108 responses so far ↓

• 1 Tim The Tiny Tonic // Mar 3, 2008 at 12:16 pm

  on average guys are more interested in technology and spend more time just surfing the web so they are more likely to be downloading podcasts, which makes them more likely to be listening to SG, which in turn makes them more likely to join the SG forums. thats just a theory why your figures may be slightly different and contains almost no fact.

• 2 NoneOfYourBusiness // Mar 3, 2008 at 12:56 pm

  But he is also right on the fact that some people label gamers as someone who will occasionally play those short time killers like Solitare.

  I think perhaps there should be a universal label for gamers. hardcore gamers..etc, based on the amount of hours played gaming. If you play solitare 16 hours a week then your a gamer. If you played halo 3 once last month then you are not a gamer.

  What I’m saying is it should be time and effort based rather then what is played.

• 3 TOO KINGS // Mar 3, 2008 at 1:00 pm

  I only know 2 girls that “game”. My sister and a neighbor that lives next door. I know a lot of girls who do not game and hate the whole genre. However, I went to a bar near my house and they had guitar hero going and these girls were kicking everybody’s ass. So does every girl who plays GH a “gamer”?

• 4 Doc // Mar 3, 2008 at 1:17 pm

  @Tim

  Of course, you’re right. I was commenting that I did not feel that 38% is what I am seeing in the real world. That’s all… Good point.

• 5 Vluhd // Mar 3, 2008 at 1:47 pm

  i think this story is something we all realize
  however, its something that is unfortunate.
  i, for example, would want to date a girl who games because then she wont bitch about it.

  and yeah, mary at the office playing freecell like a crack addict shouldnt count.

• 6 Doc // Mar 3, 2008 at 2:24 pm

  I tried to “game” the other night and my wonderful husband Doc threw a fit and was begging for his xbox back. Be careful what you wish for!

• 7 Tom // Mar 3, 2008 at 2:37 pm

  Maybe that mean that gamers are 38% female. A recognition that we are all getting in touch with our more feminine sides, and playing kinder gentler games. Once that number goes past 50%, the physical changes will kick in.

• 8 Tweep // Mar 3, 2008 at 2:38 pm

  @ Doc’s Wife: I introduced my wife to Puzzle Quest and had the same reaction; I am still begging for the controller back.

• 9 Doc // Mar 3, 2008 at 3:31 pm

  @ my wife

  Get your own account. For that matter get your own Xbox…

  

• 10 Tim The Tiny Tonic // Mar 3, 2008 at 3:53 pm

  yeah, all the girls i know hate games.

• 11 slik1000 // Mar 3, 2008 at 4:27 pm

  ah ha ha, if you show the whole of that picture the xbox that they are playing on isn’t actually plugged in. I think there may be a missing 34% of girls playing video games without it actually turned on.

  I wouldn’t go near live if I were a girl, I was on COD4 the other night and when the people in the room could hear my girlfriend in the background they all basically hit puberty. what must it be like to actually be talking.

• 12 Tim The Tiny Tonic // Mar 3, 2008 at 5:13 pm

  i know, they get alot of grief. of the few live female friends i have most choose to keep their mic’s off apart from one who is indistinguishable from a 10 year old american kid :P… if i were a girl id switch my mic off wouldnt you?

• 13 smon jiff // Mar 3, 2008 at 5:18 pm

  i think if we change “gamer” back to “nerd” we can weed out a lot of the casual crowd.

• 14 Doc // Mar 3, 2008 at 5:40 pm

  @smon jiff rofl… great idea.

• 15 smon jiff // Mar 3, 2008 at 5:46 pm

  @Doc when are one of you sg guys going to get a ps3 so i can begin to layeth the smackdown?

• 16 Tweep // Mar 3, 2008 at 6:47 pm

  @ smon jiff

  Gee, I’ll bet Rothbart might have one… lol

• 17 I am Servo // Mar 3, 2008 at 11:50 pm

  I think its just that 96% of female gamers aren’t sarcastic

• 18 Vluhd // Mar 4, 2008 at 12:05 am

  @ Doc’s wife
  thats why you own different consoles
  and i dont think id complain about that
  haha

• 19 hans // Mar 4, 2008 at 2:30 am

  i figured that these low numbers of female gamers - or their appreciation of gaming - is not at the same low level all over the world. in some parts of asia it seems to be different. i was half a year in hong kong and girls over there all had their ds / psp or were trying out the latest xbox360 games in stores. for them, gaming was something cool. or take south korea, gaming (well, especially starcraft) is a real sport with incredible audiences during live performances.

• 20 Cube // Mar 4, 2008 at 5:16 am

  There lying ther all really guys pretending to be a chick to hot on guys for money and items, like they do In MMO’s

• 21 nelyn // Mar 4, 2008 at 6:30 am

  So I am 25 married and am a girl… and a gamer. I have gamed heavily for awhile now. Played wow for 3 years, xbox, ps2, 360… ext. I recently started listening to the married gamers… Side note on that being that I only know about you guys threw them. ANYWAY!

  Once I started listening to them I decided that I as a heavy gamer should really get XboxLive. Yes no xbox live for the five years its been around, but in my deffend I had dial up for the last 3 years. I even played World of Warcrack on it.

  My husband doesn’t game and I do… get that.. while he dies over and over in the easy mode of halo I am ripping threw lvling in CoD4, 12 lvls in one day isn’t great but I only got to play a few rounds with Lefty and the gang. People often think its wierd I game and my husband does…. woopty freakin do. There isn’t nothing better than head shotting some cussing 12 year old to shut him up.

  I guess my point is there are alot of gaming girls it just many of them are playing things like DS or just aren’t connecting the thing to the internet.

  I intend to game for the rest of my breathing life and it funny but over 1/2 of the people would I work with at GameStop are girls… hmm. That number might be right. But who know and remember its quality not quanity unless you are racking in kills and beaver-bags as I have recently learned.

• 22 nelyn // Mar 4, 2008 at 6:34 am

  ps sorry for anytypos… its 3:30 and I am sitting bored in and airport with red eyes

• 23 ooopy // Mar 4, 2008 at 11:51 am

  I guess its the perspective of what you class as a gamer. Like Noneofyourbusiness said, how can someone who plays halo 1x a month be classed as a gamer yet a female that spends hours on xbox arcade games not be. Gaming is gaming, whether its ds, wii, ps3 or xbox (and pc gaming). GamerchiX and even the cavegirls are another prime example of how many women are out there. I play in a lot of rooms where guys are shocked to find a woman playing and that amazes me. If I’m playing with my group on COD4 I have no issue on talking and being comfortable playing, but if we get into ranked rooms and there are mouth pieces there or i get on the other team, guys have no idea I am a female because I chose not to talk. Because soon as you kill someone you are a whore, you fat, you have no life etc. Or if you have a bad round, you shouldn’t be playing cuz you are a girl. I kinda love it with my guys are with me because they will be the first to say, she’s still alive, she’s got more kills than other guys on your team, stop hating on her cuz she’s female. I think doc you would be surprised how many female gamers there are and I would say it is closer to 30% than 4%.

