I remember when I first got my Sega Genesis console. The first game I received, as a gift from my much older, martial artist brother….was Mortal Kombat. In my brothers mind, I am sure he believed this to be the perfect gift for his fragile seven year old sister. Unfortunately, once I saw the heart of Sonya Blade get gruesomely ripped from her chest, and that pixelated spray of blood fly across my TV screen, I was just a tad bit perturbed.

I couldn’t eat ketchup for months.

To quell the fear my brother had instilled in me, my mom rushed out and bought me “Barbie: Super Model”. Alright! Well now I can….well…I can dress up Barbie. And…pose. Posing is good practice for doing so in real life situations, right? This game turned out to be a pile, even to a wimpy seven year old girl like me. But at the time, video games were not as extensively advertised as they are today. In fact, to me, it seemed like the Barbie games were the only franchise blatantly targeting females. I guess when consoles started becoming more popular, it was speculated that it would be better for their niche audience to be prepubescent boys. But just in case females felt left out – here, have Barbie.

Today, things are much different. Video games have become a staple activity in many people’s lives. Not just young boys, or young anyone, but everyone who has the ability to play. As time has progressed, the industry has done its best to target everyone; from commercials with grandparents playing the Wii with their kids, to a plethora of diverse games that can be fun for everyone. But even with those elements, there is still a huge lack of females who play games.

More at The Evolution of Female Gaming | Koku Gamer