Not Childs Play, Not Boys Toys: Gaming Population Older and More Diverse than Commonly Thought

As it turns out, the popular view on the gaming population is not quite in sync with reality, as the Daily Mail found out, via a survey conducted by Pixwoo. The study was based on randomly secleted 2000 Brits who self identify as “gamers”, not just on members of the Pixwoo social network. (That is what the Daily Mail article sounds like, if there is contradicting information, please let us know!)

As the survey shows, the gaming population (in Britain, anyway) is not comprised mainly of adolescent males (commonly known as “smelly teenagers”), binge gaming in their rooms while skipping class. In fact, the average gamer is a lot older, and a lot more diverse than the common person on the street might think. 

This elusive, “average gamer” is in fact a bit older than a teenager: In Britain, this gamer will be 35 years old, while holding a (somewhat) steady job, earning 23k pound sterling (about $35k), while spending 12 hours of his precious time clutching a controller. The interesting part here is, these statistics apply to all sides of the gender divide. 

The takeaway of this study confirms what most of us have known for awhile: There are in fact a lot of gaming women, with about 45% of the gaming audience identifying as female. 

As a Pixwoo spokesperson told the ‘Mail: 

"Not only are women just as likely to be gamers as men, but we are talking about fully grown adults who work, have a family and are in a relationship.

"Gaming is no longer something reserved just for children and young adults. There are so many different types of games and consoles to play them on that there is something for all ages."

Also, the gamers surveyed own two consoles on average, and the most widely owned console is the Wii, which is not that surprising giving the high popularity it enjoyed in the late 2000s. However another tidbit contradicting the stereotype is that most gamers have children and steady families. 

So there you have it. Women’s gaming habits are about the same as men’s, and there are almost as many girl gamers as there are boys, and they (males and females) tend to have families. Take that, stereotypes! Now can we please have some games that actually reflect and cater to that population, and not to the perceived adolescent male that 90% of AAA games are made for?