Despite widespread belief, women are just about as likely as men to have ever played video games, a Pew Research Center survey released Tuesday revealed.
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A majority of Americans do not believe people who play violent video games are more likely to become violent in their everyday lives, according to a Pew Research poll. One of the standout statistics is that men and women report that they play video games basically equally, at 50 percent and 48 percent, respectively.
However, men are more than twice as likely as women to call themselves “gamers” (15% vs. 6%). In these older demographics, women play more games than men: 38% vs 29%.
That’s especially interesting in light of the fact that, based on the same survey, roughly 60 percent of American adults believe that games are played predominantly by men.
To date, researchers have found no evidence that violent video games cause a tendency toward violent behavior. 32 percent of those who play games themselves say they see a connection between games and violence, while only 26 percent of gamers say they see the connection.
The 18-29 age group was most likely to have members who’d identify themselves as “gamers:” 33 percent of men said they qualify for the term, while only 9 percent of women in the same age group claimed the same title. Americans are similarly split on questions about the value of games for teaching problem solving skills and improving teamwork. 47 percent think this is true of some games, but not others. Fully 47% of all adults are unsure if most video games portray minorities poorly, while 40% are unsure if most video games portray women poorly.
As for problem solving and strategic thinking, 17 percent of adults think that games have a positive effect on these attributes.
Pew didn’t ask its respondents why they don’t identify as gamers even though they play games. They also asked the participants if they believe that there are lessons to be learned like team work and communication from the video games they played.
15% of video game players (and 28% of self-described gamers) think most games promote teamwork and communication.
A quarter of adults (26 percent) think that video games are “a waste of time“, but a further 24 percent think games are not a waste of time. This compares with just 13% of those who do not play video games.
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33 percent of those who play video games (and 46 percent of self-described gamers) do not think minorities are portrayed poorly in most games; 9 percent of game players (and 10 percent of gamers) think most games do portray minorities poorly; and 61 percent of those who do not play video games are unsure what to think on this issue.
