Strategy Games and Women at Work

ENTERTAINMENT - I've noticed that there's very few women who play strategy games, either online or offline.

Face it, games like chess, RISK, Diplomacy, etc. just aren't something that women seem to enjoy.

Its not an intelligence factor however, but a thematic issue.

Chess, RISK, Diplomacy and similar games have one underlying theme: War. Beating up your opponent with pewter soldiers, plastic tanks and wooden fleets.

The same goes for other games like Magic the Gathering, which uses collectible cards. Your goal is to kill your opponent with monster cards, spell cards, etc.

These games are definitely more for male nerds.

But the silly thing is that women do play computer games, and some of those games should be considered strategy games. The Sims for example, does involve a fair bit of strategy when it comes to planning out what your sims do in the game and how they spend their time in order to maximize their abilities and happiness.

Women, especially women over the age of 40 (according to AOL Games), are more likely to spend time playing a variety of online games including card games (ie. online poker), MMORPGs, games that stress social skills...

As opposed to violent computer games like Counter-Strike... or games like 'Grand Theft Auto: Vice City' in which you can have sex with a prostitute and then kick her death (and get rewarded for it).

Not a big surprise women aren't lining up to play that game.

It makes you wonder what women do online for fun? (They're not downloading porn that often, in comparison to men.) And it also makes you realize there is a huge market there for women gamers that the gaming industry seems to have forgotten.

For men... playing a strategy game (usually you vs the enemy) is all about being a dick. You want to build up your forces, destroy your enemy and make them wet their pants or quit the game out of frustration. Why? Because the type of men who play these games (and I count myself as one of them) just love to prove their superiority and being a dick to other men.

Its not that men have a killer instinct when it comes to war games (I am a pacifist technically but that doesn't stop me from enjoying war-oriented game and violent games/movies), we just love stroking our egos and confirming our superiority over other men. Being the Top Dog is the goal and its upsetting when you lose.

But that doesn't mean that women wouldn't enjoy similar-such games where they get to play a bitch. That, to me, sounds like a great game to play. A game where you manipulate people, take their money, break their hearts and be a bitch to other players.

That doesn't mean however that all women are mean-spirited bitches. I don't believe that is true (although admittedly there are a few really mean women out there), but I do believe there is a market for such a game where women could work out and release some of those darker feelings.

And I'd bet money it would be an addictive game too, for men and women.