(x-post from r/TheSims) I've written a few articles in a series on 'women-friendly gaming'. Here is my most recent one! Women-Friendly Gaming: The Sims Franchise

I am coming to realize that (as far as I can tell), deliberately creating a "female-friendly" product or "something that women like" has limited appeal actually. It's not something women are guaranteed to like. It's still a real thing to try to appeal to, though; I think it needs to be better understood, and called something else:

"Mainstream-friendly", or "something mainstream femininity and common cultural roles for women will mesh with" is much closer to what this is about.

I think you are absolutely right that, within the freedom provided by The Sims, many people will find their niche. In fact, that (mainstream-female-typical) desire to nurture, and the ability to really care about "social interaction" as a topic for gameplay (pretty mainstream-female-typical) mesh well with The Sims. But lots of women don't like the game, lots of guys do like the game, and some people find the insistence that it is a "women's game" offensive. That's because it's only female-oriented inasmuch as it happens to appeal to mainstream-feminine people and their tastes. It's also fun for guys, and people who don't like it specifically because it's great for women.

You might be also hitting on that it's creative, rather than destructive, but as some commenters here have pointed out, plenty of women like to shoot stuff, and I would say plenty of men like to build and create. So it's "mainstream female"-oriented, but you have to acknowledge those limits. It's not actually "female-oriented" (women are too complex as a category to be universally appealed to). Why not just call it what it is? "Mainstream-women friendly[/er]"

Side story: My mom hates when I say the new Marvel movies, with deeper interpersonal relationships (and better banter, hehehe) than previous ones, "are doing a good job at reaching out to women." I think I agree with her now, because many women have been comics fans since before superhero movies were a thing, including her, and they never really needed the "reaching out to." (she agrees the deeper interpersonal relationships are highlights of the movies. It's just a bonus though. Not "what was required to make her like them." If anything, it makes more of an impact on me than it does on her.)

/r/GirlGamers Thread Link - herstoryarc.com