1 Personally, I prefer playing cards with a smart, competitive table of folks. Finding those folks is hard, nowadays.

2 I burned out on pac man, asteroids, and centipede. I wouldn't call playing video games real competition, but by the year 2100 Olympic ass sitting maybe be a distinct possibility.

3 Morn' all, its true my wife plays the brain age games on her DS but only on occasion while ill spend countless hours playing grand theft or GOW. One year I got her into tiger woods golf and she got pretty good at it but she grew weary of my victory dances after I beat her.

4 I have a female friend who is a highly skilled chess player.

5 As a child I was constantly nagged into playing games like 'Stratego' and 'Risk' w/ my brother that held no interest for me at all.  Until I devised the strategy of putting my flag in the first row (Stratego) and all my armies in Urkutsk (Risk) ensuring that I would lose in the least amount of time.  Having said that, I really liked some of the earlier computer games like Grim Fandango, Myst, and Zork, but the shooter games - not so much.   Any game recommendations, M&M's? 

6
so....what are we over-thinking today?

7 I have a female friend who is a highly skilled chess player. And she is a lone boat on a wide sea.

8 I try to limit my vidoe game geekdom. For me, gaming season starts Nov. 1 when baseball season ends and is over once the weather breaks and there is golfing and yardwork to be done.

9
White House and BP:
 "Uh, we can talk about his with the cameras OFF.  Everything we do in front of the camera is all for show."

10
What does Obama hope to accomplish by talking to PM Cameron?

I hop those two assholes aren't conspiring to seize BP's assets. If Cameron aids and abets Obama in thieving the assets of BP...

11 Oh, and dominos! Or something like Risk (remember that?). Even putting giant puzzles together with a group against another group. I like real competition, with real people, that I can see and touch, and cuss, and laugh with. I want to serve them food and drink and kiss them at the door. Life is too damned short as it is.

12 I hop those two assholes aren't conspiring to seize BP's assets. If Cameron aids and abets Obama in thieving the assets of BP Cameron would lose a 'no confidence' vote faster than you can say Arnold Schwarenegger.

13 do you like to play games? Not necessarily video games, but any games? Are you a solo player or a group player? Do you play to win or do you just enjoy playing, win or lose? If you do play video games, do you do so at the urging of your male companion?

When I was in school I had a house full of roommates and we would have "family night" every Sunday which included dinner and card games of all types, Fictionary, Boggle, Monopoly, etc.  It was a blast and everyone played to win.

Now, I'll occasionally play Monopoly or some puzzle games online but never been attracted to shoot 'em ups.

I did go through a phase where I "obsessed almost autistcally" on the Sims a few years back. Most of the focus was on building, less on playing with the dolls but eventually I just got about everything out of that game I was interested in.

Definitely play to win.

14 Yer full of it, Monty.

15 I play a half hour to an hour of Halo PC every day (capture the flag).  It's quick moving, interactive (if you can find a good game) and you don't have to invest a lot of thinking or long-term strategy into it like some of the massively multiplayer games.  I have a family.. I don't have time for all that.

That said.. I agree it is the competition that gets males (especially young ones) into it.  No different than a pickup baseball or football game we had when we were kids.. (Do kids still do that?)

16
Remember when Don Rumsfeld said the media was using the same footage over and over in their news coverage and it was making things seem worse in Iraq and the Left had a fit?

 Obama said pretty much the same thing a few days ago when he complained about the 24hr news cycle on the cable channels.

17 textette - when shall we be there?  7pm ok?  You got a Texas Holdem table?

18 Dude, I even have a domino table my father custom made.

19 It's very simple monty:

If a male wants, he must go out, and somehow prove to the surrounding females that he is a better mate than this other guy over here.

If a female wants to mate, all she actually needs to do is take off her clothes and go for a stroll.

20 My sister is a game-aholic, but then again, she is the youngest with two older brothers so she came up a bit of a tom boy. She was playing right beside us through the years everything from Atari to Super Nintendo while growing up. She used to whip my ass big time in Mortal Kombat and it used to piss me the hell off. She likes a lot of testosterone fueled titles now like Grand Theft Auto and GoW.

After the PS One came out when I first got married, my wife and I would sit up for hours playing Tekken its about the only entertainment we could afford back then. She used to whip up on me too sometimes, but not as bad as my sis. Now she's mainly into music themed games like Rockband and Singstar.

I've played lots of multi-player Halo, Call of Duty, Battlefield, KillZone, you name it and there are plenty females playing online, and yea, a lot of them kick major ass.

21 Years ago, when you could first play chess online, I remember reading about female players complaining that men would let them win while trying to flirt with or pick them up. After a while, the women were playing as men, to avoid the hassles of GWF: Gaming While Female.

Also, some men were posing as women, apparently trying to get the men to let them win, for whatever sick, twisted reason.

Frankly, given this kind of behavior, its remarkable that there are any women gaming on- or offline at all.

22 Women are, if anything, more viciously and ruthlessly contentious than men in establishment of hierarchies.

They play games...they're just not games we generally recognize as such.

23 "(Games) also gave men a non-lethal way to show off for women and show their fitness as mating partners..." You obviously aren't including massively multiplayer online games in this analysis. Level 80 elven druids are very, very lonely come saturday night. That having been said, I can't believe I'm the first self-confessed online game geek to come forward in this thread. There is starting to be an actual female presence in online games (as proven by enabled voice chat), but way less than 10% of the gaming population at large.

24

I loved Pacman back in the early 80s.

 But come to think of it, I think it appealed to my OCD side, since I knew the "path" and could just run that cute little guy around and around until I got bored. Mrs. Pacman was a slut.

25 Go outside. Really, the water is fine (okay not really but, still...GO OUTSIDE!).

26 Or you could ground your argument in fact.

http://tinyurl.com/cky3e2

27 Level 80 elven druids are very, very lonely come saturday night. Dude, that's tournament night!

28
  Wodeshed, you ever try sporting clays? I've shot skeet and trap for years,usually can break 23 or better every time, but the first episode of sporting clays was a humbling experience. Seen some real hotshots get completely blanked  the first time out. Fun time, at any rate.

29 My ex-wife was pretty good at playing head games...

30 Way back in the day I used to play pong and some of the later games, but that's because I was playing in bands and stuck in bars anyway and had to kill time between sets.   I would never go into a bar on my free time except to hear other bands.

What guys don't get is, girls don't want to sit around playing games all day because they know they'll get fat, and boys never seem to think about that.  That's why there are more fat boys than ever now.  And fat old gamers at my job who are programmers now.

31 Having 3 daughters whom I observe firsthand, I can say anecdotally that video games are very appealing to girls and women. But as you said, men and women tend to seek out different types of games. If my mom plays Freecell on the computer daily for hours, does that make her a gamer? Casual and flash games may not be the most glamorous segment of the industry, but they are disproportionately popular with women. Not everyone enjoys "big" game releases such as shooters which are predominated by trash-talking hyper-competitive young men. But we can't say women aren't likely to be gamers without taking a hard look at what games women actually choose to play. They may be hiding in non-traditional venues like Facebook. (I don't want to count how many female acquaintances got into Farmville before I started blocking updates from that app...)

32

Posted by: The Eidolon at June 12, 2010 09:22 AM (cAwse)

I play FreeCell while listening to the news.

33 "Level 80 Druid"- Now THAT was funny. Here's the difference, I think: I play DDO (Dungeons and Dragons Online); my wife plays Farm Town. I would play Farm Town too, if my could defend my farm from being periodically attacked and ransacked by marauding gangs of Orcs. That game would RULE.

34 Oh, and I'd want some elven farm maids in skimpy metal bikini tops...

35 In terms of video games, women seem more drawn to the simple puzzle games and derivatives of the old board games rather than the fancy shooters and role-playing games, and then mostly as short-term amusements.

Good Morning Monty

That is the big truth there.  My wife currently plays more computer games than I do, however they are almost exclusively card games like bridge, solitaire, and rummy.

I used to be big in computer games but I always tended more to the strategy games like civilization. But I have even dropped that now.

Personally, I prefer playing cards with a smart, competitive table of folks. Finding those folks is hard, nowadays.

Posted by: texette at June 12, 2010 08:31 AM (b8mND)

LOL, you aren't my wife sneaking on here posting are you?  My wife is from Texas and she belongs to a bridge club and the red hats. She plays bridge twice a week and is always looking for another game. 

BTW, my wife will be in Texas next week.

36

I used to volunteer at a therapeutic group home for severely abused children.  My first few times there, the boys I tried to play with wanted to play Mario Brothers.  I tried that a few times, but there were two problems:  (1) I sucked at it as I had never ever played a video game with one of those little control panels so some of the boys would even take the controller away from me to press the right button and (2) I realized we weren't interacting with each other but with the game.  I then started acquiring a selection of board games for various ages - the kids were mostly about 6-12 years old - as the ones owned by the cottage were always missing pieces.  Being a spinster, I seldom got to play board games, and I really like them.  It was fun for the kids, they had to talk to a person instead of the computer and I could bring to their attention certain important life lessons (to be really pretentious) like "You have to follow the rules" and "Playing games with dice and cards is mostly really, really random so you're going to lose sometimes."

Anyway, I really don't care about playing any video games as I don't have the patience to acquire the eye-hand coordination required for such rapid work. 

I think the whole question boils down to testosterone.  You boys play silly games to win and we girls play silly games for fun.

37 This reminds me of that story a while back about the Taiwanese guy who beat World of Warcraft. Got every achievement, finished all available quests, and explored every area. It's both very impressive and very depressing. (Why, no, he's not married, ladies. You might want to hurry because I'm sure he's fielding a bunch of offers right now after this monumental exploit.)

38 Hmmmm.

*shrug* 10,000 years of civilization vs 5 million years of evolution.  We're still cavemen at heart.

Example:

Build a fire.  See men congregate by the fire.  Doesn't matter how big or small the fire, though a big fire will draw more men.  Include alcohol and you've got a party.  It's just the way it is.

Frankly instead of online dating sites women should consider just building a big-ass fire on their front lawn.  If nothing else that'll bring the the fire department.

