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StingingVelvet: I find it amusing you're assuming a much different gender makeup between those two games. If only we had hard data on what the genders are actually playing, then we wouldn't have to assume. Too bad a study has not shown that information, wouldn't you say?

In all seriousness I don't really know what agenda would push someone to say it doesn't matter. Of course it matters. The data is of most use when advertisers, developers, publishers and journalists know what those percentages are playing and how the "50/50" split is actually reflected in games as diverse as Skyrim, Call of Duty, Peggle and Farmville.
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Darling_Jimmy: I'm not assuming anything about the audiences of either of those franchises. You're reaching... again.
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Profanity: We're not talking about people have been playing for a while and have knowledge and experience in most if not all the genres.

To give a slightly related quote from the article:
"Control schemes need to do more to take into account people who didn't grow up with a controller in their hands," said Colleen Hannon, a senior editor for the website Gamers With Jobs. "I'm not saying make the game easier; I'm saying give people who need to learn those basic skills a path to learn that doesn't belittle or sideline them."

Some people stick to Angry Birds for a reason and that's useful information to have.

The fact that someone has played a game of some sorts don't make them a driving force in the industry.
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Darling_Jimmy: Actually, with an average of 13 years of gaming experience, we are not talking about newcomers at all. Casual gamers =/= women.
The larger percent of women are exactly newcomers. And that's great for you, but exceptions are not a new concept.
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Profanity: The larger percent of women are exactly newcomers.
Source?
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Profanity: The larger percent of women are exactly newcomers.
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Darling_Jimmy: Source?
How about the fact that women being 31% of gamers is a big deal? Are you saying they were hiding, silently playing games all these years and only now everyone noticed?
Post edited August 11, 2013 by Profanity
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Women mostly play Facebook games, casual games, social games, tablet and mobile games, not ~true~ PC games.

That is the key to understanding the female psyche, and it's why the whole "im a gurl gamer dont hit on me boys" is so prevalent. They only like games are a means to socializing and gaining social prestige in a new group, so they can tell people "hey i play video games and im also a gurl". How many play single-player-only PC games, probably zero.
Post edited August 11, 2013 by Crosmando
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sanscript: Maybe this will redeem myself for bringing up that cat thing. Unless the joker gives you nightmares :D
I'm fairly sure that female is sexist and is objectifying herself.
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dirtyharry50: I just read an interesting article about the growth and size of the female market for computer and video games that I thought some here would find interesting, from CNN.com.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/08/tech/gaming-gadgets/female-gamers/index.html?hpt=te_r1

I didn't realize it was almost 50/50 at this point in gaming. I'm glad to see that.
Sorry, I don't believe it.

"Female gamers are obviously a diverse group. Millions enjoy the shooters, strategy games and other titles favored by "hardcore" enthusiasts."

And pigs fly!
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Brasas: The absolute numbers of games designed for males may go down or up regardless of share designed to cater female tastes. You assume it's a zero sum "market" in absolute terms but what we have experienced recently is huge explosion in number of games created.
Yet these vast amounts of female gamers might have zero interest in Call of Duty no matter how female friendly you make it. My wife counts as a "gamer" in this article but she would never load up a game like Skyrim or Call of Duty in her life, no matter how female friendly you try to make it.

Now, obviously every female I have ever talked about games to amounts to a pretty small percentage. So again, if only there was some kind of study that showed exactly what kinds of games women are playing. A study that didn't lump all genres and styles of games together as if Farmville and Skyrim are remotely comparable. Man, that would be useful.
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Romanul: Sorry, I don't believe it.

"Female gamers are obviously a diverse group. Millions enjoy the shooters, strategy games and other titles favored by "hardcore" enthusiasts."

And pigs fly!
I know a lot of female gamers. They mostly play RPG or MMO games, but for example my gf love to play also classic FPS like Blood, Shadow Warrior etc. and she is my coop partner in the most games.

