New findings from researchers at the University of Geneva offer an account of the factors that keep women who play video games largely invisible, along with the particular qualities that set their play experiences apart. Drawn to immersive gameplay over head-to-head competition, the study's participants also tended to distance themselves from the conventional notion of what a gamer looks like. Published in European Psychiatry, the research lays groundwork for more personalised strategies in both the prevention and management of gaming disorder.
Folded into the World Health Organization's ICD-11 classification framework in 2019, the condition known as gaming disorder is thought to affect roughly one in every 33 people who regularly engage with video games. Advances in awareness and diagnostic tooling notwithstanding, the standards at the foundation of those tools have drawn predominantly from male experience. Gaming's audience spans genders, with data consistently showing that female players make up a substantial portion of the overall player base.
The types of games played — and the reasoning behind those choices — form the core of this inquiry, as does the question of how playing games shapes the everyday lives of those involved. No substantial inquiry has yet been directed at these areas. Mapping how women engage with gaming — their motivations, habits, and pressures — lays the groundwork for identifying vulnerability early and building support measures that address all affected groups.
Sophia Achab — whose portfolio spans a senior lectureship in psychiatry at UNIGE's Faculty of Medicine, the Deputy Division Head post within the HUG Addiction Service, and the directorship of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Mental Health Research and Training — headed a study drawing attention to an area that has received little scrutiny within the field.
Drawing on conversations with seven participants — six cisgender and one transgender — ranging in age from 21 to 26, none of whom reported mental health conditions and all of whom logged at least ten hours of gaming per week, the research sheds light on what drives women to play and what obstacles they encounter. An opening finding was that most of these women do not think of themselves as gamers. The idea of a gamer as someone drawn to competitive, often networked play has taken root across the broader culture.
Achab's research points to a preference among these women for games built around storytelling and immersion — categories that include role-playing, simulation, and puzzle formats. Those participants — whose play leaned toward genres outside the competitive formats often associated with male gamers — nonetheless described stretches of heavy, hard-to-control gaming in their own histories.
Gaming has been documented as a way some individuals manage feelings of worry, pressure, or emotional turmoil. Research indicates that video games can serve as a tool for managing stress and disengaging from daily pressures, yet that same function may play a role in the onset of gaming disorder. A researcher noted that existing assessment instruments tend to measure social conflict and competitive behaviour — the dimensions historically associated with male play patterns — while leaving emotional regulation largely unexamined.
Cátia Martins Castro, a doctoral researcher and staff member at the WHO Collaborating Centre who led the study, noted that these patterns can leave women less likely to recognise when their own gaming has become a problem, and that, as a result, the condition tends to come to light only when women turn to services for an unrelated concern. The participants in the study also pointed to a range of obstacles they faced when considering whether to seek help.
Among the barriers reported were concerns that therapists might view them as lacking motivation or emotional maturity, alongside a widely held view among participants that peer support networks and mental health services tend to be structured around men's needs.
The findings also document negative treatment encountered by female participants during online gaming sessions — ranging from dismissive language and exclusion to derogatory remarks. Noelle Marino Rothlisberger, a Master's student in the Department of Psychiatry who co-designed and conducted the study alongside Associate Professor and Division Head Daniele Zullino, noted that gaming environments tend to reinforce gender norms, partly through the portrayal of female characters in heavily sexualised ways. The research indicates that women who play video games are active, invested members of the gaming community with distinct experiences of their own.
Two distinct layers shape the lack of acknowledgement they receive — one tied to scientific understanding, the other to cultural norms. Achab's position is that those affected deserve both a hearing and a seat at the table whenever video games are under discussion — whether the conversation centres on problematic play patterns or takes in the full range of ways people engage with gaming.