39 I am hooked on an older online game, Battlefield 1942.

I play on a dedicated server with other hapless morons who enjoy their fighting done 'Old School'.

40
This reminds me of that story a while back about the Taiwanese guy who beat World of Warcraft. Got every achievement, finished all available quests, and explored every area. It's both very impressive and very depressing. (Why, no, he's not married, ladies. You might want to hurry because I'm sure he's fielding a bunch of offers right now after this monumental exploit.)

Posted by: Monty at June 12, 2010 09:33 AM (O3eFQ)

Yea, and whats up with all of the addiction over there concerning Star Craft ? I remember reading not too long ago, I think its in South Korea where there is an epidemic of deaths, suicides and psychological problems requiring therapy behind that game. I've played it several times, but I just don't get it the obsession.

41 Hmmmm.

@ Old Tom

"I would play Farm Town too, if my could defend my farm from being periodically attacked and ransacked by marauding gangs of Orcs. That game would RULE."

If I could play an Orc that raided farms and burned them to the ground ... that would RULE! 

42

I play poker, euchre, pinochle, scat, gin rummy, and chess -- and I've played them for money and never gotten hosed so I'm either halfway good or I just know how to pick my opponents well.  Most of the time I've played against men, although my daughters, my mom, grandmas, greatgrandma, and my aunts -- they all enjoyed cards and were good at playing them.  I had two girlfriends who liked to play cards, but I'll admit that most of the women I know aren't that into such things.  I'm cool with skeet shooting and that sort of thing -- I like shooting stuff -- but it gets boring; mounted shooting or tent pegging -- that's fun; suprisingly I got into paint ball (depends upon who you are with, but generally running around shooting people is fun).

As for video games -- that's a bit after my time, and I don't see the allure; although my girls love to play them (I never allowed them in the house however).

 

43 Yea, and whats up with all of the addiction over there concerning Star Craft ? That's South Korea, and yeah, it's something of a cultural phenomenon over there. The game hit right as South Korea was getting wired in a big way, and it just tickled some vital portion of the South Korean gamer psyche. That audience alone has kept the game alive and vital for years, and they take it seriously indeed. I wonder how StarCraft 2 is going to fare when it comes out over there. Me? I'm all about Diablo III, baby. Can't wait. I'm a loot-and-leveling kind of guy. (Titan Quest is a great tide-you-over substitute until the next Diablo game comes out, FYI.)

44
I play poker, euchre, pinochle, scat, gin rummy, and chess -- and I've played them for money and never gotten hosed so I'm either halfway good or I just know how to pick my opponents well.




How You Doin' ?

45
Posted by: Monty at June 12, 2010 09:40 AM (O3eFQ)



The first I ever heard about the phenomenon was about a year or so ago when I read a story about a Korean guy who died right in his computer chair after obsessively playing Star Craft for like 72 hours nonstop without sleep or nourishment.

46 My husband and I actually agreed about not buying video games for our boys. Call us cruel, but we agreed that something requiring physical activity was the way to go.

47 Maybe it's a lack of imagination, but I'd much rather drop a couple of shells into the Citori and blast away than experience a "lifelike" game on the TV.

I used to shoot skeet a lot when I was in the Navy. Where I live now has no skeet ranges or clubs. I guess they figure everyone who wants to shoot like that will be on the field shooting dove.  The problem is ALL the fields are posted or leased to clubs. (a new way for farmers to make money)

My shotguns now sit in the closet collecting dust.  But I do miss teh skeet.

48

Be prepared to argue with your kids when more and more physical therapists are recommending the Wii (and probably the XBox 360 and PS3 with their motion controllers by the end of the year) as valid physical exercise.

Posted by: CDR M at June 12, 2010 09:50 AM (5I8G0)

Husband and I also agree about frugality. The same argument will be had about the latest overpriced, ripoff, big-brand athletic shoes. Cruel, I say.

49 I'm in North Central South Carolina. When I first moved here I tried going out with some guys from work who would say they had "permission" and we got run off every time. Sometimes quite angrily. I just gave up on it after a while.

One thing I never tried was checking to see if they had a skeet range at the Navy base in Charleston but since I ain't in the Navy any more that would have been a lost cause anyway. (and it is a three hour drive from here)

50 My wife never gamed until she met me.  I got her started playing Starcraft with me and we moved on to other strategy games later.  She picked up SWG when it launched, and played WoW for several years.

She routinely had more $$ in game that me, always mastered whatever crafting profession she chose quickly, and overall just mastered the game mechanics more quickly. 

I attribute it to her ability to focus and complete the task at hand.

Me? I'm all over the freaking place, I get bored easily, SQUIRREL!, she has 1 toon I have 50 alts, and so forth.

So yeah, she is a much more 'successful' gamer than I am.

51 Husband and I also agree about frugality. The same argument will be had about the latest overpriced, ripoff, big-brand athletic shoes. Cruel, I say. You're doing your young'uns a huge service, believe me. My mom was the same way -- I was a kid when Nike shoes first hit the market, and I begged for a pair. My mother refused to spend that kind of money on shoes that I'd beat to shit in about three months, and got me some el-cheapo sneakers at Payless instead. The lesson sunk in. I'm a J.C. Penney and Sears kind of guy for my casual clothes, and I am a notorious cheapskate where non-work footwear is concerned. (For work I go whole-hog, though: I just spent nearly two hundred bucks on a pair of nice black wingtips for work. But then again, those shoes will probably outlive me.)

52 And fat old gamers at my job who are programmers now.
Posted by: jeannie

Hey! I resemble that remark!  Nyuck, nyuck, nyuck...

53

Hey Vic, check out some of the military bases down there, many have pistol, rifle and skeet ranges open to the public on certain days of the week for a very small fee. Fort Lee, near where I live opens their ranges on Saturdays and Sundays for the general public.

54 I'm very competitive, a trait I've had to suppress in order to appear somewhat normal - like that little girl on the Andy Griffith show who had to learn to let Opey win the race and the tennis game. But I don't cotton to video games at all, unless you include vintage Qbert or tetris or little PS3 pocket games like Lumines, and those games are to pass the time and get a new, pretty screen, which is like a reveal of the new Laboutin fall collection. I played video games in the 80's a lot, but never was able to adapt to the 3d landscapes in the 90's - I didn't like enemies coming from all directions. Loved field hockey, though. Loved winning at tennis. I rocked at German dodgeball in the third grade. I could catch anything and get you right in the feet. The funnest thing at Ace of Spades is probably the peek into something I had never understood about "how to be a funny guy" - not only the comedic riffing but the relentless one-upmanship. Who will win? It's like my favorite watch-this sport now..

55
That's why there are more fat boys than ever now.  And fat old gamers at my job who are programmers now.

Posted by: jeannie at June 12, 2010 09:20 AM (kSU9I)

Now wait just a damn minute there.......

56 I just spent nearly two hundred bucks on a pair of nice black wingtips for work. But then again, those shoes will probably outlive me.)

I paid $125 for my last pair of Florsheim wing tips.  Then after I bought them I found that they were no longer made in the U.S.

That was the last pair I bought. I now just by cheap junk. 

57 Scat is a card game.

58
Scat is a card game.

Posted by: unknown jane, humanities major, Cubs fan at June 12, 2010 10:07 AM (5/yRG)

Now you tell us.

59

I just spent nearly two hundred bucks on a pair of nice black wingtips for work. But then again, those shoes will probably outlive me.)

Those are an investment and aren't likely to go out of style anytime soon. I'm a capitalist but not lib-style where money flows like the latest styles.

60 Vic, I would have to believe there has to be some skeet ranges around you in Carolina or at least some outdoor shooting friendly area.

There may be. One thing is that since I now have teh 'Net to my checking with may be able to find one within at least reasonable driving distance.

Maybe I'll check that.

61 Then after I bought them I found that they were no longer made in the U.S. A friend of mine picked me up a pair of hand-made wing-tips at some shop in England. Hand-made. He got a deal on them, which is why they were only $200 (US). They normally go for more than twice that. There are a couple of shops in Hong Kong that make superb dress shoes too, but they're very expensive (and I mean like a grand a pair). Still, when you consider that these shoes will last for decades, that's not really out of line.

62
I would always call my buds as soon as it started raining.  Nothing like a muddy, slip and slide football game.

Posted by: CDR M at June 12, 2010 10:08 AM (5I8G0)

Good times, good times. Nothing like a good ol' pick up baseball or football game on a spring or fall afternoon. When that wasn't going on there was always going down into the woods to damn up the creek or the BMX trails we had cut.

About the most crushing thing a parent could do to a child was ground him back when I was coming up. The thought of all your friends out there doing something epic without you was like torture.

Now its just.......meh.

63

74  That's the reason why I never let video games in my house -- kids should go outside and play.   Unfortunately, all of my boy's friends stay inside and play video.

I think I'm going to see about putting him in a riding club and that Young Explorer's Club (Cub Scouts around here is lame -- overrun with soccer mommies and fat, rude kids).

64

sock/off

65

While I do not play sports (anymore) or video games, I do love to play board games and some card games. In fact, I could never get hubby to play games with me, and I got sick of playing children's games with my kids, so I started a "Ladies Game Night" with a few friends, and we meet about once a month just to play board and card games. We were all sort of in the same boat. Of course, it IS another opportunity to socialize, but when asked, I say "I picked game night for a reason, as opposed to knitting night or scrapbooking night."

When it comes to games, I can be intensely competitive. I hate to lose, and in fact it's hard to find other players who are also competitive and give me a real run for my money. Scrabble is a game I love but I only play online because I know no one IRL who likes or is any good at the game. So when I play online, I find people who are similar in skill to me and the game is intensely competitive, which gives me a rush.

Slow-moving games that involve lots of strategy, like chess, don't really interest me. It's one of those things where I COULD do it, but I don't find it interesting. So I don't do it. I don't have the patience for it.

66 Scrabble is a game I love but I only play online because I know no one IRL who likes or is any good at the game.

LOL, my wife loves Scrabble as well. I like it also, but as all the Morons here will tell you, my spelling skills are zip.  So she challenges about every other word because I misspell it and kicks my ass every time.

