Current Events > ' Nowadays, the global ratio of male to female gamers is near 1:1'

(+) Yeah! (+)

Nowadays, the global ratio of male to female gamers is near 1:1, but this ratio doesn't extend to the playable characters in games. Even though recent years have gone a long ways towards closing the gap, games with male characters are in the majority. However, it may surprise some to learn that although they haven't been common, games which feature females as playable characters have been around for decades.

But who was the first female protagonist? If you ask someone that they'll probably answer either "Ms. Pac-Man", or "Samus Aran" (or "Metroid", if they're anything like my mom). One day, I got to wondering if either of those answers were actually correct, and decided ~ The_Mighty_KELP



What does CE think?
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Is this one of those things where they count people who play Candy Crush as "gamers"

KhanJohnny posted...

Is this one of those things where they count people who play Candy Crush as "gamers"

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Muffinz0rz posted...

KhanJohnny posted...

Is this one of those things where they count people who play Candy Crush as "gamers"

Candy Crush isn't a game?
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Highly doubt it.
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Muffinz0rz posted...

KhanJohnny posted...

Is this one of those things where they count people who play Candy Crush as "gamers"

Yeah seriously I hate it.

I know a lot of women who seriously play too, but it's not a 50/50 ratio at all.
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KhanJohnny posted...

Is this one of those things where they count people who play Candy Crush as "gamers"

who cares? its really unimportant. The definition of "gamer" has been changing for a while to accomodate the new forms of games that have been coming out.

It's not a bad thing. There's no benefit in exclusion or elitism. Maybe gamers can even get more respect and less stigma in society as people get to understand the culture more. and that's a great thing.

Fam_Fam posted...

KhanJohnny posted...

Is this one of those things where they count people who play Candy Crush as "gamers"

who cares? its really unimportant. The definition of "gamer" has been changing for a while to accomodate the new forms of games that have been coming out.

It's not a bad thing. There's no benefit in exclusion or elitism. Maybe gamers can even get more respect and less stigma in society as people get to understand the culture more. and that's a great thing.

It actually is very important to the question at hand. Why should console games, which are likely male dominant, have 50% female protagonists, if that's not who the consumers are?

If the consumers of story-driven console games are men who want to play games as men, then why should they not get what they are spending their money for in order to satisfy a political preference?

KhanJohnny posted...

Is this one of those things where they count people who play Candy Crush as "gamers"

I'd wager they spend more time playing Candy Crush than most of us do on more traditional titles,so gets to call who a real gamer?

I grew up gaming, so I never really thought anything of it, or thought it was a male dominated thing. I did get teased about it back in school though. In general of my friends I maybe have 2 hardcore gamer's among them and the rest of the girls I know wouldn't touch it.

Jonny2284 posted...

KhanJohnny posted...

Is this one of those things where they count people who play Candy Crush as "gamers"

I'd wager they spend more time playing Candy Crush than most of us do on more traditional titles,so gets to call who a real gamer?

The problem is using the fact that women like Candy Crush to decide how to create and market Call of Duty.
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Rimmer_Dall posted...

The problem is using the fact that women like Candy Crush to decide how to create and market Call of Duty.

How dare they!
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KhanJohnny posted...

Fam_Fam posted...

KhanJohnny posted...

Is this one of those things where they count people who play Candy Crush as "gamers"

who cares? its really unimportant. The definition of "gamer" has been changing for a while to accomodate the new forms of games that have been coming out.

It's not a bad thing. There's no benefit in exclusion or elitism. Maybe gamers can even get more respect and less stigma in society as people get to understand the culture more. and that's a great thing.

It actually is very important to the question at hand. Why should console games, which are likely male dominant, have 50% female protagonists, if that's not who the consumers are?

If the consumers of story-driven console games are men who want to play games as men, then why should they not get what they are spending their money for in order to satisfy a political preference?

well, have males said that they prefer having the great majority of characters be male? (or female?) I also dont think it said "story driven console games" in terms of the breakdown.

I personally think it's good to have some balance, and have both men and women in all sorts of roles (i.e. women =/= eye candy). It's good to have variety, because that imitates real life.

Rimmer_Dall posted...

Jonny2284 posted...

KhanJohnny posted...

Is this one of those things where they count people who play Candy Crush as "gamers"

I'd wager they spend more time playing Candy Crush than most of us do on more traditional titles,so gets to call who a real gamer?

