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Women enjoy smarter cyber massacres

19 July 2006

WOMEN enjoy shooting computer monsters just as much as men do, providing the violence is balanced by a good story.

That is the finding of Jo Clay at games analysis firm Strange Agency in Middlesbrough, UK. Clay used software developed at the University of Teesside in Middlesbrough to analyse the 34 best games as listed by 76 female gamers.

The software, called Strange Analyst, builds a profile of each game by trawling through online reviews and extracting key words. Clay found women prefer games with confrontation and attack, investigations and puzzles – and a good story line. “Many developers believe…

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