gamer scan
10/02/2006, 9:30am, EDT
Monday, October 2ndPopCap study: 76 percent of users female
PopCap Games has published the results of an internal demographics survey, and the results are somewhat surprising. The Bejeweled developer polled 2,191 "casual" gamers, and discovered that a full 76 percent of them were female - well more than the 38 percent figure for US gamers as a whole, claimed by the Entertainment Software Association. Moreover, the average age of women in the PopCap survey was 48, a full 15 years older than the ESA's gender-neutral average (33). So what's the explanation? Judging by primary motivations, it could be that juggling motherhood and/or a career takes its toll: 44 percent of women chose "stress relief," versus just 33 percent of men. "Entertainment" and "mental workouts" ranked relatively low as women's reasons, at 17 and 16 percent respectively.
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posted by Cherubis
Because the sheer numbers of males playing shooters, war sims, and such doesn't preclude women from playing those games or, rather, games that of a different type such as puzzles, card games, sims, or other things that don't require heavy weapon fire.
As pop-cap games is of the second variety, I'd say that their numbers are quite accurate.
Also, I remember a study finding a couple of years back where nearly 50% of online gamers were women but that they played most heavily between the hours of midnight and 5AM.
My wife loves games (puzzles, card games, etc.) and is the reason that we have XBox Live on our 360. Actually, come to think of it, most of the games that we currently have are her games. Imagine that.
posted by Hobeaux