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[Lowlander2]

But there is not exclusion of women in games. When have women ever been forbade from buying games or entering the games industry?

I think everyone would argue that they haven't been given a lot of incentive when they're mostly played for show. It's vastly improved in the past ten years or so, but the representation of females in our short history has been bad indeed, and if you sniff around a bit, mostly in stories of online harassment, you'll find that the situation is not that great for females just playing or writing about games either.

Sure, the only real hardline evidence is anecdotal retellings, which is obviously makes "hardline evidence" an oxymoron, but the pure volume should say a lot about how approachable the medium is.

 

[Kukuk]

Have you ever considered that maybe many of our games and its marketing makes games unappealing because they pretend women do not exists i.e. not market to women or pretend they only want to play games that make them take care of babiez) or because many games are legitimately misogynistic?

Oh, were going to argue with feminist talking points that have no basis in reality then?

Here's a fun fact that people seem to ignore: Women and men have different interests. They just do.

You can say marketing, or even "the patriarchy" is to blame for women not having the same numbers as men, but in reality, it just comes down to interest. It's why men are much more likely to take up technical jobs. That, in turn, explains why there are fewer women in the games industry: most jobs in game development are technical in nature.

I know it's not politically correct to say women and men are different, but "politically correct" and "correct" very seldom intersect.

 

[Persona7]

Why does the games industry need to be feminist friendly? Do people actually believe "the patriarchy" purposely push women out of it? The industry was largely built by males, for males, so why should everyone bend over backward to include women?

You're right, they do, but the vast majority of gamers are men. Most purchasers are men, and the industry wouldn't have grown like it did if not for the money men had spent.

So why bend over backward for a demographic that's largely uninterested in gaming?



But there is not exclusion of women in games. When have women ever been forbade from buying games or entering the games industry?

I just sat here staring for several minutes.

 

[Persona86]

It's an important conversation that should be had by someone a lot more informed and less horrible than Anita Sarkeesian. Because people like this exist:

Yeah I understand that, but it never gets anywhere (usually because there's an agenda behind it) it just goes around in circles, like any religious debate thread.

Yes people like that will always exist, it's just the way it is.

IMO there's a whole load of strange things in games that involves men in strange situations, yet people only focus on the women, because for some reason women should be respected more than men.

Women make video games sometimes, even.

Yep

And since people are talking about Bayonetta, I think I recall that a woman designed Bayonetta.

 

[Kukuk]

I just sat here staring for several minutes.

Yes, I know, Neogafers are terrible offended by the politically incorrect, but if you step out of your comfort zone, you just might be able to find some logic.

Real logic. Not feminist logic.

 

[Sibylus]

Do you have any data to back that up? Because its wrong.
http://www.theesa.com/facts/pdfs/ESA_Essential_Facts_2010.PDF

"Almost half?

... Largely uninterested."

 

[Lowlander2]

Here's a fun fact that people seem to ignore: Women and men have different interests. They just do.

This is an outdated principle. There isn't a biological hardcode that dictates people's tastes, mannerisms or attitudes from birth based solely on chromosome makeup. If there was, there probably wouldn't be ANY women in gaming at all.

 

[anaron]

Yeah I understand that, but it never gets anywhere (usually because there's an agenda behind it) it just goes around in circles, like any religious debate thread.

Yes people like that will always exist, it's just the way it is.

IMO there's a whole load of strange things in games that involves men in strange situations, yet people only focus on the women, because for some reason women should be respected more than men.



Yep

And since people are talking about Bayonetta, I think I recall that a woman designed Bayonetta.

Well, that doesn't excuse or deflect criticism of the character, either.

 

[Deleted member 20920]

Oh, were going to argue with feminist talking points that have no basis in reality then?

Here's a fun fact that people seem to ignore: Women and men have different interests. They just do.

You can say marketing, or even "the patriarchy" is to blame for women not having the same numbers as men, but in reality, it just comes down to interest. It's why men are much more likely to take up technical jobs. That, in turn, explains why there are fewer women in the games industry: most jobs in game development are technical in nature.

I know it's not politically correct to say women and men are different, but "politically correct" and "correct" very seldom intersect.

http://www.geekquality.com/average-gamer-myth/

Male: 53%, female: 47%.

