Online Gamers: Women Are Hard-core, Too

The stereotypical view of the gaming community—especially hard-core players—is that it is young and male. But industry reports note that 47 percent of online gamers are female, and that women over age 18 buy far more games than younger men (Entertainment Software Association, 2012). So what are women playing? And do they play differently than men?

Communication researchers studied more than seven thousand players involved in the Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) game Everquest II and found several distinct characteristics related to gender. Although they represented just under 20 percent of the players, female players proved to be more “hard-core”—they played more often and were less inclined to quit the game. Their motivations for playing were different too. Men were more motivated by achievement than were women, whereas women were slightly more motivated than men by social reasons (Williams, Consalvo, Caplan, & Yee, 2009). Interestingly, although both men and women tended to underreport the amount of time they spent playing, women were three times more likely than men to lie about how much they played.

The single biggest difference between the sexes in the study hinged on players’ romantic relationships. More than 60 percent of the women in the study played with a romantic partner; less than 25 percent of the men did. Interestingly, male and female players who were in romantic relationships with other players perceived their relationships differently, with men noting less contentment and overall satisfaction with their partners, and women reporting higher levels of overall happiness and satisfaction (Williams, Consalvo, Caplan, & Yee, 2009).