ParanoidObsessive posted...
Video games were generally pretty equally liked by boys and girls before Nintendo went really hard on the idea that games were for boys and pushed that mentality in their own publishing. Which, during the NES/SNES era, helped set the dominant paradigm and kind of pushed girls out of gaming entirely.
Since then girls have generally come back, but in spite of people who love to cite statistics that "just as many girls play games now as boys!", they tend to prefer very different games. The female demo is much stronger in puzzle games and mobile games, less so in major console releases like GTA. So there's definitely a gender divide in terms of video game appeal now. But it becomes a bit of a chicken/egg scenario - are girls less interested in certain games because gaming spent 20 years developing down lines specifically meant to appeal to boys, and is only now trying to branch out again? Or are they more inclined to dislike games because they've been told for years that video games are for boys (and are only gravitating to mobile games and puzzle games because they feel less like "video games")?
mobile games don't make you a gamer