Women who sideflip while knitting and shooting barrels

Wonderful transmedia producer and gamer, Felicia Day, tweeted this suprising bit of news this week:

Women 18 and older make up more of the gaming audience than boys 17 and younger

Apart from an early obsession with Donkey Kong, I wasn’t aware of the immersive potential of games until this woman came into my life in 2000:

I love Lara for so many things, her shimmying, her sideways flips, her heartbreaking sighs when dying. Personally, I’m not so involved with her chest, but I understand this is appreciated by many, though I don’t think it’s the only reason for her success.

I think the success of Lara among boys and men should be inspiration to film and tv people who way too often conclude that men aren’t interested in female protagonists. It’s been said so many times that it has become a myth, though I’ve never seen any numbers to support it.

Which makes me think of another premiere girl soon to hit the big screen, Rooney Maras version of Lisbeth Salander, a character that transcends gender in both character an audiences:

Stop underestimating people. Men watch great female characters. Women play games when they are great.

Or, as my 62 year old mother mumbled when my sister found the silverware wasn’t polished in time for our Christmas dinner last year: “Angry Birds happened to the silverware”.