Many women do not want to say online that they are women. This has hardly changed recently. The fear of discrimination is great.
In many minds, “women” and “video games” still do not fit together in one sentence. At least not when it comes to “The Sims,” “Farmville,” or “Animal Crossing.” Women are still often victims of sexist attacks in video games when their gender is revealed.
This leads to nearly 60% of women concealing their gender online. This was the result of a survey that questioned around 1,000 respondents in the USA, China, and Germany (via reach3insightstop3.com).
What was the survey about? The survey focused on women who consider video games to be one of their hobbies. Many details were queried, including how often women are discriminated against because of their gender, but also about their gaming preferences and the perception of how well women are represented in the video game industry.
What are the results? The sad result of the survey: 59% of all women conceal their real gender online. There are many reasons for this, most of which relate to insults, hostility, or outright sexism. For example, 77% of female gamers report that they have been victims of gender-specific discrimination, such as:
- Insults
- Inappropriate messages with sexual content
- Unsolicited questions regarding relationships
- Men leaving the game upon discovering that a player is a woman
- Gatekeeping (excluding individuals because they do not “belong”)
- Patronizing comments
- Double standards regarding skill or being criticized more harshly than men
What do women play? The surveyed women were also asked to indicate in which genres they mainly spend their free time and what types of games they primarily play. The results were as follows:
- 88% of respondents play competitive games (MOBAs, first-person shooters, battle royale shooters, sports games, fighting games, collectible card games)
- 75% of women play action or survival games
- 66% play shooters (first-person or battle royale)
You can find the complete survey with all results in our sources.
How do women in the MeinMMO community handle this?
We take the survey as an opportunity to check in with our community. If you are a woman, please participate in the survey below and let us know how you deal with your real-life gender online.
If you want to elaborate on your answer, feel free to leave a comment and explain how it has been for you so far.
The fact that more and more women are now playing video games is, according to the PlayStation CEO, because women have taken on a more important role in games themselves.
