GCG: 'What We Know and Don’t Know About Casual'

At the Casual Connect conference in Seattle recently, a casual game company called King.com arranged a panel of women game players to speak about their playing habits and preferences. GameCareerGuide.com followed up with one of the panelists and an executive at the company to learn more about what a few women say they want and don’t want out of video games. All the panelists were women game players over the age of 30. One of the most interesting secrets that was revealed is that the panelists all said they played games early in the morning, some turning on their computers before they even made a pot of coffee. Robert Norton, managing director, North America, of King.com, thinks game portals and game developers could further capitalize on this phenomenon. Television networks target the same adult female audience by providing appropriate content for that hour of the day (think The Today Show and Good Morning America), so why not games? Crie Kohlman, an at-home mom in her 40s, was one of the panelists interviewed in the article. She refuted the otherwise strongly held belief that adult women play games for the community aspect. “We’re not all about the social part,” said Kohlman. “A lot of us are there because we want to play a game.” You can read the complete article -- which also contains observations from Kohlman “ridiculous” content in games that she thinks women are willing to put up with but that male players and teenagers would be quick to find condescending -- on GameCareerGuide.com. Look for other articles on the theme of women and games on GameCareerGuide.com this week!