@beadierturtle that's not my experience. As a teen in the 80s most of my friends played video games. We went to the game rooms in NYC to play. And some of my friends owned an Atari system or Nintendo, or were like me and had a no name hand held system. We all played video games - Donkey Kong, Mario Brothers, Pac Man, etc. We played games.
It wasn't that girls weren't interested in games, or that girls started getting serious about gaming when a digital doll house was made, a reference that I find so insulting. It is that like most industries and things in life, things are geared towards and marketed to men so thus most statistics support more men playing, when there are girls and women playing those same gaming systems from the old Nintendos to the Wiis, Play Stations, etc. Girls and women are playing games. True many of us are not into 1st person shooter games. Women prefer strategy games to killer games, and when the industry is skewed to men and violent games you are going to have statistics that supports that.
I didn't start playing the Sims because I wanted to play dolls, I started playing the sims because I enjoyed building and SimCity was not being rebooted. So, I adjusted my gaming style to play a game where I could build.
I think the Sims has its popularity because it hits a variety of playing styles - builders, designers (fashion & interior), family style play, fantasy play, and everything in between. It is somewhat scripted, but allows tons of flexibility. It allows modding which enables players to take the game into a different direction. Yeah, in a sense it builds on the early days of when children played with action figures & dolls - as it wasn't the toys it was the imagination, the urging of creativity - the story telling.
That my friend is the strength of The Sims - it is a game that allows you to tell your own story. And that is why people lose it when they hear an inkling of a story being brought/programmed into the Sims.
But anywho - I have waxed on too long. Thanks for sharing your story and impression. I just wanted to let you know that way more girls were and are playing video games than you think. And it wasn't the sims that did it. It was Pac Man and Mario Brothers ?, well at least from my experience.
@LiELF you proved my point. Girls game - However, IT and Game Programmers are predominately male and cater to men.
