Women Gamers More Hardcore Than Men @ ABC News

For all those men who wish they had a partner who liked to game, at least online, there may be new hope.
ABC News takes a look at the findings of a study by the American Association for the Advancement of Science and concludes that your average online warrior is quite likely to be female and not even out of shape:

The study's authors have previously reported that, contrary to stereotypes, online gamers are healthier than the general population as measured by body-mass index (BMI) and exercise habits. Williams, a professor of communication at the University of Southern California, and his colleagues also found that women were the most dedicated players, spending on average 29 hours per week online, while men averaged just 25 hours per week.
"Players who played the game with their romantic partners enjoyed the game more and spent more time playing," says Scott Caplan, one of the co-authors of the study and a professor of communication at the University of Delaware. He also noted that the study raises more questions for future research into gender stereotypes and cautioned that their results shouldn't be generalized yet.

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More information.

They're definitely out there. I know, because I'm married to one.

I wish my cohabit could stop playing SWG. >_<

Men in China has a wise saying "Do never show your GF that you can decorate your own home in the SIMS or that there is a hello kitty RPG"

The problem is, I don't consider it "hardcore" to play games online with your goal being romance or social interaction. Especially if you do it with a partner. In these cases the game is simply a vehicle to extend real world motivations. In other words, they are not into the game, they are just "hanging out".

The real study needs to find girls who game solo with the sole focus being the advancement of the characters or the plot. Online or offline.

The true hardcore gamers will remain those of us who like to lose ourselves for hours in offline, singe player strategy or role playing games. I guarantee this is dominated by men.

The true hardcore gamers will remain those of us who like to lose ourselves for hours in offline, singe player strategy or role playing games. I guarantee this is dominated by men.

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And me and Jaz, of course.

I have one good girlfriend who plays WOW.....12 hours a day

magerette said:

And me and Jaz, of course.

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Certainly! Also Cm as well.

Interesting study, but half those women are played by men

They're out there

I have to say, they are out there - myself being one of them. I used to manage a GameStop and worked with two other girls that were just like me. I used to have issues with guys sometimes when they would come in and not want to talk to me about a game. When they'd ask one of my associates, they would just point them back in my direction, and we'd usually end up being pretty good friends after that.

My husband helps spoil my crazy gaming habit, so right now I'm playing way too many games at the same time, but it helps keep things fresh.

Playing: Last Remnant (360), Star Ocean: First Departure (PSP), Neverwinter Nights 2 (PC), and a little bit of World of Warcraft when I can squeeze in some quests. Besides any Legend of Zelda game, I would have to say one of my favorite RPGs is Oblivion which I played on the XBOX for about 120 hours.

My own experience with gaming in general (not counting The Sims or similar) is that men generally are more represented, but rarely more "hardcore". The women I do know that play games not only play all day long; they're also very good at it.

GothicGothicness, men in China are very smart, haha.

elkston said:

The problem is, I don't consider it "hardcore" to play games online with your goal being romance or social interaction.

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That's mostly your physiology speaking, whether it's genetic (most likely) or socially integrated (possible) in general guys mostly have a solo focus and women for the most part do everything from a social perspective.

Welcome to the board, cahelton1.

cahelton1 said:

My husband helps spoil my crazy gaming habit, so right now I'm playing way too many games at the same time, but it helps keep things fresh.

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I'd imagine that's a large part of the reason for:

found that women were the most dedicated players, spending on average 29 hours per week online, while men averaged just 25 hours per week.

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It's not necessarily that women gamers are more likely to be hardcore, but they're more likely to have partners who are also gamers (or at least understand the gaming urge) and so have more opportunities to rack up hours.

Still, 25 hours a week! How on earth do people manage that?

Thanks for welcoming me. Glad to be here.

Benedict said:

I'd imagine that's a large part of the reason for:

It's not necessarily that women gamers are more likely to be hardcore, but they're more likely to have partners who are also gamers (or at least understand the gaming urge) and so have more opportunities to rack up hours.

Still, 25 hours a week! How on earth do people manage that?