Not so different after all isn't it. Maybe male and female players might like different sort of games but saying that females playing games or wanting to join the industry is a rare ocurrance is basically no longer accurate. Game development doesn't have to be all technical as well. One could also choose to be an artist or a writer. Or do marketing. I'm sure more well informed posters can tell you more.

Also I think for the sanity of some, it is more prudent to treat these videos as an examination of Video Games from a certain perspective and not as an attack. It is good to hear and understand other perspectives. She may or may not produce videos and arguements that are good but to get angry and say that she's attacking video games is just making you seem like an erant child. Whether you like it or not, Gaming is not an enclosed space and should not be an enclosed space that does not allow any external criticism. Let people critise games. And then we can work our way to examine whether these criticisms are valid or not before we become dismisive. Until she produces all her videos, there is really nothing we could do but wait.

 

[I H8 Memes]

Do you have any data to back that up? Because its wrong.
http://www.theesa.com/facts/pdfs/ESA_Essential_Facts_2010.PDF

Is it your argument that 40% of hardcore big budget game buyers are women? I doubt that is true in any way. Not even close. That 40% number so often quoted skews heavily towards very casual games.

If content were the only reason that women stay away from big budget gaming then at least the Portal series would prove that to be true. Little violence, no shooting, female lead character and higher number of female characters than men (and in the case of Portal 1 all the characters were female except the spheres at the very end), one of the most well written and honestly funny game series ever made. Do you think that 40% of the people playing Portal 2 were female? If I were to make a very generous guess, very generous, I would say at most 10% of the people who played either Portal game were female.

By a large margin women just dont play the same games as men and never will. Sure the percentage will go higher, but it will never even approach 50% for core big budget games no matter how they are designed.

 

[Aquamarine]

Why does the games industry need to be feminist friendly? Do people actually believe "the patriarchy" purposely push women out of it? The industry was largely built by males, for males, so why should everyone bend over backward to include women?

The same thing was said about literature....theater....hell, even film.

 

[Finaika]

You're right, they do, but the vast majority of gamers are men. Most purchasers are men, and the industry wouldn't have grown like it did if not for the money men had spent.

So why bend over backward for a demographic that's largely uninterested in gaming

47% of gamers are women.

 

[Wrestlemania]

Is it your argument that 40% of hardcore big budget game buyers are women? I doubt that is true in any way. Not even close. That 40% number so often quoted skews heavily towards very casual games.

If content were the only reason that women stay away from big budget gaming then at least the Portal series would prove that to be true. Little violence, no shooting, female lead character and higher number of female characters than men (and in the case of Portal 1 all the characters were female except the spheres at the very end), one of the most well written and honestly funny game series ever made. Do you think that 40% of the people playing Portal 2 were female? If I were to make a very generous guess, very generous, I would say at most 10% of the people who played either Portal game were female.

By a large margin women just dont play the same games as men and never will. Sure the percentage will go higher, but it will never even approach 50% for core big budget games no matter how they are designed.

My argument was that the statement "the vast majority of gamers are men" is factually incorrect, unless one considers 60% to be a vast majority. How that then extrapolates to certain games/genres is a different matter.

 

[Persona86]

Well, that doesn't excuse or deflect criticism of the character, either.

No it doesn't.

But I personally like her character, she's cool.

 

[exmachina64]

You know, I don't really find Ashley particularly weak or powerless just because she is unable to escape from a fortress full of zombie Spaniards and other mutated freaks without some help. My thought was never that "She needs a man, and Leon is the man in this case, that is necessary for her to be saved."I just figured she is a girl who has been targeted by a powerful organization because of her political stature. If the president happened to have a son instead, I wouldn't think he'd be any better fit to escape on his own.

Since the most recent three American presidents have only had daughters, this could also be seen as an attempt at historical realism, I suppose.

If zombies were real, of course.

 

[Wrestlemania]

Actually, that data I posted is old.

http://www.theesa.com/facts/pdfs/ESA_EF_2012.pdf

47%

 

[Lowlander2]

IMO there's a whole load of strange things in games that involves men in strange situations, yet people only focus on the women, because for some reason women should be respected more than men.

Strange? Whatever do you mean?

And it's not really that women are "special", but rather that societal pressures have already taken their toll on perception and treatment of women; representation of the female sex has been an issue in other fields as well.

This is an issue much larger than gaming overall, which is why there are some cases where I don't think "we" can do anything, such as in how the schools of technology select their applicants who can move on to gaming development and what have you.

