I'm an incredibly huge fan of the Tombraider games, and I'm a woman. I'm also NOT lesbian, before you use that as an excuse. I'm not a big gamer - so far there are only a few games I like: Neverwinter Nights, Tony Hawks Skateboarding, Tetris style games, and the Tombraider games. What's more.. I LOVE Lara. I have posters of her on my walls, I had her calendar, her mousemat, and I totally adored the film. Given the chance, I'd playtest the games in an instance - but guaranteed I wouldn't have the qualifications, and I'm also incredibly bad at the games, so I wouldn't be able to help much.
So why do I like the games? Well, firstly I'm a big Indiana Jones fan so I love the "plots" of the games. I find the puzzles interesting, if incredibly hard. Despite the relatively poor graphics (compared to NWN at least) I love the how the game looks, some of the levels are fantastically interesting (if a little square). I find the games incredibly playable, and can lose myself quite easily in them - except when I'm dying because I'm so bad at them.
People say the games are sexist. Maybe they are, but I don't care because I'm not a feminist, and I'm sexist about men all the time;) It's true there are much less female gameplayers (although I know a lot, most of whom like Tombraider), and out of those that do play, I'd imagine very few read whatever magazines advertise for testers, I certainly don't. And yes, female players are more likely to enjoy games such as The Sims and Everquest and NWN, because they are more strategy based - they make you think more - and women don't tend to like games that you just play without much thought. That said, I know lots of women who are exceptions to this rule. I was playing "Halo" with a female friend just the other night.. she absolutely loved the game (I found it mindless, boring and really hard to play). Another friend is more interested in Spyro and Diablo.
So yes, a lot of the reasons stated in other comments for women not playing Tombraider are definitely true. But I think it being sexist is only a reason for those incredibly extreme feminists (who should, quite frankly, be shot). But there are also a helluva lot of women out there who love Lara (they also tend to be programming geeks and roleplayers - but lets not stereotype here).
And if someone wants me to playtest the first level of the new Tombraider game (unless you can wait a few thousand years for me to finish it) then contact me!!
I still play D&D, if not as often as I like. I'll probably look into NWN eventually, but I can't see that sitting behind a computer will ever have the same feel as sitting at a table with pepsi, cookies and miniatures that look nothing like your character. How can you "roleplay" without having to act?
As for online D&D.. this isn't a new thing. Join an IRC network.. join #D&D or #AD&D and see if there are any games going. The sessions generally happen in a moderated channel, with the DM being the channel operator. Anything that needs to be said to the DM in private can be done in a private message or a notice. I've only played via IRC once, but it was fun. And there was no need to rely on a piece of software to interpret the rules.. it was just like a real session. The only problem with this is timezones, but you'll get that with any online game.
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I'm an incredibly huge fan of the Tombraider games, and I'm a woman. I'm also NOT lesbian, before you use that as an excuse. I'm not a big gamer - so far there are only a few games I like: Neverwinter Nights, Tony Hawks Skateboarding, Tetris style games, and the Tombraider games. What's more.. I LOVE Lara. I have posters of her on my walls, I had her calendar, her mousemat, and I totally adored the film. Given the chance, I'd playtest the games in an instance - but guaranteed I wouldn't have the qualifications, and I'm also incredibly bad at the games, so I wouldn't be able to help much.
;) It's true there are much less female gameplayers (although I know a lot, most of whom like Tombraider), and out of those that do play, I'd imagine very few read whatever magazines advertise for testers, I certainly don't. And yes, female players are more likely to enjoy games such as The Sims and Everquest and NWN, because they are more strategy based - they make you think more - and women don't tend to like games that you just play without much thought. That said, I know lots of women who are exceptions to this rule. I was playing "Halo" with a female friend just the other night.. she absolutely loved the game (I found it mindless, boring and really hard to play). Another friend is more interested in Spyro and Diablo.
So why do I like the games? Well, firstly I'm a big Indiana Jones fan so I love the "plots" of the games. I find the puzzles interesting, if incredibly hard. Despite the relatively poor graphics (compared to NWN at least) I love the how the game looks, some of the levels are fantastically interesting (if a little square). I find the games incredibly playable, and can lose myself quite easily in them - except when I'm dying because I'm so bad at them.
People say the games are sexist. Maybe they are, but I don't care because I'm not a feminist, and I'm sexist about men all the time
So yes, a lot of the reasons stated in other comments for women not playing Tombraider are definitely true. But I think it being sexist is only a reason for those incredibly extreme feminists (who should, quite frankly, be shot). But there are also a helluva lot of women out there who love Lara (they also tend to be programming geeks and roleplayers - but lets not stereotype here).
And if someone wants me to playtest the first level of the new Tombraider game (unless you can wait a few thousand years for me to finish it) then contact me!!
As for online D&D.. this isn't a new thing. Join an IRC network.. join #D&D or #AD&D and see if there are any games going. The sessions generally happen in a moderated channel, with the DM being the channel operator. Anything that needs to be said to the DM in private can be done in a private message or a notice. I've only played via IRC once, but it was fun. And there was no need to rely on a piece of software to interpret the rules.. it was just like a real session. The only problem with this is timezones, but you'll get that with any online game.