How Men and Women Engage with Games Differently

It is a well-documented observation that gaming has traditionally been a male-dominated entertainment. This gender gap has significantly narrowed over the years. At present, 41% of the Indian gamers are women. However, men and women engage quite differently with games. In other words, the popularity of a rummy game among women may not be the same as that of a strategy game.

The narrowing of the gender gap also means that developers must consider the specific preferences of both genders while developing a new game. This may not be crucial in the designs of a simple poker or rummy app, but definitely so for a game with characters, for instance.

Decoding Gender Dynamics in Gaming

According to some industry watchers, gender variances arise from the developmental stage itself. It is worth noting that two-thirds of the game developers in the world are male. The presence of male characters in game icons is 44% more than female characters. The same goes for dialogues as well.

A study has revealed that games use twice as much male dialogue as female dialogue. Even in games with multiple female characters, like Final Fantasy X-2 and King’s Quest VII, the volume of male dialogue was found to be high. Not surprisingly, more than 60% of women gamers find interest in less than 30% of mobile games.

This subtle bias at the creative stage can result in the alienation of female gamers, thus ultimately harming the game’s prospects. Any insensitive portrayal of female characters and facets, coupled with an adrenaline-high online gaming environment, can further discourage women.

A lack of diversity in the decision-making stage can result in a narrower approach towards game development and marketing. In other words, lower female engagement in certain genres may not necessarily be due to a lack of interest. A combination of systematic barriers could be keeping female engagement low in such genres.

To cater to diverse gaming tastes, hiring designers and creators from diverse backgrounds could help. Besides, understanding the gender-based differences in gaming engagement is vital.

Gameplay Preferences of Both the Genders

Behaviourally, women gamers tend to be quite different from their male counterparts. Unlike most male gamers who play three or more games, women stick to one or two only. Word-of-mouth publicity is vital in the gaming world. But you cannot expect this a lot from female gamers. Only 27% of female gamers discuss games with their friends. 44% of male gamers, on the other hand, often engage in gaming-related discussions with friends.

Given their choice of genres, most female gamers prefer to identify themselves as casual gamers. According to one study, 23% of female gamers are hardcore, while 44% of gamers are casual. Besides, women have an affinity towards mobile gaming, while men tend to divert some of their attention to consoles and PCs as well. Astonishingly, 64% of mobile gamers in the USA are women! Overall, 44% of women gamers prefer to play on mobiles only, while only 27% of men stick to their phones alone.

Genre Specific Engagements

As the preferences of both genders solidify, we can see that male gamers like to play action, role-play and strategy games. Women, on the other hand, spend more time playing board and card games, puzzles and word games, and casual games. As an indication, 76% of the gamers who enjoy puzzle games are women. Women also edge ahead of men when it comes to adventure games. The Sims and similar simulation games are also known to be widely popular among female gamers.

The transparent and rule-based gameplay of card games can be seen as a reason for their popularity among women. Playing rummy on apps like RummyTime, you are more likely to encounter a female opponent. In the physical poker landscape, female participation was traditionally less. However, this has seen a surge in the online versions. While online poker and rummy games are popular among female gamers, they also like playing universally popular games. Given their preference for casual games, it was hardly a surprise that, at one point, 39% of Pokemon GO players were female. Games like Call of Duty, Fortnite, and GTA are similarly popular among both men and women.

Unlike women, men prefer competitive genres like first-person shooters and action games. Apart from the intense competition, the fast-paced mechanics and the opportunity to engage in competitive banter are appealing to most male gamers.

United Colours of Gaming

Given the diverse range of genres in the gaming industry, both men and women have plenty of choices to go for. Based on the popularity of these genres, men and women have clearly defined favourites when it comes to gaming preferences.

Male motivation for mastery and achievement drives their goal-oriented expectations from gaming. The female gamers' expectations, on the other hand, are more in the form of relaxation and escapism. Both genders offer different challenges to the game developer while clearly defining their expectations and preferences.