To clarify, I'm not mad that there aren't many women.. I just find it intriguing. And some people say that it's because it's a boys' club, but I haven't found that. I feel more like a hot commodity than a reject in the game development community (from my experience so far).
I definitely agree about the "no fighting". Some girls do like fighting, but they're already catered to, kind of. I'm more curious about those who are looking for something new.
But let's think about totally new stuff.. Like, I've always dreamed about a castle building game, somewhat similar to what Larissa just described. You design a castle, but not to prepare it for battle, just for the fun of it! And maybe the challenges are technological... and you have to combine materials in new ways to unlock new structural possibilities to make towers that can stick out of cliffs etc.
Like someone said, I've also always preferred the character creation part of games. I often lose interest after that. I guess that's why Makers are so popular ^_^ I love Age of Empires right up until you have to fight.
There's gotta be a way to expand on that.. What else could Makers (dress ups) do?
What about dating sims? But quality ones, geared at girls/women? I think there's a lot more demand than anyone suspects (and a lack of high quality supply).
Like, what about an immersive adventure-game-style dating sim with Disney-quality graphics? I'd be down with that... Rachel, I know what you mean about games being geared at women focusing on stereotypical things, but I think if such a game was actually designed by a woman it would be quite different from the crap that's out there now.
And yeah, I actually agree that games shouldn't have to be geared "at women". When I say women, I more mean people who aren't into shooting games, which just happen to mostly (but not all) be women.