• 24 Kiddo // Mar 4, 2008 at 12:08 pm

  I agree with Ooopy 100%.
  I could not have said it better myself.
  Some guys are BRUTAL on us females… and for what? To boost their ego’s? To make them feel like more of a man? And you wonder why you don’t hear of more females in games.
  I think some guys are intimidated by the fact that a female can “play in a man’s world” and beat them while they are at it. I suspect thats where the negative and demeaning chatter comes from, but thats only my opinion so who really knows.
  I have been playing XBL for 5 or so years now, played SNES and N64 as a kid, does that qualify me as a female gamer??? I think so!

• 25 The Crimson Reapers // Mar 4, 2008 at 12:46 pm

  I am a female gamer and i play an array of games,i tend to play with a group of friends who arent disrespectful towards females and we have a laugh and i enjoy my time on Live
  There are quite a few female gamers i know and play with regular too and we dont just play the Arcade games we are tbh addicted to CoD4
  I have come across some guys on Live who have said some nasty things and i think this is what tends to make female gamers stick to playing online with other females they have come across as some male gamers can make us feel intimidated especially if we beat them
  I wear my headset all the time when playing with friends but if i am playing against randoms i will keep it on mute so they dont know i am a female for fear of getting abuse
  I would say the number is higher than 4% in fact it IS higher its just that us women gamers tend to stick together as a group rather than play on our own against randoms

• 26 Enfarine // Mar 4, 2008 at 12:52 pm

  I agree with Ooopy.

  Having said that, I am one of those who usually keeps her mic on. If I’m in a team game, I definitely try to communicate strategic information to my team members. Subjectively speaking, it seems like I’m not being asked, “Are you a girl?” quite as frequently as I once was, so maybe guys are finally getting used to girls playing shooters and the like.

  I am female, I game, and I do it a lot. I just checked my FL and it looks like 31.25% are male, 65% are female, and 3.75% are “other” (group lists). We definitely exist out there in solid numbers, but not all are vocal about it.

• 27 Cayote of The Cavegirls // Mar 4, 2008 at 12:54 pm

  And just when I thought we were getting past this. I had recently heard that it is less of a surprise to run into females in match making. I had recently heard that it is getting better, and guys no longer bat an eye, yes I did say that, when woman are gaming. It is no big deal anymore! I am interested to know exactly how you came to your conclusion. This is only one small study, you would be surprised at the amount of woman gamers actually out there. You just don’t know it. Now back to flipping cards.

• 28 Shiner Chick // Mar 4, 2008 at 1:08 pm

  I am a girl gamer and a member or an all girl clan the Cavegirls. I get online everynight and play Halo3. Guy can be a$$es. and they find out i’m actually a chick and they do one of 2 things. they either are cool about it or they are complete jacka$$es.

  i remeber one night i got home and hoped online with my bf to play halo(he was already online playing with some friends).

  i popped in the room and one of his friends who i had never played with said he refused to play with a girl and actually thought i was going to leave so he could countine to play. everyone in the room who i had played with before said that there was no way i was leave. So my bf booted him from the party and and removed him from his friends list.

  And they always assume that because i am a girl gamer(with my own xbox360 and gamer tag) that i am fat and ugly.

  most of the time i get alot of friends request in a game just because i am female gamer.

  there are probably more actual girl gamers out there than you know of. I love playing with my girls from my clan and most of the time we get guys that love it. on ladies night i have never had a problem with guys being jerks.

  guys online all of sudden can become jerks when hidden behind a tv and a mic on xblive

• 29 LadyJai // Mar 4, 2008 at 1:09 pm

  Should we trust the polls? As with ANY poll, you can twist the results to suit your needs. When I went to college, I took a statistics class. My professor called it “lying with numbers.” I don’t completely agree with survey results and polls for this simple statement. Depending on how the poll was administered, how the people were picked for the poll, who funded the poll, how the questions were worded, etc. can determine the outcome of the poll results. All these variables can contributed to a biased poll.

  Should we trust polls? No. Your numbers mean just as much as the ESAs numbers. The fact of the matter is, women ARE gaining in numbers in the gaming industry all around. From 4-38% who knows how many chix are actually gamers. Look at the xBox GamerChix community. We are over 4,000 strong. Everyone has their own gaming style. We may not all play Halo3 or COD4. I have one brother-in-law who games when he can. He’s only level 30 in COD4. But, his priorities lie in his career. I have another brother-in-law who games incessantly. My husband games more than I do. But I am busy with working full time and taking care of a 5 year old. When I am able, I enjoy my fair share of Lego Star Wars, Halo, Boogie Bunnies, Oblivion, Marval Ultimate Aliance, and The Orange Box.

  So, does that make me a gamer? I believe it does. But because my priorities lie elsewhere, I don’t get to do it as often as I want. I’ll be the first to admit I’m not all that skilled in Halo3 or COD4. In fact, my emblem on my Spartan shoulder is a big ol’ bullseye! But, I go out to have fun. The problem I see is that many women choose not to speak in game for fear of the harrassment that will undoubtedly ensue. Because of the rude male population, the gaming world is oblivious to the female population. We choose to keep ourselves hidden, to protect our identities, so we don’t have to deal with the personal attacks that are so common. When that stops, then and only then will we see the true gamerchix revolution amass.

• 30 Kirilith // Mar 4, 2008 at 1:20 pm

  As a female gamer, I certainly feel like there’s more than 4% of us making up the population. For one, I’m friends with many other women who play games. Most women I know at least casually play them. If you can count a casual male gamer, then you must count casual female gamers.

  I think perhaps that many female gamers are afraid to make themselves known or even call themselves gamers due to the negative connotation the word has received by many, and due to the harassment we receive in gaming communities. That’s why we have communities like GamerchiX as a safe haven. But I also feel that perhaps that fear and discomfort is what keeps us from clicking on polls. Perhaps many women who play games don’t call themselves gamers because they’ve been told for years that they CAN’T be gamers.

  Until females feel empowered and feel equal to men in the gaming community, then the numbers will be skewed.

• 31 Kiddo // Mar 4, 2008 at 1:28 pm

  It appears that so far we are at a 33% response rate with Females here… so much for the 4%.
  Go CAVEGIRLS!

• 32 Kirilith // Mar 4, 2008 at 1:35 pm

  Let’s also look at it like this…

  I’ve known many women who played games, but if you asked them if they were a gamer, they’d look at you, horrified you would suggest such a thing. Thanks to pop culture and the media, “gamer” has become a dirty word. What woman wants to be associated with the stereotype much of the world has of the average “gamer”? Would any girl in their right mind want to be seen as the female counterpart to a pimply, nerdish guy living in his mom’s basement playing EverQuest? Let’s also add to the fact that many times whenever one of us does call ourselves a gamer on the internet, people reply, “You must be fat or ugly.”

