Introduce your wife to the Warlords:Battlecry series.

pfft girls on the internet is a lie lol

I saw this repeated several times in the thread, but, really women do not have an aversion to videogames, innate or otherwise. Women do have an aversion to people who like to make gross generalizations about women, though - as I'm sure many men are averse to people who make gross generalizations bout men.

There is cultural pressure against women adopting geekish pursuits - interests in Star Trek or playing video games. But that's cultural, not innate. Stating that there is an innate aversion is just reifying that cultural pressure all over again.

I've played FPS, RTS, RPG, 4x, puzzle games, Sims, etc. I don't play multiplayer most of the time (outside MMORPGs) because most of the online gamers tend to be foulmouthed gits (and, for that matter, those foulmouthed gits tend to be men). I do know that when I win a game against someone who knows I'm a woman, then I'm somehow exceptional...but if I lose, then I represent all women (http://xkcd.com/385/ describes this kind of phenomenon), and that also doesn't lend itself to an inviting atmosphere for women.

Then there's the not really funny "women don't really exist on the internet" meme that just that just never seems to die. If you're like the guy who posted above, you suck for using a stupid, tired joke.

Anyway, women who game are gamers. We aren't alien intellects, we don't approach games in a drastically different way than men. We're not inherently incompetent at gaming. We're not genetically wired to hate science fiction, fantasy, superheroes, or war simulations.

can we please let the girls have a chance to post? umm... *hint* maybe topic should be like, where are the "girls that play rts"    

"please let the girls have a chance to post?"

What are you getting at?

Visit sweden. You'll have a hard time finding a girl here that isnt a huge WoW / Diablo 2 fan, seriously

whoop's i was off topic.

how many girls here are under cover and play's sins. please show yourselves   

A good friend of mien is a gamer of sorts. She enjoy playing wow, aoc, civ4, warcraft 3 and dawn of war. She also plays what I call her "stupid games". They consist of odd little bargain bin games like puzzles and villager creators and what not. I will say the funniest thing I have ever seen her do wa in a game of Masquerade. I was teaching her the fundamentals of steathily sneaking up on your pray and feeding before anyone knew what was going on. Well, she had her own plans. She picks up the nearest bat and runs headlong into the gangbangers all the while reminding me that she was "an ass kicking vampire of death". After smashing the hell out of the first one the goons in the house began shooting out the windows trying to get to her. She draws them all out and slaughters every one of them with her "bat of doom". After that fiasco I tell her that theres mroe in the house and she should try a little subtlety. I tell her to go turn the switch next to the generator, to turn off the lights. Well, it seems that "ass kicking vampires of death" dont believe in using switches. 2 swings later the generator explodes knocking her on her ass and drawing out the remaining goons, whom she promptly grand slammed. Fairer sex my ass.

I...downloaded the Sins demo earlier today. Not sure when I'll get around to playing it, though, or if I'll buy the game.

I still have yet to play through all of the Dawn of War games, the LotR RTS games, Company of Heroes, Supreme Commander, and so on. Been too busy with RPGs, and currently Galactic Civilizations.

The thing about Sins is that I've never liked mixing 4x and RTS . . . so I'll give it a try, but I'm not holding out high hopes that I'll like it. That's not a comment on quality, just my preference.

Im glad to see every forum on the internet has a "do gurls p14y games?" thread.

Seriously who cares, who REALLY cares?

I do. Why? Because EA seems to think the vast majority of girls like adorable pink, cute and cuddly games. That may infact be true, I don't know. But I don't care about that, I'm not a girl so Im not the one being patronised.

HOWEVER... When EA (or any dev/publisher) thinks they can take a perfectly good violent bloody game with all sorts of things christians hate in it (which is perfectly fine for girls to play remember, killing fictional people is not a men only activity) and tone it down with pink cuddly graphics to appeal to that huge market - I CARE.

been there done that ya swedish girls are insane gamers hell i got stod up once cuz the gfs guild was raiding aq lol

I find most games specifically aimed at girls to be extremely patronizing.

That said, I don't think there's anything wrong with designing and marketing games with women in mind. I don't think any really big budget projects are likely, though, for the same reason that Fox canceled Firefly (even if they can get a large female audience, they don't want that audience).

I also think that lots of guys do spend too much time discussing whether women play video games (and how well or poorly we allegedly play).

I know a girl who plays Warcraft 3. I have a bunch of girls on my XBL flist who play GTA. Which surprised the hell out of me. I'm sure there's alot of girl gamers out there who just prefer not to be known as a girl gamer. Once people find out their in a game with a girl, oh god, let the sex shit fly, and thats true of any game I've ever played with a girl in. I can understand exactly why they try to hide or why they don't talk much. And to all the female gamers out there, I'm sorry we're a bunch of idiots who can't keep our mouths shut just because your a girl.

I play GTA. I have GTA 3, Vice City, and San Andreas. Been too lazy to pick up IV.

People play games they like regardless of their sex.

You'll find girls playing Total-War games and you'll find guys playing Hello Kitty adventures*.

* I don't mean that to be sterotypical, just for an example...and to poke some fun.