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*grin* Well I don't know that I get that much game play in all the time, but on a good week with a lazy type weekend I can get close or past that. I try to get 2 to 3 hours a night after my daughter gets tucked in on the weekdays -rarely do I get to play while she's awake- while my husband is trying to get in his daily grinding on World of Warcraft. Then if I'm really lucky I can get up early enough in the morning to sneak in an extra 2 to 3 hours on the weekends before my daughter wakes up. If my husband is feeling extra generous he will take her to the park for an hour or so to give me time to "unwind" which I usually spend vegging out in front of the TV.

Spending time with my daughter and my husband are always a top priority, but gaming is kind of a way of life for all of us so we try to make time for it too.

GothicGothicness said:

Men in China has a wise saying "Do never show your GF that you can decorate your own home in the SIMS or that there is a hello kitty RPG"

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Do you know how much I hate that freakin cat. Now I love cats, but Hello Kitty is the anti-christ reborn in a cute cuddly big faced cartoon. My gf gets Helllo Kitty stuff just to bug the hell out of me, she thinks it's really funny and keeps threatening me to take me to Hello Kitty Land in Japan. I even saw a Hello Kitty car on the streets 3 times. Let me repeat that just in case you think you misread. A HELLO KITTY CAR!!!! That cat is like crack cocain for Taiwanese women. They go crazy over it.

I wish someone told me that before I showed my girlfriend The Sims 2. My god she goes nuts over that game. I had to buy another computer just so she would stop bugging me to use mine. I play it from time to time to see how far I can go with the stats and whatnot, but she goes a whole other direction with it. She downloads all kinds of stuff off of modthesims2 (so do I but not to the extent that she does) and she'll be decorating or constructing a house for days, sometimes even weeks. Don't get me wrong, it looks really cool when she is done, but I always thought I was obsessed with games, I'm nothing compared to her.

So yes I can entirely believe this article because I have first hand knowledge of just how dedicated my woman can be and I wouldn't have it any other way. It's kinda cool to know that she is as much a freak as I am

@cahelton1 Ni Hao and warm wishes to you. Welcome to our little home away from home.

@Benedict 25 hours a week is easy. I leave work at work. As soon as I get home, I talk to my girlfriend a bit have dinner and then it's off to whatever fantasy land I'm saving this week On the weekends we go out for a bit, but stilll the majority of the time is playing a game. It's not everyones view of a normal life, but it's what me and mine are happiest with.

I find Hello Kitty cute.

But I wouldn't buy it within the next decades, I guess.

Something must really "talk to me" to make me buying it.

@skavenhorde: Think of the millions of Taiwanese dollars(or whatever they are) you're saving by having her take out her redecorating instincts in the virtual world instead of being a shopaholic in the real one. Sounds like you're already happy with the situation, but that's just another plus.

Welcome also to you, cahelton1. Finding gaming time with kids and family can be hard, but as your daughter gets older, hopefully you'll have a built in mutual interest in games and you can play together. Back in the old log cabin I was raised in, some of the best parts of my childhood were playing board games with my grandmother for hours after school(she liked to cheat at Parcheesi. )

There tends to be very strong hello Kitty sentiment among many people, either you love her or hate her. Me and my fiancee tend to fall on the "love her" side - It's all ultra cute, ultra feminine - two qualities i like in women so I tend to like when girls are into it. Lots of nice, cheap little gifts come along w/ HK acceptance = ]

There's some hilarious stuff w/ Hello Kitty on it too, can be interesting - like the Hello Kitty toaster or waffle maker!

gonna have to scope out the RPG, lol...

HK4-life mofos!

My wife has, at long last, gotten completely hooked on Puzzle Quest. She wasn't loving it, but when I showed her how to use spells and upgrade her citadel and such -- which she wasn't doing, either because she missed the tutorial or because it wasn't a very good, or even existant, tutorial -- she fell for it hard.

Last night, despite being exhausted, she stayed up to train her wolf and lay siege to a few cities.

My 21 year old daughter, also took to Puzzle Quest and I'll hear her playing way into the night. Before that, she really had little to no interest in games!!