Ratio of female gamers vs male gamers among my friends is not as good as 34% pointed in article, but I would say that it's something like 20%. But check The Witcher forum. There are plenty of female active users there, so ratio might be 34% or more.
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StingingVelvet: Yet these vast amounts of female gamers might have zero interest in Call of Duty no matter how female friendly you make it. My wife counts as a "gamer" in this article but she would never load up a game like Skyrim or Call of Duty in her life, no matter how female friendly you try to make it.

Now, obviously every female I have ever talked about games to amounts to a pretty small percentage. So again, if only there was some kind of study that showed exactly what kinds of games women are playing. A study that didn't lump all genres and styles of games together as if Farmville and Skyrim are remotely comparable. Man, that would be useful.
The hell do you mean "female friendly", I fail to really see anything gender-related in playing games, it's completely unrelated. Everyone should just play games and judge them as games. There's only one judge of games and that's the human brain, and I'm pretty sure both males and females have one of them.

It sure is a sad sign of the balkanization of modern society when people think of games as being "friendly" to "certain social groups". That's why the industry was better in the 80's and 90's, it was just about games.
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Crosmando: It sure is a sad sign of the balkanization of modern society when people think of games as being "friendly" to "certain social groups". That's why the industry was better in the 80's and 90's, it was just about games.
Umm, Ms. Pac-Man.
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StingingVelvet: if only there was some kind of study that showed exactly what kinds of games women are playing. A study that didn't lump all genres and styles of games together as if Farmville and Skyrim are remotely comparable. Man, that would be useful.
Do you care how many women vs men listen to pop, rock or polka? Again, it might be interesting but ultimately changes nothing.
Post edited August 11, 2013 by Darling_Jimmy
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Crosmando: The hell do you mean "female friendly", I fail to really see anything gender-related in playing games, it's completely unrelated. Everyone should just play games and judge them as games. There's only one judge of games and that's the human brain, and I'm pretty sure both males and females have one of them.

It sure is a sad sign of the balkanization of modern society when people think of games as being "friendly" to "certain social groups". That's why the industry was better in the 80's and 90's, it was just about games.
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Crosmando: Women mostly play Facebook games, casual games, social games, tablet and mobile games, not ~true~ PC games.

That is the key to understanding the female psyche, and it's why the whole "im a gurl gamer dont hit on me boys" is so prevalent. They only like games are a means to socializing and gaining social prestige in a new group, so they can tell people "hey i play video games and im also a gurl". How many play single-player-only PC games, probably zero.
uhh...
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Crosmando: There's only one judge of games and that's the human brain, and I'm pretty sure both males and females have one of them.
Even tho I agree with you that games should be "female" or "male" friendly I must say that it's actually scientifically proven that male and female brain work a little bit differently and for example it's the main reason why average woman prefers work that involves contact with other people and average man prefers work that involves tinkering (as I pointed out - average - so don't accuse me for generalization).
Post edited August 11, 2013 by Aver
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Cormoran: uhh...
Culture.
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AdamR: Then I see these reports about the average age of a gamer... A while ago, it was reported by everyone that the average gamer was 37 years old. I think it turned out that 37 was the average age for purchasing games, not playing them, which would make much more sense. I could be wrong.
Well, this particular report says the average game purchasing age is 35, while the average gamer age is 30. So it does address this point.

The survey does say show that casual + card games / puzzles, etc. account for over 50% of the games played, so if you just limit to hardcore games (around a quarter of them), percentage of women could be much lower.

(And sorry, I skipped most of the thread's comments.)
Post edited August 11, 2013 by ET3D
That's a bit exaggerated. I know I introduced my little sister to video games which she likes to play. My ex is a gamer and I know a few women that play video games as well. The biggest difference is that usually women don't spend as much time on videogames and game more socially. Like playing with their significant other.

It would be nice playing games again with a girlfriend. I'd almost say I miss my ex.