Curse

lakatz · Jan 08, 2007, 12:48 AM // 00:48

I just read an interesting article linked to the index page of Guru today... "It's a Guy Thing...". The author's point is that a large number of males are using female characters to play, and, knowing a few males myself who like to play female characters in GW, I do not question his point. However, the author also states, "When you count the ratio of males versus females gaming, you will probably come in at one to ten or worse in most MMO's..."

Huh? In context, it would seem that he's saying there are 10 times more males than females playing online games, but his juxtaposition of genders would indicate there are 10 times more females than males.

I would love to know which he means, and I'd also like to know where he got his information because regardless, based on the following, his data is skewed.

I read an article back in October in The Hollywood Reporter, "Online gaming attracts more women than men", that says "as of August [2006], about 117 million people in the U.S. qualified as "active gamers," meaning they spend at least one hour per week on a gaming device. That's up from 112 million last year. Of the active gamers, 56% play games online, and 64% of those online players are women, according to the study."

The study was the Nielsen Interactive Entertainment's third annual Active Gamer Benchmark Study, which is emerging as the standard in the Gaming Industry because of the solid reputaton for accurate unbiased (as accurate and unbiased as possible) data gathering and reporting Nielsen Media Research (and subsidiaries) has earned over the past 46 years. Consequently, at this point in time, this is a source I am inclined to trust more than any other.

The THR article did not mention, however, how many of those 41.93 million females play MMO games. I find speculating to be generally useless, so I've googled for other articles, but all I've found so far refer back to the THR article. I'll keep looking, but, in the meantime, if anyone knows of an article with more data from the Nielsen Study (or any other reliable gaming industry studies), particularly as to the percentage of online gamers playing MMOs and then the percentage of that population broken down by gender, I would be ever so grateful if you would post a link to it here.

Thanks and I look forward to reading further discussion of this subject.

Mercury Angel · Jan 08, 2007, 01:32 AM // 01:32

Moved this to off-topic. Just for reference, Off-Topic, despite also housing numerous silly/pointless game threads and social threads, is also the designated area for constructive/interesting topics not directly related to Guild Wars.

Unfortunately, I have nothing constructive to provide on the subject, so I'll have to leave it as just a short note explaining why it was moved.

Inde · Jan 08, 2007, 01:42 AM // 01:42

http://www.nickyee.com/eqt/genderbend.html

http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/gateway_genderbend.html

http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/archives/000551.php

Mr.H.Mishima · Jan 08, 2007, 01:50 AM // 01:50

Well, I gotta tell ya, in general, the women/girls I have met playing GW have been far more a pleasure to play with the the guys. It's pretty easy to tell the difference in most cases.

In regards to the article, it says: "While women are dominant among online gamers, men still outnumber women in the overall video game space by more than 2-to-1 (70%-30%). Older females make up the largest percentage of casual gamers, usually playing online card and puzzle games."

So it does provide some concrete numbers and the direction they go.

Hand of Ruin · Jan 08, 2007, 01:56 AM // 01:56

Those numbers include crap like online poker.

In a game like GW, most players are male. Seems almost everyone has at least one female character though...

Mesmer in Need · Jan 08, 2007, 02:14 AM // 02:14

im a guy, but my mesmer, my rit, and my pvp ele are all female (because they are hot). but my monk, my warrior, and my ranger are all guys. im balanced out, so i guess it works. but i agree, most players are men.

Sophitia Leafblade · Jan 08, 2007, 10:16 AM // 10:16

Judging from the maturity level of most players in gw i would expect the majority of them to be males, Sure there are lots of females on gw but the males still out number them. there probally are more online female players than men but that isnt true for every game, and it appears Gw is a male dominated game.

PrismOfRedLight · Jan 08, 2007, 10:18 AM // 10:18

Ya GW definately the majority is males and like many others i have many female characters 7/8 are all HOT females

Ulivious The Reaper · Jan 08, 2007, 10:47 AM // 10:47

Its not neccessarily any sexes "thing" its just a game.. we play it have fun interact if its a male or female who happens ot have fun while doing so? who cares and think my 7 year old brother proved that every male has atleast one female because he made a female monk XD

Giga Strike · Jan 08, 2007, 02:54 PM // 14:54

though there are more girl gamers, there are probably more "serious" games who are male. alot of the girls would probably be playing games like "second life" for the same reason they would use AIM, get together and talk with friends.

Myria · Jan 08, 2007, 06:59 PM // 18:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hand of Ruin

In a game like GW, most players are male.

