Interestingly, though, I read an article about female World of Warcraft players.

Being a fantasy RPG, you wouldn't expect girls to play it (according to the stereotypes), but many get introduced by watching a friend play and then get hooked into it. Particularly due to the social aspect.

I believe The Sims is also well known for it.

Heh, you could be describing my niece there - her online boyfriend got her into it using the free trial, she got so hooked from that she ended up buying the game card or whatever it is. I'd probably get addicted to it too if I could afford to pay it every month (I can't).

Being a fantasy RPG, you wouldn't expect girls to play it (according to the stereotypes), but many get introduced by watching a friend play and then get hooked into it. Particularly due to the social aspect.

I believe The Sims is also well known for it.

Bad Influence used to give games two scores, one from the girls and one from the boys. Er, presumably in order to prove that girls play games too, or something.

Interesting, that. I know of no other games show that did that at the time or even since. I'm kind of glad we've moved on from the days of positive sexual discrimination in the gaming media. I wonder if the introduction of a female assistant for Treguard was a product of that?

I am acquainted with Barbie Goes Shopping. It's a terrible example of a terrible genre. But then again, it's only terrible because it was specifically designed with girls in mind. Games like the Metroid series, which features a female lead, are pretty much non-gender-specific; the only reason that people seem to think of them as 'boy' games is that the media portrays boys playing them.

Bad Influence used to give games two scores, one from the girls and one from the boys. Er, presumably in order to prove that girls play games too, or something.

What's a game "aimed at girls", though? I don't see why a game shouldn't be universalisable, never mind what gender the main character is. Some games allow you to choose and everything.

I'm talking about games like those awful Spice Girls and Britney dance ones in the mid-90s. Plus, I'll wager there's never been a good Barbie game... not that I've ever played any of them, it's just there seems to be a general consensus they're terrible.

Now I'm not saying boys can't enjoy them in the same way a girl could just as much enjoy a 'lad's' game (All Action Kill Zone etc.). I guess Knightmare falls into the latter category, though it doesn't specifically set out to cater for a specific gender like Barbie's Super Shopping Time or whatever. Hmm.

This reminds me of an old debate about video games, the fact there were no really good ones made specifically for girls. The trouble is, they were incredibly condescending and, to be honest, really bad. The best games were not ones that specifically set out to win over one gender or the other, just to create a good gaming experience in much the same way as Knightmare.

I guess it's just that the vast amount of girls aren't exactly won over by killing goblins and slaying dragons, just the way they're brought up to be. I wonder what the female-orientated version of Knightmare would have been like? Would it have even made it past the pilot or gone the same way as those terrible games for girls that flopped miserably?

Or, that if there were more female game designers, eventually there would have been a good video game aimed specifically at girls?

http://users.aber.ac.uk/cgi-bin/user/scty19/YaBB.cgi?board=OOC;action=display;num=1082636406

A survey by the Knightmare Adventuter's Club in 1992 asked this very question, and found that:

Oh dear. Sorry to say the boys outnumber the girls by almost four to one! 78% of you are boys, and 22% are girls. Let's look on the bright side - at least everybody is either a boy or a girl!

Full survey results at http://www.knightmare.com/club/1-3/p7.htm.

So, yes it would seem that this is the case.