Dutch women like to play computer games just as often as men do. Almost one-fifth of the 10 million Dutch internet users spend about 15 minutes per day playing a computer game. The polling agency TNS NIPO Technology released the results of a study among 8,000 people. Among female gamers, 42 per cent play computer games on a daily basis, compared with 44 per cent among men.
When it comes to the most fervent gamers, people who play computer games more than two hours per day, men are still in the majority.
A total of 12 per cent of male gamers play computer games more than two hours daily; among women, this is only 6 per cent.
On average, male gamers are younger than women, with a third of all male gamers under 25 years of age. A quarter of female gamers is younger than 25 years.
Most people - 93 per cent - play games on their personal computers, followed by Playstation 2 (16 per cent) and Nintendo Wii (4 per cent).
A fifth of Dutch gamers use mobile devices to play computer games; 10 per cent uses their mobile phone.
According to TNS, NIPO, the number of people using their mobile phone to play games, is expected to grow substantially in the next few years.
The study also indicated only a small minority of the gamers enjoy extremely violent games. Two-thirds of all gamers would like to see such games prohibited altogether.