Gaming isn't just for men

Nearly a third of female gamers feel guilty about their hobby, but why? Steph Rennick and Sean Roberts report

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WHILE playing video games has traditionally been thought of as a male-dominated pastime, 51% of women now game in some capacity compared to 53% of men.

However, although the number of women playing video games continues to increase, their representation varies across different genres, platforms and games.

We surveyed 1,000 women of all ages across the UK who play mobile games (the most popular way for women to play).Our analysis, published in the journal Sex Roles, found that despite being an important part of their lives, many female gamers experience negative emotions in relation to games.

Twenty-nine per cent felt guilty for taking time to play video games, and 16% keep gaming a secret for fear of judgment.

More than 41% of the women we surveyed agreed playing games is one of the things they most look forward to each day. However, almost 60% felt they do not play enough games to consider themselves a “gamer” and more than 30% said they would be embarrassed to call themselves one. Women who look forward to playing were more likely to feel guilty than those who do not.

While 75% of participants classified themselves as “casual gamers’ nearly 25% of them were not only playing mobile games, but also spending more than an hour a day playing games on a PC or console. Strikingly, even among women who spent more than five hours a day playing games, only 16% identified as a “hardcore gamer”.