Comments on: Are video games only for men?

By: Ally

Ally — Fri, 20 May 2005 16:27:00 +0000

(albeit welcome ones)
Glad to see you qualifying your statement to avoid the rabid fury of hordes of game-playing feminists descending on you :). Possibly the BBC have belatedly added them for exactly that reason ...

By: john b

john b — Fri, 20 May 2005 10:28:00 +0000

Ah, Lynn, Emma and Naomi are new additions since I put the piece up (albeit welcome ones). And yes, the Sims is uber-tedious.

By: Ally

Ally — Fri, 20 May 2005 10:26:00 +0000

Kang, did you miss the woman who said: I am a 48 year old female and have been playing these games for at least 10 years. Sexism stinks.? :)

I like games where you build things - Civilization, Caesar 3 etc., rather games with more obvious violence and competition. If the stereotype is that women like to work in co-operation with others and men prefer competition, then I guess I fulfil it in my choice of game. Re The Sims though, I agree with Chris.

At end of the day, they're all just slightly different algorithms, with a slightly different front-ends ...

By: Chris Baldwin

Chris Baldwin — Fri, 20 May 2005 07:37:00 +0000

The Sims must be the most pointless game ever. It’s novel at first, but then you realise you’re spending all your time doing boring chores and and it’s just like real life but more limited.

By: Kang

Kang — Fri, 20 May 2005 07:21:00 +0000

But do read the comment by the only women commentator – who is, erm, reporting what her son thinks.

By: Matt Daws

Matt Daws — Fri, 20 May 2005 06:37:00 +0000

I thought that, for people who "play computer games", it was getting oddly close to a 50% split, men to women. Though also, I think women mainly play on-line, Yahoo! like games, while men are happy to piss away their lives infront of an Xbox. The exceptions are games like The Sims, which I think might even have slightly more women than men playing…