Female gamers on the rise as children opt for ‘electronic’ over ‘free’ play.

With Nintendo announcing the sale of 30,000 of its DSi hand held consoles this week - just three weeks after its Australian launch – www.connectedwomen.net.au analysed some social research about how the landscape of gaming in this country is changing. 

According to the IA9 report into gaming - based on ACNielsen research of over 1600 people - by 2012 the proportion of female gamers will be equal to that of male gamers in Australia.

‘Digital natives’ generation
Whether that’s a good trend or not, social researcher Mark McCrindle has found in his independent survey of 2500 Australians, that *Generation Z are the most technologically literate generation of children ever. “They are the world’s first 21st Century generation - the digital natives, the dot com kids, Generation Media.” 

The results also showed that children’s toys are a sign of the technological times, with just over half of all Australian children’s toys now powered or electronic. 

One only has to look at the success of the Nintendo and Sony hand helds, as well as the Wii, Playstation and Xbox to see that the landscape has changed from one of ‘free-play’ to ‘electronic play’ according to McCrindle. 

Female gamers on the rise as children opt for ‘electronic’ over ‘free’ play.

Handheld use trends
Other IA9 results show that among boys and girls up to the age of 5 who are gamers, handheld use is similar with more than 22% using portable game devices. However boys are heavier console users and girls heavier users of PCs. 

Handheld use in this demographic is proportionately higher in this age group than in others. 

Female representation higher
Although Australian computer and video game players are more often male, female players are increasingly represented. From the survey, 46% are female and 54% are male. Female gamer representation has increased from 41% in 2007 and 38% in 2005. This finding is consistent with research conducted in Europe and North America. 

In 2007 IA9 predicted that gamers would be equally female and male by 2012 on the basis of a 1.5% increase each year. Rather than slowing, the rate of equalisation has increased. At the present rate of change, it is likely that Australian gamers will be equally male and female by 2010 and reflect population gender proportions by 2012. 

Other IA9 findings
• Nearly a half of all gamers are female.
• 77% of all children up to age 15 are gamers.
• Almost all children over the age of 7 play computer games.
• However, many children younger than 8 and particularly those younger than 5 do not play them.
• The most popular computer and video game genres across multiple platforms are Action (13%), Racing (12%), Fighting (12%), and Adventure (10%).
• Younger female gamers report enjoying life Simulators and are strongly represented among those who prefer Family games.
• The youngest male gamers prefer Sports games.
• Both girls and boys report commonly using Adventure games.

*Generation Z are those people born from 1995 to the end of 2009. They are the next generation after Generation Y (today’s teenage & twentysomethings). They are largely the children of Generation X.