Local news coverage in the US of a Major League Gaming tournament in Dallas last week almost exclusively focused on one aspect of the event; that girls play videogames.
The shocking (to them at least) revelation was reported by various news networks and the footage has been compiled by Kotaku's Chris Person into a video that's currently only available on their website.
The standard refrain seems to be 'games aren't just for the guys anymore' and 'more girls are joining the gamer ranks'.
Several reports included the statement "some female gamer say they become involved at the urging of a brother or boyfriend but now most girls say they play for the same reason as their male counterparts, the love of the game."
Undoubtedly the journalists involved – as well as the news agency they recieved their report from – would be astounded to discover that almost half (47%) of gamers are female according to research by the Entertainment Software Association.
Perhaps even more amazing would be the concept that women actually help to develop games as well with some of the more noted female industry insiders including Rihanna Pratchett – the writer of Tomb Raider – and Media Molecule's Siobhan Reddy, who recently won the title of Australian Woman of the Year, to name but two.
The gaming community is a diverse group which should be celebrated and really should have been recognised by the mainstream media outlets involved in this incident quite some time ago.
