What is Digg?90 Comments
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+35Game = An amusement or pastime
Video = The visual presentation of information, usually on a monitor screen
Therefore,
Internet Puzzle Games = Video Game
And,
Schrade = Wrong - itsallgeektome, on 10/12/2007, -3/+31I was going to say "Only 65% of women? I'd think it would be like 99%".. and then I saw it was VIDEO games.
Just kidding...
On a more serious note console manufacturers should take note of this. There's a huge market for casual games out there. For every hardcore gamer out there, often there is a spouse, sibling etc. that would play games on the console if it were just more "friendly" to the casual audience.
I think nintendo is trying to go this route with revolution *disclaimer: I don't have a favorite console, I like them all*, it will be interesting to see if they can properly tap it. - aplusplus, on 10/12/2007, -6/+34I read the title and thought "no way" but when including the simple, casual (aka: lame) internet games... I can see why this is possible.
Seriously, though, if a girl ever asks me to play Literali... it's over. - funkpucker, on 10/12/2007, -3/+23That was the first thing I thought. Only 65% of chicks play games? ALL chicks play games......with your head.
since I just finished, I have to mention... I HATE taxes - RobotCitizen, on 10/12/2007, -2/+21What happens to those numbers when you exclude Solitaire and Freecell?
- Osjpr, on 10/12/2007, -1/+20So how do we make women take the next logical step into *real* video games?
- DrGonzo1184, on 10/12/2007, -3/+17"Seriously, though, if a girl ever asks me to play Literali... it's over."
And thats why many people on this site are single... - TenebrousX, on 10/12/2007, -3/+16This explains why there are so many noobs everywhere...
- wayjer, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13Yeah I had to look twice before I submitted it.
- DrGonzo1184, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9That is probably because of the sample... You have to consider the demographic of NYTimes readers.
- oldgeek, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10You are right, My wife found out you can download and play these games like belewled 2 and hexic hd and so on for our Xbox360. Now my son and I can't play for her playing every evening.
- sgi02, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9So where are all of these so called women?
- vpcwiu, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8If you take this data and look at what Nintendo is trying to do, it all makes sense. It's just a matter of narrowing down the marketing effort to convince these women to fork over 150 bucks for a DS or whatever...
- CynicalBastard, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9Did you try asking her to play 'strip Literali'?
- DrGonzo1184, on 10/12/2007, -9/+14Exactly! Thats why god gave them smaller feet. Allows them to get closer to the washer/sink/stove.
j/k - MadMan6680, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5No, no, no. I think it means 65% of people who play video games are female, and the remaining 35% is male.
- retawd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I know a girl who bought a Gameboy just for Tetris. She wouldn't buy other games for it. It was for Tetris. Then it got stolen.
- adam.skinner, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4"Game = An amusement or pastime
Video = The visual presentation of information, usually on a monitor screen"
Hence, Monopoly is also a video game. - sishgupta, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I think that you have some issues that might be altering your perspective. This could possibly be you being tired of people assuming women like games designed for people of less inteligence, or it could be something else like a lack of communication on my part.
I did not mean simple to play, I meant simply designed. For indepth games, I only meant a more advanced design (3d graphics, etc), not harder to play. My mother plays simply designed games and they require much more skill and patience than I have. I would not call these games simple to play, as they are very advanced. I know how to play them (simply designed), but I am unable to play them well (not simple to play).
It is well known that simply designed games have high replay value for thoes that enjoy them, making the length of play unlimited, where as indepth games can be completed in a few hours (10-20) and offer almost no replay value (with the exception of multiplayer games).
The games which are simple in design are easier to get into and out of. And indepth games, can be brutally easy (The godfather the game), but take a while to start playing and to stop playing. - zatrix, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5is it a coincidence that 65+35=100 or is something wrong with this study?
- SoccerBoy, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6I think 65% of women play, I'll give them that... but, 35% of men!?! I don't think that is correct.
- whalesalad, on 10/12/2007, -3/+687% of all statistics are incorrect. The irony...
