Women in Game Development #2
by Sande Chen

Hi! Some of my female friends are getting exhausted about now, with shopping (and more shopping) and things-to-do lists. Your general end-of-the-year holiday business. I thought it would be a bit of fun to ask around and inquire what sort of games were on people's want lists. It was just sort of a musing question: Do women even want video games as gifts? What do girls want?

First of all, I should state that this was an incredibly non-scientific, informal survey. It asked for an age range, occupation, gamer interest level (avid, moderate, casual or none) and then what games were on the person's want list. I asked women in the biz and some non-gamedev people too. I tried to get a bit of an age range. I got some help from davidrm and the women in game development mailing list. The ones that didn't have a want list (i.e. gamer interest level = None) weren't included because that would have been too boring ;) So here they are...

Age: 8
Occupation: Elementary School Student (daughter of a game developer)
Gamer Interest Level: Casual
Game Wanted: Roller Coaster Tycoon Gold Edition, Zoo Tycoon expansion

Age: 10
Occupation: Elementary School Student (daughter of a game developer)
Gamer Interest Level: Casual
Games Wanted: Age of Kings 2, Age of Mythology

Age: 18
Occupation: High School Student
Gamer Interest Level: Moderate
Games Wanted: Suikoden III, Wild Arms III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Final Fantasy Chronicles, Metroid Prime, Metroid Fusion, Master of Orion III, Grandia II

Age: 24
Occupation: College Student
Gamer Interest Level: Avid
Games Wanted: Suikoden III, Ratchet and Clank, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly, Sly Cooper and the Thievious Racoonus, Ty the Tasmanian Tiger, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelists of the Roses, Zapper, Dark Angel, Klonoa 2, all the Sims expansions, Everquest: Planes of Power, Black and White expansion: Creature Isle, Age of Mythology
(she says: I'm currently playing Kingdom Hearts and loving it. )

Age: 26
Occupation: International Media Coordinator
Gamer Interest Level: Casual
Game Wanted: Sims Hot Date expansion
(she says: My fianc? usually buys all the games.)

Age: 29
Occupation: Engineer
Gamer Interest Level: Moderate for non-combat puzzle games only
Games Wanted: Monsters Inc. Scream Team, Ico
(she says: Dance Dance Revolution is a good workout!)

Age: 29
Occupation: Housewife and Game Programmer
Gamer Interest Level: Moderate
Games Wanted: The Sims and all its extensions, Roller Coaster Tycoon, Theme Park World

Age: 35ish
Occupation: Business Owner
Gamer Interest Level: Moderate
Games Wanted: Might & Magic Anthology, any RPG's or strategy games

Age: 41
Occupation: Game Producer
Gamer Interest Level: Moderate
Games Wanted: Pikmin, Animal Crossing, Fusion Frenzy, Blinx

Age: 46
Occupation: QA Manager
Gamer Interest Level: Moderate
Games Wanted: Sims Online, Star Wars Galaxies, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (for my kids, she says), REZ

As for me, I'm more interested in getting a console system! For next time, I'm trying to line up a chat with the HR Manager at Cyberlore so that should be cool.