From a Session at E3:

"Jim: There’s a huge appeal of games for women. But women
are not going to go into stores to buy a game, however if
you put it in the home and make it easy for them to get..
ok there’s a porn analogy here, but you make it available
to them and they can sample it, it’s a great way of
introducing them. You have to break the mould, change the
development techniques and marketing techniques.

Russell: My wife loves games, and she’s my test case for
a long time because she’d only play what I brought home,
or ask for something. She wouldn’t go out and buy something.
This speaks volumes for the digital download model.

Gerhard: I disagree. The second biggest buying group is
females, in the UK. ...
***
So you put an xbox playable disk on the cover of a women’s
magazine, say.
***
Jay: Not on the magazine. On the phone. Put it on a device
that’s a natural part of their lifestyle.

Jim: Rather than on the magazine, you need word of mouth,
for all audiences. ...The closer you can get it to them
while making it their choice, and also using the social
community aspect, like a friend or like Oprah, then I
think you can introduce women to games if it has the right
elements for them.

Russell: Well for SOE we’re trying to broaden the demographics
that we attract. Marketing is not my expertise but we’re very
much trying to open up the gameplay styles and genres. If we
can just create a rich enough environment …"

Speaking as a female who's known by name on sight in my local Gamestop, I think these folks are overemphasizing women's reluctance to go into such a store and underestimating the content of their games and marketing.

Those of us who started with MUDs and other text-based games, such as British Legends, Gemstone III or DragonRealms, know to
look past the scantily clad, overendowed females screaming "This is for horny teenaged boys!" from the game ads and boxes. Those women who missed out on those games and didn't wander into them through a significant other or friend have NO idea there's anything to appeal to them in a computer game.

As a frequent beta tester for SOE, I can't begin to count the number of women who have begged, in vain, the developers for a normally proportioned female avatar and clothing that reasonably covered it in SOE's games. Thus, I find it rather amusing to see a SOE rep say their company is "very much trying to open up the gameplay styles and genres."

It's absurd for game companies to have men guessing at what women want, while at the same time totally ignoring what women SAY they want. (Hello? Decent clothing! Normal body proportions for our characters! Hello?) Those few male developers, such as David Gaider of BioWare, developer of SWG: Knights of the Old Republic's Carth romance, who have taken the radical step of asking women and then listening to what we say(what a concept!) have reaped the rewards.

Painful

"Imagine you could play a computer game for five
minutes each morning that would help you feel more
secure and confident in yourself. Our research
shows that people may be able to change the negative
thought patterns that sometimes produce insecurity.
We are now examining whether over time, with practice,
people can develop positive, beneficial habits of
thought to help them become more secure and
self-confident on a long term basis -- whether in
the context of their working life, their personal
relationships, or their overall sense of well being."

While this sounds like an advertising gimmick, it's actually respectable science by researchers at McGill University. According to Science News, "The team's first research results on Wham! will be published in the peer-reviewed journal, Psychological Science in July." http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/05/040507082758.htm

Self-esteem Games

"For example, what would the woman’s role
be in such a game? Women weren’t gun slingers,
for the most part (Calamity Jane comes to
mind as unique for her time). 'Female
characters will have more of an impact in
WWS than in any other RPG. Since new players
are introduced into the game as offspring of
existing players, women are an absolute
requirement for the game world.'"

...

"Other uses of said equipment piqued my
curiosity: 'WWS is not meant to be 100%
accurate to actual history, but rather
100% accurate to the romanticized version
of the era, which is fairly close, but
makes for better game play. Of course,
prostitution was a very integral and
accepted part of society in those days,
so it will be included in WWS,' commented
Anastasia."

I thought at first that this article was a belated April Fool's joke. A MMORPG where female characters' primary options are to be prostitutes or barefoot and pregnant? While I'm not fond of the Political Correctness Police, this seems to be a bit much for a market that has a large percentage of female players.

The game's treatment of Native Americans promises to be equally sensitive, judging from the art work.

Warcry.com Interview with Anastasia, Beta Liaison for Wild West Sim

"Little Fluffy Industries is the world leader
in the highly competitive field of hypertextual
productivity-depletion referral services. By
providing our clients with a steady influx of
first-rate redirections to a wide variety of
Web-delivered games, amusements, distractions,
diversions, delectations, and frivolities,
Little Fluffy Industries aims to cross-actualize,
intra-promote, and ultra-contextualize the labor
redivision process, thereby maximizing shareholder
return, achieving new standards in customer
involvement, and probably buying a nice house with
a hot tub someplace."

That pretty much says it all. In a world where online games have become big business, I love finding a professional quality site promoting the kind of low budget offerings that got the video game industry started.

Each day at least one new free online game is briefly reviewed and rated on a five star system. The reviews, peppered with comments like "The world is a dangerous place for plague-bearing parasites"and "Once again, [the game's author] returns to the eternal theme: a yeti, a penguin, and an unexplained obsession with distance", are entertaining in their own right. I've only had a chance to explore a few of the games so far, but choosing from Little Furry Industries' Top 20 list has landed me in some that are very well done.

Little Fluffy Industries: Free Online Games Daily

"From May 12 through 14, while Guild Wars
is being demonstrated on the E3 show floor,
players from around the world will be
able to play the same experience over the
Internet.

. . . Our E3 for Everyone event
will show our game in its alpha state. There
may be glitches, but we're confident that the
Guild Wars E3 Experience will make you a
passionate fan."

Considering MMORPG stress tests are typically lag fests from Hell, it's a pretty gutsy move by NCsoft and ArenaNet to begin what amounts to open stress testing on the floor of E3. If this upcoming MMORPG didn't already promise no treadmill, no downtime and no monthly fee - in the MMORPG world, standout features that I'll believe when I see - the E3 for Everyone plan would make me pay attention to this game.

It's probably too much to hope, but it would be really nice to see them pull it off flawlessly.

GuildWars E3 for Everyone