Yes, I also thought that Kotaku article on the Sony PS4 reveal was a teeny bit silly. It is a problem, even in comparison to other press conferences (Nintendo and Microsoft have had female appearances for some time now) but bandaid solutions ain't going to fix it, nor may it bring up good will in the eyes of everyone.

 

[Persona86]

Strange? Whatever do you mean?

And it's not really that women are "special", but rather that societal pressures have already taken their toll on perception and treatment of women; representation of the female sex has been an issue in other fields as well.

This is an issue much larger than gaming overall, which is why there are some cases where I don't think "we" can do anything, such as in how the schools of technology select their applicants who can move on to gaming development and what have you.

Strange as in men in revealing clothes, often muscly and attractive, often doing questionable things. You know similar things to what people criticize on women.

Yes it is larger than video games, I understand the pressures, but I also understand that it also involves things we ignore about men. e.g in media, you can see how men are often portrayed as dumb and lazy, but the women are clever and hard working.

Have you seen all those dramas with unrealistic ratio of attractive women and men in rich areas or whatever, usually mostly watched by women, those gossip and fashion magazines often with paparazzi pictures pointing out how fat or skinny a celeb is mostly bought my women. Do you know how many times I've had to hear stories from women about how a woman at work or school thinks they are too skinny or fat etc, a lot of the pressure comes from women trying to impress other women, women often dress up nice for women not men lol

Both sides are to blame for these pressures.

I don't want to go too deep into this, I'm not a feminist or an anti-feminist, I'm not one to choose sides, I just think this topic is silly if we ignore both sides of the coin.

 

[Gustav]

47% of gamers are women.

47% of people who play games are women. "Gamers" are enthusiasts, that will spend over thousands of dollars a year on games. If we would have a statistic of who actually spends significantly more money on the hobby, I'm pretty sure the numbers would look different.

 

[Chairmanchuck]

47% of gamers are women.

I just wonder what is considered a "Gamer" in that statistic?

Farmwille-Player? People who just play Angry Birds?

Just judging from my experience, there are more men playing Games like BF, CoD, DMC, Bayonetta, Ico, Zelda, Metroid etc. than women.

 

[anaron]

I just wonder what is considered a "Gamer" in that statistic?

Farmwille-Player? People who just play Angry Birds?

Just judging from my experience, there are more men playing Games like BF, CoD, DMC, Bayonetta, Ico, Zelda, Metroid etc. than women.

good to know that your personal experiences represent the majority of women

 

[dimb]

good to know that your personal experiences represent the majority of women

The ESA stats might as well be anecdotal with the sample size it uses.

 

[Kukuk]

This is an outdated principle. There isn't a biological hardcode that dictates people's tastes, mannerisms or attitudes from birth based solely on chromosome makeup. If there was, there probably wouldn't be ANY women in gaming at all.

Actually this isn't an outdated principal. I was trying to find the link, but having no luck. The link was a pretty interesting documentary showing different experiments with babies.

The experiments were fairly simple. For the first one, they'd hold up pictures to newborn babies. They found that when the child had higher levels of testosterone, they focus more on pictures of mechanical object, where children with higher levels of estrogen focused more on pictures of faces.

Later on, they do an experiment with babies that were a few months old, where they set toys of different colors on a blanket, and the babies with higher testosterone gravitated to the boys' toys, while those with higher estrogen gravitated to the girls' toys. In this case it wasn't just important in showing genders had differences, but it was also used to help babies that had deformed genitals find their gender association.

Also, to deny that men and women are inherently different is to basically deny evolution. Men and women had to develop different traits to survive. Those different traits have just manifested themselves into different interests in our modern, post-tribal world.

Actually, that data I posted is old.

http://www.theesa.com/facts/pdfs/ESA_EF_2012.pdf

47%

Two things: The sample size is pretty small. 2000 households doesn't really give that great of an idea of how many people play games. It's what I would consider to be "just larger than anecdotal".

Also, what kind of person do you think is going to take a survey by the ESA? Who's really going to know what the ESA is? People who are already gamers, maybe?

The ESA stats might as well be anecdotal with the sample size it uses.

Are you me? Similar argument, and Yuru Yuri avatars. I like you.

 

[Chairmanchuck]

good to know that your personal experiences represent the majority of women

Thats why I said "from my experience".

