Girl Gamers on the Rise in Oz

[Atari]

The Interactive Australia 2007 report, commissioned by the Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia (IEAA) in conjunction with Bond University's Centre for New Media Research, found that 41 percent of all Australian gamers are now female, up from 38 percent in 2005. The report predicts that the number of female gamers will be the same as male gamers by 2012, with report author Dr Jeff Brand saying women would become the dominant game-playing gender soon after that. CNET has the story.

[Island_Wolf]

Hey. I'm from Australia. Even though I'm proud to hear that, I still fail to find a female gamer at my uni. I've been very lonely, but doesn't worry me any more .

[Atari]

One thing I've noticed is that a lot of females who play don't consider themselves "gamers" by label. I remember specifically talking to a girl who denied being a gamer, but after quizzing her I found out that she owned a DS and played Nintendogs like a fiend. Or like my old roommate from college who wasn't a gamer but had an N64 in her room with a nice big stack of games to go with it.

You may want to take that into account when you quiz people.

And I'm suddenly reminded of a talk I did with an auditorium of middle school girls. One raised her hand and said that girls didn't play games. When I asked the room to raise their hand if they played, 2/3rds of the room responded. There was a look of utter shock and confusion on that little girl's face too. I wish I could have taken a picture of it.

[Island_Wolf]

Wow, thanks for your post Atari. Come to think about it, there are a few of my friends who can fit into being "gamers" but not admitting they are gamers (they play Nintendogs).

But I happy to hear that more and more are playing games. I got discriminated in high school for being a gamer, but I hope female gamers get more respected in the future in mainstream and gaming society.