While this is perhaps true, the frequency and certitude with which it is stated, almost always by men, makes me wonder sometimes. I long ago learned that in the absence of strong evidence to the contrary -- and sometimes even in the presence of such evidence -- men tend to assume everyone is male by default. You see this a lot around here, where every poster is almost invariably referred to as male, regardless of /nick or even generally known gender. You see it in-game as well -- the first time I made it to LA there was a long conversation going on about how women don't play video games, my friends and I had a good snicker over that one.

I suspect that the majority of GW players are indeed male, albeit with the caveat that since no one (including Anet) really knows that's only a suspicion, but I also suspect that there are a lot more female players than most male players assume.

Saphatorael · Jan 08, 2007, 07:02 PM // 19:02

'Girl Gamers'.

Hmmz... well, basically... if you play a game, you're considered a gamer. Even if it's Tetris or Solitaire.

So, let's see what games are VERY popular lately.
The Sims? Nintendogs?

Now, for online gaming... simple flashgames tend to be more popular (e.g. Neopets), since (I presume) the set-up of 'real'/retail online games tends to scare them. It's the same with console controllers.
I myself know a few girls/women, and the first 2 I thought when reading this, of play WoW.
But then again out of all the people I know, it's still not a big number of female gamers (and they're NOT ugly, zomg), and those 2 are more of an exception to the 'rule', whilst most other girls of their age prefer going out etc.

xxSilhouette · Jan 08, 2007, 08:11 PM // 20:11

Well I am a female, I play online games & I love them. But I do think that there are more males that play. Out of all of the people i know in real life, I only know one other girl who plays guild wars. Everyone else is male, and from the people i meet in game, i would say (unless people are lying) That maybe 1 out of every 15-20 people says they are female as well.

And i have 12 characters, all of which are female. I prefer female characters for the fashion aspect though

Yanman.be · Jan 08, 2007, 08:27 PM // 20:27

I'm 100% male, and all of my PvE chars are male. Sometimes I experiment with female pvp's, but I just don't like the animations.

Franco Power · Jan 08, 2007, 08:48 PM // 20:48

someone could make a poll like

guys
girls

to see , i reckon about 25% girl, 75% male, i dont know for sure, maybe over 40% girls.

Shadow Kurd · Jan 08, 2007, 09:08 PM // 21:08

In Gw mosy players are male. But the girl gamers is getting bigger. Even in games like battlefield i find that 1 out of 20 gamers is a female, there are even clans that wont take male *cough*-----> www.pink-clan.com

I did read somewhere that girl like GW over WoW, cant remember where

Kusandaa · Jan 08, 2007, 11:41 PM // 23:41

I was male last time I checked, and I have no intention of changing genders anytime soon. 10/11 of my characters are male, only my warrior is female because I don't like male looks/designs for male wars. So I'm a part of those "guys who have at least one female character".

But people simply assume I'm male. Example: I often say such things as "brb b/f got home" (I happen to be gay). Then people think I'm female... and they're usually shocked to see a female playing a male char, while I'm a guy. I find it interesting actually, how people simply assume stuff... and we all do. I assume most players are male, and I'm somewhat surprised when I fall in groups with females. But as far as saying all girls play Sims and Nintengods, nah... so I'm not surprised they play MMORPG's.

Toutatis · Jan 09, 2007, 10:07 AM // 10:07

I'm another one of the guys who has no female characters. I like to roleplay as I game, and as such I kinda need male characters (I can't picture myself with a DD cup or wearing stuff that looks like lingerie). The only time I've ever created any female characters was in Wizardry 8, and that was my Valkyrie (a profession disabled for male characters).

I've also run across several ladies while playing GW, and I can usually pick them out very quickly. If they ever stop to consider the next move during a mission, then it's either a girl or a very intelligent guy (a rare species in the fauna of gaming these days). I know this is an extremely broad generalisation I'm about to make, but I think that girl gamers make better players when the stakes are higher. The female brain is far better suited to multitasking than the male brain is, and for certain professions (the supporting professions in particular) the ability to multitask becomes a lot more important.

Corinthian · Jan 09, 2007, 10:39 AM // 10:39

There's no reason for a male player to create a female representation of himself. I once made a PvP only female monk and I felt like a transvestite. It was horrible. :I

Malice Black · Jan 09, 2007, 11:15 AM // 11:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Legendary Ultimatum

someone could make a poll like

guys
girls

to see , i reckon about 25% girl, 75% male, i dont know for sure, maybe over 40% girls.

Doing it now