Low % of females in online games etc

[Deleted]

While I've been in train and while I was attending to some lectures I came in contact with a few nice people who asked me why I would allow females to get lower presence in management, payment and so on. I never thought about that and never talked with someone of the other gender about that.

But when I realized that I spend 77% of my time with WoW, anime and other stuff, while being male and SUDDENLY noticing that most of my before unnoticed fellow users are male... I felt very guilty. What can I do to bring females into my hobby? Is it something I can do to NOT stop them from entering?

How can I help females to adopt into my world, that is - when I actually look at the member page - almost completely dominated by males.

This has to be what they asked me about and wanted to make me realize... What can i dew?

Or why isn't the number equal? Is there some difference in females and males? Aren't we all humans?

[stumpy]

Aren't we all humans?

You have an Isaku avatar. Your humanity is debatable.

[obdigore]

Is there some difference in females and males? Aren't we all humans?

Men are utilitarian.

Females are deliciously squishy.

You know the answer to your question. Stop caring if there are women around or not, and call out the shitlords that talk smack.

[Simulacrum]

You should stop playing games and go do something that females enjoy, thus evening out the distribution.

[Deleted]

You sometimes hear about research that says the split is about 50/50, sometimes they even claim there is more women then men in online games. The numbers on studies are all over the place and varies a lot.

But for wow specifically, partially empirically, i's say the split between men/women is much better in casual guilds/players, and in more hardcore guilds you get less females on average. Think it's just a thing that women on average are less likely to make a serious commitment to a video game.

Then there is ofc the thing that games are often developed/marketed with a young male audience in mind, resulting in bikini plate armor and stuff like that.

[Miley]

Some of it does have to do with how females are treated by other males in online games. Also it is not often necessary for a female gamer to just reveal they are a female. Then there is the topic of games not being marketed to women or perhaps not many women just happen to be interested in those games. Also in general women are just not as competitive as men.

[obdigore]

You sometimes hear about research that says the split is about 50/50, sometimes they even claim there is more women then men in online games. The numbers on studies are all over the place and varies a lot.

But for wow specifically, partially empirically, i's say the split between men/women is much better in casual guilds/players, and in more hardcore guilds you get less females on average. Think it's just a thing that women on average are less likely to make a serious commitment to a video game.

Depends entirely on what games you poll. Farmville on the book of faces has a much higher percentage of woman players than say, CoD or BF, or pretty much any MMO. A few of the MMOs approach equilibrium (in my experience, GW2 is the only one that does). That doesn't mean there aren't quite a number of women playing the game, it just means you will never know they are women because they are afraid of shitlords and the 15 year olds who go 'SOMETHING WITH BOOBS, SWARM HER!'.

[Flutterguy]

Why does there need to be more women in online gaming?

[Ealyssa]

We recruted a new feral player who is a girl this week. Making our raid now female dominent the most days.

I actually encounter more and more women playing (and not only in WoW). Especially in 2015, don't know if I'm "lucky" but I encounter them like never before. I personnaly like it. But can understand that some men can feel threatened.

[Drekker17]

1. Just ask some of your real life female friends to play games with you. That's what I do, I mean I am a girl so I think it's easier since girls feel more comfortable around girls, but how will they know the amazingness of video games if they only play iPhone games.

2. Be nice to girls online and call out guys that try to make women uncomfortable.

Yes men and women are different, but I don't think anything about video games is inherently male. Maybe competitive games, but not like wow or RPGs.

[obdigore]

We recruted a new feral player who is a girl this week.
.

You know, this means something completely different if you aren't talking about a druid in WoW

[Toastyame]

I treat women like I treat kids, grown men, trans-gendered dinosaurs, aliens and robots on the internet. It doesn't matter really who they are outside of the game I'm playing, if they suck they suck and they're good they're good. The fact I'm never going to meet anyone I play games with (excluding dreamhack/blizzcon) I really could care less about who they are outside of the game.

[tj119]

There doesn't need to be more women in on-line gaming, why the hell would anyone care anyway? I'd prefer to play with a bunch of dudes, in 9-1/2 years in WoW I've only come across two female players that were actually competent. The game needs more people who want to play an MMO, not more women.

There are more concs to pros for women in WoW and most all online games.

[Yvaelle]

I'm not sure what online game you're referring to?

Most MMO's are actually almost at parity - and there are genres of games which are slightly female dominanted now.

Check this out.

Notably, 2014 was the year game purchases hit 50/50 male/female for the first time. Only 52% of self-identified gamers are male now, 48% are female.

On that point though, it's also worth pointing out that this isn't exactly equilibrium - since women slightly outnumber men in any given developed population: usually something like 53:47.

