The Dallas News reports on a new study from the University of Texas at Dallas about frustrated women. Frustrated because our playful instincts are running into a brick wall of indifference.

It’s an odd little study that contradicts itself because of its sample size. There were 43 adult women (described as mothers), and then 57 girls and young women between the ages of 7 and 20.

The study, “Serious Games for IM Generation Girls,” found that all of the girls and women surveyed had played computer or video games at some point, but only three-quarters were currently into games.

And while it sounds a little stereotypical, the researchers found that girls’ “interest in computer games that allowed them immersion into the virtual worlds of horses, weddings, fashion, and cars was very high.”

So if you’re a young girl, you have a lot of choices. Just this week, Hannah Montana: Music Jam, Disney Princess: Magical Jewels AND Wild Petz: Dolphinz were released on the DS. But once you aren’t as interested in princess magic fairy fashion time, the pickins get a little slimmer if you’re not interested in shooters. The Sims still enjoys a top slot among older women gamers, if they do feel blocked into that particular title, it’s probably more due to a lack of knowledge about other non-shooters out there. Turn-based strategy games like Civilization (cough, cough) and Heroes of Might and Magic should sell very well amongst older women gamers. With the kids who grew up on classic videogames now parents themselves, it isn’t a matter of a generational divide on basic game mechanics — it’s really just a matter of marketing and giving us choices that don’t disgust us.

Mighty Ponygirl posted this entry on Monday, October 15th, 2007 at 8:17 am and filed it under Gaming News, Women in Games. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.