En los últimos años, resulta más fácil ver a una mujer que ha superado la treintena disfrutando con un videojuego antes que a un joven adolescente o esto por lo menos es lo que defiende la fundadora de la web WomenGamers.com, Phaedra Boinidiris, quien asegura que esta realidad "es palpable".
"La media de las jugadoras en Estados Unidos es de 35 años y, de hecho, el 38% de los usuarios de consola y el 43 de los juegos de PC son mujeres", recordó Boinidiris, quien además es una directiva de IBM.
Las causas de este aumento de usuarios del sexo femenino podría residir en la apuesta de los desarrolladores por un contenido 'más adulto', en el que se incluirían juegos de entrenamiento mental o de ejercicio físico. En este sentido, la directiva apunta a Wii como una de las principales responsables de esta situación, según recoge 'Portaltic.es' de 'Forbes'.
Así, esta revista asegura que en el año 2015 está estimado que uno de cada cinco juegos lanzados en Estados Unidos estarán destinados al ejercicio mental o físico. Estas aplicaciones también son válidas para profesionales: en Ontario (Canadá), los vigilantes fronterizos muestran un aumento del 30% en la efectividad de los interrogatorios cuando interactúan antes en situaciones simuladas.
Thumb-pumping young men are to videogames what swooning young women are to The Twilight Saga. Or not. In fact, the new face of videogaming is almost as likely to be a 30-something woman as a teenage boy--and not just in her leisure time.
Gaming is reaching a new audience in the business world, where it functions as a superb training and operations tool. In videogames, employers are also finding exercises for brainstorming and collaboration as well as performance evaluation. The trend is palpable and growing.
Women are increasingly eager to ride the game wave. Many find gaming helps them increase their comfort level with technology and assist their career advancement. "The average age of gamers in the U.S. is 35," says Phaedra Boinidiris, founder of WomenGamers.com and product manager for IBM's ( IBM - news - people ) Serious Games Group. "In fact, 38% of console gamers and 43% of PC gamers are women. The stereotype of a gamer as a 14-year-old boy couldn't be further from the truth."
Top 15 Videogames For Women
Entertainment Arts' Sims empire, which has been thriving since 2000, and the blockbuster Nintendo ( NTDOY.PK - news - people ) Wii have played a large role in luring women to the challenge, changing the perception of games and the way developers create content. Pauline Moller, SVP and studio general manager of the EA Sports division, an industry leader, says being even a casual gamer uniquely positions her to help the company expand its portfolio of games.
As women are increasingly drawn into the realm of console and online games for pleasure and, in the case of Nintendo Wii, certain health benefits, it's estimated that by 2015, 1 in 5 of the U.S.'s biggest companies will be investing in games for training and development. Already Innov8, developed by IBM's Serious Games Group, is used in more than 1,000 universities' business programs globally to teach process management in traffic, customer service and supply-chain scenarios
New York City's Office of Emergency Management uses a program designed by Kognito Interactive to simulate evacuations of the city in the event of a disaster. In Ontario border-crossing guards show a 30% improvement in effectiveness when trained to properly interrogate drivers through gaming simulations.
While using games to simulate real-life events seems safe, reliable and financially prudent, the skills gained can be directly applied to business. Esther Lim, CEO of digital-marketing firm The Estuary, says game play teaches collaboration, a critical management skill. "Often serious games are built to be collaborative," she says."That means you share information, brainstorm and problem solve with others to achieve the next level of interaction, story or outcome."