Gaming - Not Just For The Boys!

Video game controller (Image by fancycrave1 from Pixabay)

It’s 2020, and the female of the species are hot on the heels of the hero’s of gaming. Yes fella’s don’t think for one minute that gaming is a male domain, pardon the pun! The gap is closing fast, and equality is the name of THE game.

Whilst you may assume that the trendy girl sitting opposite you on the train is simply pumping up her Insta page, or sharing a photo of kittens, it's now more likely than ever that she is actually sharpening her gaming skills during her daily commute.

Of course it’s understandable that many still see gaming as a male pastime, but today, it’s just as popular amongst women as men. In the UK figures show that 60% of girls in the 10-15 age group, play games on their Smartphones, whilst for boys of the same age the figure is 55%.

But women have been in on the act for over 35 years, when Ms Pac -Man was created as a female heroine in answer to the popularity amongst female players of Pac-Man.

However, the industry became more male dominated for a while in the late 80’s and the 90’s. Female characters in the games that were being created at the time were badly designed, and marketing was unflattering to women. It clearly had a negative effect on female players and their interest declined.

But now the girls are back on board, stronger than ever before, and the industry needs to up their own game to appeal not only to the boys, but to keep the girl power interested too.

What’s the deal with equipment

So whilst some females might be asking, is a red lippy better than a pink lippy, the gaming girls might be asking, is a pc better than a console.

The answer seems to be that a pc is more costly than a console, it provides clearer visuals, and the games are less expensive. It’s the reverse for the console, they are cheaper to buy, but the games are less affordable.

But depending on your lifestyle, a PC can be used for work, browsing the web, photo and video editing, and anything else you can think of that you would normally need a PC for.

A console on the other hand, will tick the Netflix, and YouTube boxes, and a gaming PC also needs to be equipped with the right hardware to play games.

Who Prefers What

Over both platforms, the console v the PC, it seems that men prefer to play strategy games, and get more involved with sports, action and adventure titles. Women on the other hand, are more drawn to puzzles, female orientated simulation games and the good old favourites, arcade titles such as Candy Crush.

It seems we’ve moved on from that age old dolls for the girls, and trains for the boys cliche from back in the day. Equality is all around us, and even more so when it comes to gaming.