When it comes to Video Games,
the most stereotypical image possible is that of a boy, armed with headphones
and a gaming chair, in front of a screen with a gamepad in hand.
There was a
time when masterpieces like Doom, Resident Evil, and Halo were associated
with the average thirty-year-old male, violent and frenetic games that could be
enjoyed almost exclusively by a very specific category.
Categoria where the female
gender seemed to be excluded almost a priori, because “video games are not
for girls.” A phrase that I myself have heard many times, from snooty parents
and gangs of teenagers, affiliated with strictly closed-number guilds, in World of Warcraft and real-time strategy games.
Then something changed. Or maybe
it simply emerged from the oceans thanks to waves of socio-cultural
unblocking, finally free from the chains and quite a few prejudices.
Because the truth is that women
have always appreciated, loved and
played video games, it just had never been such a statistically
relevant fact as it is today, and this makes one think, putting, or rather putting back into
question a world already oriented toward change with a dizzying pace.
Sono the data that speak: in Italy,
women currently represent 42% of video game players, according to studies and
research by the I.D.E.A., the Italian
Interactive Digital Entertainment Association, people with an average age of
around thirty: significant is the fact that they make up almost half of
the population in our country.
Ma non solo: if it is true that the
genres preferred by the female audience that emerged from these studies, namely
puzzle games and party games, are always the most popular, I believe it is also worth
partially debunking this myth. First- and third-person action games and
role-playing games, of a fantasy or cyberpunk nature to give some examples, are
genres that women have played heavily in recent years: video games like Deus Ex and soulslikes of the caliber of Elden
Ring have attracted masses of female players who have explored every corner and
pixel, not to mention the undergrowth of fangames, mods, and communities made up of
female gamers who have become famous online and who daily offer
gameplay in streaming.
Are times changing? And the
second question that naturally arises is: where were they before?
I answer with a smile: they have always been there, only we didn't want to see them.
It may seem polemical, but in
reality it is a fact, also supported by an overall view that
extends its gaze, our gaze, back in time: think of the
images of Pong and its arcade cabinet
from that era that have come down to us.
Let's talk about 1972, so more than
fifty years ago.
