Even though gaming has historically stereotypically been viewed as a male hobby, 41% of gamers identify as women. Video games are slowly becoming more inclusive and welcoming towards all people, but according to a recent survey, 59% of women gamers hide their gender when playing online "to avoid conflict."

The survey was conducted by marketing research group Reach3 and included the opinions of 900 women gamers on subjects ranging from discrimination to their favorite types of games. The study is split into multiple sections, with one section focused on how women change their identity online to prevent unwanted harassment. According to the survey, many women who hide their gender do so by pretending to be male, using a non-gendered identity, or avoiding voice chats.

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Toxicity displayed towards women by male gamers is a well-known occurence in many online competitive games, especially those with microphones. In a series of testimonials that accompany Reach3's data, several women describe how they change their gaming habits to avoid this toxicity – many feel forced to leave the game because the harassment is too much to deal with. Some women in the testimonials note that male players will regularly send unwanted flirting messages, sexual images, and other unwanted communications solely due to their gender.

Women Gamers Behind View PC Setup

As far as gaming has come in terms of gender diversity in the community, it is still dominated by a majority of male gamers. According to the survey, 77 percent of women have experienced gendered discrimination when gaming. Some of these experiences include being insulted, asked out, patronized, subject to double standards, receiving unsolicited advice, or receiving other "explicitly sexist behavior" in online spaces. The lack of moderation in many online spaces often results in "little to no repercussion" for those who do discriminate against women.

There is a lot that the gaming industry itself could do to improve the status of women in the community. While women are mostly happy with how women characters are represented in games, women are not as satisfied with character skins, the lack of representation of women in esports, or the lack of support for women from studios and creator platforms.

The survey also touched on how marketing and advertising can help promote women in the gaming community. Women surveyed chose advertising as the most likely means to help change sexist behavior online. Some of the ideas suggested include a better balance of women in ads, having women do voice-overs for ads, and debuting all-women casts for games. Creating an inclusive and welcoming space is not entirely on advertisers and gaming companies, though – it's also on individuals to call out sexist discrimination when it arises.

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Source: Reach3 Insights