  Is it any wonder that our gender might be afraid of the word? Why we might hide our gaming behind closed doors?

  Rather than trying to fight the stereotype, many women shun the label. It’s easier to not attract the attention. Or, in some extreme cases, it’s easier to just not pick up that controller, and to pretend it’s not their thing. That’s it’s a “guy thing”. That, to me, is the saddest part of it all.

• 33 Snowe // Mar 4, 2008 at 1:40 pm

  The girl_gamers community on livejournal (http://community.livejournal.com/girl_gamers/) has almost 6000 members.

  I play games, but I tend to avoid most “mainstream” or popular gaming sites because the communities aren’t very friendly to women. I’m not interested in having to wade through lots of sexist language in order to find information. On the NWN Vault, I once rated a portrait pack poorly b/c the female portraits were all nearly nude, wearing unrealistic outfits–you could hardly move in those things, much less fight! The little weasel who posted it got ONE negative review–me–and decided to disallow comments altogether. It seems like a fair number of male gamers don’t really want girls in their communities…The Bioware boards are better moderated and more female-friendly than most, and you’ll see a lot more women there. The developers of their RPG’s seem really interested and open to female input, and I feel that they value ttheir female customers. That makes me a lot more likely to buy their games!

  A survey of your listeners is not a good sample of the female gaming population.

• 34 Doc // Mar 4, 2008 at 1:59 pm

  @ Ladies

  Welcome to Sarcastic Gamer. Where the hell have you been?

  

• 35 Kirilith // Mar 4, 2008 at 2:01 pm

  We’ve been busy gaming, Doc

• 36 PMS Harlequin // Mar 4, 2008 at 2:02 pm

  I agree with the ladies. I too am a girl gamer. I find your survery a bit flawed. You are basing your findings on % of listeners to your podcast.

  If you look at the number of females who are members of the GamerchiX community, the PMS Clan, Cavegirls, Girlz of Destruction, KSI Sirens (many more female clans as well) and also include females from co-ed teams you will have a list of thousands without exaggeration.

  We’re out there and we’re playing.

• 37 ooopy // Mar 4, 2008 at 2:15 pm

  @ doc

  I think you due to have a show to fix your flawed research and give props to the true gamers out there

• 38 Enfarine // Mar 4, 2008 at 2:17 pm

  I would guess that for your survey, the men were the ones picking up the phones while the women were kicking tail in the games.

  What woman has time to phone in when there are terrorists to be hunted, planets to save, heads to be stomped, wars to be won, and trashtalkers who need to be shottied??

• 39 Evilpinkbunny // Mar 4, 2008 at 2:30 pm

  Girl’s of gaming need to unite. Prove that we have all the talent that guys do, more sometimes. I think that there could be more then just 38% female gamers.

• 40 Talli // Mar 4, 2008 at 2:53 pm

  “@ Ladies

  Welcome to Sarcastic Gamer. Where the hell have you been?”

  We’ve been playing games. Where have you been?

• 41 PMS Harlequin // Mar 4, 2008 at 4:13 pm

  @ Enfarine

  “What woman has time to phone in when there are terrorists to be hunted, planets to save, heads to be stomped, wars to be won, and trashtalkers who need to be shottied??”

  And with the other hand we’re cooking, cleaning, and doing homework with our kids!

  hahaha!

• 42 Cassandra // Mar 4, 2008 at 4:15 pm

  I’m a girl gamer and I think this post is bollocks and agree with the 38% figure; just because you personally haven’t seen that many female gamers doesn’t mean that they don’t exist.
  You’ve also already dug yourself into a hole with this statement:
  ‘We?ve been doing a research project for about 8 months now, through our podcast listener survey. According to those numbers, 96% of you are dudes.’
  So you’re not trying to figure out how many girls are gamers, you’re trying to figure out how many people that listen to your podcast are girls. (Which is seems is not much, gee I wonder why since you seem to be very shoddy with your research.) It’s very obvious that you’re trying to sway any results you get towards your own personal experience without even bothering to make an effort else-where.

  P.S. As a female I love going on X-Box live and kicking the ass of close-minded people like you.
  

• 43 Lono // Mar 4, 2008 at 4:24 pm

  Wow, I think every girl gamer responded to this article…. Welcome!

• 44 Kirilith // Mar 4, 2008 at 5:43 pm

  Whoa, Cassandra, put the claws back in. I think Doc’s on our side. He seems quite supportive of us, so I think calling him “closed-minded” is a bit harsh. He genuinely wanted to understand the real demographic so rather than assuming that we don’t exist, he actually asked. That means he isn’t closed-minded at all. In fact, it means he WANTS to be enlightened.

  Give the guy a fair chance here.

• 45 Emma // Mar 4, 2008 at 5:51 pm

  Ya know. This argument goes on all the time on the intertubes. Where are all the female bloggers? Where are all the female gamers? Where are all the people who don’t extrapolate their personal experience into statistics?

  Just because you don’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not there. I for one didn’t realise that a) I had to listen to your podcast to be counted and b) that you would check which games I played to see if I was enough of a gamer for you. Perhaps if you stopped spending time being a gatekeeper, you might notice more wimminz. Or you know, not.

• 46 The Ploogle // Mar 4, 2008 at 6:41 pm

  @Lono

  You think? Yikes! They write long comments…

  Hell hath no fury…

• 47 ooopy // Mar 4, 2008 at 6:53 pm

  I agree with Kirilith, please put your claws in. I for one know what Doc is all about and his admiration for female gamers. Our positive responses to this allows him to get a better perspective on females in general. On why we aren’t in fields with gaming consoles and burning them with our bras, but we are there and more of a silent force. Where we are and why we tend to play and do what we do. How can a man who respects us get to understand our point of view and what we go thru if they don’t understand where we hang out and how we play. What we believe gaming is and what it means to us. If we want supporters in our corner we have to show them respect. Not once in his post did he disrespect us, he was more stating he didn’t believe that there were that many female gamers. We are proving him wrong, so instead of attacking him lets help him understand and others understand the woman’s stance in gaming so they too can help spread bring us to the point that we are no longer female gamers but we are just gamers.

  Btw, Doc don’t care about who listens to his podcast, and who is a member of his site, but he does care about gamers on a whole, so I would hope you would show him the same respect he’s always shown me and other gamers.

• 48 Lono // Mar 4, 2008 at 6:58 pm

  If you want to be heard ladies, participate in surveys, blog chatter and other ways to make yourself known.

  Doc went by the statistics that were presented to him by the willing that participated in the podcast survey. By not participating you have removed yourself from the equation.

  Time to start participating if you don’t want to become marginalized. That’s the bottom line.

