Running Head: WOMEN IN GAMING

Women in the Gaming World

Christian Ruiz
University of Texas at El Paso

WOMEN IN GAMING THE GAMING WORLD

Abstract
In the gaming world, there still exist stereotypes against women either playing or developing
games. There is a struggle for women to see that they are capable of bettering themselves in the
field not just as a method for having fun, but also as a career opportunity. The purpose of this
literary review is to demonstrate that there is an opportunity for women to succeed in the video
game are both professionally and for fun by exploring different points.

WOMEN IN GAMING THE GAMING WORLD

Women in the Gaming World

Video games have been around since the early 1950s, when academics began designing
simple games, simulations, and artificial intelligence programs as part of a computer science
research. But video games would not become mainstream until the 1970s and the 1980s,
when gaming consoles, arcade video games, and computer games were introduced to the
general public. After that, gaming became a common form of entertainment and a large part
of modern culture. Although gaming was a large part of the worlds modern culture, women
are still considered a minority but never the less, a growing minority that now in the 2010s is
about to reach the same percentage of that male gamers have.
Even though there isnt a vast majority as men in a Male Dominated field, there are
women who have been successful in the video game work field whether it be to create or
play them. There are young ladies that do not know that there is an opportunity of a great
career in the video game field. There is the fear that women have of sexism and sexual
harassment and because of this some refuse to say what gender they are. Because of the myth
that the gaming world is a Male Domain, there is women that feel that playing is not for
them. For these reasons debates have been made but there is yet a concrete answer to the
following questions concerning the relationship of women and the gaming world:
1. How big are women in the gaming industry?
2. What would make a young lady be interested in pursuing a career in the vast gaming
industry?
3. Is the gaming made for every women or just a select few?
4. What are some of the stereotypes that women fall into connected to gaming, how can
these be altered?

WOMEN IN GAMING THE GAMING WORLD

These questions will be giving us a view into the gaming world and will be answered
as best as possible to satisfy the purpose of this literature review.
How big are women in the gaming industry?
Considering that that there is more men in the gaming industry, the number of women
that are in power in the video game companies is growing. Women prefer to work more
in the non-entertainment serious sector of gaming because they exceed in the executive
production and management rolls, it is the technical part that women fall short. (Gaudiosi,
2013) None the less, there are women who have made great accomplishments in the
gaming world both in the creation process and in professional gaming.
Roberta Williams is the co-founder of Sierra Entertainment, alongside her husband, Ken.
Roberta is a gaming developer and writer and is most recognized for her pioneering work
in the field of graphic adventure games. She also helped create more than thirty
successful games before retiring at the age of forty-six. (Cohen, n.d.)
Kiki Wolfkill is a highly recognized developer that works at 343 Industries, a game
studio from Microsoft. Wolfkill has been a high contributor to the Halo Universe, from
being a developer in the games such as Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn and Halo 5:
Guardians, to being one of the leading roles in deciding the future of said franchise.
(Gaudiosi, 2013) Both Williams and Wolfkill have been an important part of the
developmental part of a game. But women are not just going to have all the serious things
given to themselves, because there are women that play video games in a professional
level.
Doris Self has earned herself two titles in her life time. The titles for being the First
Female and the World's Oldest Competitive Gamer. At the age of 58, Doris became the

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first female video game competitor in a tournament that played a game called Q*Bert, an
arcade game from the 1980s. Unfortunately, Doris Self passed away in 2006 at the age
of 81, but still her legacy will prevail in classical gaming. (Cohen, n.d.)
Katherine Mystik Gunn is the highest paid professional gamer, based upon winning
prizes in tournaments. Gunns total is $122,000 in prize money for the tournaments
playing two tournaments of Dead or Alive 4 and Halo: Reach. (Levy, 2014) Katherine
now spends her time streaming games she plays, competing in other tournaments, wide
format printing, cosplaying, and traveling for said hobbies. Both Doris and Katherine
were (in Katherines case are) successful competing professionally gaining well-earned
titles to themselves and adding to Williams and Wolfkills success you can say women
are truly a big in the gaming industry no matter what part of said industry you are from.
What would make a young lady be interested in pursuing a career in the vast gaming
industry?
It is highly known that women are outnumbered by men when it comes to which gender
dominates the gaming industry. There are studies saying that women on make up to be about
47 percent of video game players and more than 70 percent of male video game players. But
according to the NCWIT, the National Center for Women and Information Technology,
Women are underrepresented in the STEM careers, making up just 25 percent of the labor
force in science, technology, engineering and math-based jobs.(Caperton, 2013) But the best
way to get rid of that underrepresentation and get girls interested is by starting at a young
age, preferably while girls are still in grade school K-12.
The American Association of University Women, also known as AAUW, says that young
girls should be encouraged to take calculus, physics, chemistry, computer science, and

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engineering classes in high school and be exposed to female role models that have succeeded
in the STEM fields. (AAUW, n.d.) Gaming developers should go to school clubs and talking
to kids about game design and perhaps talk to parents and teachers about starting school
programs that would show and teach grade school children game design and even create their
own little masterpiece.
Part of the problem is that women grow up never considering a career in game
development. (Sinclair, 2013) It is obvious young ladies do not see the light side of
considering a career in parts of the gaming industry as a professional gamer. As previously
said in the last question, there are women make big dollars just by winning or being a runner
up in a tournament. There is no need for any academics if you prepare yourself to try and win
a tournament.
Is video gaming made for every women or just a select few?
There are men who say that playing video games is only for men and the ladies should go
make a sandwich for them whilst they play. Unfortunately, that is how a few men think. But
now that times are changing, and women are growing the courage to say, Get off your lazy
bum and make it yourself, there is still not as many women playing video games. There are
of course different types of women who play games. There is the mobile video gamer, and
there is the PC gamers, and console video gamer. Do consider that they are all different
except for the anatomical part of course.
Mobile video gamers are those that play on a phone, smartphone, PDA, tablet, a portable
gaming device such as the Nintendo DS or a PlayStation Vita. Video games played in these
types of devices are persistent multi-player universe, casual/social games, and

