Cross Gendered Leisure Project_REC 3202.pptx

1. GAMING LIKE A GUY…
BUT AS A GIRL
Wendy P. Bedford
REC 3202 – Summer 2012

2. THEN AND NOW…
 First commercial arcade video game introduced in 1971
• Computer Space by Nutting Associates
 Offers escape from reality
• Stressors – financial, responsbitility
 Socializing: Gaming communities, online team mates
 Fantasy
• Role play games: World of Warcraft, Dungeons & Dragons
• Violence / Crime: Grand Theft Auto, Army of 2, Halo

3. WHY GAME?
 Men do it for social reasons
• Explore fantasy
• Online gaming communities
• Male bonding
 Women do it for personal reasons
• Way to be productive, i.e. exercise

4. TRADITIONALLY MALE
 According to Shari Graner Ray, 16 yrs experience as game designer, of
Sony Online Entertainment and the Cartoon Network, and keynote speaker
at the Sex in Video Games conference:
• Female characters display physical traits humans get when they're ready for
sex: partially open mouths with large red lips, heavy eyelids (or "bedroom
eyes").
• Female characters dressed in sexually explicit clothing and placed in sexual
poses, whereas the male characters aren't.
• These "sex object" images aren't going to appeal to the average female gamer,
Ray said.

5. MEN VS. WOMEN
 42% of all gamers are women
• Women >18 years old = 37 percent of gaming population; Boys <=age
17 or younger = 13 percent
 More women gamers  Slow social role reversal
• Men: “I don’t want to grow up.”
• Women becoming more prominent in household
 Draw
• More than half of male gamers say it’s the element of competition
• Two thirds of women cite stress relief as the reason they play

6. MEN VS. WOMEN
 Stanford study took brain images as male & female gamers played
a strategy game
• “Male brains showed a much higher level of activation than the
females when they gained more territory”
 Women play more times in a day but men play for longer periods
when they play

7. 5 TYPES OF FEMALE GAMERS
 Competitors
• Take risks, like the thrill of the game
 Immersives
• Stressed out from daily life, use gaming as escape and form of life control
 Minders
• Satisfied with life, like casual games, like to play alone
 Bonders
• Very busy, connect with family through games, like physical games as bonding
 Dabblers
• Lead full lives, devote little energy to gaming, like cards/puzzle games

8. WHY NOT ME?
 Lack of appreciation
 Time commitment
 Sense of responsibility
 Values conflict

9. MY EXPERIENCE

10. MY EXPERIENCE

11. MY EXPERIENCE

12. MY EXPERIENCE

13. MY EXPERIENCE

14. MY EXPERIENCE
 Challenged by patience
• Type A person, perfectionist
 Frustration
• Male bonding concept, ale sense of humor lost on me
• Felt guilty for not doing something productive
 Highs did not equal lows for me
• Satisfaction of making it to one level did not equal the frustration of
getting there
• Nothing to show for it when done

15. MY EXPERIENCE
 New appreciation for “skill” (?)
• Still without full “buy-in”
 I don’t have the patience
• Hence, not much desire to continue
 Good quality time with my husband
• Still best left to him and his boys

16. REFERENCES
 Arthurs, Deborah. "Women Play Computer Games Just as Much as Men - and
They Prefer Gaming to Sex, Survey Reveals." Mail Online. Daily Mail, 14 July 2011.
Web. 13 Aug. 2012. <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2014821/Women-
play-games-just-men--prefer-gaming-sex-survey-reveals.html>.
 Bennett, William J. "Why Men Are in Trouble - CNN.com." CNN. Cable News
Network, 04 Oct. 2011. Web. 13 Aug. 2012.
<http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/04/opinion/bennett-men-in-trouble/index.html>.

17. REFERENCES
 Brandt, Michelle L. "Video Games Activate Reward Regions of Brain in Men More than
Women, Stanford Study Finds." Med Stanford Edu. Stanford School of Medicine, 4 Feb. 2008.
Web. 3 Aug. 2012.
<http://med.stanford.edu/news_releases/2008/february/videobrain.html>.
 Girard, Nicole. "Explaining Disconnect between Women, Video Games - CNET
News." CNET News. CBS Interactive, 9 June 2006. Web. 13 Aug. 2012.
http://news.cnet.com/explaining-disconnect-between -women,-video-games/2100-
1043_3-6082459.html.

18. REFERENCES
 "Guys Love Video Games? It's in the Brain." ABC Local. N.p., 6 Feb. 2008.
Web. 10 Aug. 2012.
<http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/health&id=5939972>.
 Minnie. "Why Don†™ Women Play Games?" Why Don†™ Women Play
t t
Games? N.p., Sept. 2011. Web. 13 Aug. 2012.
<http://www.gamingsymmetry.com/why-dont-women-play-games/>.

19. REFERENCES
 Reagan, Gillean. "Inside The Minds Of Girl Gamers." Business Insider. The
Insider, 10 Mar. 2010. Web. 13 Aug. 2012.
<http://www.businessinsider.com/lifetime-gaming-2010-3?op=1>.
 Tyson, Jeff. "How Video Game Systems Work." HowStuffWorks. N.p., n.d.
Web. 13 Aug. 2012. <http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/video-game2.htm>.
 "Video Game Voters Network." Top 10 Gamer Facts. Videogamevoters.org,
2009. Web. 13 Aug. 2012.
<http://videogamevoters.org/pages/top_10_gamer_facts/>.

20. REFERENCES
 Admin. "Medical Journal Articles." Video Game Containing Violences Can Affect to
the Brain -. Medical Journal Articles, 6 Dec. 2011. Web. 03 Aug. 2012.
<http://medicaljournalarticles.blogspot.com/2011/12/video-game-containing-
violences-can.html>.
 Violent Video Games and Young People. Harvard Medical School, Oct. 2010. Web.
3 Aug. 2012.
<http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletters/Harvard_Mental_Health_Letter/2
010/October/violent-video-games-and-young-people>.