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Trigger Happy
252
than three times as many women as men nominated the
PokÉmon (“Pocket Monster”) series (12.7 percent
versus 3.9 percent). These games, unleashed upon the
British and American market in the 1999 Christmas
season, are cartoonish virtual bestiaries, in which
lovable monsters may be reared, played with and
battled against each other. Generically, they are more
like God games (in the sense that they are “process
toys”) than action games. On the other hand, ten times
as many men as women enjoyed the horse-racing
simulation Derby Stallion games (8.6 percent versus
0.8 percent), which are straight-ahead recreations of
(televised) horse racing, complete with virtual betting.
Women also preferred Crash Bandicoot, the Super
Mario games, Tetris, Parappa the Rapper, IQ (a puzzle
game) and Donkey Kong. Men, on the other hand,
preferred RPGs such as Dragon Quest, driving game
Gran Turismo and beat-’em-up Tekken (the last two
being nominated by no women at all). One must be
wary about easy inferences from such results: you
could argue that women prefer nurturing-style games
rather than violent ones, but there is a highly vocal