Despite being played by well over a billion people worldwide, the gaming industry still struggles with inclusive titles and advertising strategies. 

From which games are played, to what platform they’re played on, there are some pretty interesting dichotomies between gender motivators in online gaming. Prinxy, an online platform specializing in online games for girls, is one that showcases these gender differences. It’s also begun to break the mold and encourage early adoption of gamer attitudes in girls and young women. 

Something that has been historically lacking. As more and more women are starting to flock towards the gaming sector, both as players and developers, these differences in motivational desires of game play come into stark focus. With many new platforms emerging that focus on more traditionally “girly” themes, and aim their content at younger audiences. Which could prove to be a very good thing indeed.  

Gender Differences in Gaming 

Platform Adoption

Women make up about 46% of gamers according to a 13 country panel study. However, this number varies widely when you consider the popularity of different platforms.  Mobile games have a near even split at 52% to 48% men to women reporting they play mobile games more than once a month. Where 48% of men report playing PC and 37% have adopted console play as their main method. Compared to only 35% and 23% of women respectively. So while mobile games definitely account for the most popular platform to play, women are starkly the minority when it comes to PC and console interest. 

Motivation

According to a 2014 meta analysis, what gets players interested in online games also varies widely between genders. Where women seem to prefer games that provide escapism as well as seek informative, functional, and experiential values in their games. Where men seem to tend to place more importance on achievement and fantasy. 

Social Interaction 

Women place a huge amount of value in the greater social context in online gaming, being more active in seeking friendship and social participation in group activities. While men do tend to socialize just as much as females do in games, the relationships that they seek and the conversations they perpetuate are in stark contrast to the team building interests of women players. 

Self-Presentation 

When it comes to the presentation of different characters, men seem to be more readily accepting of using characters and avatars of different genders, where females seem to be more concerned with the aesthetics of their characters, over their gender representation. 

Play 

While it’s been well established that men tend to seek more action and simulation based games, where women gravitate towards logic and skills training, both genders seem to engage in sex-related simulations and in-game relationship building. Women seem to gravitate towards traditional gender role themes like socializing, shopping, and character building, and men are more focused on building and collecting resources. 

Skills and Performance

The 2014 study found some interesting evidence, suggesting that men were overall better players than women. They were able to better navigate game maps, as well as find their way through virtual worlds with ease. They also displayed better pro bleh solving efficiency and took less time to navigate the world and meet goals. Which could be indicative of the fact that at that time, there were fewer female gamers in the world. At the time the study was p[ublished, over 92% of males reported playing online games, while only 69% of women said the same. It also found that males tended to adopt gaming earlier in life- giving them an edge when it came to understand the basic fundamentals of game play. 

More recent studies suggest that this adoption gap is closing and it may be the way that women play is just different, making it difficult to s certain who’s actually better. Women tend to discover new games from their immediate social circles and spend more time socializing in the game, with less focus on goal achievement. Women are also less likely than men to pay for the games they play- which also changes the dynamics. 

The Aim of Online Games for Girls

The study also suggested that women prefer games that they can just “pick up and play” easily. Meaning they’re less interested in intricate storylines or convoluted control scapes. Which suggests that “games for girls” isn’t an affront to gender, but instead some long-time coming representation that’s more appropriately addressing genuine desire. These are the games that women enjoy, and the games they want to be playing. 

Despite the overtly feminine themes of games that are directly targeting younger audiences; titles like “Neon Unicorn Concert and Teenage Celebrity Rivalry”, this new genre of female minded online gaming isn’t all frills and pink. Specifically the logic and puzzle games tailor made to address the wants of older female demographics. There have also been an influx of PC and console titles that have tested equally well among genders, owing to inclusive avatars and more socially oriented goal strategies. 

Despite the shortcomings of the past, and the clear and present danger of “over doing” the feminine perspective, online games for girls are finally providing the space that older female gamers have been demanding for decades, as even virtual boys clubs get old.