Exploring the path of Latin American female gamers
Initiation, influences, and daily relevance
Abstract
This research examines the profile of the Latin American female gamer, focusing on their entry into the world of video games and exploring the motivations, sensations, and experiences that influence their participation and appreciation of this medium. Using a quantitative methodological approach, a survey of 48 questions was conducted between April and May 2024 across the 20 countries of the region, yielding 220 responses. The results show that, for many participants, video games are not a fleeting pastime, but an activity rooted in childhood that endures over time. Additionally, there is a notable male influence in introducing the hobby to those who started in their childhood, while those who started in adulthood did so on their own initiative. The reasons for playing range from entertainment to cognitive challenge and escapism, highlighting the versatility of video games in meeting psychological and leisure needs. Furthermore, the therapeutic role of video games in stress management and as a form of personal and aesthetic expression is emphasized. It is concluded that female gamers have found in video games a continuous source of mental stimulation, relaxation, and aesthetic enjoyment, integrating them as a fundamental part of their daily lives and a significant means of social and emotional connection.
Downloads
References
Assunção, C. (2016). "No Girls on the Internet: The Experience of Female Gamers in the Masculine Space of Violent Videogames." Press Start 3(1). http://press-start.gla.ac.uk/index.php/press-start/article/view/46/44
Atlas.ti (s.f). "¿Qué es la investigación con métodos mixtos?". https://atlasti.com/es/guias/guia-investigacion-cualitativa-parte-1/investigacion-con-metodos-mixtos
Cabañes, E. (2009). "Videojuegos: las chicas también matan". Conferencia presentada en Open Arsgames-Mondopixel, Madrid, España. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338686732_VIDEOJUEGOS_LAS_CHICAS_TAMBIEN_MATAN-
Castaño, C. (2008). La segunda brecha digital. Madrid: Ediciones Cátedra.
Circana (2023). "What To Watch: Growth in Gaming Among Women and Girls". NPD. https://www.npd.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Growth-in-Gaming-among-Women-and-Girls.pdf
Corbett, C., y Hill, C. (2015). Solving the equation: The variables for women's success in engineering and computing. American Association of University Women. https://www.aauw.org/app/uploads/2020/03/Solving-the-Equation-report-nsa.pdf
Cote, A. (2020). Gaming Sexism: Gender and Identity in the Era of Casual Video Games. New York: New York University Press.
Diversity in Tech. (s.f.). Diversity in gaming: Why it matters and how to improve. Diversity in Tech. https://www.diversityintech.co.uk/diversity-in-gaming-why-it-matters-and-how-to-improve/
Escofet, A. y Rubio, M. (2007). "La Brecha Digital: Género y Juegos de Ordenador." Revista Electrónica Iberoamericana sobre Calidad, Eficacia y Cambio en Educación 5(1), 63-77. https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/551/55100105.pdf
Esposito, N. (2005). "A Short Simple Definition of What a Videogame Is". Authors and Digital Research Games Association. https://www.utc.fr/~nesposit/publications/esposito2005definition.pdf
Forbes (2020). "En Latinoamérica, el 49,7 % de los gamers son mujeres". Forbes Women. https://forbes.co/2020/02/18/forbes-women/en-latinoamerica-el-497-de-los-gamers-son-mujeres/
Friedberg, J. (2015). Gender Games: A Content Analysis Of Gender Portrayals In Modern, Narrative Video Games. Tesis, Georgia State University. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/sociology_theses/52/
González García, M. y Pérez Sedeño, E. (2002). "Ciencia, tecnología y género". Revista Iberoamericana de Ciencia, Tecnología, Sociedad e Innovación 2(5). https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/36021308.pdf.
Gómez Ramírez, J. D. (2023). Mujeres al frente de la industria del mobile gaming. Revista P&M. https://www.revistapym.com.co/articulos/comunicacion/63915/mujeres-al-frente-de-la-industria-del-mobile-gaming
Hartmann, T., y Klimmt, C. (2006). "Gender and computer games: Exploring females’ dislikes". Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 11(4), 910–931. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2006.00301.x
Hernández, R., Fernández, C. y Baptista, P. (2014). Metodología de la investigación (6ta edición). México D.F: McGrawHill.
