Games for Girls?

[JDWolf36]

I think the best way to bring girls and essentially new gamers in general into the gaming market lies in developing games that first are popular to the core gaming market but that are essentially entry level games that anyone can pick up and play. Just as an example has anyone ever tried getting someone that isn't a gamer intially to try out a game like Halo or an RPG? In my experience at least non-gamers will gain a very slight interest in games by seeing you play them or from hearing the publicity around the game but are unlikely to pick the game up themselves if the learning curve is to high intially. I mentioned Halo because I still have memories of showing this game to my father and how the quick action and dual analog sticks quickly removed his interest in the game. RPG another popular genre also can have steep learning curves to many new gamers it really isn't the menu system or gameplay in my experience that does it but rather the requirement that you devout yourself to the story line to get the most out of the game. Both of these elements can be seen in games that a few have mentioned are popular with girls like the Sims. The Sims has a menu system that can be quite complex but a story that you create yourself and really doesn't require devotion to at all it is also does not rush the gamer to make decision as many decision can actually be made with the game paused. So in the end to make games to appeal to girls I'd say personally just make a game that is easy to pick up and play isn't to complex but is popular enough to get to the core gamers first so that it can spread later to non-gaming crowd. If this was done well through games like Brain Age and such it would be fair to say that the market would expand with new gamers coming in that may or may not move onto more complex games but either way would be playing games they hadn't in the past.