genuinegirly

I can't be the only woman on this board who loves playing video games. I'm utterly obsessed with Harvest Moon at the moment - can't get enough of those crops.

Do you play any video games?
What game systems do you have on hand?
What video games do you enjoy playing?
Do you have fond childhood memories of playing video games?
Did you play video games at one point in your life but have since stopped?
Do you find the video game industry to be driven by male interests?

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Do you play any video games?
Yes!
What game systems do you have on hand?
Presently a Nintendo DS and a PC.
What video games do you enjoy playing?
Harvest Moon
Guitar Hero
Rock Band
Wii Golf & Tennis
Solitaire

Do you have fond childhood memories of playing video games?
Yes! My sister and I would beg our brother to let us play his Nintendo. I would always play Mario Brothers I and III, Faxanadu, Zelda, and a few others.
Did you play video games at one point in your life but have since stopped?
I took a vacation from video games for a few years, but have since returned to them.
Do you find the video game industry to be driven by male interests?
Well, I'm not a fan of first person shooters, but I know several women who are. These seem to be pretty common these days.

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"Sometimes I have to remember that things are brought to me for a reason, either for my own lessons or for the benefit of others." Cynthetiq

"violence is no more or less real than non-violence." roachboy

SabrinaFair

Do you play any video games?
Not at the moment, I'm a periodic gamer. I get really into a game for about two weeks, then won't play another one for six months.

What game systems do you have on hand?
An old GameCube and my MAC. (online games)

What video games do you enjoy playing?
Um, I just have to get into the game. I loved DOA 4 on XBox 360. I loved the Pirates game on Xbox. I loved Super Smash Brothers on GameCube. And of course, old school games like Zelda and Mario Brothers.

Do you have fond childhood memories of playing video games?
Of course. Actually, my clearest memories are of watching my mama play. She's a gamer from way back.

Did you play video games at one point in your life but have since stopped?
I used to play more regularly, certainly.

Do you find the video game industry to be driven by male interests?
Perhaps a bit. I'm not unfulfilled by the industry, so it doesn't really affect me personally. Games definitely aren't marketed to women, but I don't think they're exclusionary either.

__________________
"With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy."
-Desiderata

ShaniFaye

Video games hold absolutely zero interest for me...I'd much rather be doing genealogy research

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I want the diabetic plan that comes with rollover carbs. I dont like the unused one expiring at midnite!!

ring

Do I play any video games?
No, so no to the next question also.

I had some fun with the pinball game that is included in some Windows operating systems.

I played one old Star Wars game many years ago;
it was in a sit down capsule thingie outside the grocery store.

Are most games male centric?
Yes.

My ex- was fond of Leisure Suit Larry, and some empire building strategy game,
which he spent 86% of his free time playing.

Meditrina

Do you play any video games? I play some video games with my son. Actually, just the one. LEGO Star Wars.

What game systems do you have on hand? We have PlayStation 2

What video games do you enjoy playing? Any LEGO game with my son.

Do you have fond childhood memories of playing video games? Yep. We had an Atari. I would play Pitfall, Asteroids, Space Invaders, Pac Man... ah, the good ol' days.

Did you play video games at one point in your life but have since stopped? I haven't played as much since childhood, really.

Do you find the video game industry to be driven by male interests? At first, yes. But now that I have to shop for Nintendo DS games for both my daughter and my son, maybe not as much now. There are many games for her, thanks to High School Musical and all the Dogz games.

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"Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles." ~Alex Karras

snowy

Ah...video games.

I love them. I love playing them. I play games on PC, Wii, and PS3. I've played lots of video games, but my perennial favorites are World of Warcraft (I've been playing for over 4 years now), SimCity 4, and Age of Mythology (and other real time strategy-style games) on the PC. On consoles, I enjoy a variety of games, though I've yet to find any real favorites beyond MarioKart and Super Smash Bros. I do enjoy playing FPS (first person shooter) games at parties, especially if it's multiplayer and I get to shoot my friends.

My parents refused to let us have a console as kids, but they did let us play games on our Mac, so long as they were "educational." It was a BIG deal when Mom and Dad decided that they would get a non-educational game for my brother's birthday one year. I grew up playing Oregon Trail, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, SimCity 2, and other games by MECC (the no. 1 designer of educational games for the Mac back in the day). I also had the VTech Socrates, which was a console for educational games:


Clearly I'm still playing video games. I'm also a member of a few different "girl gamer" communities around the web. I really want an Xbox 360.

I think the video game industry has been dominated by male interests, but I think most people have clued in to the fact that women make up a significant portion of the market for video games. One of the communities I'm in gets various content producers stopping by all the time, looking for women to contribute to their magazine/podcast/webcast/blog.

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If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Grasshopper Green

I did not grow up playing many games. My parents wouldn't let us get a Nintendo, and we never had a computer when I lived at home.

I do have fond memories of going to my aunt's house in the summer and playing all of the Kings Quest games (which I still adore), the Carmen Sandiego games, Civilization, and some game that simulated an appendectomy. I still play Civilization and my husband constantly tells me to quit playing such an old game and try new ones, which I have no interest in doing. I used to play his Age of Empires game, but we lost it.

We currently own a Wii and I like playing Mario Kart. My husband and son can both kick my butt, but since I don't care enough to "practice" and get better, I don't think that will change.

