The game industry is still young, but we’re already showing our age by getting stuck in unproductive ruts.
The game industry was far too slow in embracing female players, continues to lag in appealing to players of color (especially Latinos) and seems loathe to embrace concepts that don’t fit the mainstream mold. (Case in point, journalists and produces continue to exclude the Wii, despite its amazing sales record.)
Much of this comes from the industry’s pejorative names for everyone who isn’t in our most devoted demographic. “Kid games,” “Girl games,” “Non-traditional gamers,” “Whales,” “Girlfriend mode,” “nOObz,” “Match-3 players,” etc. How can we help top-level executives and studio heads, for a start, to re-think who they build games for in terms of actual market data, as opposed to stereotypes about players that haven’t been true for decades, if they ever were?