Video Game Use Among Millennial Women in Spain: Consumption Patterns and Motivations

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.62008/ixc/16/02Consum

Keywords:

Cultural Capital, Gender Performativity, Millennial Women, Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), Video Games

Abstract

Video games have become a global cultural practice, making it essential to examine consumption from a gender perspective. Although millennial women represent a growing segment of the gaming audience, their experiences remain underrepresented. This study analyzes video game consumption among millennial women in Spain, focusing on age, device use, motivations, and perceived gender inclusion, and explores implications for the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). A quantitative survey (N=500) was conducted, using descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and structural equation modeling (SEM). Results show a differentiated pattern: short sessions, low expenditure, and preference for mobile and narrative-based games. Perceived inclusion and affective motivations significantly predict consumption intensity, while age and perceptions of gaming as a masculinized space act as inhibitors. The study provides empirical evidence to contextualize technology adoption within sociocultural and gendered dynamics.

Author Biography

Coral Cenizo Bravo, Universidad San Pablo CEU

Coral Cenizo Ruiz-Bravo is an Associate Professor in the Department of Business Management at Universidad San Pablo CEU in Madrid, where she teaches subjects related to Marketing, Commercialization, and Market Research. She holds degrees in Journalism and in Advertising and Public Relations from Universidad CEU San Pablo, as well as a PhD from the same institution.

She has more than ten years of professional experience in the marketing and advertising sector, with a strong focus on strategy and digital transformation. Her professional career includes work in internationally recognized companies such as El Corte Inglés and Grupo Munreco.

In addition to her teaching activities, she coordinates the Master’s Degree in Digital Marketing and Social Media and is actively involved in academic initiatives within the faculty. Her research interests focus on consumer behavior, marketing, advertising, and market research.

References

AEVI. (2024). La industria del videojuego en España: Anuario 2024. Asociación Española de Videojuegos.

Behm-Morawitz, E., & Mastro, D. (2009). The effects of the sexualization of female video game characters on gender stereotyping and female self-concept. Sex roles, 61(11), 808-823. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-009-9683-8

Bourdieu, P. (1984). A social critique of the judgement of taste. Cambridge, MA.

Butler, J. (1990). Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. Routledge.

Butler, J. (1993). Bodies that matter: On the discursive limits of sex. Routledge.

Butler, J., & Trouble, G. (1990). Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. Gender trouble, 3(1), 3-17. http://www.kyoolee.net/GENDER_TROUBLE_-_Preface_-_Butler.pdf

Condis, M. (2018). Gaming masculinity: Trolls, fake geeks, and the gendered battle for online culture. University of Iowa Press.

Consalvo, M. (2009). Cheating: Gaining advantage in videogames. MIT Press.

Consalvo, M. y Paasonen, S. (2002). Women and everyday uses of the Internet: Agency and identity. Peter Lang.

Consalvo, M. y Paul, C. A. (2019). Real games: What's legitimate and what's not in contemporary videogames. MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/12109.001.0001

Crenshaw, K. W. (2013). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. In The public nature of private violence. Routledge, pp. 93-118.

Davis, F. D. (1989). Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and user acceptance of information technology. MIS Quarterly, 13(3), 319–340. https://doi.org/10.2307/249008

Dimov, D., Maula, M. y Romme, A. G. L. (2023). Crafting and assessing design science research for entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 47(5), 1543–1567. https://doi.org/10.1177/104225872211282

Duggan, M. (2015). Gaming and Gamers. Pew Research Center: Internet. Science & Tech.

Edgerton, J. D. y Roberts, L. W. (2014). Cultural capital or habitus? Bourdieu and beyond in the explanation of enduring educational inequality. Theory and Research in Education, 12(2), 193–220. https://doi.org/10.1177/1477878514530231

Entertainment Software Association (2023). 2023 Essential Facts About the Video Game Industry. https://www.theesa.com

Fitzpatrick, C. y Boers, E. (2022). Developmental associations between media use and adolescent prosocial behavior. Health Education & Behavior, 49(2), 265-271. https://doi.org/10.1177/1090198121103570

Fox, J. y Tang, W. Y. (2017). Women’s experiences with general and sexual harassment in online video games: Rumination, organizational responsiveness, withdrawal, and coping strategies. New media & society, 19(8), 1290-1307. https://doi.org/10.1177/146144481663577

Fundación FAD Juventud. (2023). Jóvenes y videojuegos: Usos, riesgos y oportunidades. Fad Juventud.

Gaddis, S. M. (2013). The influence of habitus in the relationship between cultural capital and academic achievement. Social Science Research, 42(1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2012.08.002

Gray, K. L. (2014). Race, gender, and deviance in Xbox live: Theoretical perspectives from the virtual margins. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315721378

Hochschild, A. R. (1997). The second shift: Working families and the revolution at home. Penguin Books.

Huang, T., Bao, Z. y Li, Y. (2017). Why do players purchase in mobile social network games? An examination of customer engagement and of uses and gratifications theory. Program, 51(3), 259-277. https://doi.org/10.1108/PROG-12-2016-0078

Jensen, T. B. y Aanestad, M. (2007). Hospitality and hostility in hospitals: A case study of an ERP adoption among surgeons. European Journal of Information Systems, 16(6), 672–680. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.ejis.3000713

Johnson, M. R. y Woodcock, J. (2019). The impacts of live streaming and Twitch. tv on the video game industry. Media, Culture & Society, 41(5), 670-688. https://doi.org/10.1177/016344371881836

Kowert, R. y Quandt, T. (2020). The video game debate 2: Revisiting the physical, social, and psychological effects of video games. Routledge.

