From Barbie to Mortal Kombat: Chapter 9

An Interview with Lee McEnany Caraher (sega)

'I think a good game is a good game. It's like a ride at Disneyland. A good ride is a good ride, and boys and girls and men and women can go on it.' (p194)

'As more girls are exposed to video games, more girls will be in the video game business. They will go into our business because they like it. And they'll become developers. Male or female, a talent is a talent, regardless. Another point of view is another point of view, regardless. But just because it's developed by women for girls does not mean it's good. Just because women want to do it doesn't mean they know how, doesn't mean they're going to come up with games that are going to be appealing to girls.' (p195)

'Q. Why don't you market for girls? A: It's expensive. We're not a company that has tons and tons of cash. So we don't necessarily take all the risk we should, I think. At one time, there was a girls' task force here. It's not here any more. But we made games that were specifically for girls -"Crystal's Pony Tale" (see plate 16), for example - and they sold just as well to the boys as they did to the girls.' (p197)

'Q: Would you make a distinction between girls' play and boys' play? A: The true core-girl-gamer probably does not play as much as as the true core-male-player. The true male gamer is playing three to five hours a day, which we don't necessarily advocate, but some of these guys are doing that much or more. The girl game-player is probably playing two to three hours a day. We would take the position that we have to expose more women and girls to the market.' (p197)

McEnany, L., 2000. An Interview with Lee McEnany (Sega). In: J. Cassell. H. Jenkins,  ed. 2000. From Barbie to Mortal Kombat: Gender and Computer Games. Massachusetts: MIT Press. pp.192-212.