October 2007

Just read a good article on recent efforts by gaming companies to appeal to women, and how they often completely miss the mark. I’ve been into video games ever since the first Nintendo came out (I was obsessed with getting it after passing the first level of Mario at a friend’s house on her brother’s game system. I saved up my allowance for a year — bear in mind that my allowance was $1 a week — and when I had $50 saved, my parents took pity on me and sprung for the rest), and I’ve never once thought that the available section of video games was somehow not available to me because of my gender. I think that the one thing that has opened up video games to women (traditionally non-gamer women, that is) over the past few years has been Nintendo’s development of alternative interfaces (Wii, DS) as well as an emphasis on more open-ended gameplay (Nintendogs, Brain Age, Wii Sports). But it doesn’t seem like these improvements are enjoyed exclusively by women — boys like them too.

Moral of the story: by focusing on improvements to the overall user experience, Nintendo has made games more accessible to everyone who isn’t a gamer, including many women. Contrast this approach with that take by Ubisoft, as described in the above article, and you’ll see what I mean.

And if you ever catch me playing a game about raising a baby? Shoot me.

Via Jezebel