Women and World of Warcraft

Do Real Women Play World of Warcraft?

We most certainly do. My sister and I have been avid fans of the game since we first joined the MMOG minions, approximately one year ago. For you non-gamers (women and men alike), MMOG is the widely used acronym for Massively Multiplayer Online Game. The World of Warcraft (WOW) is one such game and with approximately 8,000,000 subscribers worldwide, it is currently the leading MMOG in America. To date, men still outnumber female players, but industry statistics show that an increasing number of women are taking up the challenge to break away from 'noob' status.

Now, it is not only the atypical females in my family who brave the ancient perils of Azeroth. In our travels of Blizzard's fabled land, we have encountered many of our gaming sisters, who also enjoy questing in the adventure-filled fantasy world. Recent data confirms that the ratio of women to men gamers is changing on many fronts. For example, in casual computer gaming (i.e. card and puzzle games), women far outnumber men in certain demographics. According to a recent study from the Consumer Electronics Association, there are actually more women casual gamers in the 25 - 34 demographic than males. Come on ladies, how many of us have silently mouthed obscenities while scrambling to window out of a high-score Tetris game when our supervisor happens by? I know I'd have to raise my hand, and I'm guessing, so would many of you.