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Video Game Ratings
Gender Domination
The average person on the street, as well as some published research, say that the gaming
world is male dominated (Jantzen & Jensen,
;
Sanford & Madill, ). However, as
is often the case, this perception of reality is not necessarily valid. If we look at
Canadian statistics for 2006, we find an interesting trend. Although girls make up the
minority of young gamers, the proportion of female gamers increases dramatically with age,
to the point where females dominate the gaming community. The question remains, is this
group of women making up a significant quantity of gamers?
(ESAC, )
As we can see from the graph, the older group, which is dominated by women, make up
a significant portion of gamers. Do women over 40 have more personal leisure time in
their day now that their children have grown? Are they replacing forms of exercise
and relaxation with gaming modes? What kinds of video games are women engaged in?
It is suggested "the number of middle aged women who play puzzle-type games has been
interpreted as an innate female preference for 'problem-solving,' when it could be just
as likely that women play such games because they can be played in short periods of
time and that they are readily available on internet, both factors important for
incorporating games into adult responsibilities." (Hayes,
) This intriguing
phenomenon of female players and gaming warrant further research and may result in our
stereotypes about gender and gaming to be rethought.
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Photo by mforman
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Photo by jojomarie
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