Female Representation in the Gaming World

The relationship between female gamers and the gaming industry has always been an unstable one. Compared to many years ago, the number of female gamers and their participation in it has changed substantially. Still, the idea of females having an active role in the gaming industry has not struck a chord with everyone.

The Entertainment Software Association publishes “Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry” yearly, which gives different statistics about the industry and the people involved in it. The one published in 2014 found that 48% of gamers are female, while the other 52% are male. The amazing thing about this is that female gamers 18 and older hold a bigger share in the industry than compared to boys 18 and younger. Throughout the years, the number of female gamers has continued to increase. In only a year the number of female gamers went from 45% to 48%. In 2008, the female gamers only made up 38% of the industry. As you can see, women’s participation in the gaming world has lessened the idea that video games are a man’s world.

Even though the number of female and male gamers is almost equal, female representation is still missing, especially in the workplace. As seen in Leah Burrows article, “Women Remain Outsiders in Video Game Industry”, found in the Boston Globe, only 11% of game designers are women, and only 3% of programmers are women. Just like in many other fields of work even the pay between men and women is different. Women employees seem to be making much less than their male counterparts. On average, male programmers make 10% more than women, male designers make 12% more, and male artists/ animators make 33%.  It seems like the video game workplace is not always a welcoming one to female workers either. As stated by Filamena Young, who is a game designer and co-owner of Machine Age Productions, in the Boston Globe article , the work environment of video game designers is unsafe for women to be involved in. She says that she’s even been groped.

You can imagine the kinds of female characters created by these men’s “boys locker mentalities”, as Leah Burrows describes it. Next blog, I will focus on the kinds of female characters designed and see if those characters are a reflection of the mindset of men creating them.