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PoppyAppletree: Also, Paladin, if you want a source it goes back to research done in 2014. It caused a stir at the time and got a lot of coverage, so articles abound if you look. Like most things you can find variations in the specific numbers based on what variables are used, but the overall trend points to a substantial increase in the participation of women in gaming. This is a nice post about it.
I'm really not into this topic that much, but not quoting sources/quoting shitty or misleading sources offends me.
I remember reading this "research" at the time, it's actually more of a statistic ("we asked 100 people..."), and you are only linking to one of the gazillion articles that interpret that "research" (they apparently asked 4000 people from the UK, so the next question is whether these results are valid for an international market).
In that paper, every single person that has Candy Crush on their phone and diddles with that while riding the train counts as a "gamer". To assume everyone of those will "move into the market" once we have enough badass chicks in our rpgs is just... very far-fetched.
Going by personal experience now, I know many, many smart-phone diddlers who have never as much as touched a pc game.
Not to say that making games targeted at a female audience is a bad thing at all, I just really wish people would stop with that "more than 50%"-narrative. I've never encountered any research that made that appear plausible whatsoever. (If you can provide some, I'd love to see it - not joking :) ).
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WildHobgoblin: I've never encountered any research that made that appear plausible whatsoever. (If you can provide some, I'd love to see it - not joking :) ).
That's the problem with a lot of social "science" studies these days. The one's reported on are the ones that say something unexpected. And they say something unexpected by twisting the statistics as much as possible, so that it says something controversial enough to be published.

I looked at the underlying methodology and those genre statistics seem to represent all forms of media including phones. So is the Zynga game Mafia Wars an RPG? It definitely includes MMOs too like WoW. Are those phone clicker games RPGs? It states that each game categorizes itself into one or more categories.

In short, any game which features "character advancement" of any sort seems to fall under the RPG category. But frankly, the numbers aren't the issue. The issue are those using those questionable numbers to claim more women play games with men, so now every game should have a female protagonist. The truth is that developers are there to make money. They know who the audience is for their games and they see the sales numbers of games whose design can only feature one protagonist because of story limitations.

If you truly want to change things, yelling about developers on a forum isn't going to change anything. Buying those games which match what you like will. If enough women start actually buying the games where the protagonist is a woman, the developers will see it. But developers have the real raw data available to them. They are not going to be swayed by a distorted use of statistics, but they will develop a game with a female protagonist if that is the design choice that will sell more.
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babark: I wouldn't say it is just casual, and neither is the segment restricted to adult women. For example:
https://www.pcgamer.com/researchers-find-that-female-pc-gamers-outnumber-males/
(The link has further links for your own research)
Can you link to the actual survey report?

Regarding harrasment which someone mentioned earlier, it is more likely to happen to men but men also tend to consider it less serious.
http://www.pewinternet.org/2017/07/11/online-harassment-2017/
Post edited June 18, 2018 by ResidentLeever
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babark: I wouldn't say it is just casual, and neither is the segment restricted to adult women. For example:
https://www.pcgamer.com/researchers-find-that-female-pc-gamers-outnumber-males/
(The link has further links for your own research)
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ResidentLeever:
The PC Gamer article has a serious typo in in it as well. I followed up as I looked up half a dozen articles about the same study, I noticed the same 53.6% number, but only in the PC Gamer article did it claim "of PC Gamers". Seems the "journalist", doing what journalists do these days (take someone else's story - change it to your own words and cite them) mistakenly thought it was referring just to PC Games, when that number seems to be all games categorizing themselves as RPGs regardless of platform (unless somehow the number matched exactly to a tenth of a percent which is highly unlikely). The statistics themselves are hidden behind a pay wall, for about $600. The survey company itself while doing these surveys, does so mostly to sell their services to industry. Surveys like this are an example of the types of individualized reports they can do for a game developer.
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Post edited June 18, 2018 by Fairfox
I looked into the topic of structural change regarding video game consumers a couple years ago. For someone who is interested in statistics who plays what, I recommend the Entertainment Software Association (ESA)’s annual reports:

http://www.theesa.com/about-esa/esa-annual-report/

Personally I tend to dislike games with female protagonists. Either the environment ignores it or the feedback you get is very irritating.

Edit: I just remembered that I played Vampires: Bloodlines two times with some years in between, first as male, then female, and although I think there weren't substantial changes to dialogues, the story felt more natural with the female to me.
Post edited June 18, 2018 by Ashnak
Since this thread was bumped by a troll, maybe I'll add the recommendation Timespinner. The game has some science fiction elements (including time travel), but I think it otherwise qualifies, and in particular there are a lot of LGBTQ characters in the game.

Edit: bt -> by
Post edited October 25, 2018 by dtgreene
What the...?
I misunderstood your forum title and thought you were a man that disliked women :P
Now I just see things clearer, ma'am XD
Has anyone yet suggested Trails in the Sky?

It's a game in a fantasy (albeit somewhat more steampunky) setting, with a number of well-written and well-rounded characters, both female and male, and succeeds at portraying them in a humanizing way, rather than seeing/treating them as stereotypes. Characters of both genders are involved in various parts of the most important decisions of the story, and their involvement is based on their relevance and abilities, rather than their gender.
Post edited October 25, 2018 by QuintSakugarne