The proportion of female gamers has seen significant growth across the globe in recent times. In the UK, female gamers accounted for "52 percent of the gaming audience" in 2014, up from 49 percent in 2011, a study into British gaming habits commissioned by the Internet Advertising Bureau said. Meanwhile, in the U.S., the proportion of female gamers stood at 48 percent, up from 40 percent in 2010, according to a study conducted by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the trade association of the video game industry in the U.S.
In China, there have been several articles about female gamers and coders, suggesting an increase female participation in the industry. However, despite the growth in numbers, there remains a disparity in the number of women gainfully employed in the industry.
Gender bias and stereotypes
According to a 2015 China Gaming Industry Report, women only make up about 10 percent of the staff employed in the 140 billion yuan ($20.33 billion) Chinese video game market. Female-oriented jobs in gaming could be divided into two groups: showgirls and game hostesses or game development and operation, and to some extent, the parameters of both categories have been largely defined by men.
It's not big news that there has been public criticism of showgirls and game hostesses. When Chinese game fans visit game expos, they are not as much attracted to the games as they are to the scantily clad showgirls hired to promote them. Game hostesses tend to be viewed in a similar way. The reason for the scanty outfits and coquettish gestures is in part due to the representation of female characters in mainstream video games and partly due to the tastes of male gamers, who make up the majority of both the gamers and game developers.
Consequently, the portrayal of females in video games is controlled by the male gaze.
According to British feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey, the male gaze shows the audience images of a woman from the perspective of a heterosexual man, hence relegating them to the status of objects to be desired.
The tendency to showcase the female body in video games reached its zenith recently when some Chinese fans publicly discussed ways to design breast shaking, a vulgar term that describes the breast movements of female game characters when they are running or walking.
Not enough hardcore female gamers?
As to why there are so few women working in game companies, a WeChat group made up about 500 game designers, marketers and players has been pondering this question.
"The fundamental problem is that there are much fewer girls than boys as hardcore players," said Anan Cheng, a senior at South China Agricultural University who plans to enter the gaming industry after graduation. Most of the group members agree with her statement.
At a 1998 Computer Game Developers Conference, game designer Scott Kim distinguished hardcore gamers from game hobbyists and the rest of us. The term hardcore gamer refers to those who are willing to spend a long time developing their skills and improving their characters in complex games that usually contain a world and other sophisticated game mechanics.
"I have a preference for casual games," said a female Beijing International Studies University student named Ban Zhexian.
