# A few questions for women in regards to video games.



## Quadronos (Apr 13, 2016)

So for quite awhile, but especially now there has been lots of debate on how various media can attract more of a female audience. I am curious what your thoughts are.

A good example is video games. Lots of men such as myself buy the new systems coming out to play the new games, a lot of the time they are of the very violent category. Of course a lot of women are turned off by it and won't buy it.

But companies going back to the old days would release "girl games" such as barbie games, mary kate and ****** games, etc. etc. which usually did not sell that well. Same could be said for other forms of entertainment despite it being said they used focus groups. 

So my question is is do you think there is really anything companies can do to make women more likely to spend $300+ on a new gaming system as well as the money on games to make women more willing to buy video games while at the same time releasing the type of games men typically like, or do you think it's more of a futile effort?


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## samyeagar (May 14, 2012)

Quadronos said:


> So for quite awhile, but especially now there has been lots of debate on how various media can attract more of a female audience. I am curious what your thoughts are.
> 
> A good example is video games. Lots of men such as myself buy the new systems coming out to play the new games, a lot of the time they are of the very violent category. Of course a lot of women are turned off by it and won't buy it.
> 
> ...


Given the explosion over the past few years of mobile time sink games such as Angry Birds, and Candy Crush, and what ever else Social Media driven games, I think that is where women have taken the market...however, there are some studies suggesting that even on console games, women outnumber men when looking across all age groups.

The overall gaming market across all platforms including mobile time sinks, and PC based social media games, female gamers outnumber male.


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## nice777guy (Nov 23, 2009)

Guy / Dad here. I finally let go of my trusty old PS2 and upgraded to a PS4 after my 14 year old daughter and her friends started getting into video games.

She doesn't play any "girly" games. Her favorite (and mine too) is The Last of Us. It has plenty of action, but the story (and strategy) is what gets you hooked.

Other favorites of hers are Until Dawn, Infamous (Second Son), Beyond Two Souls and The Walking Dead (TellTale) series. As with The Last of Us, these are all very much story driven games.

My oldest Daughter isn't into games, but she uses the multi-media capabilities to watch Youtube, Netflix and its also currently our only blu-ray player.


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## NotEZ (Sep 23, 2012)

I made the mistake of trying COD Black Ops 3 last month. My twin had been playing it for months and I didnt understand why she liked it so much. I used to make fun of her for it. Not anymore... now I am equally obsessed with it. Its sad really ha ha 

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk


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## soccermom2three (Jan 4, 2013)

My 21 year old used to play COD years ago, maybe at 14 or 15 but she eventually moved on and stopped playing. Where my sons, 10 and 18, are die hard gamers. Last year she did by her own wii, she uses it for the Just Dance videos. She's incorporates them into workout regimen.


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## EleGirl (Dec 3, 2011)

Quadronos said:


> So for quite awhile, but especially now there has been lots of debate on how various media can attract more of a female audience. I am curious what your thoughts are.
> 
> A good example is video games. Lots of men such as myself buy the new systems coming out to play the new games, a lot of the time they are of the very violent category. Of course a lot of women are turned off by it and won't buy it.
> 
> ...


The reason that games like Barbie games failed is that they are/were air head games based on some stereo type about females. 

You ask what has to be done to get women to spend money on games and the equipment. Well apparently you are not aware that a very large segment of gamers are women. For the most part women play the same games that boys and men play. So apparently a good number of women do spend the money.

52% of gamers are women – but the industry doesn’t know it 


More women play video games than boys, and other surprising facts lost in the mess of Gamergate


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## CH (May 18, 2010)

EleGirl said:


> The reason that games like Barbie games failed is that they are/were air head games based on some stereo type about females.
> 
> You ask what has to be done to get women to spend money on games and the equipment. Well apparently you are not aware that a very large segment of gamers are women. For the most part women play the same games that boys and men play. So apparently a good number of women do spend the money.
> 
> ...


This, but those stats are based on all the games now a days including all the phone/ipad app games. For consoles it's still mostly men but there are ALOT of women gamers now compared to 15 years ago.

I think alot of dads who are hardcore gamers (raises hands) started getting their kids (boys and girls) into gaming. The old way of only boys play with video games/toy guns and girls with dolls is way long dead. Now it's acceptable for little boys play with dolls. One buddy's boy is like this. He's been trying for years to get him to stop but finally gave up recently. If I had been playing with dolls I think my dad would have taken the paddle to me if I didn't stop when he told me to. Different times, different values now.

Goto any of those gaming conventions and you will see a ton of girls/women roaming around.


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