The gender thing

Admittedly, I'm a baby as far as gaming goes.

But I noticed something rather interesting.

When I first came upon accessible game sites, I thought I'd struck oil--and
I had. Thanks to talented and imaginative, not to mention dedicated people,
blind people can role play, shoot 'em up, fight monsters and explore the
galaxy or eat dots and flee from ghosts as Pacman.

Then when we've fought monsters, shot the bad guy and won at gaming tables,
we can tease our brains with word puzzles like Hangman, play a few rounds of
golf or tennis or baseball.

And now with realistic audio, we can feel that we're right there. I was
quite surprised at the rush of adrenaline when I first heard a monster
coming at me in "Shades of Doom"--alot different from the days of the old text
adventure game, and a message from Jaws's flat voice saying, "The monster
ate you. You are dead."

And oh, what a treasure trove of audio games for the blind. Hmm. Another
interesting thing. The western game I want for Christmas is written with a
male character, and so is the very fascinating Chillingham story.
I was also delighted to join email lists for blind gamers. Being a "baby in
the business", I needed--and still need--all the help I can get.
One thing puzzled me, though. Most of the people on the lists were men. Hey,
I like men fine, but I couldn't help noticing the high proportion of men
over women. There were a couple of women, but not many.

Then we had a chat on For-The-People. I enjoyed it. And I was the only girl.
It got me to wondering. Why? Could it be that the majority of game
activities are more appealing to the male?

I went in search of demographics on the web. How many women actually play
games.

I found the game girlz site, subtitled "Games from a girlz perspective."
Woo-hoo! Now I'd find some games with a warmer feel, no violence, maybe a
nice story to interact with.

What did I find? Lady gamers who play 1st person shooters, playing the
character of a man who kicks monster butt--and thoroughly enjoying
themselves. No problem there. A little butt kicking never hurt anyone, especially on the
PC. [Was that a joke? -- Fussbett]

Women have testosterone in their systems too, don't you know. And that was
evident in some of the names on the sites: geekstresses, gamer bitches--you
get the drift. No warm fuzzies here.

My little girl has some very nice games--Beauty and the Beast, and Pet Shop
Secret, where the player gets to own their own petshop. In the game, the
player selects the pets, feeds and cares for them, and you leave the game with a
warm feeling. At least, my little girl does. I would too, if the game were
accessible. Too bad I'm not five years old, and sighted.

I realize social trends have changed. No longer do women have to wear frilly
skirts and be chief cook and bottle washer if they don't want to. We have
careers and if we have to, we can kick ass as well as the next one--in real
life and in a game. [Was that a joke? -- Fussbett]

Still, I think the whole game demographics is lopsided, and I doubt that's
an accident. I truly hope that game developers in general, and accessible
game developers in particular, will produce a few games that appeal to a more
traditionally feminine nature. Heck, right now, I'd even be happy with a
facility for telling the game whether you are male or female. In Bavisoft's
Western Extravaganza, for example, why couldn't I be a cowgirl, and still
help the marshal catch the bad guys? must all the characters be male?
I enjoy Pacman, but can hardly wait for Ms. Pacman to come out. An
accessible "Nancy Drew" might be nice, too.

Here's hoping for a few games for the girlish at heart.