Like men, about half of all women play video games. But men are far more likely to call themselves “gamers.”

像男性一样，大约有半数的女性玩电子游戏。但男性自称“玩家”(gamer)的意愿远远高于女性。

That’s according to a new Pew Research Center survey that found 48 percent of women play video games, just shy of the 50 percent of men who play. The gamer identity was far less attractive to women, however, with 6 percent of them adopting the label compared with 15 percent of men.

皮尤研究中心(Pew Research Center)新近的一项调查发现，48%的女性玩电子游戏，仅略低于男性50%的比例。然而在女性看来，“游戏玩家”这个身份的吸引力却远远更低，只有6%的女性接受这个标签，相比之下男性中的比例为15%。

Video game experts said it was no surprise that women are shunning an association with gaming culture as the community of hard-core players has become increasingly identified with sexist attitudes among its fringe members.

电子游戏专家表示，女性回避与游戏文化产生关联并不令人奇怪，因为硬核游戏玩家的群体越来越多地被其中边缘成员的性别歧视态度所代表。

“Having a label of gamer is not just about being geeky,” said Rosalind Wiseman, an author who has studied gaming attitudes among young people. “It also has spilled over unfortunately into a really negative connotation of people who are just really angry and intolerant of other people.”

“被打上‘玩家’的标签不仅代表着像个‘极客’(geek)，”罗莎琳·怀斯曼(Rosalind Wiseman)说。“很遗憾，这个词的涵义延伸了，带有了一种相当负面的意味，即那些十分易怒、完全不能容忍别人的人。”怀斯曼研究过年轻人对游戏的态度，并有著作出版。

She added that the reputation “is really not representative of a lot of people who play games.”

她补充道，这种名声“并不能真实代表很多游戏玩家”。

The stigma gained currency last year with so-called GamerGate, an online campaign to discredit critics of sexism in video games and gaming culture. As harassment veered into threats of violence and rape, the controversy drew news media attention, and set off debates over how bad misogyny in gaming had become.

去年，随着所谓的“玩家门”(GamerGate)事件，这种负面印象广为流传。对电子游戏和游戏文化中的性别歧视提出批评的人士，在“玩家门”事件中受到了攻击。随着骚扰行动转变成了涉及暴力和强奸的威胁，这场争议吸引了媒体的注意，也让外界开始讨论游戏圈仇视女性的风气已经到了多么严重的程度。

Other unwritten codes about what qualifies a person for membership in the gaming community have helped to raise the bar to entry: Casual playing, for instance, doesn’t count, and you must play games that are sufficiently intricate, strategic and difficult.

对于什么样的人才可以成为游戏圈的成员，还有其他一些不成文的规则。这些要求也帮助提高了入围门槛：例如，随便玩一玩是不算的，你玩的游戏必须足够复杂、有战略性，而且具备难度。

Jamin Warren, founder of the video game arts and culture company Kill Screen, said the reason many hard-core gamers cling to a restrictive definition of the word can be explained by “classic in-group favoritism.”

电子游戏艺术和文化公司“谋杀屏幕”(Kill Screen)的创始人加民·沃伦(Jamin Warren)说，许多硬核玩家执着于这个词语的狭隘定义，这可以用“典型的内群体偏向”来解释。

As video games have become more a part of the cultural mainstream in recent years, Mr. Warren said, “the protectiveness of the term has only heightened.”

近年来，随着电子游戏越来越多地成为主流文化的一部分，沃伦说，“对玩家这个词的保护欲也增强了。”

Ms. Wiseman, who studied gaming habits among middle- and high school-aged people, said girls face elevated scrutiny over their gaming skills. They describe harrowing experiences in web-based multiplayer games where participants talk through headsets. When a girl’s voice chimes in, the reaction from other players often follows a certain script.

怀斯曼研究了初高中学生的游戏习惯，她说，女生的游戏技能受到了更加严苛的审视。她们形容，在玩家都戴着耳机聊天的网络多人游戏中，自己有过糟糕的体验。有女生的声音加入时，其他玩家的反应通常都符合一种特定的套路。

“It’s something about they’re a slut, they’re fat, they’re ugly, or they are bad at the game,” she said.

“要么说她们是婊子，要么说她们胖，要么说她们丑，要么说她们游戏打得不好，”她说。

As a result, girls will often mute their voices.

因此，女生常常会关掉语音。

Some in the gaming community have proposed a shift in the meaning of gamer to be akin to cinephile, a person with a deep knowledge and appreciation of the whole medium. Others have argued that the definition should be broad and, in particular, reflect the wide array of people who play.

游戏圈里的一些人提议，让“玩家”转变成类似“影迷”(cinephile)的涵义，即对整个媒介有深入的了解和见解的人。另一些人则主张，其定义应该宽泛，尤其是要能反映“玩游戏的人”这个广泛的群体。

“Marginalized groups have always engaged in gaming,” Kishonna Gray, director of the Critical Gaming Lab at Eastern Kentucky University, said in an email. “They just haven’t been acknowledged by gaming culture yet and they really aren’t catered to.”

“边缘化的群体一直都热衷于电子游戏，”东肯塔基大学(Eastern Kentucky University)游戏批评实验室(Critical Gaming Lab)主任基淑娜·格雷(Kishonna Gray)在电子邮件中说。“只是他们还没有得到游戏文化的承认，其需求也还无人满足。”

The Pew survey, which was conducted this summer among a sample of about 2,000 adults, found that young men play games far more than other groups, with 77 percent of 18- to 29-year-old men saying they play, and 57 percent of young women.

皮尤的研究是今年夏天对大约2000名成年人展开的。研究发现，玩游戏的年轻男性比例远高于其他群体，18至29岁的男性中，有77%称自己玩游戏，而年轻女性中的比例为57%。

With older Americans, the pattern flips: Over the age of 50, women are more likely to play video games, with 38 percent saying they play, compared with 29 percent of men.

在较为年长的人中，情况则截然不同。在50岁以上的人群中，女性玩游戏的比例更高，有38%称自己玩游戏。而同年龄段的男性中只有29%。

Society at large seems to remain apprehensive about the benefits of video games. Forty percent of respondents to the Pew survey said people who play violent games are more likely to be violent themselves, while 26 percent said video games are simply a waste of time.

对于电子游戏的益处，整个社会似乎仍存在担忧。在皮尤的研究中，40%的受访者表示，玩暴力游戏的人，本人有暴力倾向的可能性更高，26%的受访者认为电子游戏纯粹是浪费时间。

The survey did not make distinctions among players of console games, PC games, online games or mobile games.

调查中没有区分游戏机游戏、电脑游戏、在线游戏和移动设备游戏的玩家。