• 49 Cassandra // Mar 4, 2008 at 7:03 pm

  Sorry if anything I said sounded to harsh but I’ve heard / seen this whole thing over and over and it does become very tiresome. Girl gamers are people, not mythical unicorns.

  @ Lono. Why should we? ESA has obviously done this survey for a reason and I’m greatful for it. I shouldn’t have to be a member of every gaming forum and community out there just so there’s one more female to add to the statistic. I’d prefer to spend that time gaming.

• 50 Lono // Mar 4, 2008 at 7:30 pm

  Your loss Cassandra. When you don’t participate, you let others speak for you.

• 51 KageNeko // Mar 4, 2008 at 7:32 pm

  Lono, just because we don’t listen to one person’s podcast - a podcast which before now I never even knew existed - doesn’t mean we don’t participate.

  I’m a former industry employee, thanks. I’ve done my time in the real trenches, fighting battles behind the scenes to ensure that women were being fairly represented in games. I’m proud of my own profile on Mobygames and my accomplishments while in the industry. Since leaving that field, I’ve still gone out of my way to help raise awareness for women gamers, even volunteering to help represent the GamerchiX at Microsoft’s Women in Gaming event at GDC this year. In fact, I’ve been verbally (and visually) harassed by guys on Xbox Live who saw the spot on Inside Xbox which featured the event and us, simply for being a girl and being there and trying to help get a little recognition for the fact that we exist and we can kick a little butt. I’ve written my own blog entries, posted comments on others, and participated in gaming communities all over the internet.

  You’ll pardon me if your admonishment of me for not listening to an obscure podcast - Doc, I mean that as no slight - is laughable and downright insulting. It demonstrates an ignorance.

  I AM making myself heard, and so are many of the other ladies here. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be here now, would we?

• 52 Kirilith // Mar 4, 2008 at 7:56 pm

  And I should pay more attention before I post. The comment above? Yeah, that’s me. It’s what I get for posting from home after posting from work and forgetting which name I used

• 53 SIXTY // Mar 4, 2008 at 7:56 pm

  Or… here’s an idea… instead of attacking him for acknowledging that there are girl gamers and wishing there were more of us… You could just… not try to turn it back on him in some twisted way in order to gain attention in a really embarassing way?

  Here’s my theory; who cares!

• 54 enigmania // Mar 4, 2008 at 7:59 pm

  “Hell hath no fury”, “put your claws in”… and you’re shocked that we don’t particularly want to spend our free time hanging out in all the male-dominated spaces. It’s just so fun having our arguments dismissed.

• 55 Kirilith // Mar 4, 2008 at 8:01 pm

  Are you even reading the same comments, SIXTY? Most of us didn’t attack Doc at all. We simply came here to show that there are more of us than he thinks, and offered theories as to why, perhaps, we aren’t as noticable as one might hope.

  I respect Doc for asking, honestly. I didn’t come here to insult him or gain attention. I came here because ooopy asked us, as Doc’s request, to sound off. So many of us did.

  *I* am the one who asked Cassandra to put her claws in. I happen to BE a fellow female gamer. There’s no male-domination involved in that remark.

• 56 Cube // Mar 4, 2008 at 8:16 pm

  All the ladies here are lying too. Just so they can get free gold and rare item’s in there MMO’s

• 57 Cube // Mar 4, 2008 at 8:26 pm

  See the lying goes like this.

  (Horny hetrosexual MMO guy.)
  A/S/L ? Any hot ladies tonight

  (MMO Fake hot chick.)
  23 F/flordia hot blonde!.

  (Horny hetrosexual MMO guy.)
  Really? You want this sword of 1000 truths +9999999! It

  (MMO Fake hot chick.)
  Oh yes I do you are so sweet.

  (Horny hetrosexual MMO guy.)
  If i travel to florda will you go out with me!?!?!??!

  (MMO Fake hot chick.)
  No no I am afraid if we meet face to face it will ruin my untimely love for you, lets get married in game in the “Slush pits of lorderon” Overlooking the castle that is litter with the dead bodies of our victory!

  (Horny hetrosexual MMO guy.)
  Oh my god you really know how to turn me on here is 1 million gold as a gift to you!

• 58 Reap // Mar 4, 2008 at 10:02 pm

  All the responses…. I’m kinda reminded of xkcd… http://xkcd.com/386/

  I can’t speak for any other chicas, but the reason you don’t see me gaming online is because I game to get away from life and destress. When I do play online, it’s with a select group of friends… on Diablo, Civ or Age of Empires/Dawn of War/etc.

• 59 Doc // Mar 4, 2008 at 11:22 pm

  Testing comments

• 60 Doc // Mar 5, 2008 at 8:08 am

  this might be why we don’t get many ladies round these parts.

• 61 Lisa // Mar 5, 2008 at 9:51 am

  Maybe girls like gaming but not forums. I know lots of real gamer girls - no solitaire here but thanks. Nothing but true OG gamer here, Atari, Intellivision, all the nintendos, sega, playstation 1&2, Wii (no xbox) and of COURSE computer gamer all the way.
  I like gaming as a quality family time. (Mommy, quick shoot that guy over there and steal his ammo!)
  I’m not into gaming forums full of sexist rude guys and I usually have chat turned off because I want to play the game. I rather enjoy making sure that guy in cs knows he was killed by a girl.
  I’ve also discovered that the secret to keeping dice is to have pink or sparkley dice. No man will use mine, none of the guys will even borrow them.
  It’s good to be a girl.

• 62 Lisa // Mar 5, 2008 at 9:57 am

  p.s. forgot to add, I hadn’t heard of this website before but I found it through the girlgeeks group in livejournal (one of two online groups that I have ever been a part of)
  there’s a lot of girls there, too.
  i don’t think there are enough girls in gaming but I do think it’s more than four percent. there’s not enough girls in computer science or math in general but our numbers are growing steadily and that makes me happy.

• 63 ooopy // Mar 5, 2008 at 9:58 am

  @doc posts like cube are the mindset of gamers what we as the female gender just don’t get. They purposely try to get us pissed off at them with their comments so that we retort in a fashion that makes others say…Oh they emotional etc. Truth of the matter is a post like cube’s just makes most of us laugh at their inability to have a real conversation and express meaningful views, but when you hit that kind of poster over and over in forums, it gets pretty old and we as females get tired of defending and trying to prove a point. We all know that we are gamers whether the male gamer population see it or not.

• 64 Allison // Mar 5, 2008 at 10:25 am

  Female here.

  The problem you might have is that very few girls (at least the one’s I know) are at all interested in belonging to the male gaming culture that the web has made. Take my boyfriend and I for an example. I game about 3 times as much as he does. However, he spends about 10 times as much on gaming websites as I do. They just don’t appeal to me, or to most women, it would seem. We would prefer to devote our internet time to social networking, reading the news, and just play the damn games already instead of constantly reading about them.

