In today’s society, it is not uncommon to see a line of men waiting for the new Call of Duty or Madden Sports game to be released outside of a Wal-Mart or GameStop store. What is getting more common every year is seeing a few females in the line with the men. Believe it or not, those women are actually there to buy the games to play for themselves.

In the 80’s, it was very unusual to see a female play with a gaming system, let alone own one. Today, females own systems such as the Wii, the Play Station series and X Box. Female gamers make up 42% out of the American population that plays video games. According to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), women who are 18 years and older make up more of the gaming audience than boys 17 years and younger.

Many questions have surfaced over the years as to why women play video games. In most cases, men play video games for both entertainment and a stress reliever, while women find other ways to deal with stress. However, in recent years, women have found video games as a way to relieve stress as well. By exercising on the Wii with Wii Fit, killing an enemy with a headshot in Call of Duty or simply sacking the quarterback in the newest edition of Madden, these can relieve stress for women as well as men.

One of the main reasons that women play video games is to simply spend time with family or significant others. Women will endure hours of watching men play video games just to spend quality time with each other. Sometimes watching video games will spark an interest in women to make them want to play. Children also play a large role in getting women involved in video games. Studies show that 45% of women will play video games with their children because they were asked to, and because it meant spending quality time together.

Ashland University sophomore Becky Wengerd finds her own fun in video games with her friends.

“I just like to watch my friend, Josh Spector play,” she said. “We like to turn the sound off and make up our own dialogue. It is fun and helps me bond with my best friend.”

However, even though video games seems like a perfect way to loosen up and spend time bonding with others, video games have also caused trouble for women. There are some women who are completely against everything that video games stand for.

“I don’t think that video games are something that men, let alone women, should be getting into,” Shelby Wearly said. “They degrade women and make us look like sex objects instead of living people.”

It is true that with some video games, such as Grand Theft Auto, women are portrayed as prostitutes who can be murdered and raped at any time. The women in these games are indeed seen as sex symbols and a waste of space in the game, but women are not always represented in those ways in other video games. In the Mass Effect games, women are portrayed as strong characters that hold high positions.

For the most part, women displayed in video games are independent women who are not looking for a prince but are fighting for a cause.

“You really never see any games designed just for girls,” Wearly said. “There are no games designed for girls that can help them in life. All you ever see is these war and criminal games where death and drugs are the major characters in the whole game.”

The lack of female-targeted games does not seem to stop women gamers from purchasing the games that mostly target males.

Even with a large number of gamers being women, it does not look like there will be a change in the games. It does look like women have changed their minds about playing games that involves violence and language.