Labrador, F. J., Romero, M. T. y Cobo, L. (2022). Mujeres y videojuegos: ¿A qué juegan las mujeres? Anales de Psicología, 38(3), 508–517. https://dx.doi.org/10.6018/analesps.504281

Li, Z. Z. y Zhao, S. (2025). Cultural capital conversion in national trend consumption and youth identity construction. Frontiers in Humanities and Social Sciences, 5(10), 142–149. https://doi.org/10.54691/fqanjd92

Lockhart, E. A. (2015). Nerd/Geek masculinity: Technocracy, Rationality, and gender in nerd culture's countermasculine hegemony (Doctoral dissertation). https://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/155516

Maffesoli, M. (2004). El tiempo de las tribus: el ocaso del individualismo en las sociedades posmodernas. Siglo xxi.

Marquez-Gallardo, S. L. y Rovira-Lorente, A. (2024). In genderqueer closets: Challenging gender binarism through embodied narratives of affect and style. Fashion Theory, 28(4), 437–460. https://doi.org/10.1080/1362704X.2024.2357320

Mcintyre, M. P. (2018). Gender by design: Performativity and consumer packaging. Design and Culture, 10(3), 337–358. https://doi.org/10.1080/17547075.2018.1516437

Nakamura, L. (2015). Afterword: Blaming, shaming, and the feminization of social media. Feminist surveillance studies, 221-228. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780822375463-015

Newman, A., Goulding, A. y Whitehead, C. (2013). How cultural capital, habitus and class influence the responses of older adults to the field of contemporary visual art. Poetics, 41(5), 456–480. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.poetic.2013.07.001

Newzoo. (2023). Global Games Market Report 2023. Newzoo. https://newzoo.com/resources/trend-reports/newzoo-global-games-market-report-2023-free-version

Nieborg, D. B. y Poell, T. (2018). The platformization of cultural production: Theorizing the contingent cultural commodity. New media & society, 20(11), 4275-4292. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444818769694

Nielsen. (2019). Conoce a la mujer aficionada a los deportes electrónicos. https://www.nielsen.com/es/insights/2019/meet-the-female-eSports-fan/

PayPal & Newzoo. (2020). Europe and eSports: High engagement and even higher potential. Newzoo.

PayPal & Newzoo. (2020). La audiencia de los eSports, cada vez más femenina: el 36% de los espectadores en España son mujeres, la cifra más alta en Europa. https://newsroom.es.paypal-corp.com/La-audiencia-de-los-eSports-cada-vez-mas-femenina-el-36-de-los-espectadores-en-Espana-son-mujeres

Quantic Foundry. (2016). Women and Gaming: The Gamer Motivation Profile. https://quanticfoundry.com/2016/01/19/women-gaming-motivations/

Ruvalcaba, O., Shulze, J., Kim, A., Berzenski, S. R. y Otten, M. P. (2018). Women’s experiences in eSports: Gendered differences in peer and spectator feedback during competitive video game play. Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 42(4), 295-311.

Shaw, A. (2014). Gaming at the edge: Sexuality and gender at the margins of gamer culture. University of Minnesota Press.

Shen, C., Ratan, R., Cai, Y. D. y Leavitt, A. (2016). Do men advance faster than women? Debunking the gender performance gap in two massively multiplayer online games. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 21(4), 312-329. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcc4.12159

Taylor, T. L. (2012). Raising the stakes: E-sports and the professionalization of computer gaming. MIT Press.

Taylor, T. L. (2018). Watch me play: Twitch and the rise of game live streaming. https://muse.jhu.edu/book/64769/

Toffler, A. (1980). The Third Wave: The corporate identity crisis. Management Review, 69(5). https://openurl.ebsco.com/EPDB%3Agcd%3A1%3A6737681/detailv2?sid=ebsco%3Aplink%3Ascholar&id=ebsco%3Agcd%3A6267645&crl=c&link_origin=scholar.google.es

Turkle, S. (1997). Life on the screen: Identity in the age of the internet. Literature and history, 6, 117-118.

Van der Waal, J., De Koster, W., Van Meurs, T., Noordzij, K., Groeniger, J. y Schaap, J. (2024). Advancing stratification research by measuring non-declarative cultural capital: A national population-based study combining IAT and survey data. American Sociological Review, 89(4), 735–760. https://doi.org/10.1177/00031224241261603

Venkatesh, V. y Davis, F. (2000). A theoretical extension of the Technology Acceptance Model: Four longitudinal field studies. Management Science, 46(2), 186–204. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.46.2.186.11926

Venkatesh, V. y Bala, H. (2008). Technology Acceptance Model 3 and a research agenda on interventions. Decision Sciences, 39(2), 273–315. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5915.2008.00192.x

Wei, Q. (2024). Female gender construction under the effect of consumerist culture. En Proceedings of the 2024 10th International Conference on Humanities and Social Science Research (ICHSSR 2024) (pp. 1582–1588). https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-277-4_176

Yee, N. (2017). The Gamer Motivation Profile: What Drives Us to Play. Quantic Foundry.

Yee, N. (2017). “Beyond 50/50: Breaking Down the Percentage of Female Gamers by Genre.” Gamasutra

Wohn, D. Y. y Freeman, G. (2020). Live streaming, playing, and money spending behaviors in eSports. Games and Culture, 15(1), 73-88. https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412019859184

Published

2026-07-15

How to Cite

de Matías Batalla, D., & Cenizo Bravo, C. (2026). Video Game Use Among Millennial Women in Spain: Consumption Patterns and Motivations. index.Comunicación, 16(2), 35–63. https://doi.org/10.62008/ixc/16/02Consum

Issue

Section

Monográfico 16(2) Comunicación persuasiva en videojuegos y ocio digital: generaciones jóvenes ante nuevos modelos de consumo