• 65 apple // Mar 5, 2008 at 10:29 am

  Here are some deffinitions of a gamer courtesy of wikipedia maybe you need to broaden your definition of a gamer if these definitions are not enough consult ur preffered dictionary.
  Console gamer: A type of gamer who enjoys playing video games primarily on systems like the PS3, Xbox 360,Wii etc.
  Handheld gamer: A type of gamer who enjoys playing video games primarily on handheld systems, like the DS or the PSP.
  PC Gamer: A type of gamer who enjoys playing video games primarily on laptops and desktop computers.
  Casual gamer: A person who enjoys playing games with simple rules or which do not require large blocks of time to play[citation needed]. They might not even identify themselves as a gamer. Because even the most occasional game player qualifies for this category, it is likely the largest in size.
  Midcore gamer: A person with some traits of a casual and a hardcore gamer. Most midcore gamers dont spend a lot of time playing video games.
  Hardcore gamer: A person who spends much of their leisure time playing games[citation needed]. There are many subtypes of hardcore gamers based on the style of game, gameplay preference, hardware platform, and other preferences.
  Girl gamer: Video and computer gamers are stereotypically adolescent males. However, research has shown that females comprise more than 40% of gamers (though they purchase fewer games than men), and females are playing more games now than they did in the past.[2]
  Competitive gamer: A hardcore gamer who primarily plays games for the enjoyment of competing with other players[citation needed]. Common competitions include number of opponents beaten, earned titles or other status symbols, or even simply bragging rights about almost anything.
  Retrogamer: A hardcore gamer who enjoys playing or collecting vintage video games from earlier eras[citation needed]. Retrogamers are partly responsible for the popularity of console emulation. Some collect old video games and prototypes, or are in the business of refurbishing old games, particularly arcade cabinets. Some even make their own arcade cabinets (see MAME arcade).
  Import gamers: A hardcore gamer who enjoys playing or collecting video games produced internationally[citation needed]. The most common imports are from Japan, although some European and Japanese gamers purchase games from North America. Depending on the gaming platform involved, these gamers may use devices such as modchips, boot disks, and/or Gamesharks to bypass regional lockout protection on the software, though some prefer to purchase imported consoles. A number of Import Gamers import games that fall in to genres that are generally not releases outside of Japan, such as dating sims or anime/manga-based licensed games.
  Hacker: A gamer who enjoys finding flaws in a game or finding ways to exploit unintentional features, most often with software not included in the game[citation needed]. The term “hacker” is often derogatory when used in a multiplayer game setting, as hackers can use exploits to gain an unfair advantage over other players. An example of this are the First-person shooter computer games, where programs referred to colloquially as an “aimbot” can be used to shoot with 100% accuracy. Hackers in multiplayer video games are scorned by most of the gaming community.
  Power gamer: This kind of gamer has elements of the hardcore and competitive gamer[citation needed].
  Cyberathlete: A professional gamer (often abbreviated “pro gamer” or just “pro”) that plays games for money.[3] (The term, electronic sports, is used to describe the play of video games as a professional sport.) Whether a cyber athlete is a subtype of the hardcore gamer largely depends on the degree to which a cyber athlete is financially dependent upon the income derived from gaming.[citation needed] Insofar as a cyber athlete is financially dependent upon gaming then the time spent playing is no longer “leisure” time.
  Normal gamer: In an article for The Escapist[4], Roger Travis theorizes that as some gamers try to distance themselves from stereotypes associated with gaming, they create a new group of gamers, called “normal gamers”. Basically, in their effort to distance themselves from the “normal” gamer (or, maybe, the “average gamer”) who is seen by the general population as abnormal, they create a new group distinguished as fitting more closely to what the general population sees as the “normal” person. Normal gamers are identified as being older and having more life experience, as well as having a generally ironic attitude toward the rest of gamers (e.g., they are known for using correct English, except when parodying other gamers (called “immature gamers” in the article), especially those who frequent online multiplayer games). Finally, Travis implies that “normal gamers” are maybe not really that normal, after all; i.e., the sites they visit may be too “normal” for most gamers, but they are too “weird” for everyone else.

• 66 Habadasher // Mar 5, 2008 at 10:36 am

  Wait, how can you take cube’s comment seriously? I mean come on, when you make a statement like “All the ladies here are lying too” I don’t really think you can expect to be taken seriously!!!

  And what is with all the Doc bashing?
  There seem to be a lot of people overreacting/misinterpreting this article!

• 67 vluhd // Mar 5, 2008 at 11:11 am

  say anything about it and they come out of the woodwork.
  you should all look into becoming authors instead of gamers
  certainly got enough novellas to make a book on this page along XD
  and as far as people bashing women who play games, its something that really shouldnt happen, women have the same right as far as men do to game.
  and if women hide their title of gamer because they fear the stereotypes, maybe you should just all come out and admit it to shut people up.

• 68 kilaMOMjaro // Mar 5, 2008 at 11:14 am

  HAHAHA @Cube…who was the Fake chick you got stuck with on a date?

  If you thing all women lie then you are a liar. Old saying “You Judge People by your own bushel”.

  Im sorry you were taken in by the lies of a woman saying she’s hott…but maybe she feels hott. I also know men who pretend to be female on MMO’s cuz they get attention! =P

  Nevertheless, even if they lie about their looks…theyre still gamers. =]

  Which IS the subject here.

  Poor Doc! You’ll survive this! We still love you. ;]

• 69 ooopy // Mar 5, 2008 at 11:29 am

  @habadasher first of we don’t take cube’s comment serious, but as women having to defend ourselves and say that we really do game his comments are very common in any thread that a woman may express their views.

  Doc knows that no one is truly bashing him but they are expressing their points as this is a subject we over and over have to defend.

  I would like to ask how many people went to PAX last year. If you want to get an accurate number and see for your own eyes, attend it this labor day in Seattle. I would have to honestly say of the 37,000 attendee last year it was close to 40% females.

  Lono on doing surveys and polls on websites how accurate are they? I was very active in a community that was 95% males. We have polls and votes for various things and of that we’d be lucky if we’d get a 25% turnout on voting or doing any of that. And note that of the females on the boards most of us did voice an opinion etc. We are around, if you feel you need a female voice then hit up a female gamer that you know is active in many forums and say, can you give us insight to this or that or like in this case, can you get me some feedback. Trust me, you’d be surprised on what you’d get back. Some of the female boards I go to have much more interesting reads in the forums than in the forums that I go to that are mostly male.

  Another point is that a lot of podcast are geared to male humor and a certain type listener. I know of females that listen to all podcasts, and others not to any. Not everyone has the same taste, and this goes with male and female a like. Thats what makes the gaming community grow is all the various venues for gamers to explore and find their niche in whether its this podcast, an adult community, an all girls community, a dad gamer community etc. We all unique and that is what makes gaming so awesome for such a wide base of people.

