If you think that the old gamer stereotype is becoming obsolete, then you’re not alone. In fact, gaming advocacy group Entertainment Software Association revealed that women older than 18 account for 31% of the video game-playing population. Although men still make up 55% of the entire gaming population, women now account for 45% from just 40% in 2010.

This is actually long overdue, considering that most of the early video games were, in fact, gender-neutral. Games in the 70s and early 80s, such as Pong, Breakout, Tapper, and even Pacman, appealed to people of all ages and gender.

However, as the gaming industry peaked and declined later in the 80s, developers decided to divert their efforts towards a more specialized demographic, in the form of young men. The world saw a steady influx of games made for male audiences, such as Quake, Doom, and Street Fighter, among others.

That is until the gaming industry expanded to accommodate more audiences, especially today when virtually everyone has a mobile device. The rise of mobile gaming led to the production of casual and more gender-neutral titles.

But while some people may retort that “mobile gamers are not gamers”, there is also a significant female presence in the PC and console gaming community. In games such as Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls and Fallout, players can choose their gender, and this decision affects how the game will progress. In addition, multiplayer shooter games such as Fortnite and Overwatch have interesting female characters and/or skins like D.Va and Elmira.

Having female lead characters draws in more female players as well. Just think of Lara Croft in Tomb Raider or Ellie in The Last of Us. Even simple games like slots are placing women front and center, and it’s a common trend among leading portals. A number of games on Expatbets have female protagonists such as Genie’s Touch and Sakura Fortune. The first one portrays a female genie that can seemingly grant riches, while the latter features a princess tasked with warding off evil emperors. The story-based Telltale game The Walking Dead, meanwhile, shows that a female lead character doesn’t need to be badass to be exciting and relatable. In short, female game characters are as diverse as they can get. And what makes the games work is a great story combined with excellent mechanics. Both of these were previously noted by Girl in Capes to be as important as good graphics.

Source: Pixabay

There are also more female players in eSports, which influences more women to become gamers themselves. While the community still has a lot more ground to cover in terms of inclusivity, the presence of players such as Sasha “Scarlett” Hostyn, Kim “Geguri” Se-yeon and Wang “BaiZe” XinYu shows that we are heading into the right direction. Hostyn, for instance, has been vocal about establishing equal treatment for players regardless of gender. She said in an interview with Dot eSports, “I don’t want to go out there and have people say to me that I’m just the best woman they’ve seen play [StarCraft]. I have always tried to make it a complete non-issue.”

Lastly, and perhaps most important of all, we are now seeing changes in terms of inclusivity in game development. Groups such as Creative Assembly and Media Molecule conduct coding workshops and community game jams to make game development less of a boys club. CEO of Girls Makes Games Laila Shabir described their project as more than a “coding summer camp.” According to her, “It is a place where girls are no longer the exception, a sore thumb in a group of boys.. They are the norm.”

If all of these mean more players to play with, increased game variety, and richer playing experience, then there’s a lot to be excited about. Can we also put to rest the old ‘bum gamer’ stigma as well as those oversexualized female characters? We’re crossing our Cheetos-laced fingers.

—

About the Guest Writer: Kate Scott writes for various gaming publications when she is free from her full-time office work. She also works as a freelance game designer and is an avid couch surfer.

Header image source: Pixabay