Kirkpatrick, G. (2015). "How gaming became sexist: a study of UK gaming magazines 1981–1995". Media, Culture & Society 39(4), 453-468. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443716646177
Kocurek, C. (2015). Coin-operated Americans: Rebooting Boyhood at the Video Game Arcade. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Kuss, D., Kristensen, A., Williams, J. y López-Fernández, O. (2022). "To Be or Not to Be a Female Gamer: A Qualitative Exploration of Female Gamer Identity". International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19(3), 1169. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031169
Lynch, T., Tompkins, J., Van Driel, I., y Fritz, N. (2016). "Sexy, Strong, and Secondary: A content Analysis of Female Characters in Video Games across 31 Years." Journal of Communication, 66(4), 564-584. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcom.12237
McLean, L, y Griffiths, M. (2013). "Female Gamers: A Thematic Analysis of Their Gaming Experience". International Journal of Game-Based Learning 3(3), 54-71, https://doi.org/10.4018/ijgbl.2013070105
Orús, A. (2024). Distribución por género de la audiencia de Twitch a nivel mundial en 2023. Statista. https://es.statista.com/estadisticas/1350058/distribucion-por-genero-de-la-audiencia-de-twitch-a-nivel-mundial/
Rankin, Y., y Na-eun H. (2019). "Exploring the Plurality of Black Women's Gameplay Experiences". CHI '19: Proceedings of CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Glasgow, Escocia, Reino Unido. https://doi.org/10.1145/3290605.3300369.
Reinecke, L., Trepte S., y Behr, K. (2007). “Why girls play. Results of a qualitative interview study with female video game players”. Hamburger Forschungsberichte zur Sozialpsychologie 77. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/37368027_Why_Girls_Play_Results_of_a_Qualitative_Interview_Study_with_Female_Video_Game_Players
Rubio, M, y Cabañes, E. (2012). "El sexo de los píxeles: del yo mujer al yo tecnológico". Revista de Estudios de Juventud 98. https://www.injuve.es/sites/default/files/Revista98_11.pdf.
Statista Research Department (2023). "Porcentaje de la población que juega videojuegos en países seleccionados de América Latina en 2022". https://es.statista.com/previsiones/1404213/tasa-de-penetracion-de-videojuegos-en-paises-seleccionados-de-latinoamerica.
Statista Research Department (2024). "Videojuegos en América Latina - Datos estadísticos". https://es.statista.com/temas/11329/videojuegos-en-america-latina/#topicOverview.
Toro, D. M. (2023). Female Streamer: Twitch y la representación femenina en el nuevo periodismo de videojuegos [Tesis], Universitat Oberta de Catalunya. Repositorio UOC. http://hdl.handle.net/10609/148335
Treviño, R, Maza, M. y Maeda, C. (2024). "Haciendo las paces con Peach: interpretaciones de videojugadoras mexicanas sobre personajes femeninos en videojuegos". Contratexto 41, 149-165. https://doi.org/10.26439/contratexto2024.n41.6638
Witkowzki, W. (2021). "Videogames are a bigger industry than movies and North American sports combined, thanks to the pandemic." Marketwatch. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/videogames-are-a-bigger-industry-than-sports-and-movies-combined-thanks-to-the-pandemic-11608654990.
Zimmerman, E. (2004). "Narrative, Interactivity, Play, and Games: Four Naughty Concepts in Need of Discipline." En First Person: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game, editado por Noah Wardrip-Fruin y Pat Harrigan. MIT Press.
Copyright (c) 2025 Raúl Alejandro Treviño González, Tania Lucia Cobos Cobos
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The authors retain the copyright and guarantee the journal the right to be the first publication of the work. In case that a translation of the article already published in Austral Comunicación can be published in another journal, it is requested to record the original publication in the translated version.
The license used is CC BY-NC-SA, which allows sharing (copying and redistributing the material in any medium and format) and adapting (remixing, transforming and building on the material) under the following terms: attribution (acknowledge authorship) and non-commercial (the material cannot be used for commercial purposes). Update: February 1, 2022.
Austral Comunicación allows the author (s) to retain the publication rights without restrictions.