I still do not know what standards for someone to be considered a Gamer was applied in the statistics that was posted here.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

Two things: The sample size is pretty small. 2000 households doesn't really give that great of an idea of how many people play games. It's what I would consider to be "just larger than anecdotal".

Do you have a background in statistics?

I ask because a sample of 2000 is very large, and few studies will ever approach that. Mass scale telephone surveys and censuses are the only way you're going to get bigger than that. If you're dismissing samples of 2000, you're dismissing the entire discipline of Psychology as being made up of anecdotes. In reality, If you want to critique the sample, you'd have to show reasons as to why it was not representative of the general population (selection biases and such).

 

[Kukuk]

Do you have a background in statistics?

I ask because a sample of 2000 is very large, and few studies will ever approach that. Mass scale telephone surveys and censuses are the only way you're going to get bigger than that. If you're dismissing samples of 2000, you're dismissing the entire discipline of Psychology as being made up of anecdotes.

When there's hundreds of millions of consoles out there, do you really think 2000 is a large sample size?

For a very specific study, no doubt a 2000 household study can be very helpful, but when there's millions and millions of gamers out there? It's a drop in the bucket.

 

[sonicmj1]

Actually this isn't an outdated principal. I was trying to find the link, but having no luck. The link was a pretty interesting documentary showing different experiments with babies.

The experiments were fairly simple. For the first one, they'd hold up pictures to newborn babies. They found that when the child had higher levels of testosterone, they focus more on pictures of mechanical object, where children with higher levels of estrogen focused more on pictures of faces.

Later on, they do an experiment with babies that were a few months old, where they set toys of different colors on a blanket, and the babies with higher testosterone gravitated to the boys' toys, while those with higher estrogen gravitated to the girls' toys. In this case it wasn't just important in showing genders had differences, but it was also used to help babies that had deformed genitals find their gender association.

Also, to deny that men and women are inherently different is to basically deny evolution. Men and women had to develop different traits to survive. Those different traits have just manifested themselves into different interests in our modern, post-tribal world.



Two things: The sample size is pretty small. 2000 households doesn't really give that great of an idea of how many people play games. It's what I would consider to be "just larger than anecdotal".

Also, what kind of person do you think is going to take a survey by the ESA? Who's really going to know what the ESA is? People who are already gamers, maybe?

So an experiment with a few dozen babies is authoritative. But a survey of 2000 people is a small sample size.

Got it.

 

[Lowlander2]

Actually this isn't an outdated principal. I was trying to find the link, but having no luck. The link was a pretty interesting documentary showing different experiments with babies.

The experiments were fairly simple. For the first one, they'd hold up pictures to newborn babies. They found that when the child had higher levels of testosterone, they focus more on pictures of mechanical object, where children with higher levels of estrogen focused more on pictures of faces.

Later on, they do an experiment with babies that were a few months old, where they set toys of different colors on a blanket, and the babies with higher testosterone gravitated to the boys' toys, while those with higher estrogen gravitated to the girls' toys. In this case it wasn't just important in showing genders had differences, but it was also used to help babies that had deformed genitals find their gender association.

Also, to deny that men and women are inherently different is to basically deny evolution. Men and women had to develop different traits to survive. Those different traits have just manifested themselves into different interests in our modern, post-tribal world.

It's interesting, but could anyone ascertain the definite cause to this? Seeing the effect is telling on its own, but without a definite cause, a surefire way of saying "Yes, differing levels of estrogen and testosterone are causing mental gravitation to different toys and interests", it's a premature conclusion to say that it isn't coincidental.

I'd probably have to see this documentary myself and get every detail about the experiment to judge the credibility and viability of it. You brought up sample size in response to someone else's survey, so it would be remiss of me not to call it into question here. And other details like that; upbringing, environment, the very toys used.

Were this experiment making any other statement or implication, I wouldn't be this scrutinizing, but if we can't agree on anything else, I think it's obvious by this point that the feminism debate and gender politics are Kind Of A Big Deal.

 

[Kukuk]

So an experiment with a few dozen babies is authoritative. But a survey of 2000 people is a small sample size.

Got it.

Did I say say exactly how many babies were tested in the experiment? Or even hint at how many there could have been?

Or did I even say how many groups were conducting these tests?

