Ah! *subscribe* I remember my best friend's brother had an Atari but he would never let us play with it. I would just sit and watch. It wasn't until they released the NES that I really started gaming. It never occurred to me that these games were made with a particular demographic in mind. One of the reasons I continued playing console games was to compete against my little brother because I just couldn't let the little runt beat me at anything. Heh. Good times. It wasn't until the SNES came out that I started identifying with strong female characters in those arcade style fighting games. Girls who kick ass rule! At some point I moved on to RPGs and adventure games on the PC. Then I discovered FPS games, and watched my brother play Doom (I played for a while, but I enjoyed watching more than I did playing this game). I didn't really start getting good at FPS games until Quake2, where it actually required you to *aim* your crosshair over opponents to kill things. Finally, a game to exercise my reflexes! RTS games and SIM games are all big fun, but not nearly as addictive as FPS games. It's funny how often you get called a n00b or a h0m0 until they realize you're a girl who happens to have the highest frags. Then they either start flirting with you or start asking crude questions. Nowadays it is less common for guys to be surprised that a girl is kicking your ass in something like Counter-Strike.
Anyway, to get back on topic -- I'm thinking about entering the interactive gaming industry, and I've been following stories about women and gaming development, so thank you for providing this article!