Girl gamers? Not such a minority anymore...

So I got the EB World email, along with 1 million other gamers. And I was surprised to see 42% of those gamers ... were female!

Say what?

I know. For a moment, I thought someone may have made a typo as well. But I'm going to go with it. In fact, the surprise was a happy one. All I ever hear about in regards to girl gamers is the gender disparity in the community - mostly represented by the question: "Wait - you play games? You?"

Yes I do. And apparently so do a lot of other women.

This what it must've been for all the gamers in 1986, victoriously finishing Metroid after hours only to find... *GASP* Samus Aran is a girl!

You crafty bitch! I couldn't see your swimsuit under all that power armor!

That might not seem like a big surprise but in 1986 - it was! Whahhh? A girl?
The creator actually put this reveal in to surprise the player - which to be surprising has to be unexpected. And it was, despite coming out early in the line up, Samus was surrounded by Contra, Super Mario Bros, a ton of male sprites in assorted sport games, Castlevania etc etc And Samus caused a stir. She even has a trope named after her...

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SamusIsAGirl

Despite being created for shock value, Samus also created a female presence in games. While many people perceived her as hardly making any strides forward for female kind because under the power armor she could be anything - male, female, alien - that's not really the point. She just is a woman. The story isn't any different, she kicks butt like any other character would. She definitely isn't helpless. And she's a chick.

Why did I even mention Samus? Because she represents! I'm a woman and I don't mind playing male characters but that doesn't mean I *only* want to play male characters.
Portal's Chell is a modern version of Samus. She's a woman for the reason that... she is. There is no reason. It's not a big thing. She just has girl-parts instead of boy-parts. There should be more of this.

And I agree, we are getting much more! RPG games would have a female character choice as a standard now.
FPS usually have at least a 1 in 4 chance of a woman. Borderlands is the one I've been playing recently. Left 4 Dead is another.

But I want more. I want a female protag in a Bioshock type game. I want a Wonder Woman game as awesome as Batman: Arkham City!

Games are still mostly representing males, it's true. A quick view at Playstation's Coming Soon List confirmed my suspicions (along with a very high number of sequels?) I think all the titles in the next few months have male looking characters on the covers.

But hey, if 42% of gamers are apparently females... then we have a weighty presence. We BUY almost half your products. Want to sell more games to 42% of your market? I have a few ideas how...