Women "obsessed" with social games (as long as they're free)

There's a loyal army of woman who power Facebook hits such as Farmville. But just how loyal are they?

A new study from Q Interactive and Engage! Expo finds that women, who make up the majority of people who play games on Facebook, MySpace, et al, have become "obsessed" with them (much like this woman), and will continue to play ... as long as they don't have to pay for the privilege.

From the 700 women who were surveyed, 54 percent play daily and 30 percent play weekly. While it's no surprise to see so many ladies embracing games such as FarmVille, it was also interesting to see that 77% of them would give up their games if they went from a free game (with micro-transactions) to a subscription model. Sounds like we have some fair-weather farmers on our hands.

The study, however, didn't ask what women think about paying small sums for premium items in social games. Considering that a company like Zynga raked in millions last year -- and a significant portion of that income is from micro-transactions -- that would make a killer subject for a follow-up study.

See more factoids gleaned from the report after the jump.