Women Game but Won’t Pay: Survey

Past research has shown that women outnumber men 55% to 45% among the ranks of regular players of games such as FarmVille and Mafia Wars on social networks. But new research suggests that the women who play those games resist attempts to lump them into a gaming lifestyle.

A survey of more than 700 women, 84% of them either daily or weekly players of social games, revealed that 36% of respondents said they play games on social network sites such as Facebook and MySpace, and 54% said they play those games for some portion of every day.

Nevertheless, only 42% of those polled consider themselves “gamers.” And while 7% admit they’re “obsessed” with social games, 45% say they have one or more friends who are obsessive about game play.

The survey, conducted by lead-generation company Q interactive and Engage! Digital Media, was fielded in January and revealed on Tuesday.

The survey group as a whole showed strong feelings about the risks involved with playing social games. Asked to name the greatest “stigma” associated with social gaming, only 29% said there are none. Of the rest, 24% cited its addictive properties, while 20% said it can “make you neglect other areas and 16% termed it “a waste of time.”

Asked how much game-playing was socially permissible, the largest proportion of respondents said one to five hours a week is acceptable. However, another 25% said it would be okay to spend six to 10 hours a week on social gaming. Five percent responded that 11 to 20 hours of play would be acceptable.

And by a large majority women who play social games are doing so on their own time. Ninety-three percent of respondents said they indulge their interest “primarily at home;” 35% said they play primarily at work, and 4% divide their play equally.

Developers hoping to monetize the growing popularity of social games with subscriptions should look elsewhere than the female gamer market, the survey finds. Asked if they would spend their own money to play their favorite social network game, only 11% said they would, compared to 72% who would refuse and 17% who checked off ‘maybe.”

The outlook for subsidizing social games with brand ads or sponsorship is equally mixed. At present, 48% of respondents to the survey say they see brand presence in their social games “often or very often,” in the form of sweepstakes, offers, surveys, etc.).

But those brand presences seem to have minimal impact for good or bad on the games’ play appeal. Asked if having a famous brand such as Nike or Pepsi associated with a game made them more or less likely to play, 78% of respondents said that link would have no impact at all. The 12% who said they would be more likely to play in those instances was about cancelled out by the 10% who reported they’d be less likely to play a branded game.