he last of the all-male bastion has fallen through. Two recent studies indicate that women are hardcore online gamers. The studies were conducted by Macrovision, which owns the Trymedia games network, and by Parks Associates. The Macrovision study profiled 789 gamers. Seventy one per cent of the gamers profiled were women and 58 per cent of these women have no children under age 18 living in their households. The Parks Associates study surveyed 2,000 gamers, 59 per cent of who were women, and 61 per cent of them play mobile phone games for about one to four hours every month. Almost as many, 58 per cent, say they play mobile games for more than four hours each month. Interestingly, according to a Telephia study conducted in the first quarter of 2006, women prefer puzzle and card games on their mobiles, at 72 per cent and 66 per cent, respectively.

The study had some other interesting findings. The Macrovision study found that, in an average week, mainstream game-players sign on for nine or more sessions and two-thirds of them stay for an hour, while 31 per cent say they play for longer than two hours a session. Seventy three per cent go online at night and almost half (48 per cent) wait until "they have the house to themselves." Slightly more than half (55 per cent) of the respondents said they play games on the weekend.... more