Examining the Role of Gender in Video Game Usage, Preference, and Behavior

Since coming into mainstream culture in the 1970s, video games have become increasingly popular. While both men and women play video games, game companies have begun developing games specifically for women that, unfortunately, adhere to stereotypes about females (i.e., pink, fashion, and shopping). This study aims to help game developers better understand the gaming patterns of gamers, both male and female, through a questionnaire which asks questions about video game usage, preferences, behaviors, and spending habits. Results reveal that men overwhelmingly played more violent video games than women. However, women tend to play both violent and non-violent almost equally. Male gamers were more likely than female gamers to be drawn to games from the Strategy, Role Playing, Action, and Fighting genres whereas female gamers were more likely than male gamers to play games from the Social, Puzzle/Card, Music/Dance, Educational/Edutainment, and Simulation genres. Overall, more men than women treated playing video game as their primary hobby, while women were more likely to regard playing video games as a less important hobby after other more important hobbies such as watching television.