According to a new study released by the Entertainment Software Association, adult women make up the largest group of gamers! These women make up 36 percent of the population, followed by adult men, who make up 35 percent and teenage boys, who make up a minuscule 17 percent.
According to a new study released by the Entertainment Software Association, adult women make up the largest group of gamers! These women make up 36 percent of the population, followed by adult men, who make up 35 percent and teenage boys, who make up a minuscule 17 percent.
I think this number is pretty darn cool, but doesn’t really change the big issue with being a woman playing games: most games are designed by men, for men.
There are tons of problems with how gendered games are. For many titles, the main, playable character is a male. If there is a woman, she tends to be a character that is played from a third person view — meaning instead of actually becoming the character, you control her.
However, games really are becoming a more welcoming field for women as the number of lady gamers has grown over the years. It’s the gaming culture that is the hard thing to crack.
Anita Sarkeesian, a game critic who created a Kickstarter-funded video series called “Tropes vs. Women,” has been attacked personally though the Internet time and time again.
Her video project is a cultural criticism about the nature of games. The videos look at the different trope characters in games and why female characters always seem to fit into a pre-written gaming script.
On Aug. 27, these threats drove her to notify authorities after people began posting her location and threatening her — one of which was to kill her family.
To be clear, Sarkeesian’s videos aren’t hating on video games or those who play them. They are simply saying that there are issues within games, and these issues are tearing down the largest demographic of gamers.
There’s a little hope, though. Steve Jaros, Volition Studio creative director, which is famous for the Saints Row series, responded to Sarkeesian’s critique of his series, saying “I think it’s fair to be called out on your shit. I think it’s a sad man that can never be self-reflective. I think that we tried to go and carry ourselves with respect, and try to respect sexuality and respect gender as much as we can, and sometimes we fail but hopefully we’ll do better and continue to get better.”
For many, games are a welcome escape from the “real world.” It gives a player minutes or hours when they can escape any kind of personal struggle they’re going through. Games connect people, whether that be with strangers from around the world or with friends sitting right next to them. They unite people who would otherwise be strangers and make them into friends. Heck, I even have a close friend who met their boyfriend through an online game.
Sarkeesian isn’t trying to take that away. Actually, she’s trying to make the community more open for new people to join — including women, like it or not.
Let us in, fellas. We won’t bite if you won’t.
Sophie Kruse is a junior studying journalism and a staff writer for The Post. What do you think of these new statistics? Email her at sk139011@ohio.edu or tweet her at @kruseco.