So I quit playing with her. I got tired of losing. 

67 Males also seem to have an ability for a narrower and longer-term focus on task -- but also a tendency to obssess almost autistically on achieving status and rewards in an environment where such status and rewards carry little if any real-world meaning.

Funny-that's what my wife says about this site. 

68

I scaled Pointe du Hoc in call of Duty 2 and took out a German bunker. I lost a lot of good men that day

69 As a young'un I was my family's undisputed "Pitfall" and "Asteroid" champion on the old Atari.

In high school I dabbled in Role Playing games -- "Changeling," specifically. Mostly because my guy friends all played... I was drawn to Changeling because it dealt with "fantasy" ideals I was interested in: faeries, elves, etc. (Yes, I was an EPIC nerd). The boys played to win, but I played more as an acting and writing exercise, helping me learn how to better mold plots and dialogue and whatnot.

Now, though, I can spend HOURS playing Bricks Breaking on Facebook or my cellphone. My hubby will go comatose playing Mass Effect 2, but I'd much rather play solitare on my computer. The only actual video games I enjoy playing are Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution. So, yeah.... dunno what that says about me. Probably that I'm super lame? Speaking of my better half, one of our most epic arguments happened within the first year of our marriage... he was playing Halo with one of his buddies, and asked if I wanted to give it a try. So I did, whereupon he proceeded to ANNIHILATE me six times in a row before I could even get out of the cave or wherever we started from. I was PISSED because he asked me to play, and then didn't even give me a fighting chance. Ooooh I still get mad thinking about it!

70 85  I have a buddy who invited me to play Scrabble on facebook -- she loves playing and figured I might like it.  On advice from my daughter I never took her up on it -- I'm already sitting at this computer way too much.

71 I agree on most of the listed points--men seem to be more hardwired for competition. I grew up with two older brothers, so I may have picked up some of that behavior from them (love Diablo II, Doom, stuff like that) but winning or losing at it has never really been a huge priority for me. For example, my brothers used to be annoyed as hell by my habit of just putting on the invulnerability cheat in Doom and blasting my way through hordes of demons without any consequences. The thing was, I wasn't playing it to win or break records; I was mainly doing it as stress relief.

Gaming-wise, I play a lot of Sims, Psychonauts, classic FPS (HeXen II is my favorite) and Diablo, but I want to get into Team Fortress 2. World of Warcraft doesn't appeal to me; it seems like too much bloody grind.

72 I was PISSED because he asked me to play, and then didn't even give me a fighting chance. Ooooh I still get mad thinking about it!

Now you know how I feel when my wife challenges all my misspelled words in Scrabble.

BTW, we play Scrabble on the computer over the LAN now so does that count as a computer video game?

73 I play WoW. My toon is a female. I admit that it's more of a social thing. It's fun to get liquored up and play with my sister and female cousin and laugh and laugh and laugh when they fall off a cliff into hot lava. My 3 sons (see what I did there?) LOVE to play the video games. My daughter? Meh. The only game that really gets her excited is Little Big Planet

74 That's the reason why I never let video games in my house -- kids should go outside and play.   Unfortunately, all of my boy's friends stay inside and play video.

I think I'm going to see about putting him in a riding club and that Young Explorer's Club (Cub Scouts around here is lame -- overrun with soccer mommies and fat, rude kids).

Posted by: unknown jane, humanities major, Cubs fan at June 12, 2010 10:13 AM (5/yRG)

Guitar lessons will take your boys far in life. Obsessive, yes, but good for bad weather (and the brain)... and good for attracting a future spouse (worked for my husband).

75 94  Have a professional bass player in the family -- he's already getting guitar lessons; music lessons actually -- piano, drums, and trumpet as well 

76

Bass players get all the poontang, trust me on that.

77 I play chess. All the machismo of actual combat, with significantly less bloodshed. Because a man's most important muscle is his BRAIN. (Which, like the penis, is not a muscle, but, youknowwhumsayin').

78 Unknown Jane, my oldest son is camping right now with the Navy Sea Cadets. He plays the violin and the tuba. He's an almost straight A student, one B. He's in all advanced classes at school. Has his own garden that he takes care of and helps me daily with the goats and chickens and rabbits. He also has a level 80 knight elf hunter and a level 75 Death Knight and LOVES to play Modern warfare and Little Big Planet. Moderation is key.

79

My daughters are both gamers.  They could likely beat anyone here at an FPS or Guitar Hero.

I don't play games because I consider them a non-productive time suck.  If I am going to do something for 12 hours, I want to get something out of it other than bragging rights.  Even posting here has more value because I'm keeping up with current events.

I used to play.  I stopped when I realized how much time it was costing my life.

But, admittedly, my family is not the norm...fortunately for both us and the rest of the world.

This is why women don't play video games:

Women are more dependent upon social interaction than men.  We all know women talk more than men, and you can't really talk to a video game.  I'm sure you'll find far more women who'll play board games or cards because that has something a video doesn't.

And, women want emotion in their stories, not just an adrenaline rush.  I've told my husband about a billion times that gaming companies should look into interactive romance/intrigue plotlines if they want to market to chicks.  But, they'd have to be cheap because a woman would play it once and want another one...something exactly like it but with a different location, a la a Harlequin romance novel with borderline softcore porn.  I wouldn't buy it, but a lot of women would.

80 Check out the Navy Cadets for your son! It's teh awesome!

81

I play all sorts of games, I love board games and card games. I also play video games. And I spent plenty of money at the arcade when I was younger (still do sometimes). Where I used to work the guys and I would play Quake at lunchtime.

In terms of video games though, the type of game I hate is where you have to do some sort of complex move and if you fail you die and have to start back at the beginning of the level and do everything over again so you end up having to do the same thing over and over again.

I'm a bit odd in that I am a moronette that actually likes to watch video games being played, though. Well as long as there isn't too much dizzying jarring stuff going on, sometimes they make me a bit motion sick.

82

Pac-Man Fever

83 Diablo!

I think I'll go play some now.  Game:  Bushmaster  Password: Armalite

84

Monty is spot-on with his analysis once again.

Do I like games?

Absofreakinlutely! 

Pretty much every and all games besides video games. And I think the only reason I never found an interest is because we never had them in the house growing up. We had an Atari system when it first came out. But one day my brother beat me in Pitfall and, as he tells the story, I threw it against the wall out of poor sportsmanship. I plead the Fifth on my account of that day's events

I'm naturally athletic so I still love playing sports. Everything I play now is on a co-ed team. Lots of fun. Not as competitive at this age; just a good way to unwind after work and a good excuse to go for beer and pizza afterwards!  I play golf. I love it. But I'm so awful I'll play alone  or with other people I know that can appreciate my suckitude! But other than that, everything is a team sport.

Oh and board games are BIG in my house. Of course I still have the competitive streak so I'm drawn to play with the other competitive types. However, having gone through law school with some of the most Type A obnoxious douchebags, I've toned down the aggression with the competitiveness quite a bit. It's good and healthy I think--but only in small doses. Not everything in life is (or should be) a competition.

85 Here's your answer, Monty: I reject the use of the word "man" in your post. Period.

86 I really like video games but usually as a solo exercise. Mostly FPS like Halo or Gears of War.

If I want to do social gaming I play tabletop RPGs like Pathfinder, D&D, Shadowrun or whatever. I rather see my friends face-to-face then play on the computer in WoW or DDO.

And while I'm not a particularly aggressive person I do enjoy the thrill of victory much more than any of the women who play with us I think. The girls like to be part of the group...the rest is just fluff for them.

87 Video games are fun.  Girls have cooties.  Res ipsa.

88 I'm a gamer-chick. My drug of choice is D&D. Of course that's more cooperative than a lot of types of  games, but it still involves killin' and getting levels and lootin', and you are in a sort of competition with the DM. It is still a fairly heavily dude oriented game, though, but I'm sort of a left-em (Asimove reference), and find the people that hyperventilate about "how do we get more females into gaming???" are kind of stupid. They have forums at the company's website that go on and on and on about this, like it's some big gamer-dude conspiracy to keep the wimmins down.

Whatever. So yeah, I think your basic premise is sound.

89

103  Being from the land of corn and bean fields, there is no Navy Cadet program, but there is the Civil Air Patrol -- which we're going to put him in when he's a little older(he wants to fly jets or choppers when he grows up -- he also wants to join the Marines, marry a girl that looks like Grace Park...become a plastic surgeon, and come home and live with us -- ah, the dreams of youth).  We let him shoot his bow and arrow and BB gun (despite lots of instruction, he isn't the most safety Sam, so he doesn't get turned loose with the real guns until he can learn to be a bit more aware).

Blazer, my son is 11, and remarkably pure of heart -- I don't really want my boy and...poontang...equating together at this point; it's bad enough that he's already noticing that some "chicks are hot" 

90

Blazer, my son is 11, and remarkably pure of heart -- I don't really want my boy and...poontang...equating together at this point; it's bad enough that he's already noticing that some "chicks are hot" 

Posted by: unknown jane, humanities major, Cubs fan at June 12, 2010 11:08 AM (5/yRG)

Hey, I have three of my own, two of em' teenagers, so I feel your pain.

91 113 He's not the one I really worry about -- the girls are a different matter (because they are girls, and because the boy is the one who is the most pure of heart; he's the quintessential good guy -- the girls are aggressive little valkyries in this house...I hope for the men's sake that no wimpy guys get caught up by them; they'll be eaten alive).

92 Video games are ok but Board Games rule

93 That has been sadly true for a long time... but it is changing.  I am very lucky to have a girlfriend who loves God of War and whatever else I bring home.  I also know a 30-something housewife who could give anyone a run for their money in Halo or COD.  But these are exceptions, really.

Game publishers are acutely aware of the huge potential in the female demographic.  Yes, there are probably more women involved in the making of a sports game like Madden NFL than there are who actually play it. Games like The Sims, however, have enjoyed a much broader appeal to young women and has been one of the most successful game franchises ever.  Games that feature simple, fun for the whole family are gaining popularity (there are even Wii versions of classic Hasbro board games).  Family gameplay is a great way to get the parents involved in the gaming experience and familiar with using the consoles.  The 38-year-old mom who plays Boom Blox with her kids is the ideal customer for titles like Wii Fit and Wii Active, and the fitness gaming genre has exploded in the past few years.