There are games that are still male-dominanted, like Call of Duty - but that's mostly due to the community being a bunch of toxic trolls: other FPS are much more female-friendly, I think even CSGO is about twice as female populous per capita (compared to CoD). There are some games - like The Sims (the highest grossing series of all time?), which is overwhelmingly female demographically. Then there are puzzle games which are female dominated, too. When you factor genres like that in, that 48% figure starts to add up.

- - - Updated - - -

Depends entirely on what games you poll. Farmville on the book of faces has a much higher percentage of woman players than say, CoD or BF, or pretty much any MMO. A few of the MMOs approach equilibrium (in my experience, GW2 is the only one that does). That doesn't mean there aren't quite a number of women playing the game, it just means you will never know they are women because they are afraid of shitlords and the 15 year olds who go 'SOMETHING WITH BOOBS, SWARM HER!'.

Actually even back in 2000, the single largest cohort in EverQuest - the first real MMO - was middle-aged housewives: just barely eeking out college-age males. It was a pretty shocking figure at the time because it was such a stark contrast to other genres that were overwhelmingly male.

[breadisfunny]

There doesn't need to be more women in on-line gaming, why the hell would anyone care anyway? I'd prefer to play with a bunch of dudes, in 9-1/2 years in WoW I've only come across two female players that were actually competent. The game needs more people who want to play an MMO, not more women.

There are more concs to pros for women in WoW and most all online games.

i can smell the misogyny a mile away. oh boy does this post reek of it. also ancedotal accounts is not evidence of anything other than your personal experiences.

[Toastyame]

I thought this was a thread asking if people feel we should have more women in gaming? It should have nothing BUT personal evidence or opinions here. I for one don't mind, but a noob is a noob, regardless of sex/race/nationality.



A lot of it boils down to the type of games that are currently available online. There's been lists of % of men to women on genres of games, and very few that women were dominant in were ones that have co-op play through the internet.

[Independent voter]

Most MMO's are actually almost at parity - and there are genres of games which are slightly female dominanted now.

I sense that girls mostly play games like Bejeweled. WoW is supposed to be 40% female and I believe it.

[Aqua]

While I've been in train and while I was attending to some lectures I came in contact with a few nice people who asked me why I would allow females to get lower presence in management, payment and so on. I never thought about that and never talked with someone of the other gender about that.

But when I realized that I spend 77% of my time with WoW, anime and other stuff, while being male and SUDDENLY noticing that most of my before unnoticed fellow users are male... I felt very guilty. What can I do to bring females into my hobby? Is it something I can do to NOT stop them from entering?

How can I help females to adopt into my world, that is - when I actually look at the member page - almost completely dominated by males.

This has to be what they asked me about and wanted to make me realize... What can i dew?

Or why isn't the number equal? Is there some difference in females and males? Aren't we all humans?

I like your approach there, very nice. However it's got to be something the next generation picks up, for instance, I'm female, my parents allowed me to pick and choose my hobbies and encouraged them accordingly no matter if gaming was considered 'masculine' at the time.

So...that's carried on to my adulthood, letting girls who are already firm in their belief that gaming is not for them and refuse to even try or are mentally wired to think that it's a 'male' past time will very rarely make a transition.

Which is why mobile gaming has made that breakthrough, it's not been marketed stricly as a 'video game', it's been marketed as an interactive app, an evolution of those 'fucking around' games like farmville and the sims.

The best thing you can do, is if you have a daughter, or a young female family member is to let them play a game, and encourage them. A positive gaming experience will last them their entire life and carry over to others.

But in the late 80's early 90's alot of games were made by men, for boys, and girls only got 'marketable' game franchises like barbie and pollypocket, which had about 1% of effort put into them. It's not something to get upset about, it's just how it happened, but games that were for everyone, like alot of the mascot games, platformers, strategy and funny games, really drew some girls in. So it's been a slow process, but It can and should change as generations move on, and as girls make their entry into the industry.

[taliey]

Sounds like its time for gender quotas!

/s

[breadisfunny]

While I've been in train and while I was attending to some lectures I came in contact with a few nice people who asked me why I would allow females to get lower presence in management, payment and so on. I never thought about that and never talked with someone of the other gender about that.

But when I realized that I spend 77% of my time with WoW, anime and other stuff, while being male and SUDDENLY noticing that most of my before unnoticed fellow users are male... I felt very guilty. What can I do to bring females into my hobby? Is it something I can do to NOT stop them from entering?

How can I help females to adopt into my world, that is - when I actually look at the member page - almost completely dominated by males.

This has to be what they asked me about and wanted to make me realize... What can i dew?

Or why isn't the number equal? Is there some difference in females and males? Aren't we all humans?

i'm having a hard time believing it took you THIS LONG to realize anime is mostly male dominated...
also this post comes off as kind of creepy.
although you goal is noble.