• 70 Cube // Mar 5, 2008 at 12:26 pm

  I was on the other side I made a cute hot chick character for my own enjoyment in some games If I like the way they look.

  With out asking I had a daily supply of Male character hitting on me and giving gift with out saying a word.

  If i tryed to give it back they would not take it and grouped with me and kept talking all night long in such way it was obvious they was trying to get some kind virtual date.

  Few I see look like real females If they are real females playing then I want them to come kick my ass in what ever game that is.

  Of course when they do enter the Voice chat and It is obvious they are females unless voice chat is used I can sit there and listen to every obvious male in the game give them items, protect them or give them obvious flirt chat all night long while I sit there and watch saying nothing.

  This of course lead to the teams death since all the items and attention are not going even across all teams.

  Since I never see this happen only when Text chat is used in MMO’s I assume they are guys playing women.

  Though I find it hard to think females do not use voice chat since I see the majory of the women population have an unhealthy obesssion with phones and talk on them constantly and hand out there numbers online. I have got 8 womens cell phone mumbers from phantasy star online with my female character force in 2001 (with out asking) out of the 8 only one picked up and really was a female I had to call and see if they really was.

  They also have an obession with facebook and myspace and other sites that only have blogging they always have far more on them than the males, so that pretty much makes them more talktive in the electronic text/voice world of the internet but you never see them in games unless they are not saying anything.

• 71 Cube // Mar 5, 2008 at 12:39 pm

  Wait a minute I just solved the mystery Girls don’t speak up in games since they do not want to be hit on by the guys so they hide!

• 72 Snowe // Mar 5, 2008 at 12:54 pm

  “Wait a minute I just solved the mystery Girls don?t speak up in games since they do not want to be hit on by the guys so they hide!”

  Your mental acuity stuns me, Cube. Several women said that outright.

  Sheesh.

• 73 Cube // Mar 5, 2008 at 1:05 pm

  Who says im not a women.

• 74 Vluhd // Mar 5, 2008 at 1:11 pm

  @cube
  well, you just used the wrong form of woman.
  lol

• 75 Snowe // Mar 5, 2008 at 2:07 pm

  From the way you talked about female gamers, it’s obvious you’re not a “women” [sic].

• 76 Lono // Mar 5, 2008 at 2:20 pm

  Either way Cube, you’re an idiot. Those comments add nothing to the debate. Thanks for derailing the comments.

• 77 NoneOfYourBusiness // Mar 5, 2008 at 2:22 pm

  Holy crap, the female gamer army has certain mobilized themselves on this topic, hopefully they will stay here and give some much needed female perspective on gaming.

  I think women get a bad rap in gaming partly because there ARE sexist jerks in this world who are insecure, but also because some women “gamers” play up the female aspect. I’ve played a bunch of CS games were the girls try to act overly dainty and just like listening to guys “act macho towards them”.

  Then there is another girl gamer who completely pwns the server and gets the same crap as the dainty girl, then leaves.

  P.S. If the Worldwide Female Gaming Army could perhaps coerce the Frag Dolls to speak, it would be greatly appreciated. (I’m a guy, I have flaws too….. )

• 78 Doll of War // Mar 5, 2008 at 2:58 pm

  ^ That’s because we gamer girls stick together. One girl told us about this topic and we rushed over.

• 79 Vluhd // Mar 5, 2008 at 4:07 pm

  @noneofyourbusiness
  it certainly would be a good idea to put something out to the general gaming community, but im not sure that having the frag dolls do it sends the right message.
  furthermore, the frag dolls dont count.
  because theyre paid to do it.
  they arent a collection of elite female gamers as they are sold to be.
  they are just the prettiest girls they could find on short notice to agree to play video games for cash
  and ladies, dont take this the wrong direction, im not dissing you, just the frag dolls.

• 80 Lono // Mar 5, 2008 at 4:11 pm

  @KageNeko: I was speaking in the general sense. I don’t believe that our podcast survey numbers are indicative of the general gaming population, but I also believe that there isn’t enough of a presence of positive female gamer rolemodels in general gaming culture…

• 81 Doll of War // Mar 5, 2008 at 5:04 pm

  Vluhd, I completely agree with you. I would support the Frag Dolls if they were these great competitive female gamers, but we know that isn’t the case. From what i recall, only of the girls is really any good at gaming (referring to only FPS), but they are pretty, skinny, the opposite of those common insults most of us girls deal with.

• 82 Doll of War // Mar 5, 2008 at 5:09 pm

  BTW, why did you choose the photo of the ditzy girls playing the unplugged xbox?

• 83 Marty // Mar 5, 2008 at 7:06 pm

  In my opinion as both a girl and a gamer, girls are pretty quiet in the gaming community because 90% of the time, they are pretty much seperate from the gaming community which seems to have become Xbox Live and forums dedicated to online games. For whatever reason, girls who do play games seem to sway away from the multiplayer games I hear so much because of what I think is just a different preference in games.

  There are many more girls playing Final Fantasy and Zelda (For God’s sake, just so you know, it’s very possible to like these games without spitting acid at whoever insults them.) or even Metal Gear Solid and Resident Evil than there are girls playing Call of Duty 4 and Halo. Of course, I’m not saying any of these games are better than the other. If I was, it’d be just plain wrong as I haven’t even played Call of Duty or Halo or even very much Resident Evil.

• 84 ooopy // Mar 5, 2008 at 8:39 pm

  @Lono you may feel there is not enough strong female role models, but I’m not sure where you are looking and what you expect. We have communities like Cavegirls, gamerchiX, PMS just to start listing, we have Natalie from TalkingAboutGames, and Trixie from GamerchiX. If you look you’ll find female podcasts, gaming clans and communities. We are out there and we are known, its just that people tend to stay in their own safe communities and that goes for all gamers. Not every gamer follows numerous sites, they usually have their favorite 3-5 and they not active in all.

  I asked the girls to come here because I felt it was important that your community saw that we are around, unfortunately, not every website is heard about and most of the ladies didn’t even know sarcastic gamer existed. Again it comes from expanding yourself beyond the confines of your own community.

  I can say that on live when I was playing with my clan in the ghost recon series it rare on running into another female, but since GOW and COD4 came out, I find that every night I am with my “clan” (95% males) that I run into at least 10 girls playing in open rooms, that I have never met before. Our numbers are growing and we not staying hidden.

• 85 mallavu399 // Mar 5, 2008 at 9:13 pm

  Wow!! All these comments are crazy. And I agree with Doc because I have only played with 1 girl in all my XBOX live games.

• 86 LadyJai // Mar 5, 2008 at 9:17 pm

  “Again it comes from expanding yourself beyond the confines of your own community.”

