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By Eli Green
May 17, 2007 - 16:00
Earlier in our Women's Month coverage, we wrote about a small group of the most influential women in the gaming industry. This week, we bring you what is the result of a small question and answer between one of those women, Perrin Kaplan. As the Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Affairs for Nintendo of America (NOA), Perrin Kaplan has a lot on her plate. She deals with the company's public relations, government affairs, investor relations and plays a major role in Nintendo's projects worldwide. She doesn't just work for the game company though, she plays too, so when we got the chance to ask her about women and gaming, we wanted to ask about how she feels about her part in the gaming industry, the future of women in games and what she plays. Here's what she had to tell us:
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Perrin Kaplan: I think it shows women are in gaming too. This form of entertainment is now enjoyed by millions and millions of people and many of them are women and teens and young girls.
CBB: Where do you see women in the industry going in the next few years, not just in business, but female gamers in general? For younger girls, do you see the number of "girl branded" games, like what you might find at a local Toys'R'Us (they now have a girls section* in its game section), like Ubisoft's Petz series or Barbie, etc., growing, or do you see more girls moving towards regular games? Also, do you believe that developers and publishers will start to focus on creating games for young adult and adult women, rather than just creating "girl branded" games for younger girls?
Kaplan: I am not a big fan of games labeled as ‘girls’ or ‘boys’ games. Those choices should be left to the consumer. For example, my 3-and-a-half year old daughter loves Superman. Who would have guessed that? She does not know if that character is for a boy or a girl and it shouldn’t matter. Lots of women are game developers now and I see that trend likely to continue. It's exciting. We need developers of both genders, all ages and education levels and all ethnicities.
CBB: What is your opinion on which system/handheld, including PCs, most appeals to female gamers and why? That means the question pits the Nintendo systems against each other too, so even if you would only answer with a Nintendo system, it would still be Wii vs. DS vs. GBA.
Kaplan: We have a lot of evidence that women and teen girls are wholly enjoying playing the Wii system. The portable world is also very popular with girls and women. I think sometimes playing a game by yourself is good down-time for females.
CBB: What is your favorite game?
Kaplan: Sure, go ahead and laugh. Yoshi’s Cookie for the original Game Boy.
CBB: Who are your favorite video game female protagonist and antagonist?
Kaplan: I have to say that I love characters for the characters themselves, not because of gender. It may be of no gender too as my favorite of all time is Yoshi!
We want to thank Perrin for taking the time our of her busy schedule to answer our questions.