Decent gaming has always required a high-end PC or expensive, complicated console to hook to the TV... barriers to the female consumer for various reasons.  But now there are iPhones and Blackberrys and of course Facebook, devices and services that women already own or use.  One word: Farmville

So yes... the female gamer has long been an overlooked demographic, and will probably never like sports games or shooters... but the industry is rapidly changing and it knows the value of the woman consumer.

94 I'm really excited about the Lego Harry Potter game. I played the demo and it was fun so, when that comes out I'll probably pick it up. I also really like the Sly Cooper series and the Fable series. Other than that (and the occasional venture onto POGO online), I don't care about gaming much. I'd prefer to read.

My husband, OTOH, loves gaming. Since I'm stuck watching him game a lot, I don't mind games with good stories, like Alan Wake for example. Red Dead Redemption isn't too bad because the atmosphere is pretty cool and the main story line and some of the quests are interesting. But the shooters make me want to beat my head into a wall.

And for the life of me, I will never understand my husband having to be so completion-ist about his games. I have no problem going for all the extra stuff if it actually adds to the gameplay. For example, in Sly Cooper if you manage to get all the chest keys in all the levels you get new moves to use. That adds an extra element to the game play the first time or two around. But having to go through Borderlands for the 12th time to try and get some uber-rare weapon that randomly drops and that you won't even use because you've already beaten the game 11 times is just silly. Or having to go back through a game to do some random silly action 5 times to unlock an "achievement" and get 5 gamer points, which adds absolutely nothing to the game at all. I don't understand that. It's got to be the male competition thing.

95
Posted by: unknown jane, humanities major, Cubs fan at June 12, 2010 11:15 AM (5/yRG)



We don't have any girls, we decided to stop after three boys because....well, we didn't want to end up with enough to start up a football team before we got one cheerleader.

Fortunately I have one niece who is a little sweetheart that I get to see a lot. Its great to take her out and let her pick out dolls and whatnot, kinda fills in that missing spot.

96 We let him shoot his bow and arrow and BB gun

OMG!!! My son LOVES the bow and arrow and BBgun. Not sure I'd let mine use a real gun yet either. He doesn't like his little sister too much.

The Navy Cadets are in every state. It is possible that they might not be in your area, which is a shame because it's like Boy Scouts, cept without me being asked to be Den Leader every year. http://tinyurl.com/2whz6eb

97 "I can't count the number of hours of my life I've wasted playing Diablo and Dragon Quest, only to sit back afterwards and think, Well, great, that's eighty hours of my precious free-time gone; what the hell did I do that for?" (Sadly?) I can relate to that statement.

98 ``...do you like to play games? Not necessarily video games, but any games? Are you a solo player or a group player? Do you play to win or do you just enjoy playing, win or lose?''

Generally, not interested in games.  I'll play Scrabble or Monopoly if there are enough people around who want to, but frankly I don't care if I win or not.  

99

118 My girls -- made a bunch of little snowmen one year, lined up against the backyard fence, tied the horses' leg wraps around their little heads, stuck a cig in their little snowmen mouths...and proceeded to execute them with the paintball guns...

which explained why, when I went for a smoke, all my cigs were wet and stained with red stuff, but I digress...

Their Barbies had their own Tonkas along with their Barbie dream horses, and they stole their GI Joe's gear.

 

119 When I was his age I was trusted with the real stuff, so were his sisters -- but the boy just isn't ready for that.  It's nerve wracking enough with the bow and the BB gun (yeah, I worry about him shooting his eye out -- or somebody else's).

100

Women play men, by ancient rules

Generally speaking, women are more flexible socially, men are more logical and competitive but less adaptive socially. It's also a stress relief. Women  tend to  vent  verbally  while men are venting through the game competition. 

I personally hate wasting my time. On occasion I'd play chess (even though my husband fidns it boring) or scrabbles or Monopoly with kids, but overall I'm not a big sport or videogames fan. But 2 of my 3 daughters are absolutely addicted to videogames. Is it a new generation of women we're talking about?

101 Thanks for the link to the Cadets -- sounds like a lot of fun, but no, not in my area.  Bummer.

102 I only play Atari, because it's the only game system that I own. I have about 30 games, but most of them are incredibly boring. Still have my little Garfield box with all the game booklets I've kept. Mostly play Pitfall, Frogger, Pole Position, Empire Strikes Back, Fast Eddie & Tennis. E.T. and Raiders of the Lost Ark are the worst. Loved Nintendo as a teenager. Now I can't really afford to buy any new system. Not exactly a priority of mine. I played Wii Bowling once. I was bored to tears.

103 This is a good sight for gaming Boardgame geek

This too Consimworld

104 Hi,  my name is Alex and I'm a gamer.  I play both WoW and Aion (I'll get to that in a bit), I am crack addicted to Civ IV and I love me some FPS.  I also suck, out loud, at FPS, but I do love playing them.

I'm primarily a solo player, even in WoW and Aion.  There is just so much fucking drama in grouping, from who gets loot to omg you suck and on and on.  Interestingly, in WoW I do love to play in the battlegrounds.  Yes, that's still a group but there are so many people involved and the objectives are clear enough that the drama is far less.

I didn't really think about it until now but my main characters in both WoW and Aion are female.  I don't get that much harassment but I don't really participate in the chatting/social aspect that much. 

Now to the WoW/Aion comparison.  I stepped away from WoW for about four months because I was becoming That Person and I knew it.  I started playing Aion far more heavily and I noted how much more the game is designed to appeal to the girly part of girls.  One of the big draws for Aion is how highly customizable the characters are and that you have wings.  I won't lie, the having wings part is what drew me in.  Aion is far, far less immediate gratification than WoW.  That's both good and bad.  I don't mind working to level.  I do mind blowing through all the quests in my level range and being only 1/3 of the way to the next level.  That's not a male/female thing, though, most of the Aion players are complaining about that as well.

I freely admit to being hyper competitive.  That's actually a family trait, my family plays games constantly and it's amazing how cut throat a game of Sorry can get.  So, I'm not the best source here.

105 I beat my girlffriend in a game of Marvel vs. Capcom 2? She's done. Controller is down and she's off to something else. I beat my male friend at the same game? He calls me an expletive and demands a rematch. Competition, and the destruction of one's enemies, is a HUGE part of it. It is for me. And the game designers know it. They know every little achievement bu-blup sound only invigorates my advance in illusory social heirarchy. They know the thrill of making the game-winning kill in a tense online FPS battle. It's an addictive drug. Conan had it right when he said it was best in life to crush your enemies. See them driven before you. And hear the lamentations of their women.

106 These are some of the best games IMO

MMP

107 For the record my wife hates them...haaaaaaaaaates them.

I think she burned a few without me knowing.

Boardgames that is..

108 39 I would play Farm Town too, if my could defend my farm from being periodically attacked and ransacked by marauding gangs of Orcs. That game would RULE.
------------------
Especially if you could *also* periodically rase a gang of Orcs to go marauding on your neighbors' farms.

My wife plays WoW and Farmville obsessively. She was into Mafia Wars for a while, but seems to have given it up.

The only reason I have a facebook page is that she created one in my name so that she could hire herself into her mafia and to work her farm. I only got involved when she wanted to know who these old high school folks that started popping out of the woodwork demanding to be friends were.

109 Not much on shooters. I prefer PC games like Civilization, Caeser types, railroad and business sims, god games my daughter calls them. I grew up in the 50's and 60's long before even Pong and wish we had this stuff back then. It's a good way to blow off steam from work and since truck driving has such long and weird hours I find myself in off hours when others are working or sleeping. It's also hard to do things like a bowling or softball league since you have no real schedule. My son is more into the sports games on PS and my daughters like the puzzle and matching games. Good ways to kill time and the mental aspects help to keep your brain exercised.

110 Vic's List of the Top Computer Games of all time:

Civilization II - combined the best of the original with better graphics. Also allowed you to edit the game files. Was one of the first games ever to do this.  This is most likely the best PC game of all time.

Sim City 2000 - Best sim game of all time (note I don't consider Flight Sim to be a "game")

Heroes of might and Magic - II - again good graphics combined with the best of the original game play. Also included a map editor.  This was probably the best of the entire series.  By the tine they got to IV the game was so buggy it couldn't be played even with multiple patches.   This game would also allow multiple play over the LAN which I had hooked up via phone lines.

Age of Empires - combined the lure of Civilization with real time strategy. Also, this was the first of the games that I had that would allow play via modem over the phone with someone else. 

Leisure Suit Larry - The entire franchise was the Moron's dream game.

Links/Jack Nicholas - These are the best of the PC golf games for realistic play and graphics.  Links has the best graphics but too bad the course editor was teh major sukitude. Links would also allow game play over a phone modem. Jack Nicholas Golf was the one I originally liked because of the editor. A coworker who lived down the street from me also had a version of this.  Any time we played a course one of us would use our score card and memory of the course to design a computer version of it. We had hundreds of courses built and did not have to rely on the game retailer.  The last version of a PC golf game I got was Tiger Woods. It sucked.

111 I love the historical conflict simulations. Boardgames have given me more insight to historic battles and the immeasurable what-if's than through just reading a book on the subject.

From Stalingrad to El Alamien,  D-Day to Guadalcanal I've learned more than I ever thought I would and have had a blast doing it and will do for the rest of my life.

