There is an ongoing stereotype in the world of gaming that says females are far less likely to be gamers than males. It’s a long running stereotype that has existed virtually since the start of the video game industry, but just how true is it in the modern world?
It’s not an easy question to answer, and the exact numbers deserve a closer look. But, to say that girl gamers are rare is, certainly, an enormous misconception. The real question that should be getting asked is what age those girl gamers are, and how often they play games.
Overall Statistics
Looking at the overall numbers of the question is very revealing, with an enormous 35% of females in the United States calling themselves gamers. That’s 35% of all women asked. The number certainly isn’t as high as the 65% of males asked, but still a great deal more than many might assume. This result, however, was from a census taken in 2008. By 2014 the number of female gamers in the United States had risen to 42%.
But this isn’t answering the question very well, given that a clear trend can be seen between the age of the woman asked, and how likely they were to be gamers. It seems that there is a very clear trend of the younger the woman, the more chance of her being an active gamer or enjoying real money slots.
Statistics By Age
Women younger than the age of 18 are the most common gamers, which shows that the stereotypical perception of female gamers is rapidly disappearing from society, the longer time goes on. A most recent census in the United States revealed that the under 18 results showed an almost exact 50/50 divide between male and female gamers, with only a slight 2% leaning towards males.
With the 2% being almost negligible, it is fairly clear to say that the future gamers will be a fairly precise split between males and females. Interestingly, this 50/50 split is consistent in almost every country in the world, with only slight differences to be seen. With census taken in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and many other countries, a similar trend can be seen.
Why Does The Stereotype Persist?
The real question about the situation is as to why the perception that ‘girls don’t game’ still exists today? It seems to simply be a surviving perception from times long past, when boys really were the majority of gamers. What really remains to be seen now is how long it will take for reality to catch up with lasting incorrect perceptions.
If anything, video games are a perfect example of an activity being enjoyed equally by both genders, which is not the case for some other forms of entertainment. And most interesting of all is that many video games have clearly adapted, over the years, to be most appealing to both genders, with the male focused video games all but becoming a thing of the past.
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