  I have to agree with this, Oopy. With working full-time, being a full-time mom, doing the after school curricular and tutoring, being a chronic ill care-giver to my husband, as well as doing everything else, I find myself with very little time as it is. What little time I do have, I try to squeeze in an hour or so on the xbox before I have to go to bed–either with my son, with my hubby, or by myself. I only usually get a chance to view the GamerChix boards at work maybe an hour or so. Had it not been for your request to come here, I never would have heard of this site. I feel comfortable with the gamerchix boards. I don’t fear flame wars or harrassment. So, I don’t generally venture out of my own safe haven. Just as online gaming, I tend to stay quiet, unless I have something meaningful to say, in the male dominated chat or forums. I do not frequent many “gamer sites” mainly because of the lack of time, but also because I have rarely found intelectual conversation or debates. Generally, I see spitting matches of what looks like 10 year old siblings bantering back and forth and frankly, it’s just not worth my read.

  I’ve checked out the Sarcastic Gamer and The Blue Skittle and found I might be interested in adding the podcast to my zune–unfortunately, I was unable to download them at work. So, maybe I can do it before I fall asleep tonight.

• 87 Nelyn // Mar 5, 2008 at 9:30 pm

  well I guess its time to try to post again I have been trying to send notes here and there but it won’t let me for some reason not sure why. Anyway I think this whole post started with the fact that while girls are growing louder in the past we haven’t really spoken up. I know that its baisly only my RL friends who know I play games, I am just now entering the community and I intend to stay. But even use girls don’t always know where to find other gamers. I mean I have yet to play with more than 2 other girls in a room. I just started tho and intend to seek them out. I know I just signed up for some of the said forums and am really looking forward to playing in an all girl CoD4 or Halo. So while Docs original message may have sounded ignorant I think its more than he was making the statement like hey where are all the girls. While we still have many people bashing girls in game its cause that ration is still small enough that they feel the confident enough to bash girls. I bet if they were in a room where it was 1/2 and 1/2 they would get beat down or bumped as soon as they opened there big fat mouths. Or if they guys around who do want girl players spoke up in the room. It is just going to take more people rallying together in communities like this. Anyway lol after typing all of this I really hope it posts.

• 88 Nelyn // Mar 5, 2008 at 9:34 pm

  maybe we beed a girls vs guys night?

• 89 Snowe // Mar 6, 2008 at 1:35 am

  If male gamers really want more female participation, they need to help make gaming spaces less unpleasant places to be. If you notice someone harassing female gamers in a sexist way, call them on it! Don’t treat female gamers like freaks of nature or sex objects–most of us just want to play, just like you do. And try to stop the “giving out cool items to anyone with a female avatar”…I don’t play MMORPG’s myself but I know that happens. It demeans the game for everyone.

  In other words, try to interact with female gamers as fellow GAMERS.

• 90 NoneOfYourBusiness // Mar 6, 2008 at 12:59 pm

  But like I said, not all female gamers are the “girls who just want to frag a bunch of noobs” types. There are plenty of other women who DO use their gender as a factor in gaming like you said with the example of MMORPG’s and my reference to CS.

  Not only that, but a lot of games, even M-rated games, have a huge pre-pubecent male group that it completely insecure around women in general.

  But I agree, if you want to see more female gamers, you need to cut them some slack, but at the same time female gamers need to be able to stand up for themselves and show they are not some “weak little girlie push over”.

• 91 Snowe // Mar 6, 2008 at 3:07 pm

  I’m not talking about cutting girls slack, I’m talking about stopping harassment. If you don’t want to stand up for what’s right, fine….girls will just continue to play amongst themselves or with small groups of friends.
  Not wanting to hang around a bunch of harassing jackasses is not being a weak little girlie pushover, it’s just making a decision about who we want to spend time with.

• 92 Mommy DX // Mar 6, 2008 at 3:35 pm

  Girl gamers? Trust me, we’re here and our numbers are growing exponentially… you just gotta know where to find us!

• 93 II AbsoIut II // Mar 10, 2008 at 4:07 pm

  Girl gamer? Yeah.. I prefer the term GamerChick [lol].

  I game…it’s my only real hobby. I’m competitive. I am hardcore. I by the latest, I subscribe to the feeds. I blog about gaming. So, yeah, I think I qualify as a Real Gamer.

  Uno? Solitaire? No clue on those. How’z about Gears? GRAW? COD2/4? Yes, I prestige….Yes, I play hardcore S&D.

  So we’re here. But I have to point out that most of girl gamers out there don’t promote the fact that they are chicks. Obviously, not advertising my gender cuts down on the random pictures of men’s privates, the video chat invitations, the marriage proposals, and of course the “Get Back in the Kitchen you Fat Lesbian” commentary. I’ve have a tag with an obvious female name….I don’t use it much anymore.

  I prefer that my Gamer Status be judged by my SKILL SET.

• 94 Siren Assassin // Mar 11, 2008 at 9:05 am

  I am a girl gamer and proud of it. I don’t play just cutesy games either. COD4, Gears of War, GRAW, Final Fantasy, Hitman, Halo3, F.E.A.R., Soldier of Fortune….and the list goes on. I like my blood and gore just like the rest of gaming population.

  Just because we don’t advertise ourselves doesn’t mean we are not here. Like one of those post mentioned above, not making it a point to mention that I am girl cuts down on the perverted questions/comments, and random friend requests/pictures.

  Not to mention there are enough girls that I heard on Halo advertising that they are girls that it makes me sick. It is like they should get a cookie or something. Being a girl gamer is not about getting attention. For some of us it is a hobby and a career. (Save the other crap for myspace.)

  In my opinion gaming shouldn’t be broken down into male and female categories, because in the end we are the same thing, gamers. It doesn’t matter that I have tatas and the next person doesn’t. Well, it shouldn’t matter anyway, but since there are some people that choose to be ignorant to the fact that female gamers are here to and we play what can you expect? Of course it is going to get us fired up, because we deserve the same amount of respect that male gamers get.

  So think about next time you are playing and don’t here a female. Chances are you are probably in a lobby with a female but she doesn’t want to talk, because we are cut down as soon as we do.

  Me….I prefer just to sit back and kick some male butt and listen to them cry about it afterwards, because I can trash talk with the best of them.

• 95 pinkranger206 // Mar 11, 2008 at 12:02 pm

  i’d consider myself a hardcore gamer. i play gears of war every day. i don’t play arcade games, or girly games for that matter. just because we may not speak up doesn’t mean we’re not there. i play with an awesome group of guys every day and it amazes me how others think gears is a guys game. it’s not. it’s a game. there’s no gender specifcations to play the game or any game for that matter.

  i don’t want to be known as a “girl” gamer. i just want to be known for my skill. i don’t care who you are when we’re playing gow, i’m going to kill you either way.

• 96 Ace of Gir // Mar 11, 2008 at 12:54 pm

  @ Siren Assassin- Hey, I want a cookie! Who doesn’t want a cookie?!