112 My ex-wife got me thinking about this. Our conversations would go like this: [Monty]: Hey, hon, come in here and check this out! I just nailed a level 9 grue! [She]: A level 9 what's it now? [Monty]: Grue. The boss Grue. And I killed him with my level 6 Paladin character! [She]: What' a paladin? [Monty]: Kind of like a soldier, only he can use magic too. But not a mage -- that's more of a magician who can also fight. [She]: Uh-huh. And your guy killed the bad guy? [Monty]: My level 6 buy beat a level 9 grue! Without chugging health-potions or casting protection spells on myself or leech-life spells on the grue! [She]: Uh-huh. What's a grue? [Monty]: Well, kind of a cross between a zombie and a ghoul, I guess. Kind of. Except they can wield melee weapons at higher hit-points. [She]: (Sighing) And this pleases you? [Monty]: You're not getting me, babe! I killed that fucker without a Vorpal sword or anything. At level 6! That's like...I dunno...winning the Super Bowl or something! It's incredible! [She]: Did you go to the store yet and buy some milk and bread? We're out. [Monty]: Our relationship is over.

113

Many moons ago when I played soccer (yeah, I know) I was competitive because I was pretty good. When I play golf, I'm not competitive at all because I suck. When I say suck, I mean if I shoot under 120 and I don't have to crawl to the car afterwards, it's a good day.

I'm not a video gamer but back in the day me and my buddies would play Axis and Allies all the time. The games would last 4+ hours because we really got into it.

Ladies were not involved in any of that, not because we didn't want them to but because they never asked.

114 My short take is that sports and video games are a replacement for war and hunting in modern men.  Not real exciting to hunt your food over at McD's.

It is interesting to note that tetris was the first game that was more popular with women than men, probably due to the ordering and putting things in its place.  My mom was addicted for a while.  Also once the Sims moved past simcity, women really went crazy on that one for the social aspects.

115

Casual and flash games may not be the most glamorous segment of the industry, but they are disproportionately popular with women. Not everyone enjoys "big" game releases such as shooters which are predominated by trash-talking hyper-competitive young men. But we can't say women aren't likely to be gamers without taking a hard look at what games women actually choose to play.

Yep, yep, yep. I like to play on the computer, but I don't really enjoy games where I'm both attacking and being attacked all the time. I want to be challenged some, but not to the level of strategy in Civilization or anything. Diner Dash level challenge. Some things

Garden Defense is a good one.

In terms of video games though, the type of game I hate is where you have to do some sort of complex move and if you fail you die and have to start back at the beginning of the level and do everything over again so you end up having to do the same thing over and over again.

Yeh, that's why I never could get into certain games, like Mario on my husband's old Nintendo.

Currently, I've been in the habit of having two browser windows open and watching shows on Hulu in one window and playing a version of Mahjong that is less annoying than all the other versions, and while it's switching levels or playing a commercial, I check blogs.

But, um, some level of ADD might have something to do with that...

116 I play WoW, have since I stopped jacking the shit outta fools in Planetside 5 years ago. Now, it's the same fools only it's with sword and board as a Pally instead of a heavy with a jackhammer.

Wow as a video game is mediocre at best. It's been nerfed so hard for so many years, that I'm convinced your average head of lettuce could level to 80 without much problem(keep your comments to yourself morons).

It does however do one thing, keep people on the treadmill. I've quit three times, and have come back 4, I don't raid anymore, just hit people in the face.

There are I think a hell of a lot more females playing wow than say Planetside, but then, it's hard to say with certainty, you really have no idea who's on the other side of that toon standing there.

It's mostly a time killer for me, I watch the news and read blogs while waiting for battlegrounds to start.

I still compete in archery, still shoot sporting clays/skeet/5 stand, still hunt and fish. But it's mostly a way for me to unwind from the day, talk to my buds in other states, and /lol when you wtfpwn someone with a couple of chain crits.

Best description I have of WoW is, it's a chat window with pretty good graphics.

117 One thing about games in general, men do not take losing to a woman very well. I'm really good at arcade Ms. Pac-Man. I absolutely refuse to battle a male at this game. Beating them starts a downward spiral of crankiness, pouting, bratty comments and then silence. It is ridiculous. Any other game, I'm okay with losing. I pretty much suck at every other game & sport. But, not Ms. Pac-Man!

118 One thing about games in general, men do not take losing to a woman very well at all to anyone.

FTFY

119 139 Wow as a video game is mediocre at best. It's been nerfed so hard for so many years, that I'm convinced your average head of lettuce could level to 80 without much problem(keep your comments to yourself morons).
----------------
As a gamer, I *am* pretty much your average head of lettuce. Since I have four level 80 toons, I'll have to agree with you.
 

120 Posted by: Vic at June 12, 2010 12:03 PM (6taRI) It's a different reaction, though, when they lose to another man.

121 One thing about games in general, men do not take losing to a woman very well. It's the male mind at work. We play to win. Losing sucks. Not just losing to girls (though that twists the knife), but losing to anybody. We don't play "just for fun" or to "meet people". We play to win. I think that's the biggest difference in sportsmanship between men and (most) women. Remember, kids: if winning isn't important, we wouldn't bother keeping score. All second place means is that you're the first loser.

122

I beat my girlfriend in a game of Marvel vs. Capcom 2? She's done. Controller is down and she's off to something else. I beat my male friend at the same game? He calls me an expletive and demands a rematch. Competition, and the destruction of one's enemies, is a HUGE part of it.

Yeh, back in the day, I enjoyed Risk on the computer, but didn't like playing it with other people (off the computer, I mean, negociating and stuff) because they got all mad and stuff.

123 Mass Effect 1 and 2, Red Dead Redemption, Warhammer Online for a while, City of Heroes, Lord of the Rings Online, DDO, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, Bad Company 2...

Before I started working out and running again, the xbox 360 and online pc games confiscated my life.

My wife loves Mahjong Safari. Anything with too much story or action and her eyes glaze over.

Pro:
1. Once I buy the games I get a 40-100 hour movie that I'm the star of. And the plots and premise is usually a billion times better than any crap Hollywood is churning out.

2. Video games helped me quit drinking. I recommend them during this process.

3. Sometimes you can meet some really cool people online playing.

Cons:

1. They destroy most motivation to physically move. They will turn you into a comic book store guy real fast.

2. They tend to encourage eating junk food like pizza rolls and nachos and kettle chips and licorice bites and microwave burritos... I'll be right back.






3. They can kill time that should be spent with family and friends in real life.

4. Online video games will destroy your inner censor, making you curse like a drunken sailor getting raped by a walrus on fire.

5. You will begin to loath any male gamer child from age 9-17. Because these little exploiting bastards cheat so gawddamn much you just want to squeeze their little cheating heads off!

124 "...only to sit back afterwards and think, 'Well, great, that's eighty hours of my precious free-time gone; what the hell did I do that for?'"

And that's what makes you smart. You actually realized the timesink in your midst - a little late to avoid but realizing the ultimate outcome nonetheless. Of course, if you had only specialized in Donkey Kong and acted like El Douch-o Supremo, you could have parlayed that time into a paying gig with the accolades of tens of pathetic fanboys; so maybe my throwing around the "smart" tag is a bit premature.

125
some of you better sit down for this...

anyone over the age of 17 who still plays video is a fucking loser.

126

141  It's true -- men hate losing, men doubly hate losing to another person, men really hate losing to women.

Although I think the personality of the individual does come into play: my husband can be a sore loser, but our eldest (a girl) is just as bad if not worse (which might have something to do with age -- the mellowing influence has not happened to her yet).

127 And when a guy named fishdicks says it, ya gotta take it seriously.

I feel so cold and alone now.

128

Online video games will destroy your inner censor, making you curse like a drunken sailor getting raped by a walrus on fire.

I don't know what you are talking about and I did not come this close to saying "bite me" in an inappropriate work setting after getting in the habit of muttering it at the computer.

129 "Not just losing to girls (though that twists the knife), but losing to anybody." That's what I was referring to, that extra knife twisting. I once played a game of HORSE with two guys. I beat the first guy and he pushes me over and then starts acting like a dick towards me. The other guy beats him in the next game and they high-five - "good game good game!". WTF!

130 You actually realized the timesink in your midst - a little late to avoid but realizing the ultimate outcome nonetheless. Oh, I think any reasonably self-aware gamer comes to realize the existential pointlessness of "winning" a video game. I love the long RPG games like Mass Effect, Dragon Quest, Diablo, and the like: I've spent literally thousands of hours over the years playing games like that. But in a sense, it is a terrible waste -- it builds no particularly useful skills, it detracts from the time you have to ineract with real people in real life*, and it tends to aggravate the worst aspects of the male psyche (obsession, aggression, completism, etc.). *Well, not me so much because I hate people. But, you know, other people who have actual friends and acquaintances.

131 Another good thing about video games:

It got my wife to try shooting my real guns after seeing them on Call of Duty. Now she's a damn good shot.

132 anyone over the age of 17 who still plays video is a fucking loser I'm telling Mom.

133

152  Getting your husband with a head shot is the fast track to a day of grumpy husband, although it was really, really fun at the moment.

It was all fun and games at first, when he suggested it (and was kicking my butt), but then...bwahahhaah (and in his defense, he's not a bad loser -- for a guy).

134 I think it's more the competition thing, than this thing:

Males also seem to have an ability for a narrower and longer-term focus on task

How many male quilters do you know? 

135 two comments about my wife and other females in my circles of friends. 1) when we played WoW, my wife was a healer and much more into the social aspects of the game and less into her own raw stats or achievements. Her goals were to get all the little pets or outfits in the game while making sure everyone was having fun together. Even when we raided. Same was mostly true for the other females. 2) She is now into this board gaming group that meets a couple of times a month. She loves going and hanging out and playing. She almost never plays to really win and gets her feelings hurt when people intentionally knock her out of any game.

136 Some guys love it when their wife beats them. Or excels at video games.

137 160  Guys love it better when they win against said female.

138 How many male quilters do you know? Believe it or not (I swear I'm not lying), four. Two uncles and two cousins. The two uncles also do leatherwork and decorative stitching (they refuse to call it needlepoint). One of my great-uncles was a tailor who married a seamstress, and they passed it down to their children. My uncles carry it on as a (pretty profitable) side-business. But your point is still valid.

139 I mean 159, and there was no way I was going to use the word "beat", lol.

140

You nailed it, sifty. Especially #5 con. My daughters won't watch Jeopardy with me. It's called "revenge".

Something just dinged in the kitchen. Later, man.