The problem is using the fact that women like Candy Crush to decide how to create and market Call of Duty.

do you think people should/would buy/not buy call of duty if there were more women in it? if the gameplay/graphics were of the same caliber? it's completely irrelevant, unless you are buying the game to stare at the characters' asses or something.

I think it's a dumb thing to worry about in terms of sales, and if there are people who like it, what's the problem? I doubt male gamers who like CoD will stop playing it if there are more women in the next generation. If so, they are kind of a joke as gamers/people.

Gamers are anyone who plays games in my opinion, but there is a difference between playing games as a hobby and playing games primarily out of convenience. One market is reliable source of income while the other is very unreliable, but can be proven profitable.
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Fam_Fam posted...

KhanJohnny posted...

Fam_Fam posted...

KhanJohnny posted...

Is this one of those things where they count people who play Candy Crush as "gamers"

who cares? its really unimportant. The definition of "gamer" has been changing for a while to accomodate the new forms of games that have been coming out.

It's not a bad thing. There's no benefit in exclusion or elitism. Maybe gamers can even get more respect and less stigma in society as people get to understand the culture more. and that's a great thing.

It actually is very important to the question at hand. Why should console games, which are likely male dominant, have 50% female protagonists, if that's not who the consumers are?

If the consumers of story-driven console games are men who want to play games as men, then why should they not get what they are spending their money for in order to satisfy a political preference?

well, have males said that they prefer having the great majority of characters be male? (or female?) I also dont think it said "story driven console games" in terms of the breakdown.

I personally think it's good to have some balance, and have both men and women in all sorts of roles (i.e. women =/= eye candy). It's good to have variety, because that imitates real life.

Well the OP offers no data for what gamers are defined as nor what the preferences of the likely male dominated consumer base is nor what types of games we are discussing so I'm purely speculating.

However, I don't think there is a large demand for female protagonists, hence why the OP exists at all. If there were, then the industry would likely have responded already.

eh, it's close. there are more females into table top, cards, and videogames these days
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Fam_Fam posted...

do you think people should/would buy/not buy call of duty if there were more women in it? if the gameplay/graphics were of the same caliber? it's completely irrelevant, unless you are buying the game to stare at the characters' asses or something.

I agree that it is irrelevant. People who think women don't play these types of games because they don't have women protagonists are ridiculous, and they're basing it on intersectional feminist doctrine regarding "representation", an idea that is consistently debunked by actual sales figures. If they were correct, then Metroid and Tomb Raider would have way different demographics than they do.
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Do I agree?

With what?
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KhanJohnny posted...

However, I don't think there is a large demand for female protagonists

In general this might be true but people don't know what they want until they see it. There are still countless opportunities for creative, profitable, and popular female leads, the only thing missing is the vision to actual create them.
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To be fair, besides mobile games there is a large female gamer base community for games like the Sims and Minecraft. Basically games that don't hard goals and competition tend to fair better with female demograph than the male one.
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Funkydog posted...

Do I agree?

With what?

with the statement in TT
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People who only play cell phone games and people who play console/PC games really aren't the same market of "gamer" and it's pretty disingenuous to frame it as so.
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catboy0_0 posted...

Funkydog posted...

Do I agree?

With what?

with the statement in TT

I'm not sure what their is to agree with. From what I can see they are just presenting information/facts.
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Funkydog posted...

catboy0_0 posted...

Funkydog posted...

Do I agree?

With what?

with the statement in TT

I'm not sure what their is to agree with. From what I can see they are just presenting information/facts.

you can agree with the validity of the statement and whether how they came to their conclusion of "gamer" as true or not true scotsman
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Anarchy_Juiblex posted...

KhanJohnny posted...

However, I don't think there is a large demand for female protagonists

In general this might be true but people don't know what they want until they see it. There are still countless opportunities for creative, profitable, and popular female leads, the only thing missing is the vision to actual create them.

There have been games with female protagonists though, and some of them have been quite successful. Yet, I still fail to see the consumer base raging for a 1:1 ratio of protagonists.

Fam_Fam posted...

do you think people should/would buy/not buy call of duty if there were more women in it?

to consider this question, we must also consider the inverse question, or at least the only part of it the industry that makes games cares about:

do you think people would buy/not buy call of duty if there were less women in it?

if developers are not designing their games to maximize sales, they are doing a severe disservice to their shareholders, let alone their fans.

calls to increase representation in a product of a demographic that does not consume that product will inevitably fall on deaf ears, unless the representation gap was the sole reason for their lack of consumption.
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Rimmer_Dall posted...

Jonny2284 posted...

KhanJohnny posted...

