'We're not gamers', say 60% of female gamers
2/3 Americans play games, claims study - and 87% of those are on PC/Mac
60 per cent of women who play games would not call themselves gamers, according to a new survey commissioned by Diner Dash developer/publisher PlayFirst.
The survey of 2075 Americans, carried out by Frank N. Magid Associates, claimed that 40 per cent of men would "strongly agree" that they were gamers (with that statement being ranked 5 on a 1 to 5 scale).
The report also asserted that, regardless of whatever label they might give themselves, two in every three Americans play games, with one in three apparently playing casual games (on computers or phones) regularly.
The survey was conducted purely online, PlayFirst explained to GamesIndustry.biz, thus perhaps skewing results towards a tech-acclimatised audience, but it was sent to a general population rather than specifically gamers.
80 per cent of those who claimed to be games players said they preferred gaming to the likes of movies, music or reading.
The survey's results also posited that while 90 per cent of women listed 'entertaining' as their primary requirement for a game, the majority response (at 79 per cent) for men was 'challenging to finish.'
"The face of gaming is evolving to a broader group more representative of the overall population,""said Magid's Mike Vorhaus. "Gaming is a cross-generational, cross-platform activity that's ubiquitous, yet requires unique and targeted experiences to be successful.
"Different groups value different things on different platforms, and by honing in on those differences, a multi-platform publisher can further optimize its product strategy."
87 per cent of those identified as gamers had recently played on PC or Mac, 50 per cent on Facebook and 28 per cent on smartphones.
The report asserted a trend towards multi-platform gaming, having surmised that 52 per cent play on at least two of those three platforms, and some 14 per cent all three.
While console-only players were screened out of the report due to its focus on casual games, PlayFirst revealed, 40 per cent of those who were deemed qualified had played a console game in the last week.