  I’m a girl gamer, or gamer girl, or gamer chic, or whatever you bloody well want to call me. And apparently there’s all these surveys out there that I am not a part of. I never seem to be able to find all these surveys that give meaningful numbers. Either I’m visiting all the wrong websites, or people are deliberately hiding them from me. I suspect the former. Or maybe the latter, I always get those confused.

  I’m in a clan, which has a female clan as well, but we (mostly) play with guys and girls alike. I don’t mind playing with guys. What I hate is constantly having to say (whenever I talk in a game) is, “Yes I’m..there’s a guy…oh, he’s got a…on your right. YOUR RIGHT!!! Get outta my…yes I’m a gi…back up! BACK UP! Sniper, sniper, second floor. Yes, I’m a…there’s four of them…behind you…you just died. Yes, I’m a girl.” It get tedious. I don’t talk a lot in games with people I don’t know because I’m there to play and work off stress. If I want to play with my friends, I’m much more vocal.

  I have to say, I personally haven’t gotten a lot of sexist comments. I must be missing all the wrong people. I did get in a game the other day where this one guy was like “Oh, you’re a girl? I’ve never played with a girl before!” And the FR’d me. Which is nice. I haven’t gotten to play with him, but I hope to soon. And no, I don’t want to date him. I have a very wonderful bf I’d rather keep.

  I read through all the above posts and I, for the most part, agree with the comments. I’m glad someone brought it to the female gaming community that there are such different results in surveys out there. I wouldn’t have known that anyone was conducting any survey, “official” or not. However, a better way of conducting any survey with regards to female gamers would be to notify administrators or leaders of female clans, websites, etc. They could then give a headcount or post a link to a survey.

  Anyways, if nothing else, keep on gaming.

• 97 killer kitten // Mar 11, 2008 at 3:19 pm

  I would just like to say im a girl and i both play games and design them at university.
  I love FPS’s and my xbox 360 account currently holds over 16 thousand gamer score.
  no i dont have a live cam and no i wont go make u a sandwich but i will pwn your ass on cod : )

• 98 VV Dope Kitten // Mar 11, 2008 at 4:00 pm

  Wow, this is a really great discussion, I have to say I am really excited to see women out there collectively and coherently discussing things and men actually listening! Nice job fellas! I am a female gamer too, and although I’m pretty hardcore (I compete in sponsored all-female clan in Gears of War and CoD4), I am really looking forward to the day when we can all just be “gamers,” no matter what your gender is or what type of game you play or how often you play. There are a lot of negative stereotypes surrounding gamers of all types, not just us girls, so we’d all be much better off as a unified group! We all love to game, why does it matter how much or what type, why be separatist?

• 99 GoW Angel // Mar 11, 2008 at 5:12 pm

  I’d like to say I’m also a girl gamer and I play competitively on Gears of War.
  I get a lot of sexist remarks and a lot of harrassment just because I’m a girl and it’s not right. I shouldn’t be harrassed or judged because I play video games, we are all equals in the gaming world and should treat each other as equals.

• 100 HoneyHellraiser // Mar 12, 2008 at 4:03 am

  Okay so there wasn’t a great female response to the podcasts…..this is still no clear indicator to what percentage of girls are gamers. I am a regular in the forums at xbox.com, mygamercard.net, bungie.net and the official playstation community. My husband and I game together every night and half of my xbox live friends list are female none of which play uno or solitaire! My two sisters are hardcore fps gamers like myself, my 2 daughters play fps games, as do their 3 female cousins. I know this is typical for many people……..4% is way off the mark.

• 101 momohine // Mar 12, 2008 at 5:52 pm

  I love that this was featured here and all the ladies came out to represent.

  I am a gamer and do frequent a few gaming sites…xbox.com, hawtymcbloggy.com, kotaku.com, joystiq.com, bungie.net, ign.com, gametrailers.com, etc. I go to these sites for general game information but only participate in the xbox forums just because I can’t keep up with so many posts.

  I’m glad guys are curious and supportive that we actually exist in the gaming world/industry.

• 102 Madusa // Mar 12, 2008 at 6:14 pm

  I’m a girl gamer and a girl geek. I run my own computer business. I have over 7 consoles all which are connected to my tv. I got an Atari 2600 modified to fit newer tvs with over 200 games, I got an NES, sega genesis, sega cd, dreamcast, wii, ps2 and a 360. Don’t have a PS3 yet because the games suck. Been playing games since I was 3 and I’m 30 now. So what does that make me exactly? As for boys being more interested in technology yea ok whatever you say. Statistics suck if you ever been in a statistic class you would know. Oh I also don’t play cutsy games. I’m a big RPG fan. I play FPS, sports, well anything I can get my hands on that is good. The problem is like most girls are saying here it’s not friendly towards girls.

• 103 SlImCoGnIt0 // Mar 12, 2008 at 11:24 pm

  I personally don’t feel that polls are accurate enough to be believed in the way some people seem to. It’s not as if every gamer out there, male or female, is sitting at their computer every day obsessively looking for the next “are you a male or female gamer” poll, or listening to this guy’s podcast for that matter.
  I myself am an avid female gamer, but I can also admit that more than the majority of girls out there are not “gamers”. But, that doesn’t mean that we’re nonexistant.
  The low numbers are probably the because of the fact that most girl gamers more than likely just don’t want to make themselves known. The amount of harrassment that we recieve when we do is ridiculous, disgusting really. I guess most guys can’t handle having a girl kick ass in their team, let alone being stomped by a girl on the other team. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
  And please don’t assume that all girl gamers are “fat and ugly”. You would be sadly mistaken in a lot of cases.

• 104 shiva73 // Mar 13, 2008 at 3:15 am

  SO, I think that perhaps whoever did the survey had told there listeners to (aka) subscribers to vote . if they have a mostly male based fan listenership then how could they not say that us gals were just not out here? perhaps if they realized that a lot of gals like the girl only clans,girls only gamer nights,ect. perhaps if they did more research into actually looking who is female, then just tossing in a number off the tops of there heads….then again I would want them to be the ones to really research it perhaps that is all they are good at? (just thinking up some odd number and saying that’s how many of you are gals.)
  As for the guys that get their GF’s to try gameing… Also remember we don’t need or want white knights. *ok sometimes we do.* But really standing back and letting us learn how to game on our own is better then sitting in the room and yelling at us because we don’t play it your way. And when we get to a point where we get stuck in part of a map or mission guess who we will ask before going online to one of the many game sites for the walkthroughs??? Yep, that’s right Mr. White Knight! Now if you GF, Sis, Mom, Neighbor are really kicking your bum then get them to start working with other girls clans! most are of the free sort. and we love having new gals to join everybody has skills but somebody might know a better hides and or another trick that we didn’t know!
  Most gals are reading this say oh I don’t know if I can join a clan… it isn’t as scarey as it sounds…and it is just pixels! My Bf and I don’t fight about anything…*knock on wood* we are always saying that it is a good thing we game because that way we can kill each other and not get jail time! and now that my skills are starting to kill him more often th