Game Makers Aren't Chasing Women

“Of the 25 or so people in Electronics Boutique, six were women. Three of them looked bored — they were accompanying their gamer boyfriends. Two Korean-American girls were in the store on their own, but they were buying a copy of Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne for a male relative. And the last woman? She was working one of the cash registers.” Suneel Ratan —Game Makers Aren’t Chasing Women (Wired)

This article offers brief quotes from a depressed-sounding Brenda Laurel, and notes that a recent Pew report indicates that college women play games as often as college men. So, what games are these women playing? In my experience, female students tend to like Tetris-style games — “Joop” was the rage about two years ago; another female student played online Bridge with her dad (while she was in class and he was at work). I know my sister is playing Space Quest 0 right now (a fan-produced prequel to the classic Sierra adventure series). These games are posted online, and don’t require the kind of technological outlay that hard-core, male-oriented gaming systems involve — this may be why the games industry isn’t interested in pursuing this angle.

Don’t miss game developer Caroline Trujillio’s comment: “It’s not that we’re failing to tap into that audience because there aren’t enough women on our end. It’s just the nature of the industry and the product we’re developing. It’s like saying men would buy more makeup if more men were working in that industry.”