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"They say that patriotism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings; steal a little and they throw you in jail, steal a lot and they make you king"

Formerly Medusa

shesus

I do enjoy video games. I had games for the computer when they still put programs on cassette tapes. Then we had the Atari and the other old one which I can't remember the name of at the moment. I was so excited when I got my Nintendo. I would spend hours curled up playing Super Mario Brothers while my mom watched. I have good memories of spending time with her trying to teach her how to play. They were brought up again a couple weekends ago when I was teaching how to play Wii. She went out and bought one the next day. Anyway, I still have a ton of NES games. I left my NES at my parent's house because my mom enjoys Tetris and Dr. Mario. We've had a plethora of systems. Right now we have teh XBox 360, Wii, and N64. I have only finished one game since the NES and that is Paper Mario for the Gamecube. I can never get into a game enough to see it to the end. Plus, I usually watch JJ finish it and that's enough for me. For 1-player games, I enjoy Zelda, Beautiful Katamari, and Roller Coaster Tycoon or whichever version I have. When we have people over, we play Halo, MK, and/or Wii Sports. What I play the most (almost everyday) is Wii Fit and DDR. I love that video games now have workout features.

I have had 2 games that I really loved and never got the chance to finish. One was Sanitarium for the PC. The other was a Sega Dreamcast game. I found it the other day at a store that sells old systems. I might spend the $100 to get the system and the game just to finish it. A guy I was dating had it and I broke up with him before I finished the game.

For computer games, I really enjoyed the Myst games.

Snowy: I had a lot of educational games too. My favorite was 'Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?' The strangest was an NES game I had that taught you how to play the stock market and keep a girlfriend happy. Yes, games were very male-centric in the 80s/90s. I think that it has broadened out over the years to include many demographics.

Medusa, Mario Kart is a lot of fun and even with practice, I still get my ass kicked.

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I heard you sold it

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CinnamonGirl

I'm more into computer games than the typical console video games... although I love playing Karaoke Revolution and Rock Band on my friend's PS3.

I had NES & Sega as a kid. I think my favorite was Zombies Ate My Neighbors. On the PC, I played a lot of King's Quest, Space Quest, Wheel of Fortune, and DOOM. I remember trading goofy Shareware games in junior high with friends... some of them were lame, but some were fun.

Now, I have a PS2, but I haven't played it in... at least a year. Still love the computer games -- I just picked up the King's Quest Collection for fifteen bucks (!) Baldur's Gate II and Rise of Nations are my favorite PC games, but I don't have them anymore.

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"...for though she was ordinary, she possessed health, wit, courage, charm, and cheerfulness. But because she was not beautiful, no one ever seemed to notice these other qualities, which is so often the way of the world."


"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"

abaya

I used to be obsessed with video games. I started playing on my parents' original Atari (yeah, PacMan!), and got a Commodore64 when I was 5 years old (though on that machine, I played almost all educational games because that's all my parents would buy me). I loved, loved, loved my first (and only) Nintendo (NES). I remember playing Tetris until I had to put band-aids on my thumbs because I was getting blisters from playing it so much. I swear I felt like I had gone to heaven when I got Super Mario 3 for my birthday one year.

Once I got a "real" computer in jr. high, I overdosed on Sierra games... King's Quest was my favorite, and a creepy uncle got me hooked on the Leisure Suit Larry series. I also liked Doom, Prince of Persia, and SimCity. I would rush home from school to play these games until dinnertime... then finally start my homework after that, lol.

I had too much other stuff going on in high school and college to maintain an interest in video games. I got the last King's Quest on a whim, to take with me to Iceland in 2001 (after college), and played it occasionally during the dark winter nights. Otherwise, that's pretty much the last game I was into, and I guess I haven't really missed them (maybe because I spend so much time on the internet, as it is). Sometimes, though, I wouldn't mind playing another King's Quest again, or Zelda... old school.

__________________
And think not you can direct the course of Love;
for Love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
--Khalil Gibran

lostgirl

Do you play any video games? - Sometimes.
What game systems do you have on hand? I had the first Nintendo when it first came out, I bought it with my paper route money. I've since had playstation 1 & 2. I have played on every game system via my friends. (I thought this said had) My SO has a Playstation 2 I never use and a computer.
What video games do you enjoy playing? all the old Nin. games, Super puzzle fighter 2 is my all time favorite, I used to play WOW and still play every blue moon.
Do you have fond childhood memories of playing video games? YES! I got my mom addicted to Tetris.
Did you play video games at one point in your life but have since stopped? Pretty much have stopped.
Do you find the video game industry to be driven by male interests? Mostly, but I know plenty of girls that like playing just as much.

ColonelSpecial

Do you play any video games?
*Yes. I have played games since Oregon Trail.
What game systems do you have on hand?
*I have a DS and an XboX 360.
What video games do you enjoy playing?
*I love Mario Party for the DS, Guitar Hero, Rock Band, Mass Effect.
Do you have fond childhood memories of playing video games?
*My parents bought my sister and I a Sega Genesis one year. We loved it and played it often. The next year, my dad found a cheap game called Klax for my mom and after that, the Sega was always being used by her!
Did you play video games at one point in your life but have since stopped?
*It has actually ramped up since owning an XboX and Gamefly (netflix for gamers)
Do you find the video game industry to be driven by male interests?
*I do find that the game industry is driven by male interests because for awhile there was a huge catch-22 of the creators of the games focusing on male interests because males were spending way more money on games but that was because there were loads more games out there. I think the better question is whether or not the game industry in driven by hardcore gamers, regardless of gender. For a long time, most games were directed at gamers who could put in hours to get very good at a game. I think things have changed in the last 3 year or so to include a more casual audience. The Wii has a large part to do with this but so does having more music based games such as guitar hero, rock band, lips, etc. Games such as BioShock or Mass Effect have a detailed story and more things to do than just shoot the bad guy in front of you.

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Sara

Shaindra

*points at my avatar*

World of Warcraft. I'm not big into console games, but I do like online gaming. Girl gamers exist. Some blond, green-eyed blood elfs are actually blond, green-eyed women. ;-)

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"Never regret something that once made you smile."