- dantidote, on 10/12/2007, -13/+16Women shouldnt be wasting their time playing video games. They should be cooking and cleaning... and not driving.
Ok i'm horrible, I really dont feel that way. - pjsk8, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4I believe sishgupta is entirely correct, including his/her use of language. I am around a lot of gamers throughout the day (men AND women), and it is because of this that I can say that women tend to play more simple games (not so emersive), rather than more in-depth games (very immersive). It's not a matter of longer vs. shorter, it's a matter of the elements a game involves.
- selloutvixen, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4These comments are a crock. SOME girls really like playing video games. I grew up with an older brother, and we played games on everything from the Vectrex to PSx. He got me addicted to RPG's. Granted I'm not in the age range mentioned (24), but I LOVE video games.
Right now I'm playing WoW, Star Ocean, and ToS (for about the 3rd time). They're the BEST way to unwind after a long day at work. My boyfriend is a gamer, and he knows how lucky he is to come home to my LAN party. heh. - wintermute0, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3The stat of 65% / 35% (meaning that of all their sample, 2/3 were women & 1/3 were men) includes clickitty-blink-blink game websites, minesweeper, etc. The study is answering a completely different question than the demographic here is actually asking. I'd be interested in seeing the ratios on MMO's, the Sims, first-person-shooters, etc instead of a stat based on a tiny and unrepresentative sample.
- sishgupta, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5I'd go out on a limb saying the article is right because I'd guess that women tend to prefer small simple games like bejeweled, solitair, poker, tetris, etc.
But I think guys get bored of those game more and tend to play more indepth games like halo, half life, splinter cell, wow, etc.
None of this is universally true, of course.
And thats what the article says.
Based on all that, it might be easier for a 25-34 year old woman to play one of thoes simpler games on a busy schedule, than it would for a man of the same age to play a more indepth game. The busy man not having time would be reduced to the simple games, yet not willing to play them because they are not as interesting, so the man might watch tv or something else to pass the time. - zatrix, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3just seems kind of odd that the two percentage figures would perfectly add up to 100%
I'm probably just playing connect the dots with myself lol - Jugalator, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3"So how do we make women take the next logical step into *real* video games?"
Ask those who do and what did it for them. (there's a lot of them too) - moylan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I think these numbers are on the low side. If you consider mobile phone games and just count snake alone...
http://www.devhood.com/messages/message_view-2.aspx?thread_id=59096
I don't think i've ever seen a phone that didn't have a high score already in snake. - rolandog, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I think the games women play are in bed...
Whereas the games the men played are in a virtual world... in a virtual room, on a virtual bed.
XD - WaterDragon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Video games are an escape, for people who can't handle....
backgammon. - skunkman62, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4great, now we are going to see video games based on "trading spaces" and "desperate housewives."
- xaxa, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The CEO of Lionhead Studios spoke at my university last year, he said they were now developing games for casual gamers, such as women playing in the evening. I think someone from EA said the same.
When I was 4-9 or so, my parents would stay up until 2am or so regurarly, playing games on an Acorn computer, generally Lemmings (my dad) and Repton (my mum). It seems they don't make games with this type of puzzle any more: Repton and Lemmings (as my examples) had an excellent structure to the levels, they started out easy enough for me to play (aged 4-9) and be entertained, but then got hard enough that my mum couldn't do them, but recently I retried them and eventually cracked the hardest ones (after a lot of effort). - MisterCookie, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5Keep in mind this is the New York Times here...one of the most PC papers in the country. If they said 99% of men played video games, it would be interpreted as sexist or something.
- Karyyk, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Why are internet puzzle games not video games, yet games like Tetris & Klax are?
- green67, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1you answered your own question.....
- sishgupta, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3it wasnt meant to be sexist. Lets say that both sexes have the same ammount of work to do and get it done in the same ammount of time. But both sexes are incredibly busy. It is easier to play a simple game on a busy schedule than it is to play something hard and indepth.
