I think you're close to what's going on, Ejoty, but just to clear up
the stereotyping, let me point out a few things:
<p>
1) There are a lot of female videogamers, but usually the type of
games they play is different.I don't think many women spent a lot of
time with vertical or horizontal scrollers (maybe because they're
predominantly war-like shooters?) but I have known a lot of women who
played Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Tetris, Warcraft II, and as QRS said,
Puzzle Bobble. Seems to me that most female vid-gamers just like a
different type of game, that's all.
<p>
2. I don't think women WANT to be as competitive as men in the
videogame field--you don't see many of them hanging around in arcades,
unless accompanied by a male friend. This may be because of the
atmosphere, or just because of different interests--the only games
I've seen girls plaing in the arcades lately are Crazy Taxi,
multiplayer driving games, and that dancing one (can't remember the
name). It's intersting to note that there just aren't that many
innovative games being released, so where would the motivation be for
a woman with a moderate interest in gaming to go to an arcade when a
die hard like me rarely goes anymore?
<p>
Same thing online. Most of the scoreboards on the Internet are for
games like Quake, Half-Life, Tribes, etc.--all shooters. MARP has
other types of games, so we attract a few female members--and look at
the games that they play for the most part--Bubble Bobble, Diamond
Run, Moon Patrol, APB, Mouse Trap (although Sorceress does have a few
Smash TV .inps, it's more than likely because she was leeching firsts
on games with no .inps). Go to somewhere with a really strong social
element, say, Bezerk's Acrophobia or other online video gaming where
you can actually meet and interact with people, and the population is
often predominantly female.
<p>
Just some stuff to think about before we get into more 'girls don't
play videogames.' They just play different kinds.
<p>
QCN
--
qan@home.com
