Do men and women act the same when mobile gaming?
A survey by Harris Interactive and Amazon studies how the different sexes approach mobile gaming -- one group is more competitive, boastful, and willing to pay for apps.
In the world of mobile gaming, it's an equal playing field between men and women with 50 percent of the users being male and 50 percent being female, statistics show. But the way the sexes approach gaming tends to differ.
A survey published Wednesday by data analyst Harris Interactive takes a deeper look at mobile gaming and gender. After interviewing 880 US adult mobile gamers, researchers came up with three top conclusions: Men are more competitive than women; men are more inclined to share their wins; and women are leading the trend toward free-to-play.
Female mobile gamers are more likely to play free games, even when they have to deal with pop-up ads. Eighty-four percent of females said they prefer free games, while 77 percent of males said they did. And, 27 percent of females will pay for a game, while 40 percent of males will fork over money for a gaming app.
Men are also more competitive and more likely to share the news about their wins, according to Harris. Fifty-three percent of men feel competitive about mobile gaming, compared with 45 percent of women. And, 43 percent of women will share their top scores on social media or with friends, while 53 percent of men boast about their conquests.
"Our data indicates that women across the board are more socially reserved about their mobile gaming experience than men," the survey says. "We asked participants how they would react after earning a top score in their favorite mobile game, and guys were more likely to publicly share those scores in a variety of ways (doing everything from personally telling friends/family, using social media, and even capturing a screenshot)."
Harris teamed up with Amazon and its Appstore for this survey.