this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2023
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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (3 children)

But 50% of PC gaming? I know a lot of women hide the fact that they're women to avoid sexists, but I just don't see that figure being accurate, especially if there's no reporting on how they came to that number

[–] Action_Bastid 54 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Brother, pretty much every single woman I know under the age of 40 plays, at the very minimum, Stardew Valley, Minecraft, and Terraria. Most of them also play other big games, like Dark Souls, Elden Ring, etc.

The genre that the mostly don't play though are modern "arena" style shooters like Call of Duty, Halo, CSGO, Rainbow Six, etc. They're far more likely to play something like Fortnite or Hunt or something where you can have a small squad to roll with. Typically because it means they don't have to deal with anywhere near the same number of toxic random assholes.

[–] [email protected] 40 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Hi, woman under 40 here. I'm AFKing at a mob farm I built in Minecraft right now as I browse Kbin. I create mods for Stardew Valley. I have a lot of management games and RPGs. I also avoid multiplayer unless I know I'll only interact with a small closed circle of my real-life friends because I hear about how awful and bigoted people will act online. These people are also why I am not going to try those arena style shooters on the off chance I fall in love with the genre. People being awful is a near-certainty in those games, while me turning out to love the gameplay is just a chance. I've got other things I can play that won't expose me to this and that I already know I enjoy.

TL;DR: local woman says you're right

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I know a lot of women who have played sim/management games like The Sims, Zoo Tycoon, Stardew Valley, etc.

A lot of this comes down to the actual survey questions that were used. If the wording of the survey questions was “Have you ever played…” as opposed to “Do you regularly play…” for example, then the numbers could be quite skewed.

[–] Grangle1 23 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Yep, plenty of girls/women out there who don't really consider themselves "gamers" who will put multiple-digit hours into those management types of games. I personally know several like that. I would imagine a lot of women don't really get into direct PVP online gaming due to the online environment and lack of attempts to appeal to female gamers with the designs of such games, but would probably play a lot of single-player in a bunch of different genres and series. As the article implies, Nintendo IPs in particular would be appealing due to lack of pandering to either the common "gamer" demographic or to what many other publishers think women want in games (overly stereotypical "girl stuff").

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I think this especially stems from how those games are seen by some more asshole-ish people. Few would disagree that strategy RPGs are not gaming, but I've had a clerk at gamestop lecture me about how my then-favorite title wasn't a "real" part of the series. So it's still my favorite, but I don't bring it up anymore.

For much the same reason, there's an internalized mental block concerning whether or not something like The Sims, Stardew, Animal Crossing, etc. are "real" games because they don't really have a goal or require the same level of skill. If someone asks me what I play, I'm going to mention Hades before I ever breathe a word about Slime Rancher because one of those is going to get me stereotyped and insulted.

If all I played were really chill, micromanaging "girl games," I just wouldn't say anything and would have doubts about describing myself as being on the level "gamer" normally entails.

[–] NOT_RICK 10 points 1 year ago

My wife has solo four stars in every single overcooked map. She still doesn’t think she’s a “gamer”

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

they are including majong and card games. my 75 year old mother plays those on her ipad/pc all day.

she also thinks video games are evil and rot your brain because they are all sex and violence