Just curious on what opinions or views people had.
First I'd like to start off with the assumption that guys and gals are different. I think most can agree.
Maxis I believe stated at one time that thier SIMS franchise (Specifically SIMs Online) player base was OVER half female.
Personally I find this hard to believe considering the popularity of the titles.
But I thought I'd ask what you guys either THINK or of OBSERVED in SL.
1) Do you think SL has wide appeal to both Male and Female?
2) Have you Noticed a rift in population? More Guys to Gals or vice versa, or is it well balanced (Even though you can never be sure what gender people are in RL).
This is purely for my own curiosity. Please keep any
discussion friendly and clean.
My own answers:
1) I have no idea. I have seen and known a very limited count of females that play video games. I'm not sure why they don't play them or why the DO play them when they do.
I think SL, like SIMS online (I think that game suxx0rs BTW), has more appeal to girls than say quake or WWIIOL.
2) I havn't been around long enough to judge.
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Gender and SL |
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Kurt Godel
Registered User
Join date: 15 Apr 2003
Posts: 50
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04-19-2003 10:17
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Misnomer Jones
3 is the magic number
Join date: 27 Jan 2003
Posts: 1,800
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04-19-2003 10:53
Demographics also came up in the underage player thread recently. I think that this game is probably even, or at least was before the wwiiol folks found us. It'd be interesting to see numbers from the Lindens on this though. Since I'm the type who doesn't care much for guessing & assuming I went & looked. I didnt spend much time and found this from 1999:
While it was certainly true in the past that many more males played computer games than females, the gap has been closing for some time now. Currently, a healthy percentage of video gamers are female: 43% of PC gamers and 35% of console gamers are women. The majority of all women gamers are likely to play games online (53%) (1). This translates into quite a few women who enjoy online computer games. When we look at the statistics on females and Internet use, we find similar trends. Forty-six percent of all Internet users in 1998 were female (2). In 1999, women are expected to be the majority of all U.S. Internet users, projected at 52% (3). Over 56% of new Internet users in 1999 will be women (4). Half of wired women use the web more than 5 hours a week for personal reasons, indicating that quite a few women not only use the Internet, but use it a lot (5) Of couse numbers are going to vary game to game depending on content. _____________________
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Kurt Godel
Registered User
Join date: 15 Apr 2003
Posts: 50
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04-19-2003 11:00
Great Info Misnomer. Thanks.
It would be cool to see how the numbers look today and if those projections where accurate. |
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Hikaru Yamamoto
Oldbie
Join date: 10 Mar 2003
Posts: 895
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04-19-2003 11:17
I'm a girl, but i like to play a lot of games that normally only guys play, like Return to Castle Wolfenstein. I used to play it everyday for hours till i found SL.
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Its hippos all the way down... |
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Misnomer Jones
3 is the magic number
Join date: 27 Jan 2003
Posts: 1,800
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04-19-2003 11:18
See now what'd you go & do that for?
 Ok here's the 2002 article I quoted from in the underage thread : http://www.idsa.com/5_22_2002.html In there, if you don't want to read the whole thing, it says: Women Gamers Entering the Market: Sixty-two percent of people who have been playing computer and video games for less than a year are women, concrete evidence that more and more women are being drawn to games. Buyer Demographics: Ninety-six percent of those who purchase console games are over the age of 18, and 90 percent of computer game buyers are over 18. Forty-six percent of console game buyers and 55 percent of computer game buyers are women. On a personal note, I've been playing computer & console games for years. _____________________
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JinDokGhe Powers
Registered User
Join date: 31 Dec 1969
Posts: 46
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04-19-2003 11:55
until i started playing online games, i had no idea so many girls were into video games. until then finding a female gamer was a rare commodity. where have u guys been all my life?!
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Deeblue Zeeman
T-800
Join date: 12 Mar 2003
Posts: 186
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04-19-2003 12:06
Originally posted by JinDokGhe Powers where have u guys been all my life?! don't you mean "where have you girls been all my life?"  _____________________
Come visit me sometime:
Deeblue's Place Hawthorne 50,70 in the Outlands. |
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Aychcee Valen
Registered User
Join date: 14 Mar 2003
Posts: 35
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04-19-2003 12:08
55 percent of PC game buye women: How come its always guys lookin at the shelves when I go to the store? Other possibility in this case may be that my wife and I'm sure others snag the paycheck as soon as I get it, so when I need the game the wife picks it up while out shopping  Didn't know so many women were into games..where have you been all my life: Possibly consider yourself lucky...when I met the wife, she couldn't do anything on a PC, not even cut & paste...then she saw me playing games..she then learned to you the PC at an alarming rate and my gametime window quickly shrank as hers grew...had to buy 2nd PC so I could get decent gametime back |
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Deeblue Zeeman
T-800
Join date: 12 Mar 2003
Posts: 186
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04-19-2003 12:12
1) Yes I think SL appeals very much to both genders. Moreso than any other "game" I've played/used. The limitless possibilities make for zero assumptions about what people are supposed to do in the game. With no assumptions you're just free to do whatever you want.
We have guys who love to make guns and gadgets, and guys who love to make nice rock gardens and waterfalls. Then we have girls who like to make cool clothing, and girls like Yuniq who make badass instruments of destruction, haha. 2) Currently I think it's very evenly balanced. When I first joined SL some of the first people to help with me n00b questions were girls. (Thanks Dana!). During my day to day adventures I think I meet a well balanced mix of guys and girls. Actually if anything, I think (or it seems like) there's a larger population of girls in the Outlands right now, haha. _____________________
Come visit me sometime:
Deeblue's Place Hawthorne 50,70 in the Outlands. |
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Misnomer Jones
3 is the magic number
Join date: 27 Jan 2003
Posts: 1,800
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04-19-2003 12:31
girls girl girls girls And even some women. _____________________
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Aurelie Starseeker
:)
Join date: 31 Dec 1969
Posts: 550
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04-19-2003 12:39
I'm a girl and i've always loved computer games/roleplaying/online gaming. Its so much fun! But i do know that in most of the games i've played, about half the female population where actually guys hehe.
Eek i'll rephrase, i'm not a girl i'm a woman!  tehe _____________________
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Deeblue Zeeman
T-800
Join date: 12 Mar 2003
Posts: 186
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04-19-2003 13:28
Guys/Girls
Men/Women Male/Female XY/XX Whatever! You knew what we meant _____________________
Come visit me sometime:
Deeblue's Place Hawthorne 50,70 in the Outlands. |
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Bel Muse
Registered User
Join date: 13 Dec 2002
Posts: 388
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04-19-2003 13:38
The first upgrade I ever did to my 286 computer was to buy a VGA graphics card so I could play games!
I loved playing games as a girl...but I'm even better at them as a woman. |
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Avondell Jones
Registered User
Join date: 16 Apr 2003
Posts: 82
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04-19-2003 13:41
[HomerSimpson]
Mmmmm...girls....agghhh.... [/HomerSimpson] |
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Misnomer Jones
3 is the magic number
Join date: 27 Jan 2003
Posts: 1,800
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04-19-2003 13:45
Hey Dee, c'mon, there was a wink in there.
I just noticed a whole bunch of "girl/girls" and well, just had to comment. _____________________
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Avondell Jones
Registered User
Join date: 16 Apr 2003
Posts: 82
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04-19-2003 13:47
[HomerSimpson]
Mmmm....girls/girls....AGGGGHHHH.... [/HomerSimson] Ok, I'll stop now :| |