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action/sports/strategy/role-playing games, puzzle/board game/game show/trivia/card games,

and other types of games. (ESA, 2014)
The online gamers are those that that play and are connected via internet to with other
video players. These players can play in a gaming console, it can be played with key boards
and a sturdy mouse. Those who play with a PC are also part of the online gaming. The only
difference between these two are that PC and console use different techniques to use.
That women are playing more mobile video games than online games can be due to the
fact that they wont be looked down upon as it happens a lot in online video games. Video
games could be made for every single one of them, but women would rather be surrounded in
a comfortable environment where there is no sexist and degrading comments on the
messenger board of a game.
Now there are women who may be interested in being part of the whole online gaming
experience but women have to be sure that they are going to be surrounded by peers that will
say very crude words, language that can and will be offensive that can sometimes climb up to
be right down hurtful to someone. Now consider that there are ways to report a player that
uses awful language in an environment created for fun. But women have to be aware that all
the things that other male peers say is irrelevant unless it is useful information.
Depending on the type of gamer you are, all women should be more then fine with mobile
video games because of the lack of multiplayer contact where you could have a conversation
with any other player. Now not all women are made for online gaming simply because not
every women can endure harsh, derogatory words said by a know it all male.

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What are some of the stereotypes that women fall into connected to gaming? How can
these be altered?
For many years now, the gaming community has been run by male, which has been a problem
for female mostly because a few years back there werent many female gamers. Well not now
because they would hide and say they were a man, just so they wouldnt be targeted by sexist
comments and just be able to enjoy and have fun playing a video game. But everything has
changed now that 48% of gamers are females and 52% are males.(Go to Figure 1) Now that
more women are playing games, they feel less of a minority and as time goes by it will be 50%
for males and females who play video games. Even though the gap has been closing, there are
still problems with stereotyping women and how they are treated in some gaming communities.
A survey was done where individuals were asked about sexism involving women who are
gamers and how they are sometimes portrayed by others. Surprisingly 50% of people who took
the survey where males (Go to Figure 2), most of them mentioned that women are depicted as
sex symbols that most games give exaggerated features, such as large breast. They also
mentioned that women get criticized a lot. For example, one of the individuals who took the
survey said that the most common place where women are criticized and are stereotyped are in

Figure 1 shows data taken from the Entertainment Software Association in 2014. It shows how
much change has been made both in the age factor as well as the gender factor. (ESA, 2014)

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FPS, which stands for First Person Shooters, which are video games specialized in weapons,
strategy, and combat scenarios. This individual express that it is this genre where women are
attacked the most.
Only 37.5% of the individuals who answered the survey where women and expressed that as

Answer Choices

Responses

Male

50.00%
4

Female

37.50%
3

Other

0.00%
0

Prefer not to say

12.50%
1

Total

Figure 2 shows the genders of the individuals that took the survey. (Survey, 2014)

gamers it has affected them that they get harassed and are portrayed in a very sexual way in
games. They feel that something has to change. Most of the females where upset that women are
portrayed as sex symbols and the majority feels that this has to change one way or another.
Conclusion/Synthesis
In conclusion, this literary review has analyzed many sources to answer questions
pertaining to women in the gaming world. How big are women in the gaming industry? What
would make a young lady be interested in pursuing a career in the vast gaming industry? Is
the gaming made for every women or just a select few? What are some of the stereotypes that
women fall into connected to gaming, how can these be altered? These questions where
answered as much as possible given the data collected from sources and a survey. There may
still be a male dominance in in the gaming world, but women are catching up to them. Not

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just in playing video games in general, but also in the department of developing games for
others to enjoy. But there is still more change to be made. It could be that in a few years
women will actually be equals to men in the gaming world.

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11

Reference Page
Gaudiosi, J. (October 24, 2013). The 10 most powerful women in gaming.
http://fortune.com/2013/10/24/the-10-most-powerful-women-in-gaming/
Cohen, D.S. (n.d.). The most important women in the history of video games.
http://classicgames.about.com/od/history/tp/HistoricWomeninClassicGames.htm
Levy, K. (June 9, 2014). 15 of the highest-paid professional female video gamers.
http://www.businessinsider.com/highest-paid-professional-female-video-gamers-2014-6?op=1
Caperton, I. H. (May 30, 2013). Calling all girls (part two): Their future, our responsibility.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/idit-harel-caperton/calling-all-girls-part-tw_b_1552984.html
AAUW, (n.d.). AAUW issues: Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (stem)
education. http://www.aauw.org/what-we-do/public-policy/aauw-issues/stem-education/
Sinclair, B. (March 29, 2013). Want more women in games? Start with girls
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-03-29-want-more-women-in-games-start-with-girls
(Survey, 2014)Link to the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RGJN6YX
ESA, (2014) 2014 essential facts about the computer and video game industry. 1st ed. [eBook] p
3. Available at: http://www.theesa.com/facts/gameplayer.asp