PSU Girls Love Games

Duh. That’’s what you are thinking, I know, but bear with me a second. The Daily Collegian, an online newspaper by students for students of Penn State University, says that more college-age women are playing videogames than ever before. An online survey, which polled 1,000 college students, showed that about two-thirds of students (82 percent men, 59 percent women) spent approximately six hours a week playing videogames. The survey was conducted by Anderson Analytics. The upswing in women playing games is being attributed to the Nintendo Wii, with 15 percent of the 59 percent of women who played videogames saying they most desired a Wii. Fifty-seven percent of gamers surveyed also expressed a desire to see more gender-neutral games like Guitar Hero, Mario Kart, Sonic, etc.

The survey is only interesting because it supports data on national trends in gaming among new age groups and gender. Some of this is due in part to the Wii’’s social gaming aspects, but many other game experiences like Rock Band are having the same affect. The audience for games is expanding and changing — women of all ages are not the Pogo and Slingo-playing slaves that the media and marketing departments have portrayed them to be.