, lack of video game use among females could have even greater implications on career interests and choices. If the desire to better understand technology does not emerge early on in females, it is highly probable that the IT Industry will continue to be dominated by men.