I dont know for fact, but id say that that age bracket has the busiest people of any age bracket.
If men liked playing tetris more than halo, and women halo over tetris, id say the same thing about men if the findings were reversed. - NanoStuff, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1By 'play games', they're referring to loading up minesweeper during computer class, then failing to understand it's simplistic concept of numbers and proximity, upon which they load up solitaire and stack cards until their professor iquires about that overdue Visual Basic assignment, which was never even begun because she reached a state of confusion upon locating the program shortcut on the desktop, not knowing whether it should be clicked or double-clicked, and fearing the consequences of a wrong decision.
- m.sandstorm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I thought the number was reverse too, but it is true. Those internet games make up a huge market and I know most if not all of my female friends play those rather than a console.
If this research only included the major home consoles and PCs, then you would see a reversal of the number. Not only that but they would be closer together since more females are playing console games. - yuriko, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Oh my god! I can't believe this site is so full of sexist (probably single) boys who cannot even imagine that women like playing real games. Why is it so hard to believe? Why do you have to question the statistical sample? why do you have to degrade and joke about women? why not just comment on the trivia and realise that both men and women enjoy playing real games, keeps the mind agile, it's fun - and we are all gamers together. why always create a divide when instead it's about enjoying game playing?!?!
- zatrix, on 10/12/2007, -9/+10@subway, quit posting the same lame ass comment, it was funny the first time, but cmon
- matts0344, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I seriously cannot believe this. Okay, 65% of women in that age bracket play games, fine. But only 35% of men do? Isn't the average gamer 29 and male?
This is just really hard for me to believe. - akkuma, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1For those people who are interested in numerous gaming statistics for MMOs check out the following site: http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/archives/000194.php
The link I give is probably a more accurate representation of women/men playing the types of game you would tend to consider full blown real games (3d engine, numerous years of development, etc.) instead of the articles extremely broad way of defining a game.
If you go to the main page of the site there is more content such as the PARC PlayOn Group, which uses WoW as a basis for the statistics, which means some of the statistics are only applicable to it.
For subscription rate statistics check out: http://www.mmorpgchart.com to see how well a large majority, if not nearly all, of the major MMOs are doing in terms of subscriptions - dwbell, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2My wife found a game on Real Arcade the other day that was basically trading spaces. I almost cried.
- tidejwe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"So how do we make women take the next logical step into *real* video games?"
Here's what I did with my wife. You start out small. Play something like Warcraft III Frozen Throne with a bunch of buddies online (we use Hamachi to do LAN games over the internet). Choose easy "puzzle" type of maps like "Uther Party" or "Olympics" or such things like that. Then slowly move up and do different maps as they get the hang of it (and even start to like it!). You can soon transition to any other RTS game, then RPG's are easy from there, and then you can pretty much throw them into anything. It's a Hook, line and sinker! :) Worked for me and my bro's anyway! heh heh heh - blueblood, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1the sims is a "real" game that could be considered casual. for some its the only one they play and they buy all of the expantions. i doubt they factored in the ladys that play it
- pheonix2og, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2This story is extremely misleading. This survey was over one "casual gaming" site or an average of several "casual game" sites' members. Turns out that about 65% of the members/gamers on these casual game sites were women and 35% were men (assuming that people correctly report their gender, which I don't always do when sites require it - no reason to know it). This is in no way an indication that men make up only 35% of even casual video games. Poll is awful, Joystiq article is awful, NYTimes article is awful. Poorly worded, stupid research to make it seem that women are playing games more than men...Why even bother? Sure there are some women that play games, casual and "serious," but I have a feeling if a true poll were taken men would take the lead in both "casual" and "serious" games.
- Chakz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2http://pc.ign.com/articles/698/698394p1.html
- Mooinakan, on 10/12/2007, -4/+5The only technology a women should see is a vaccum cleaner and a stove.
-
Show 51 - 90 of 90 discussions
The Digg Toolbar for Firefox lets you Digg, submit content, and keep track of Digg even when you're not on the Digg site. Download the official 
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is