Abstract:

During the last decades video games rose as one of the main forms of leisure among young people. Nevertheless, because of the emergence of multiplayer online games, based on anonymity and competitiveness, new practices of hate, violence and harassment have also arisen, affecting gamers' experiences of play, particularly among women. Therefore, in this paper we analyze the attitudes, experiences and perceptions of video game players from a gender perspective, including situations of violence, intimidation and harassment, particularly in online gaming. It is based on a survey quantitative methodology from a representative sample of 1200 youngsters between 15 and 29 years old and a statistical plan based on principal components analysis, cluster analysis and multivariate variance analysis. As main results, it stands out the higher comparative preference of women about one player games and a higher propension of hiding their identity in online gaming. Moreover, harassment and intimidation is generalized among online players; in the case of women, it particularly affects those women who play video games more frequently.

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