Is this one of those things where they count people who play Candy Crush as "gamers"

I'd wager they spend more time playing Candy Crush than most of us do on more traditional titles,so gets to call who a real gamer?

The problem is using the fact that women like Candy Crush to decide how to create and market Call of Duty.

Nobody is doing that not that you should care of they did unless you're financially invested in Activision.
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catboy0_0 posted...

Funkydog posted...

catboy0_0 posted...

Funkydog posted...

Do I agree?

With what?

with the statement in TT

I'm not sure what their is to agree with. From what I can see they are just presenting information/facts.

you can agree with the validity of the statement and whether how they came to their conclusion of "gamer" as true or not true scotsman

I don't see why mobile games wouldn't count. Just because "console gamers" etc are elitest doesn't change they are still games in the end. Just a different kind.
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Honestly, I think the games that brought in the most female gamer isn't Candy Crush, it's MMORPGs in general like WoW and Maple Story
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YourDrunkFather posted...

People who only play cell phone games and people who play console/PC games really aren't the same market of "gamer" and it's pretty disingenuous to frame it as so.

You can play Candy Crush on a console and you can play Chrono Trigger, FFX, Baldurs Gate, Metal Gear on mobile
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Tyranthraxus posted...

Nobody is doing that not that you should care of they did unless you're financially invested in Activision.

i think it's rational for consumers of a product to oppose changes to that product that they dislike
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If its not 1:1, then its close to it. I know that its true at least for Japan and China, where there are more females who play games.
If we speak of all games, including mmo and mobile

catboy0_0 posted...

Honestly, I think the games that brought in the most female gamer isn't Candy Crush, it's MMORPGs in general like WoW and Maple Story

Candy Crush and similar games bring in middle aged women and younger girls. That's why the number of female gamers are so high. They're not typically people you'd play with or find in gaming communities.
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Tyranthraxus posted...

catboy0_0 posted...

Honestly, I think the games that brought in the most female gamer isn't Candy Crush, it's MMORPGs in general like WoW and Maple Story

Candy Crush and similar games bring in middle aged women and younger girls. That's why the number of female gamers are so high. They're not typically people you'd play with or find in gaming communities.

it's both--catboy is correct to note that mmo-type games have a huge female fanbase as well

which is why they tend to have equal gender options
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catboy0_0 posted...

Honestly, I think the games that brought in the most female gamer isn't Candy Crush, it's MMORPGs in general like WoW and Maple Story

That would make sense, but MMORPG's are still predominately male based though.
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My late 50s mom is a hardcore gamer (plays spider solitaire on her laptop every night while she watches food network ).

As a result I believe that we should see more representation of ppl like her in video games, because my mom had told me time and time again that the reason she sticks to spider solitaire instead of playing CoD competitively is because she has noticed a profound lack of highly religious aging female protagonists in modern FPS games
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Prestoff posted...

catboy0_0 posted...

Honestly, I think the games that brought in the most female gamer isn't Candy Crush, it's MMORPGs in general like WoW and Maple Story

That would make sense, but MMORPG's are still predominately male based though.

Not in East Asia

Darkman124 posted...

Fam_Fam posted...

do you think people should/would buy/not buy call of duty if there were more women in it?

to consider this question, we must also consider the inverse question, or at least the only part of it the industry that makes games cares about:

do you think people would buy/not buy call of duty if there were less women in it?

if developers are not designing their games to maximize sales, they are doing a severe disservice to their shareholders, let alone their fans.

calls to increase representation in a product of a demographic that does not consume that product will inevitably fall on deaf ears, unless the representation gap was the sole reason for their lack of consumption.

you avoided answering both questions entirely.

Fam_Fam posted...

KhanJohnny posted...

Is this one of those things where they count people who play Candy Crush as "gamers"

who cares? its really unimportant. The definition of "gamer" has been changing for a while to accomodate the new forms of games that have been coming out.

It's not a bad thing. There's no benefit in exclusion or elitism. Maybe gamers can even get more respect and less stigma in society as people get to understand the culture more. and that's a great thing.

It kinda matters in this case because you're getting your domains crossed.

The sex ratio of people who play games and the sex ratio of playable characters in traditional games are only related if everyone who plays games is playing traditional games.

It's a complaint that Halo needs female playables on grounds that millions of girls play flappy bird.
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KhanJohnny posted...

Fam_Fam posted...

KhanJohnny posted...

Is this one of those things where they count people who play Candy Crush as "gamers"

who cares? its really unimportant. The definition of "gamer" has been changing for a while to accomodate the new forms of games that have been coming out.