141 My husband knits (shh, don't let him know I let his secret out) -- it's a way for him to relax when he can't garden (he does not relax while playing cards or any other type of game/sport -- too concerned about winning).

142 "Oh, I think any reasonably self-aware gamer..."

See, that's another keyword. Not being a gamer, I'm surely painting with a broad brush; but if one recognizes stereotyping, the self-awareness thing - or lack of it - is real. If you need incontestable, bona fide proof, think War Games and backdoors. I rest my case.

143 If you need incontestable, bona fide proof, think War Games and backdoors. Mr. Potato Head! Mr. Potato Head! Back doors are not secrets! Remember when you told me to tell you when you were acting rudely and insensitively? Well, you're doing it right now.

144

I once played a game of HORSE with two guys. I beat the first guy and he pushes me over and then starts acting like a dick towards me. The other guy beats him in the next game and they high-five - "good game good game!". WTF!

I once played P-I-G with a male friend of mine. He got to  P-I-G-S before I even hit the letter "P". Having won, I went to walk off the court and he said, 'hey wait, this game's not over! I get to 'dot the 'i'''.  I couldn't believe what a spoiled sport he was. I guarantee he would have laughed and asked for the best two-out-of-three if I were a guy.

145 @161
Well that's cool.  I would've expected that answer from AmishDude more than you, Monty. 

But as for the focus thing, it may be more to do with "zoning out" type of focus than "focus focus."  In my old field (electron microscopy) there was a lot of detailed, tedious, close focus technical work -- women technicians tended to excel at that, which tends to argue against your original point.  But things like quilting or knitting or scrapbooking or some of those sorts of "female" hobbies really are something you can do without completely zoning out.  Whereas it seems that these video games turn the players into zombies.

146 gotta keep it light.

I suggest a new video game:

Fiddle Hero:
While Rome Burns, The Obama Chronicles

Players attempt to play famous violin and fiddle favorites as Nero or Barak Obama. All to a backdrop of burning cities, riots, illegals sneaking across the border, terrorist attacks, stock market crashes, mortgage foreclosures, etc.

If you can play Devil Went Down to Georgia, you unlock the Lyndon Johnson character and can fiddle while Congress loses Vietnam.

147

I love to play games; play by myself; still wistfully hope for the return of Duke Nukem.  OTOH, I do like games with "pretty" graphics" and mostly play games with puzzles I have to figure out.  OTOOH, I also play simple "card" and time-management games, to see if I can first beat the game's scores, and then my own scores.

Don't play WoW or others because all the jibber-jabber bugs me.  Shut up and focus on the game!

148 169 gotta keep it light.

I suggest a new video game

After two and a half decades in academe, Mr. Y-not and I have decided we really have enough material to develop a new game.  We're going to call it "Acadoomed." 

149 WOW - pajama mama, THANK YOU! My daughter is 12, and has stated a deep interest in attending the Naval Academy. I had not hear of the Cadet program, but indeed we have a unit here in Raleigh, NC. She is reading the website as we speak - she nearly fell over when seeing this opportunity. Cannot thank you enough!

Wodeshed, would be glad to shoot sporting clays with you. I live in Durham...

150 A video game that follows an Obama voter trying to get a job in 2013 would be hilarious.

151 171  That could be hilarious -- I'd love to hear the details.

152

it detracts from the time you have to ineract with real people in real life

It can, but it doesn't have to. When my oldest was about 5, we found a game called Insaniquarium. You have to find fish, collect money and occasionally fight aliens. He couldn't play much of it alone, so I'd play it with my toddler in my lap and the other two right next to me. It led to all sorts of learning and talking together, like any other family togetherness can.

We play games together, we talk about games, the kids spend time playing real life variations on games (they've spent 10 times more time being Pokemon and Pokemon trainers than watching the show or playing the games). My oldest reads about games and really started spelling more quickly and easily so he could communicate in Club Penguin.

We play some straight out educational games (computer and board--what's better for basic math than Monopoly?) and just find something to learn from other games.

Games are a part of our lives and I don't look at them bad or life-sucking. If I notice someone has been playing for a long time alone, I might suggest different activities. Usually Mama saying "let's wrestle" or "let's go outside" is enough to keep it from getting to the life sucking level.

153 But things like quilting or knitting or scrapbooking or some of those sorts of "female" hobbies really are something you can do without completely zoning out. I still think that men are more able to achieve deep focus over long periods of time, though. I think that's why men tend to dominate the high-achiever ranks highly-symbolic disciplines like math and computer science as well. I've read some cognitive scientists who think that males in general have autistic tendencies; that the disease we call autism is actually just an extreme form of a tendency that all males share. I'm not saying that it's a good thing, necessarily, just that it exists. I make the analogy that women process in parallel much better than men do on average ("multitasking"), but that men operate at a higher specific-task speed. Women tend to aggregate; men tend to refine. Women tend to approach problems holistically; men tend to be reductionist. These are generalizations, of course, but very well-founded in behavioral studies over the years.

154 175  Yeah, overall I'd rather have the kids playing games than sitting in front of the tv.

155

After a lifetime driving truck, I'd like one where you run other vehicles off the road.

Buses filled with ACORN types going from polling place to polling place gets you bonuses.

156 You got it Monty. My wife and I will start cleaning the garage, for instance, and I'll spend a half hour getting the deep sink spotless and she has already organized half of the garage.

As she puts it, "Nobody cleans as thoroughly as a man, if they'd only get off their asses and clean."

157

As mentioned before, I'm not a gamer but if someone came out with a game where you were an armed citizen shooting members of Earth Liberation Front activists while they try to burn down ski resorts and blow up oil rigs, I could definitely get into that.

Throw in some ANSWER dipshits and I'll pay an extra ten bucks!

158

After a lifetime driving truck, I'd like one where you run other vehicles off the road.

My son and I used to play this great online game where you were racing trucks against each other and a couple computer generated trucks. It was an off-road track...which probably isn't the right term, because it doesn't make sense, but that's not important right now. You could bump the other trucks into the wall.

Good times, but it's not available any more. I hope there is something similar on the Wii, if and when we ever get one.

159 Yeah, overall I'd rather have the kids playing games than sitting in front of the tv.

I probably should have mentioned we don't have a TV in our home, well we have one, but for pre-selected videos only and for video games.

There's no way in hell I'd let my kids watch even Cartoon Network unattended. Some of those commercials are baaaaaaaaaad.

160

176  I don't know if it's so much focusing capablities as it is different forms of focus.  Men do seem to be much more capable of linear thought -- more able to do it, more able to focus in that way -- as opposed to women who do seem to be much more holistic in their mental approaches to problems.  I can see where that might translate into questions about focusing ablities, but perhaps it isn't so much ability or lack thereof as it is different forms of the same?

I also don't think one is necessarily better than the other overall -- it would depend upon the circumstance. Also, there seem to be some men and women who can cross the gender line in regards to what mental approach they take, which would explain the people who buck the generality.

All in all, isn't it wonderful that we have the opposite gender around as life would be much harder and certainly more boring without them?

161 You are all just jealous of my macho manliness, admit it!

162 WOW - pajama mama, THANK YOU! My daughter is 12, and has stated a deep interest in attending the Naval Academy. I had not hear of the Cadet program, but indeed we have a unit here in Raleigh, NC. She is reading the website as we speak - she nearly fell over when seeing this opportunity. Cannot thank you enough!

You cannot know how that thrills me!! It's SUCH an excellent program.If I can figure out how to let the whole world know about it, I will do it. I have noticed a difference in my son's attitude about life from the first moment. He went from wanting to be a game designer NTTAWWT, to wanting to be a Navy Seal. This summer he gets to go to Camp Roberts in Northern California for a week and have a mini bootcamp. He's thrilled.

Right now he's camping with them in the mountains with all their gear and living on M.R.E's and killing each other with squirt guns. I think it's called "tactical" or something like that. I was cracking up when I dropped him off because the officers were talking about what kind of food they brought for themselves because there's no way in heck they were gonna eat the MRE's. The guys and gals who run it are all volunteers. They don't get paid.

One thing, if your group is anything like ours, it took them about a month and a half to get back to me after I emailed them asking about their program. Don't be disheartened if they take a while.

163 148
some of you better sit down for this...

anyone over the age of 17 who still plays video is a fucking loser.

Posted by: fishdicks at June 12, 2010 12:15 PM (1bYx1)

that really hurts coming from a "guy" named "fishdicks"

164 Why are men so much more drawn to video games than women are?

I still load up and play Doom 3 on occasion...

165 Unclefacts, AoSHQ Professional Debate Team


I'm in  Thorium Brotherhood. The name is Somamalis if you ever want to say hi.Pronounced Soma malees

I also have a character named "anicechianti" my sister is "favabeans" and my hubby is "Iatehisliver" It amuses me when we stand together

166 er, maybe it's soma maleece?

167

``...do you like to play games? Not necessarily video games, but any games? Are you a solo player or a group player? Do you play to win or do you just enjoy playing, win or lose?''

Long time lurker (posted maybe twice) female here.   In my family growing up, card and board games were the big item.  Euchre, gin rummy, hearts, Rook, Monopoly and Scrabble.  Serious stuff with my mother being one of the most competive of all of us.  She was also a damn good card player...killer level ruthless.   I'd put her competive level up against any guy any time.    It was partly social, partly family bonding time for me so I miss it now that my parents are gone since my two brothers and I are one person short of a decent Rook game.   I still enjoy a cutthroat game of cards, but my hubby isn't big on card games.

In high school and college, I got into RPG games big time.  D&D, Runequest, Traveller, so I prefer those type of computer games as well.  Enjoyed the stories and character development as much as the "loot dungeon, kill orc" stuff, but still was pretty competitive.  Don't care for FPSs very much.  Too high a learning curve to get really good and I just don't have the time.  Have avoided WoW because I KNOW I'd get hooked in big time and I just can't afford to have it take over my life.  I like the mindless mahjong, Chuzzle type games for stress relief.

But my true addictive game of choice is Civ IV, single player.  That I can play for hours and hours on end.  Just...one...more...turn....

