It may be hard to believe, but women are more susceptible to game addiction than men

According to a large exploratory study at Clutch, women may be prone to video game addiction more than men. At first glance, it may surprise you, as women are generally recognized as less inclined gaming than men.

Even so, there is quite a bit to “dissect” from this observation. Perhaps the biggest point of contention here is around the concept of addiction video games. Interestingly, video game addiction is in the process of being officially recognized as a legitimate mental health disorder. Gaming disorderas known as the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), which includes criteria for play behavior games (both online and offline) is considered excessive.

The three main criteria on the ICD-11 list reduce control over gaming, increase gaming priority, and keep playing despite negative effects on functionality. Depending on the severity and duration of these behaviors, a formal diagnosis of gaming disorder is possible in the near future by a qualified medical professional.

But back to gender: Clutch makes it clear that their study cannot be considered conclusive; it is merely for exploratory purposes and more formally, academic research is needed to verify their findings.

They found that women outperformed men in all three categories related to gender: the number of minutes played in each session, the percentage of people playing games per day, and the total “addiction” score. The latter follows a modified version of the Greenfield Video Game Addiction Test, where a total score of 41.2 or higher indicates there may be some cause for concern.

These statistics are interesting given the fact that the study sample of 1570 people was almost 90% male, with only about 7% female (the rest are listed as “remainers” or “do not wish to disclose”). So, even though there are more men, women give more results.

The reasons for these results are controversial. The interesting thing is, mobile games in particular has recently proven to be dominated by female consumers, and indeed, mobile gaming has been included in Clutch’s research (mobile-friendly games like NBA2k, PUBG listed as one of the most addictive games). Perhaps this is a contributing factor.

What is certain, however, is that these are topics worthy of further formal study. Some researchers have criticized the establishment of gaming disorder in ICD-11, calling it too hasty and unwarranted. Either way, even if you’re a gamer game addiction, you can still stop panicking about an addiction diagnosis for the time being. It just means you love games, and there’s nothing wrong with that.​