How many of you in this world are 'gamers'? I bet more than a few would identify as such. Fifty-two percent of gamers are women, not men. It appears as if the gaming industry is still ignoring this fact. Have you gone into your local game store and looked at the offerings? How many are visibly targeted for women? How many are designed for men? If you answer that an overwhelming number are targeted at men, you would be correct.

I consider myself a casual gamer. I enjoy playing a couple MMO's and console games, but I have felt as if there are not enough games that have a story geared to draw women in or make them feel as if the game includes women in the design. I was in my local GameStop the other day, after a horrible debacle with trying to get my pre-ordered copy of Assassin's Creed: Origins and I perused the shelves. Once again I found more games that tried to target the male market versus the female. It is rather appalling. Why are we subjected to games like Cooking Mama or beauty shop games? Why can't you create a violent video game that has a female as the lead instead of a guy?

So few games that I have played, and enjoyed focus around women. Even then the women in them are insipid, shallow, and barely dressed. All things the game designers try to convince us that men are attracted too. Sure, you can throw out names like Laura Croft but who plays them? Everyone that I know that I talked to that played the Laura Croft games were not women. They were men. My female friends tend to hide themselves away in MMO's or into games like Halo, or Destiny.

We deserve a good story, fantastic character arcs and the ability to be a smart, intelligent women that also happens to be a badass at some things. If we are more than half of your gaming population, stop ignoring us. Start listening to what we want. We are not going away, and chances are we are raising a whole new generation of girl gamers that wish for games that can be targeted for both male and females. Why do you force us into your male-dominated games just so that we can enjoy something?

Some people refer to playing video games as another art form. I wish I were as skilled as these people, but I don't have the patience to hone that skill. I'm far too lazy, I will admit. Give me a good RPG with a story that lasts longer than 10 hours, and I would be ecstatic. I am, probably, an exception to this rule.

Even in the online MMO's, I participate in the majority of women are overlooked or undervalued. Do you know that many feel that we should play some healing class because women are only nurturers right? Can't they protect anyone? I would have to argue that they can because that is my preference. If you want me to play a healer class your going to find that I will not know where my heal button is. However, if you want me to come in and protect you as a tank, or even do damage as a rogue class then I'm your gal.