Nothing better than Civ IV Total World Domination, especially when you manage to take down both Montezuma and Tokugawa in the same game. hehehe

168 Hallo, I'm a chick and I play video games. Pretty much exclusively j-rpgs, although I sometimes enjoy racing games and mass slaughter-y action games. I can't stand FPS (not because I don't like guns, the gameplay just doesn't do it for me), and MMO's are the biggest waste of life and, more importantly - money - ever. Although I did used to play FFXI a little before I realized how many console games I could have bought with the money I blew on it... I'm 23, and yes, I admit to being a total fucking loser.

169

One thing that no one has really touched on, except maybe Monty, is having games where you can design your own maps.

I used to play Steel Panthers. Loved it, and you could also make your own scenario. Nothing like doing a map of your own neighborhood, and having the German Army invade it.

Plus from that game I learned more about WWII weapons and armor then I ever got from any history book.

170 And it would figure I would arrive too late for a thread on my favorite subject.

171

Actually HH, that's one of the things I like best about Civ IV.  Lots of custom game options even for the regular player and there's some seriously excellent modding done in the community. 

I used to play some of the WWI and II RPG/strategy games and you're absolutely correct...you can learn HUGE amounts from them. 

172 I play games, pretty much any kind. Grew up in a family that played cards, dominoes, board games and the like. I've played video games since the first Asteroids came out and before that, I was a pinball wizard. My first gaming system was the Nintendo 64 and I mastered Legend of Zelda. These days, I play Mafia Wars over on FB (as a time waster), also have several computer games I play including Diablo, Dungeon Keeper, and Doom. Also like stuff like Mah Jong, cross word puzzles and suduko. Pretty much anything that is intellectually stimulating.

173 Actually HH, that's one of the things I like best about Civ IV.

Kirin, you should try Civ - III for the best game editor. CivIV has better graphics but III is the better of the games.

174

Posted by: Kirin at June 12, 2010 01:54 PM (tg14e)

You also learn how hard it must be to be a game designer.

"Oh, I think I'll just make a little map".

Five hours later...

175 I did love Civ III big time.  As you say, most excellent game editor!  But I've gotten used to the game play of Civ IV Beyond the Sword with the newest patch (3.19).  I enjoy how they put religion into the game, though I do hate how Civ IV handles espionage and diplomacy.    Have been hanging out in the civfanatic and apolyton forums to get an idea of Civ V, but am sooo not sure about it.  While the old RPG gamer in me likes the idea of hexagon maps, I'm just not sure what the single unit bit is going to mean for combat.  I know a bunch of people that are unhappy about the loss of SOD.  lol

176 @HH.  Amen!  I have nothing but awe for the modders in the Civ community!  The level of detail they have to generate to create new scenarios/maps/civilizations is absolutely incredible!   I'm happy to just use the custom game options to make my little play times.  lol

177  I play video games sort of regularly.  Pretty much anything if it's interesting, allows custom characters, and isn't a sports or modern warfare game.  I will play games with male protagonists, but allowing a custom character increases immersion.  However, I rarely ever finish games because of the grind.  Give me a short, fun game over hours and hours of stretched out plot.  Probably why I do so horribly in online games, in which I play solo.  I hate being forced to group in online games, which means leveling is a pain in the ass, especially in the upper tiers.  I am not a social player.

As to female protagonist games, it depends.  Tomb Raider is pretty good because of the puzzles and it was the first game I found that had a girl as the main focus without being in distress.  Why play Bayonetta when you have Devil May Cry?  Bayonetta throws me off due to the hypersexualization, but I'll still play the demo.
This is why I play Fallout, Mass Effect, Unreal Tournament, Dragon Age: Origins, and Monster Hunter etc - it doesn't matter if you're playing as male or female.  You get to choose what your character looks like, increasing attachment to the story.  It's a bonus that you can create female characters that don't look like bimbos.

I like the sims, but pretty much just build houses.  The rest of the game is pretty boring without heavy cheating.  It's also not smart enough yet.

As far as other games, I think the ones with set dialogue and voice actors can suck because you're stuck with certain characterizations.  See: Alan Wake.  Good story, but the main character is a weak, namby pamby male who can't throw a punch.  It's hard to get into the game with that kind of main character.

The Mario universe is very good.  Enjoyable, fun, and not overly violent.

Outside of that, I like puzzle games.  They're addicting.  Off the computer, board games can be fun, especially scrabble.  I used to be class champion of Othello, but I've lost the touch for that now.

178 Folks, it just broke a 100 on my front porch (North side of the house in the shade)

179 Chick moron here. I've been playing video games since the early 80s, with my family's Atari. My dad thought he could beat me at it, but my 8-yr-old self was much quicker on the draw than daddy. Think of Homer v. Bart in that boxing game. Yeah, that bad. Just got finished doing a couple hours of the Lego Indiana Jones 2 game on the Wii. Have done 100% on the Lego Star Wars, Lego Indy 1, other stuff. I like blowing things up & I like problem-solving games. Used to be big on Infocom/King's Quest type stuff when I was a kid. I wish there were more games like that.

180 I would love to see them bring back some of those 80 and early 90s strategy games except with improved graphics. Leave the game engines the same, just make better pictures.

What I have seen lately is lame games with great graphics and you have to wait for at least 3 major fixes before it will even work right.

There is a reason console games are winning out even though in my opinion they aren't as good.

181 Oh, and I used to play Magic the Gathering when I was in college. I didn't spend lots of money on it, so my decks were weak [hell, I sold my Black Lotus to a friend who was a hardcore gamer].... so I played to screw with people. If you were playing to win, I could totally fuck up your game. I never was much interested in 2-player games, b/c w/ more than 1 player I could play people off each other. I played poker the same way. A couple fave games -- once, I killed all 3 of us off at the same time. No winner. B/c I was so weak, one game the other 2 beat each other up, and then when one was left, his points were so low I easily offed him in two rounds. [they never let me do that again] My fave deck was my schizoid deck - black/white... highly defensive + extremely evil moves. I loved that sort of stuff. And I wrote poems about some of the games I won: http://marypat.org/stuff/mywords/victory.txt http://marypat.org/stuff/mywords/vic2.html good times, good times. now i just mess with my kids' heads.

182 Used to be big on Infocom/King's Quest type stuff when I was a kid. I wish there were more games like that. You should give Dragon Age a try. (I think I called it "Dragon Quest" earlier.) It's very much in the dungeon-crawling, hack-n-slash mode. I lost many many hours to that game. If you like WoW but aren't a MMORPG kind of person (I'm a single-player guy), then Dragon Age is a hell of a lot of fun.

183 I really love my Wii. Very active games. I have Cookin Mama, which is a frickin hilarious Japanese-style game. Ah, that old fashioned pasta with boiled squid.

184 Thanks for the tip, Monty. I'll look into that one.

185
I'm in  Thorium Brotherhood. The name is Somamalis if you ever want to say hi.Pronounced Soma malees

I also have a character named "anicechianti" my sister is "favabeans" and my hubby is "Iatehisliver" It amuses me when we stand together

Posted by: pajama momma at June 12, 2010 01:22 PM (fo4Wl)

I live on Llane horde side, guild is Kargath Must Die. maybe three of us are active, my pally's name is Samadat, durid is Samadys.

186 Sounds like an interesting game, Monty.  I'm definitely more a single player kinda gal with video games.  When I played D&D/Runequest type games with real people they were all good friends that I had played with for years so there wasn't too much drama.  Think a lot of the MMORPGs can have a good bit of drama from what other friends tell me.

187 When I played D&D/Runequest type games with real people they were all good friends that I had played with for years so there wasn't too much drama. Dragon Age is very old-school, almost more D&D-ish than D&D is itself. You can choose a male or female avatar and one of three races and five classes. But for all that, it's got a great story and isn't just a total level-grind. And EA has been adding expansion packs pretty often. If you like dungeon-crawling, it doesn't get any better than Dragon Age. Fallout 3 was a great game, too. But then I was a fan of the old Fallout games from way back, so I was really happy when they resurrected it. (Blowing a mutant's head off in VATS just never gets old.) I liked multiplayer Diablo when you could run your own servers, but there are too many jerks out there for multiplayer to be fun any more.

188

Are you talking about grown-up females, or teenagers and young girls? Because there's a serious difference in their levels of interest in video and computer gaming. Young girls and teens are very much attracted to video games of all kinds, although the shoot-'em-up and World of Warcraft stuff is definitely dominated by boys. I've noticed as girls get older, they lose their interest in gaming and prefer other modes of socialization. They'll still occasinally play, but they're usually drawn to less "I will dominate you!" games and more mind games or social networking games where it's either a brain-teaser or a more of a social group rather than a defined game with winners and losers.

Why? I think because as girls mature they desire much more face-to-face human interaction. We women are naturally drawn to communicate verbally, and particularly physcially. Women have an entirely separate communication system based on body language alone that can run concurrently with any discussion we're having verbally. This can't be replicated online or on your Wii; it has to be done in person, face-to-face. Men don't necessarily desire this as much, and so gaming becomes an acceptable form of social interaction that satisfies their social needs.

 

189 Are you talking about grown-up females, or teenagers and young girls? All age groups, really. I've noticed that as 1st-gen gamers like me enter middle-age, we take gaming with us. I've noticed quite a few 60-something gamers still kicking it old-school style. I wonder how our modes of gaming will change as we get older? I enjoy games now as much as I ever have -- more, really, since games have gotten more complex and interesting compared to the old days. (Except games like Zork and Wizardry -- they always were pretty complex, just not as graphically pretty.) I don't think I'll ever "grow out" of gaming, but I play games differently than I used to. I find the quick-twitch FPS games to be less fun, and the long RPG-style games more fun. (Though I still fire up a copy of CoD:MW sometimes to satisfy my shootin' urges.) I've also been a longtime fan of platformers like Ratchet and Clank. I get as much fun out of that kind of thing as I ever have.

190 Naw, I still love blowing shit up. It's fun. And it's not real. It's a lot more fun when it's Lego, too. I used a leaf-cutter and just mowed down a bunch of characters wandering around doing nothing. That's for getting in my way, dudes.

