No one knows for sure how many women are on the Internet, but one industry knows which Internet sites a 130 million female brains are going to. If you guessed that it is health or weight loss related sites, or maybe pregnancy, motherhood and parenting, or even New Age, spiritual or money abundance sites — you are wrong.
Approximately 130 million women are connecting to on-line PC gaming sites and 11.9 million are on console games(80% -9.3 million on the Wii).
Industry analysts recognize the same thing that attracts women to social media sites, the (right brain) connectedness, relationship building and networking is the same thing that has been attracting them to on-line gaming. For example, the console Xbox Live has features which allow women to share not only the traditional photos, movies and music but also their gaming experiences.
PopCap.com, an on-line game provider, finds that their average social gamer is a female age 43 years old. Of these female players, 38% will play one of their social games more than once a day and the female players are more likely to play with real-life friends.
While it might be thought that female players are only attracted to games of puzzles, words, cards and the interactive environmental and goal oriented activities of the Sims, women also hold a presence in the male genre. The World of Warcraft is the highest on-going subscription PC game. Multi-players are engaged with multiple characters seeking adventures of quests and challenges demanding greater and greater skills. However, in this testosterone action field 40% World of Warcraft players are women (estimated to be 3 million players).
Less you think that female brains are only the players, here’s a list of games you might recognize. But, you might not know that they were designed by women who have made the console and PG gaming into a multi-billion dollar industry.
- Donna Bailey, the first female arcade designer – Centipede, 1980
- Carol Shaw, first female game designer – 3D Tic-Tac-Toe, 1978; Video Checkers, 1980, River Raid, 1982
- Laura Nikolict, Spiderman, 1982
- Carla Meninsky, Warlords, Atari
- Roberta William, Kings’ Quest, 1984
- Jane Jensen, Gabriel Knight, 1993
43% of the World’s gamers are women and women have played a major role in gaming design. Something interesting must be going on in that female brain.
According to the host of the video Women and Gaming by Play Value posted below “Women are just one big game no one’s managed to beat yet.”
by Joyce Hansen
You Can Find Me At -
Well, isn’t this a shock?! Wow, I’m genuinely surprised to learn that women are such avid gamers as well as the creators of games. I would have never guessed that to be true in a million years.
I’ll have to say honestly that I have no interest whatsoever in online/computer games at all … but now I know that millions of women do.
Feel like I just got a big splash of cold water in my face!
Melanie
#blog30
Wow, I had no idea that many gamers were women. The stereotype is so much that it’s a guy thing. Interesting…