Games Women Will Enjoy

There are plenty of games that women enjoy playing; the trick is having the right kind of heroine, the right plot points, and the right avatars to attract them. Even in the traditional male bastions of first person shooter (FPS) and racing games, women can find plenty of things to like. Here are some tips for you guys who might want to have some video gaming fun with members of the opposite sex.

Of course, the primary rule of attracting women is to have a wide variety of heroine types, and a story that goes beyond the damsels-in-distress, "save the princess" mode. There is a demand for fighting games for girls, but according to one study, realistic blood and gore are not very interesting to younger teen girls - inherent tension and excitement are. Suspense and a sense of humor are two things that girls have said they want to see more of in games.

"In Final Fantasy, there are strong female lead characters, not just skimpily-dressed eye-candy!" Anonymous, 17

A common complaint about games that involve avatars is the lack of female avatar choices. Many girls interviewed said they wanted to see more realistic female body types, and more practical costuming. Women enjoy playing as female characters, and won't be likely to buy a game that does not have a female lead character. On women's gaming sites the best threads are invariably the ones about games where we can play as strong, pretty, female characters who can really kick it.

Here are some of my recommendations for different types of games that women I know are attracted to.

Racing

Girls say frequently that they love auto racing games, but they want female drivers. Mario Kart was an old favorite, and today there are many more choices, starting from The Grand theft Auto series, for those who dig bad boyz. There is also the upcoming massively multiplayer online game Auto Assault, as well as Midnight Ride Dub Edition, 187 Ride or Die, and several Burn Out sound-alikes: Flat Out, and Wipe Out Pure.

Crazy Taxi was criticized widely for depicting its only female character as a "large-breasted psycho". In one survey, some girls were turned off by racing titles that only portray female characters as bikini-clad bimbos who hand out trophies and pose with the winner - who is almost always a male.