The Business & Social Network

Casual game sites for both women and men

Hello everyone. I am looking for some insight on the topic of casual game sites for a presentation. I am most especially interested in any examples of really successful game sites with particular attention paid to sites for women. Monetizing these sites based on models that world is also of great interest. I have a lot of stats but would welcome any additional input from a more practical rather than theoretical perspective. Thank you in advance. And please feel free to contact me at edita@associationofvirtualworlds.com

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Marco on July 15, 2008 at 4:44pm

Interesting... games "specifically designed to attract women".
Now I'm really curious what games they are...

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Sinderbug on March 16, 2008 at 10:15pm

Hi Edita :) GoodGame which is an Australian gamers show did a great special on women gamers a while back and spoke to a good range of women who were interested in anything from arcade and beyond. They did from memory discuss on line formats... may be worth hunting down and I can give you a general link... LINK

Also, as I am not sure, but however intrigued, about "casual" game sites I wonder if you have considered digital versions of boardgames? I am an avid eurogamer and there is quite a female presence on some of the company based on line game sites... LINK There is also someone I work with who has written and presented work of boardgames with an interesting association and comparison to digital gaming.

My own artistic work also included a virtual 'game' which aimed to consider strategy gaming history as well as (reverse) augmented reality (which is interestingly linked to the rise of intense interest of women gamers...myst etc) that may be of little interest to you but the info is given in case :)

Hope the link helps!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by StarryNite on March 23, 2008 at 3:35pm

Hi.... On your question, a target age group would be most helpful to narrow the search. You are not alone in this. Check the variety of sites I have at VirtualWorldsConnect.com, and add http://www.nextpert.com, Nextpert News Network , and Can-Do-Women. You will see my involvement with Virtual Worlds Creation and Design..... if you can't find it.... maybe we can build it..... lol's.... StarryNite

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by John R Kostelnik on March 31, 2008 at 1:16pm

Hmmm :_) I appreciate you adding me to your friends lists, I am not female in RL but in the VW environment of SL I would be considered TransGender ~ TransSpecies. I think you will find this to be true with many residents of SL including some of the Lindens themselves. Torley Linden being one of the most notable. Remember this please.... in VW Race~Gender~Species have no meaning, it is the person behind the Avatar that makes the difference, and whom you are actually dealing with :_)

JayR Cela :_)

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Lana Kamennof-Sine on May 21, 2008 at 1:41pm

Oh I want to believe this but I fear it is overly optimistic. SL, and I suspect other VWs, are populated by humans with all their biases, prejudices, stereotypes, optimisms, open mindedness etc. I've observed the different responses avies have received if male/female/furry/etc. Surely someone's run a grad thesis observational study where they animated several varied avies and, using proscribed scenarios/behaviours, recorded responses. :-) I've had different responses just based on the colour of my avie's hair.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Kathryn Alexander on April 28, 2008 at 1:17pm

Edita,

You've probably already know about this, but Puzzle Pirates i just wonderful. Very fun, non-violent and whole world enjoyed while skill building.

Warmly,

Kathryn

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Heidi Perry on May 6, 2008 at 2:50pm

hi edita, check out playfirst.com and dinerdash.com. they are monetizing diner dash 4 through microtransactions (i used to work there). to see top casual games, try logler.com or gamezebo.com. most casual games sites are at least 60% female, playfirst was about 90%. feel free to email me at hperry@vivaty.com (or we can chat tomorrow). best, Heidi

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Sandy Kearney on May 8, 2008 at 10:16am

addicting games. com has many flash games

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Randy Hinrichs on May 8, 2008 at 11:36pm

Sandy, how about a tour of Active Worlds. Do you know anyone who has arranged a tour for a group or do they have group tours. KonTiki tours for ActiveWorlds?

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Timothy B. Tanner on May 25, 2008 at 7:54am

Good Morning Edita!
Thanks for the welcome. In regards to your discussion post, It was amazing to see my college professor totally engulfed in playing popcap games from Yahoo while the students collaborated in completing some school projects. She especially liked video word games like scrabble etc.
I noticed a great article this morning from Paul Hyman. It is located at:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_...
and mentions the trend in women and their interest in various games. Being from the 60s myself, I can recall the simpler days when boys played with GI Joe
s and girls with Barbie Dolls. Today I have women friends into Nascar driving games etc. The world has come a long way. I especially liked in the hollywood reporter article about companies trying to target older women. It was interesting to explore this topic and personal bias. But it looks like it is going to be a very lucrative target market into the future.
I look forward to networking with you!
Please feel free to contact me if I can assist or have some ideas on collaboration etc.
Have a great spring Sunday!