Wooing women gamers -- and game creators

[NightStorm]

[url=\"http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/ptech/02/28/women.gamers/index.html\"]View the complete article, as well as the accompanying video and pictures[/url]

[b]Story Highlights[/b][list]
[*]Sony created scholarship to attract women to careers in development
[*]Some students said male dominance could be a deterrent for women
[*]Survey: 38 percent of gamers are women who play about 7.4 hours a week
[*]Number of students enrolling in gaming programs is on the rise
[/list][b](CNN) --[/b] On a Tuesday night in a San Francisco nightclub, Torrie Dorrell makes a very personal revelation to the gathered crowd: "I'm a full-on gamer, and my husband hates me."

"Cassie" is one of the characters who occupies the online world of "The Agency."

more photos » In fact, Dorrell spends so much time gaming, she has risen to the level of "officer" in a "guild" playing "EverQuest 2" online.

More and more, husbands and boyfriends are playing second fiddle to computers and consoles as 38 percent of gamers are female, spending an average of 7.4 hours a week playing, according to the Entertainment Software Association.

Dorrell isn't just one of these female gamers, she also works in the industry. As the senior vice president of global sales and marketing for Sony Online Entertainment, she has made a career out of her passion for games.

"Women are out there in significant numbers playing MMOs, action games, first-person shooters," Dorrell explains. "What is lacking in the equation are women behind these games."

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[Tami]

[quote]spending an average of 7.4 hours a week playing[/quote]

those must be American time conversions <img src=\'http://www.killanet.net/forum3/public/s ... histle.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\'(whistle)\' />