64% of online gamers are women

[Lockeownzj00]

I'd just like to say, regardless of the veracity of this study, I think it's pretty darned hilarious that basically everyone's knee simultaneously jerked and responded with "impossible, impossible!" I have a feeling most of you didn't even read the article, actually. You have a preconceived notion of gamers: male.Actually, one poster said, "It is a known fact," basically negating the point of ever re-evaluating something.

I don't know if it's 64%, but I would say it's a lot higher than you'd think. What is it that you think girls do, exactly? Between all the shopping and the lesbian sex they have no time for games? What do you do in your free time? I have a strange feeling that pretty much anyone who's bored, in our day and age, is going to turn to videogames. I've got a hunch that 90% of the hullabaloo and theories about women gamers is missing the point.

The rampant popularity of WoW alone has brought a surprising number of females into the mix--the late 20s-40s demographic of women, ever since Everquest has been slowly creeping upwards. Think about it: if you are a housewife, and you don't like soaps that much, and, hey, here's a world you can escape into between diaper changes, why wouldn't you? I've observed casually that more than ever, this generation of MMORPGs (specifically WoW) has a huge amount of couples-husbands/wives playing (as others have already mentioned).

Statistical studies are flawed, yes. But christ, people, what is your inherent aversion to numbers? Afraid that they quantify something that you want to be nebulous? They're not all hacks, and probability is pretty damn...well, probable. They factor in likelihood of fluctuation and stuff like that. This isn't something to tattoo on your back, but it's something to think about. What would you say if an article came out that proved absolutely scientifically that videogames slowly give you cancer (through a combination of careless practices in manufacturing since the beginning of the games industry)? Would you reject the claim simply because you want it to be the other way?