On an upcoming podcast with Kerri from Games for Dames, we talked about why it was so fun and popular for women to play games together. Kerri’s game, “What’s a DAME to do?!” is a natural - it describes all types of funny ‘dame dilemmas’ and other players have to guess what their girlfriend would do in that situation. Listen in when the podcast airs for some funny stories of dames and games.

(Speaking of “What’s a DAME to do?!”, Lynn G. won this game for her and her girlfriend group in our recent Girlfriendology contest. Congrats Lynn! I know you and your ‘chicks’ will LOVE it!)

Dawn from Mumbo Jumbo offered her thoughts on women and playing games together. (I’m starting to think some of you girlfriends are game players?!) Here’s what she has to say about the new (pretty!) face of gaming:

Five years ago, if you asked a woman what she thought of when she heard the words “video game” or “computer game,” she would have likely conjured images of teenage boys, sitting around eating pizza and playing bloody war games with one another. But times they are a changing. Today, one of the fastest growing segments of electronic games isn’t the shoot-em-ups, but rather strategy and puzzle games that are termed casual games.  And, guess who’s playing these games?  Women.

In fact, of the 200 million casual game players out there, 75% of casual game buyers are women, according to the 2007 Casual Games Association report. Just who are these women?  Generally, they’re women over 35 who are looking for a nice break in the day—a mom who has put her little one down for a nap; a teacher who wants to challenge her friend to a game on Facebook; or a woman on her lunch break who is looking for a 15 minute distraction.

Not only have games increased in popularity among women, but so have social networks.  This combination has created a huge opportunity for game developers. Take MumboJumbo for example. A developer and publisher of casual games, MumboJumbo’s specialty has been their ability to create and publish games that women enjoy and offer them at retailers nationwide.  But recently, the Dallas-based company stepped out on Facebook, offering their first application for the social site called Little Farm. The game is available as a download on Facebook, and those playing can invite their friends to play this farm-fresh matching game as well. The application was another way to bring fun strategy games to a new audience.

As women begin using social sites to stay in touch with their girlfriends more and more, casual games are set to be part of the proliferation. Now when we hear about a new game, the images of our mind’s eye are different. Today, we picture games as a new way to connect with our friends and as a family-friendly activity for our children.  So if you haven’t already, get your game on, ladies!

Are you a game player? Do you get together with your girlfriends to play games or would you rather have some solitary time with soliltare? Tell us your favorite game!

Tags: Casual game, Facebook, Game, games for dames, Mumbo Jumbo, MumboJumbo, Puzzle video game, Video game, Video game developer, what's a dame to do

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 27th, 2008 at 2:18 pm and is filed under Be a Better FRIEND. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.