 

[Mael]

Nintendo : "nearly half or more of our customers are women"
ESA : "47% of gamers are female"

random Gaffer : "They're all farmville players or it's a statistical meaningless point"

Ok....

 

[Aquamarine]

When there's hundreds of millions of consoles out there, do you really think 2000 is a large sample size?

For a very specific study, no doubt a 2000 household study can be very helpful, but when there's millions and millions of gamers out there? It's a drop in the bucket.

The 2012 Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry was released by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) at E3 2012. The annual research was conducted by Ipsos MediaCT for ESA. The study is the most in-depth and targeted survey of its kind, gathering data from more than 2,000 nationally representative households.

Note the bold.

 

[Kukuk]

Nintendo : "nearly half or more of our customers are women"
ESA : "47% of gamers are female"

random Gaffer : "They're all farmville players or it's a statistical meaningless point"

Ok....

Customers are purchasers of games, so it's kind of sneaky language to say half of games are bought by women. It's probably just said to appease the feminists.

I'd be willing to bet a large number of underage gamers have their mothers buy games for them, and that's why the statistic is so high. That, and girlfriends buying games for their boyfriends because they know they like games.

Note the bold.

What does that even mean? Ipsos have a demographic that can get the highest numbers to support the ESA's claims?

 

[sonicmj1]

Did I say say exactly how many babies were tested in the experiment? Or even hint at how many there could have been?

Or did I even say how many groups were conducting these tests?

You didn't.

Were more than 2000 babies tested?

 

[Deified Data]

47% of people who play games are women. "Gamers" are enthusiasts, that will spend over thousands of dollars a year on games. If we would have a statistic of who actually spends significantly more money on the hobby, I'm pretty sure the numbers would look different.

So it's all about spending money, then.

 

[Kukuk]

You didn't.

Were more than 2000 babies tested?

To be honest, I don't have the numbers, but they certainly weren't the only studies of their kind, and again, they weren't studies conducted by just one group. I'd imagine most hospitals have these sorts of studies, for the sake of understanding gender, and helping those with deformed genitals find their gender identity.

 

[SolidSnakex]

So it's all about spending money, then.

To the developers making these games? Of course it's all about making money. Note Sony's strategy from the PS Meeting. They're specifically targeting core gamers. They have the money and will buy consoles at launch and quite a few games to go with them.

 

[Lowlander2]

To be honest, I don't have the numbers, but they certainly weren't the only studies of their kind, and again, they weren't studies conducted by just one group. I'd imagine most hospitals have these sorts of studies, for the sake of understanding gender, and helping those with deformed genitals find their gender identity.

That's just it. How do you know those hospitals had the same results as this guy? How do you know all of these individual studies had the same results? What were these studies, exactly?

You're jumping the gun here.

 

[Mael]

Customers are purchasers of games, so it's kind of sneaky language to say half of games are bought by women. It's probably just said to appease the feminists.

Huh no offense but that's a load of bull.
Nintendo doesn't give a shit about Greenpeace and they would want to appease feminists?

I'd be willing to bet a large number of underage gamers have their mothers buy games for them, and that's why the statistic is so high. That, and girlfriends buying games for their boyfriends because they know they like games.

Yeah I'm sure that it was men only that made Style Savvy a wild success...
Heck I'm sure Ubisoft is happy to learn that their profitable line of "Lea Passion" was really a game plenty of boys played to begin with.
What better Valentine present from a lovely girlfriend to her manly mate than the latest Style Savvy Trendsetters!
Seriously do you know how ridiculous that sounds?
And the age old stereotype that women never buy games for themselves...

What does that even mean? Ipsos have a demographic that can get the highest numbers to support the ESA's claims?

Statistic how does it work?

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

When there's hundreds of millions of consoles out there, do you really think 2000 is a large sample size?

Studies generalizing to 8 billion people are routinely considered robust (as long as the sampling was non-biased, although this can be tricky) with two-digit sample sizes. Now of course, these aren't directly comparable (I'm not going to tell you why not, because it doesn't matter), but the core thing you need to take away is that if a sample is representative of a population random the probability of you getting an answer that is significantly different than reality with a n of 2000 may as well be zilch. Oh sure, the true value is probably a few percent either way of what they showed there. But your critique needs to be directed at sampling methodology, not sampling size. If you could show why the specific 2000 they picked were going to be skewed towards something or another, that would be a good reason to dismiss the study, despite its excellent number of participants.