191 I play EQ2, Aion (or did), table-top D&D and I like shooting (which girls actually tend to be good at, even better at on average than boys.)

I want to be able to do something long enough to figure it out.  It took about three dollars worth of missing the first jump to a vine in Donkey Kong before I was *done* but I felt like I was pretty good at pong and pacman and tetris.  I played chess with my brother until he beat me one too many times.   It's not fun if you lose every single game.   The couple of times I've tried PvP games I quit right away because I died right away, over and over.  Reasonably, I thought, I'm not going to learn how to get any better if I'm just looking at the loading screen.  (And if a guy said "play with me" and killed me multiple times at the respawn pad he'd find out just how scorched-earth I could be.)

I care about being able to do something well.   I don't necessarily care about beating someone else, even if I do like it *very* *much* if my skill level is highest.

When EQ came out ages ago it was men I knew who wanted to play because it was cooperative and you advanced by helping other people and working together, so I don't think that is just a woman thing.  But the role playing games I like quite a bit.  I never liked the PvP sort. (And not shooters.  My girly-girl daughter likes the shooters, as does my son.  My other two girls do other things.)  Aion, which someone mentioned, is a PvP but you don't generally encounter enemy players until your mid 20's so it passes the "I want to get a chance to learn" test.    The guys playing female toons are pretty obvious and the wings are fun and the costumes are hysterical.   

I almost never play healers or mages in MMORPGs...  I'm a slice and dice sort of girl.

Competition is a various sort of thing.   I'm most certainly competitive in that I get pretty upset if my skill level or accomplishment is not recognized.   And this goes to games where skill isn't definitive.    I don't like that.   I don't like losing because  someone ganged up on me or something happened outside my control.   It's like shooting baskets and getting the ball slammed back in your face (I'm five feet tall... do the math).   When I was a kid I'd spend hours practicing making baskets backwards, you know,  at the free throw line facing the opposite way and  tossing the ball over my head.   I got good at it. 

It's like the karate I was taking a few years ago (I'd like to go back) and the instructor was very clear that the goal was for everyone to improve and be better than they were and not to drive people away because they weren't there yet.  But the closest we got was sparring nights, supposed to be pulled punches and kicks to practice distance and intersection, and there was always a guy or two (usually lower ranked) who would snap out with his long arms and bob you in the head over and over and it was infuriating because the proper response of a short person wasn't anything that could be done in class at speed without permanent injury.    Crippling someone because he was an ass just wouldn't be a good thing.

There is a certain element of frustration that  results in "I give up" that isn't necessarily attached to skill level or competitiveness.  It might be seen as a response to not playing "nice" and maybe that's accurate enough, but I tend to think of it as recognition of an exercise in futility, realizing there is no profit in continuing, and deciding not to.

192

What? There are REAL WOMEN playing WOW? Lies!

193 Sims stuff bores me, btw. SimCity was a bore, I could do Civilization for a while, but really, no real challenge when you figured out some strategy. Sam & Max was hilarious, loved that. Toe Jam & Earl. I'm not much into "serious" games. I love games with a sense of humor. That's why I love the Lego games on the Wii, which are making fun of the original movies, and I loved Spyro the Dragon and the old Super Mario games on the NES. They were fun and funny.

194

My nieces do play video games, and are just as familiar with the basics of every game as my boys are.

But, I don't have to tell the girls to stop playing, that they've played too much. My boys? I swear they'll play nonstop 24/7, and not eat nor bathe much less do homework, unless I stop 'em. So great is this collective obsession that our scouting troop had to ban Nintendo DS on camping trips, amidst great uproar, to simply get them to begin to get into getting into things outdoorsy.

The boys are simply masters of the video game realm, and devote as much time toward that end as they're allowed to have for it. The girls get satisfaction from the games, but they completely lack the obsession the boys display in spades.

What results is a double edged sword: the girls on-balance seem to have a healthier and more balanced attitude. But the boys are going to kick their asses in PvP or any other aspect of gaming excellence. The boys set the bar way high, at great personal cost and also at the cost of the girls.

I imagine this dynamic happens in other pursuits, and that it might explain much of the difference between the sexes. And that's life.

195 I play a lot of games, mostly shooters but I enjoy a good RPG like Fallout, Mass Effect, and Red Dead Redemption. Strategy games can be fun if done right, like Halo Wars, C&C, or Civilization.

Nothing beats a fast-paced shooter though, especially online with other folks. Nothing is worse than being stuck in a game with a whiny ten-year old who shouldn't be there except his terrible parents bought him the rated M game.

I play games with females but it's about a 50:1 ratio, especially with shooters. For some reason, more females play Rainbow Six Vegas 2 than any other shooter so play that one if you want to find females to blow up. Oh and if you do find girls online, don't hit on them, let them win, or make them feel uncomfortable.

196 I think it really depends, and trends are changing slowly.  Like my sister loves the sandbox games just because of the trouble you can get into doing things that they weren't really designed to do.  Mom was furious that I was letting her play my GTA games because of some of the content...but we were more doing stupid stuff like chaining 100 towtrucks together and driving them off a cliff just to watch the fubar physics turn it into a giant whip/trebuchet hybrid.

Sis also beat me through Assassin's Creed (and it's my game and system, feh).  She's also brutal in strategy games if you give her more than an hour to play around before going against her.  There's some Koreans that learned the hard way that you don't Zerg-rush her, heh.

Mom, on the other hand, prefers the simpler games.  She likes the duckhunt-type hunting games, mario, and can spend hours playing River Raider, pac man and Tanks on the atari nostalgiabox I got her a few years back.  However, she usually likes watching me and sis play the more complicated games when we're there.  Nothing was more lulzy than the look on my dad's face when I was playing one of the Metal Gear Solid games (think it was 4...but can't remember now) and dad was making smartass remarks and mom was like "Shut up, I'm watching Snake".

Most of the girls I know are either like my sister, or they just play things like the facebook games.

197  I play games and used to write code to make up my own on my Apple IIC... ancient, aint' I?  The games I developed were usually variations on board games, so I guess it's the puzzle thing.

Games I prefer... Roller coaster tycoon.  Don't care for any of the other tycoon games, though.  Might explain why I spend weekends and vacations in theme parks.  If I could ride the rides I design, I might find that ultimate thrill, for the first ride or two and then I would be tweaking it for more speed, g-forces.

 Anything with puzzles/skill levels.  Tetris.  Spider Solitaire. Chuzzle. 

And I play golf.  Daily.  And I am very competitive.  But I can't abide playing with dudes (looking at my husband) who get all riled up and throw their clubs.  DUDES... part of the game is to keep a level head.  The last shot is just that.  Your last shot has nothing on your next one, but once you get all frustrated, you're toast.  So I like to trash talk.  And I win. 

Mindgames... If Elin just walked across a golf course now, Tiger would probably shoot in the 100s...

198 Oh, yeah... and I play all forms of poker. Prefer HORSE.  I'll kick your azz.  I play on Pokerstars frequently for $$.  I have never deposited a second deposit after my first $25 initial transfer.  7 years later I am still playing on that first $25.  And my account would provide a decent vacation should I ever cash out. 

So when are the morons meeting in Vegas????

199 Magic Pen is a cool online time waster.

200 I play Guild Wars regularly with 6 wimmins and 7 dudes.

And my 10 year old granddaughter.

201 What other way to play is there besides to win? Always hated/never really understood the emphasis on socialization crud from females, always preferred to kick a** and take names no matter what the game, indoors or out.
But I've been told I'm not your typical female

202 Competition aside, modern video games have advanced to the point where they can offer a narrative and aesthetic experience that rivals movies. (I say *can* offer, but most still don't.) Ever wanted to walk through Central Park in a rainstorm? You can do it in Grand Theft Auto IV. Ever wanted to stand on the balcony of a Western saloon and watch the sun rise? You can do it in Red Dead Redemption. Ever wanted to have sexual intercourse with a pretty girl? Well, no doubt someone is working on that one as we speak.

203 I'm a female who loves games and has since the nineties (the first game I ever fell in love with was Chrono Trigger for the SNES, believe it or not).  I used to be really into JRPGs when I was younger, but I don't seem to have the patience for them any more.  My husband is also a gamer, but not as obsessive--he'll play a wide variety of games, maybe once, and then he's on to something else.  In contrast, I tend to get into fewer games, but once I get into a game, I *really* get into it (Back when we were still dating, my husband got me Final Fantasy X, and then spent the next few months complaining that it "stole his girlfriend" because I spent so much time playing it.) 

In general, I don't like the combat stuff so much (Call of Duty, Medal of Honor, etc)--it just doesn't grab me.  The games that *do* grab me tend to have strong, often customizable characterization, gripping, complex story lines, and/or large, well-developed immersive worlds that I can spend hours exploring.  I also really enjoy the chance to play female main characters and love games that let you do that.  My current gaming loves include Mass Effect 2 (beaten that one 5 times and working on six), Fallout 3 (I played that obsessively for over a year, and can't wait for Fallout: New Vegas), and Bioshock 1 and 2 (so when's Bioshock 3 coming out again?)  And I mean to get back to Dragon Age: Origins one of these days (started it, but then Bioshock 2 came out, and that was all she wrote).

204 I am Creative Director in the video game industry. I think men see games as simulations to train them for real world situations and theoretical ones. When you watch a war movie or war footage, if you played military shooters, you know what the right and wrong things would be to do, and feel you would have a game plan if dropped into that situation. If you fly flight sims, you may be able to land a plane that had the flight crew that eat the bad chicken. This is true with things that would never happen also. Every gamer and designer I know can talk for hours on the best way to kill zombies, or build a defensive perimeter against them, or the pros and cons of two handed swords vs sword and shield, etc...

205 Also, play Demon's Souls for PS3. This game is the shit, for reals. Old school hard, no pussy saving until AFTER the bosses, fantastic weapon animation, really really hard (did I mention that?), skill based melee, magic, and bow combat in a high fantasy world.

Really great game; game of the year for me.

206 wow. Now, scientists are making up information to fit in with Allen Dean Foster novels, eh?

Nice.

207 xxx

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