It's not a bad thing. There's no benefit in exclusion or elitism. Maybe gamers can even get more respect and less stigma in society as people get to understand the culture more. and that's a great thing.

It actually is very important to the question at hand. Why should console games, which are likely male dominant, have 50% female protagonists, if that's not who the consumers are?

If the consumers of story-driven console games are men who want to play games as men, then why should they not get what they are spending their money for in order to satisfy a political preference?

Yeah, because it's story driven console games that have been the biggest sellers these past 5 years or so...

Why even make story driven console games at all when multiplayer fps games have been the main consumers? Forget the niche market and focus only on the biggest consumers.
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Fam_Fam posted...

KhanJohnny posted...

Is this one of those things where they count people who play Candy Crush as "gamers"

who cares? its really unimportant. The definition of "gamer" has been changing for a while to accomodate the new forms of games that have been coming out.

It's not a bad thing. There's no benefit in exclusion or elitism. Maybe gamers can even get more respect and less stigma in society as people get to understand the culture more. and that's a great thing.

No it hasnt.
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Fam_Fam posted...

you avoided answering both questions entirely.

purpose of the post was not to answer the questions

because the answers are in the hands of corporate market research teams and are not clear to the regular person

tainted_emerald posted...

Why even make story driven console games at all when multiplayer fps games have been the main consumers?

ratio of return on investment.

certainly, the largest companies have gone out of their way to release their 'flagship' products as many times as possible, hence why we're on call of duty 12 or so, madden 16, etc.
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e: call of duty 15, madden 29?
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Darkman124 posted...

Tyranthraxus posted...

catboy0_0 posted...

Honestly, I think the games that brought in the most female gamer isn't Candy Crush, it's MMORPGs in general like WoW and Maple Story

Candy Crush and similar games bring in middle aged women and younger girls. That's why the number of female gamers are so high. They're not typically people you'd play with or find in gaming communities.

it's both--catboy is correct to note that mmo-type games have a huge female fanbase as well

which is why they tend to have equal gender options

I was mostly saying that games like Candy Crush do pull a ton of women. As a matter of fact the most common demographic of a mobile gamer is a middle aged woman.

MMOs (RPGs in general) do pull arguably a larger amount of women than stuff like shooters / sports / etc but even among MMOs there is still a far larger amount of men.

When it comes to console games, women are huge fans of party games / dance games / stuff like Sims, Harvest Moon, and more laid back stuff.

Action Adventure games are also a safe hit with women although I still think more men buy them. Stuff like Uncharted and such.
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tainted_emerald posted...

KhanJohnny posted...

Fam_Fam posted...

KhanJohnny posted...

Is this one of those things where they count people who play Candy Crush as "gamers"

who cares? its really unimportant. The definition of "gamer" has been changing for a while to accomodate the new forms of games that have been coming out.

It's not a bad thing. There's no benefit in exclusion or elitism. Maybe gamers can even get more respect and less stigma in society as people get to understand the culture more. and that's a great thing.

It actually is very important to the question at hand. Why should console games, which are likely male dominant, have 50% female protagonists, if that's not who the consumers are?

If the consumers of story-driven console games are men who want to play games as men, then why should they not get what they are spending their money for in order to satisfy a political preference?

Yeah, because it's story driven console games that have been the biggest sellers these past 5 years or so...

Why even make story driven console games at all when multiplayer fps games have been the main consumers? Forget the niche market and focus only on the biggest consumers.

I think in most multiplayer FPS games you have both male and female characters, so it's really not an issue there, nor would you classify your character as a "protagonist" like the OP does.

But I haven't played any recent FPS games so maybe I'm wrong.

Also, your additional comment isn't really sensible. Not everyone can compete in the biggest market, and the niche market would be left underexploited if they tried.

My issue with the statistics of gender parity in video gaming is how they're used. Like I don't care if you want to call a middle-aged housewife whose involvement with the gaming community is limited to tapping falling candy for two hours a day a "gamer".

Problem is that that's a completely different market, or it should be, but publishers see dollar signs at the thought of blending the two together. That's why we get shit like the Command and Conquer mobile shit EA showed off at E3 rather than a "real" C&C game

If you exclude mobile "gamers," there's still significantly more male gamers than there are female although they are slowly catching up.
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I don't see how including people who exclusively play mobile games makes any sense. If you want to do that, then you'd have to include all the computer games older women have been playing over the past couple of decades. There's been online wheel of fortune, bejeweled, solitare, sweet tooth, etc. It really isn't new.
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