ABSTRACT
The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) reports that 58" of American adults play video games, with 42" of Americans reporting regular game play of three hours per week or more. An international comparison of video game player demographics by Quandt et al. also found that the gender gap in the diffusion rate of playing is not that large anymore. Possibly in part due to the underrepresentation of women in game development, the video games industry has largely failed to provide game content that is relevant and relatable for female players or, at the very least, not offensive to the female members of the game-playing community. Taken together, early socialization processes, the predominance of males in the video game industry, and cultivation processes may be contributing to a cyclical process of exclusion and sexism in video game content and culture that reinforces the gender divide in gaming communities that we see today.