 

[Glaurungr]

Actually this isn't an outdated principal. I was trying to find the link, but having no luck. The link was a pretty interesting documentary showing different experiments with babies.

I believe this is the documentary you are referring to.

 

[Kukuk]

I believe this is the documentary you are referring to.

Oh my god, thank you. I was digging through my youtube history trying to find it.

 

[Castle Doctrine]

Actually, that data I posted is old.

http://www.theesa.com/facts/pdfs/ESA_EF_2012.pdf

47%

Some of these stats don't match up with my own personal experience. I guess it depends on how they define "games".

 

[Lowlander2]

I believe this is the documentary you are referring to.

I will consider watching this later and reporting back. Judging from the comments (which is a poor way to ascertain content of a YouTube vid, I understand), I'm not getting my hopes up.

EDIT: Not that I know shit about human physiology at an early stage, but one day old? How developed are their motor skills and cognition going to be by that point? I dunno. This seems like an unreliable study.

 

[Mael]

Some of these stats don't match up with my own personal experience. I guess it depends on how they define "games".

Unless your personal experience is a significant sample of the population I'd say your personal experience means nothing.
Heck if my personal experience means anything we would have had 50% of the people who didn't bother to vote at all last election (actually it was closer to 20%).

 

[Lowlander2]

I have a short attention span so I couldn't watch any more past that interview, but my fears still mostly stand. I'm glad the man elaborated on affection of development beyond mild conjecture, but I need stats and numbers to ascertain the viability of the experiment.

And seriously, one day old? At that stage, it's pot luck if a baby pays attention to anything, let alone an object in particular.



I'm guessing. I mean, it's been a long time since I was one day old.

 

[Castle Doctrine]

Unless your personal experience is a significant sample of the population I'd say your personal experience means nothing.
Heck if my personal experience means anything we would have had 50% of the people who didn't bother to vote at all last election (actually it was closer to 20%).

Over the years I've been able to observe my surroundings and draw conclusions based on patterns that are extremely consistent. I don't need a study for every opinion based on empirical evidence. I don't live in a bubble.

And in my observation females have been less interested in video games than males, although less so these days. That doesn't invalidate this discussion about the industry in general and women's relationship to it, but it is an important factor to consider when talking about why this industry is the way it is; why it caters to males, why there are more male developers, etc.

 

[Mael]

Over the years I've been able to observe my surroundings and draw conclusions based on patterns that are extremely consistent. I don't need a study for every opinion base on empirical evidence. I don't live in a bubble.

And in my observation females have been less interested in video games than males, although less so these days. That doesn't invalidate this discussion about the industry in general and women's relationship to it, but it is an important factor to consider when talking about why this industry is the way it is; why it caters to males, why there are more male developers, etc.

Again you're you to say your surroundings are representative of the population at large?
If a study come with a representative sample and is wildly different from what you observe you don't at first come to the conclusion that the study is rubbish without a good reasonning why it would be so.

 

[sonicmj1]

I believe this is the documentary you are referring to.

Thanks for the link. This is interesting stuff!

I'm willing to accept that broadly, men and women might trend towards different interests. But, as Anne Campell says, there's also overlap. There may be proportional differences, but there will also be women who enjoy technical things and men who trend towards empathy. We can't see what that overlap might be like in this particular newborn baby study because we don't know the sample size or how big the differences were.

It's also not clear how these differences would specifically apply to games, especially in light of numbers like the ESA survey. So I don't see this as evidence that developers shouldn't be inclusive of women in modern games.

 

[Castle Doctrine]

Again you're you to say your surroundings are representative of the population at large?
If a study come with a representative sample and is wildly different from what you observe you don't at first come to the conclusion that the study is rubbish without a good reasonning why it would be so.

So I guess you believe that historically females have been just about as interested in video games as males. Or present day even. Alright, we're at an impasse. I don't believe that. Not much else to say here.

 

[TaroYamada]

On the topic of gender demographics amongst what we consider "gamers", I found this topic interesting so I pulled some small data from Alexa because I always hear these large percentages of female gamers. Frankly I can never buy them, because they never seem to line up with my experiences, my friends, experiences, etc. etc. I know women who play games but what I mean by games are things like tetris, words with friends, farmville and so on. Anyways, using the compare feature on Alexa I took a look at some sites brought up in this thread:

Draw your own conclusions.