A new study has found that nearly a third of women who play mobile games in the UK feel guilty about gaming.
Published on August 21, 2025, the study was led by University of Stirling’s Dr Steph Rennick and Cardiff University’s Dr Seán Roberts, in partnership with Swedish gaming studio Undone Games, and surveyed 1,000 women who play mobile games in the UK about their attitudes to gaming.
The research found that 28% of the women surveyed agreed they felt guilty about taking time to play games, with older players (those over 55) less likely to feel shame than young players (those aged 16 to 24).
According to the study, women who kept that gaming secret from friends and family were three times more likely to feel guilt (63%) than those who didn’t (23%), while women who look forward to playing are 9% more likely to feel guilty than those who don’t (34% vs. 25%).
The research also found that this feeling of shame was aligned with whether women identified with gaming culture.
60% of respondents didn’t believe they played enough games to be considered a “gamer,” and women who said they perceive gaming as a male pastime were twice as likely to feel shame about playing games (46% vs. 23%), while those who would be embarrassed to call themselves a gamer felt 20% more guilt.
By contrast, women who believe occasionally playing games makes you a gamer felt 42% less shame.
“The study shows many women feel excluded from video game culture, with significant numbers of women feeling guilty about playing video games and worrying about what others think of them taking time to play games,” Dr Rennick told the University of Stirling.
“Interestingly, feeling guilty or keeping secrets about gaming did not correlate with how much time women spent playing games.
“We expected a significant proportion of women to report feelings of guilt around playing video games and taking leisure time more generally.
“But while we thought feelings of guilt or shame would have a negative impact on the amount of time women spent playing games, we didn’t find such a connection. Those who feel guilty or keep secrets don’t play less, but they feel worse.”
Elsewhere, the study found correlations between guilt and barriers related to game marketing, with 41% of women more likely to feel guilt if they didn’t know which games to try, and 44% feeling more shame if they thought games were too violent.
“This aligns with barriers identified by Chess (2017): That women may not be aware of the diversity of games available, because there is a limited range marketed to them (thus the former), and yet when they think of ‘games’ simpliciter, they may not have casual games in mind (thus the latter),” the report said.
The report specifies that this study only considered responses from people identifying as women, and while its results are “revealing,” they do not demonstrate that women feel more guilty about playing mobile games than other genders.
“Taken as a whole, we propose that the results suggest that many UK women feel excluded from video game culture, and that this exclusion can be a barrier to playing mobile games, or being open about one’s play,” the report stated.
“In other words, many of the results can be explained by women’s sense that games and gaming culture are not for them.”
“This is in keeping with previous research, which has found many gender disparities in leisure time, with women being almost twice as likely to feel guilty about taking ‘me time’ than men (GameHouse, 2023),” the report continued
“Women tend to spend less time playing if they feel they don’t fit into gaming culture – for example, if they believe that gaming is a male pastime, or that they don’t play enough games to be a gamer, are embarrassed to call themselves a gamer, or think video games are too violent,” Dr Roberts told the University of Sterling.
“In contrast, women spend more time playing if they are proud of their gaming achievements.
“This suggests that guilt and shame are just symptoms. While these are clearly negatively impacting women gamers, they may not be the root of the problem.
“Instead, removing barriers to play for women may require deeper changes such as reducing leisure inequality between men and women.”
