Let the Gaming Begin

So... Peter over at Thinking has dragged me into the 21st century by enlightening me to the fact that there isn't much news in the statement that 40% of NFL viewers are female. My cover is blown... the last time I was absorbed in football was when my heroes were Joe Montana, Lawrence Taylor, and Otis Anderson.

So now, trying to get a little more hip to the scene, I come upon this article in the Chicago Sun-Times. It says:

"Back in the '80s, the golden Atari age of video gaming, the average gamer was profiled as a pimply-faced teenage boy, playing either a PC or video game console in his parents' finished basement.

A lot has changed since then. According to a study recently released by the Entertainment Software Association, computer and video game sales topped $7 billion in the United States alone last year and 39 percent of all gamers are women."

Is this news to anyone? Or am I completely over the hill and should just stay at home watching reruns of "Max Headroom?"

Comments

[Dave Young]

So wh-wh-what's wrong with M-M-M-M-Max Headroom?

[fouroboros]

Girl!

LT and Otis? Way to go. We'll let you slide on the Montana thing, I spose. Funny, would have figured you for a Mark Bavaro woman.

I miss Parcells.

[Paughnee]

I don't find it surprising that so many women play video and computer games. (Even my computer-illiterate mother-in-law likes to play Solitaire on the computer.) I do wonder if research has been done about the TYPES of games women play versus the types of games men play.

For example, my 13 year old daughter monitors HER Interactive (http://www.herinteractive.com/prod/index.shtml) on a regular basis watching for new releases of Nancy Drew Mystery computer games. She prefers to play that type of game (interactive characters, problem-solving) to the action games. This is my preference as well. (BTW, there aren't a lot of these types of games out there.)

My 10 year old son is more of a PS2/Gameboy addict. He likes action games that require the player to maneuver through obstacles and foes to reach the ultimate goal (Tak and the Power of JuJu, for example). My husband likes these, too.

That's what I observe in my home. I wonder what the bigger picture looks like.

[Michele]

Paughnee writes: "That's what I observe in my home. I wonder what the bigger picture looks like."

Me too, Paughnee! Anyone have a wide angle lens on this one?

[Yvonne DiVita]

Hi, Michele, I've been noting this for some time now. Women online are big gamers. The favorite game, from my little research (a gamer who wrote and told me more women use his site than men and what they play) is bingo. Looking at a report from eMarketer on May 12th, "The gaming industry has gone from child's play to realizing significant opportunity from older demographic segments." Another place the boomers are infiltrating, perhaps? And another marketing avenue to reach women? This bears more scrutiny. As for the football thing...all women in my family are football enthusiasts...except me. Really now, this whole thing with chasing balls all over the place (baseball, football, soccer, golf) I just don't get it.

[Paul Chaney]

Michele,
Just saw this in eMarketer.com's daily email newsletter. . .

According to Nielsen//NetRatings, in May more women ages 35 to 49 visited online game sites than teenage males. Those women accounted for 15.2% of all online gamers. Overall, Nielsen found the gender composition of the online game audience nearly equal. Of the 46 million online game users, 51% were male and 49% were female.

I can personally attest to the accuracy of these stats. My wife spends hours on our home computer playing puzzle games.

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