The "Female Demographic"?

[r505Matt]

Slimebeast said:

Astrotrain said:

While there should there should be a place for niche and targeted audiences, I have to say I'm undeniably happy to see gaming open up a bit. As mike_intellivision said, a video-game's audience should not assumed to be primarily consisting of males 16-34, it should include both genders and every possible age, a sentiment I wholeheartedly agree with.

When I my parents or my girlfriend's parents (or those who are generally considered non-gamers or casual gamers) hear about Call of Duty, Halo, World of Warcraft and games of that ilk, their reaction is unfailingly a rolling of the eyes followed by a bewildered exclamation.

Not in the case of WoW. A huge proportion of WoW players are female.

Something to add here too, its not even just the casual players. More than half of my own fairly hardcore guild (Pre-BC, we raided every night) was female. And, they all played more than I did, and I was on everyday back then.

Many of the ones I've spoked to about this said some of the same things about how/why they got into it. "Well my friend/boyfriend got me into it/gave me a trial, and once I started playing, I just wanted to keep going, and keep doing quests, and it's fun to talk to people while playing." There are hardcore and casual males and females. Casual gaming males "roll their eyes" (figuratively, most guys I've known don't roll their eyes) at the mention of more hardcore games as do females.