While many people associate gamers with socially awkward teenage boys, it turns out that 52% of online gamers are actually women, and they’re destroying all those old stereotypes. Three years ago that number was 49%, and the number of women gaming continues to grow each year, especially since mobile games in particular has been driven by a customer base that’s largely made up of women.
When you look at the professional video game world, it’s still a bit of a boy’s club, with males accounting for approximately 70% of players and frequent viewers. But the women who are playing professionally are taking names and smashing those stereotypes, while winning prize money all over the place.
Christine “potter” Chi, mostly plays Counter-Strike, and was recently the champion in three separate tournaments. She’s on the Ladies Counter-Strike team for SK, and has so far won $7,800 over five tournaments.
Alana “Ms.X” Reid is originally from Canada, and earned $10,000 from just one tournament, as the runner up in Quake III Arena. Then there’s Livia “Liefe” Teernstra, who was originally playing Unreal Tournament and Quake in New Zealand, before heading to Europe to take on the continent while playing Dead or Alive 4. Livia has won $14,000 so far, from just two tournaments.
Speaking of big wins, Jamie “Missy” Pereyda won a huge $15,000 from just one tournament. Jamie is from California, and won first prize in the Ms QuakeCon Quake III tournament in 2005.
Rumay “Hafu Wang” has won prize money in five tournaments so far, adding up to more than $16,000. Originally a fan or World of Warcraft, she has since switched to Hearthstone and streams the game on her Twitch channel.
Vanessa Arteaga won $20,000 from just two tournaments, with $15,000 coming from her championship win when she played Dead or Alive 4.
Jumping up to the big bugs, Sarah Lou Harrison won $50,000 when she won a Dead or Alive 4 tournament back in 2008, and Majorie “Kasumi Chan” Bartell won the same tournament (and same amount of prize money) the year before.
Canadian player Sasha “Scarlett” Hostyn, is all about StarCraft II, and only broke onto the online gaming scene in 2011. Her late entry didn’t hurt her in any way though, since she’s won more than $81,000 over 30 tournaments, taking first place in seven of them.
Katherine “Mystik” Gunn is one of the most famous female gamers around, and won $122,000 over just 3 tournaments. $22,000 was from Dead or Alive 4, and she also had a huge win when she won a Halo: Reach tournament.
As you can see, there are many women who love to play online casino games, along with smartphone, computer, and playstation games. These women are winning big all over the world, so if you’re considering becoming a gamer, but you’re afraid you’ll be surrounded by men all the time, this won’t be the case at all.