12. Passage of Title 9 in the USA
• 1971-72 2007-08
– 940% increase in female athletes in HS
– 19% increase in male athletes in HS
– 456% increase in female athletes in NCAA
– 31% increase in male athletes in NCAA
13. Salary Comparisons
• NBA 2008-09 • WNBA 2009
– $442,114 minimum – $35,190 minimum salary
salary – $99,500 top salary
– $13,758,000 maximum
salary
14. Highest Paid Athletes 2011
• Maria Sharapova - $25 • Tiger Woods - $75
million million
• Caroline Wozniacki - • Kobe Bryant - $53
$12.5 million million
• Danica Patrick - $12 • LeBron James - $38
million million
• Venus Williams - $11.5 • Roger Federer - $37
million million
• Kim Clijsters - $11
million
16. Coverage of women’s sports
• Sports Illustrated covers
1997-2008
– N=676 issues
– 5.62% (38) had a woman
on the cover
– Of the 38, 12 were
models for swimsuit
edition
– 6 were part of a larger
story such as the cost of
college sports
17. SportsCenter on ESPN
• 115 million monthly viewers
• In a 30-day period, 778 stories featured male
athletes
• 16 stories about female athletes
• 13 about men and women
18. SportsCenter & Network Affiliates
• Network affiliates
– 96.3% of time for men’s
sports
– 1.6% for women’s sports
– 2.1% for gender neutral
topics
• SportsCenter programs
– 100% of programs led
with a men’s sports story
19.
20. Why?
• Survey of newspaper
editors
– 24% felt that ‘women
are naturally less athletic
than are men’
– 31% agreed that ‘women
are naturally less
interested in sports than
are men’
21. What does this have to do with
women in sports videogames?
22. PETER MOORE, PRESIDENT OF EA SPORTS, LOOKS
AT “ADDRESSABLE MARKET SIZE; HOW MANY
PLAYERS, HOW MANY FANS WHO HAVE INDICATED
THROUGH RESEARCH THAT THEY WOULD BUY A
GAME”
24. (you know they do)
• ESAC: 38% of gamers are
female
• 60%of mobile game
market is female
• >50% of Nintendo DS and
Wii users are female
• In EQ2, top 10% of male
players played 49 hrs/wk;
females 56 hrs/wk
• FS players 93% female;
51% play >2hrs/session;
78% play daily
29. • According to
NPD, “nearly 8 out of
every 10 players of
dance games are
female” and “the
majority of players are
teens or younger”
30. Jane Fonda-esque
• Majesco’s Zumba
Fitness Video Game
– “feel the rush”
– “dance your way to a
sexy six pack with Zumba
fitness core”
– “party your abs off”
36. Skateboarding & Wrestling
• Tony Hawk branded titles (1999-2012)
• 6 of 51 characters across 12 games were
female
– 1 was an NPC
– 1 was a snowboarder
• WWE franchise regularly includes “Divas”
– 2006 Day of Reckoning title offers “Bra and
Panties” matches
Susan B. Anthony perhaps summed it up best in remarking that the act of riding a bicycle “has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride on a wheel. It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance” (“History of women in sports timeline,” 2012).
June 29, 2012 for xbox 360
For example, Virtua Tennis 2009 sold nearly 800,000 copies following its initial release, and Virtua Tennis 4 has sold about 1 million copies, and apart from one year—2001—has consistently featured more male tennis stars than female stars (Justin, 2009; “Various sales figures from SEGA,” 2012).
the Top Spin franchise started out with impressive levels of gender parity but has shifted over time to feature more male stars, particularly as playable “legends” or past tennis stars, with its most recent title (Top Spin 4) selling approximately 780,000 units
The golf videogame landscape in terms of licensed products is currently dominated by the Tiger Woods PGA Tour series, which has sold more than 30 million copies of its various titles (VGChartz, 2012). Running from 1999-2012, the series is published by EA Sports and features Tiger Woods along with a changing roster of playable golfers and an extensive number of golf courses on which to compete. Complete player lists aren’t available for a few early titles, but enough data exists to show a similar level of exclusion of female golfers over the years:
In 2011 the developer Frozen Codebase released Jam City Rollergirlsas a Wiiware download, with teams based on actual regional teams such as the Madison “Dairyland Dolls” and the Austin “Texecutioners” and characters modeled after real WFTDA skaters “incorporating elements of the athletes’ personal style—even down to the level of their unique tattoos” (WFTDA, 2012). Such teams are part of the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association, which claims roller derby is “one of the fastest-growing sports in the US right now” (Wahlgren, 2011). Sales “have been coming in pretty well” and the game has received positive reviews. A few months after the game’s release, sales were reported to be strong enough in North and South America to bring the game into 19 more countries, including many in Europe as well as Australia and New Zealand (Anonymous, 2011). However, as of June 2012 the company’s website was dead, and MobyGames reports that the company was merged into ZyQuest (MobyGames, 2012). ZyQuest lists as one area of competence game production, but is more focused on IT, suggesting that no new roller derby games will be forthcoming from that team. It’s also an open question whether other companies will attempt to build that market, or if it will remain a one-off success.
Meaningful moments in gameplay – with friends, family, brothers, fathers, uncles,
