Hi,

> So is the goal then to only market to girls and hope for a scattering of boys here and there?

Well, I can't talk about the marketing, only the creation. But saying "we are not specifically focusing on boys" is different from "we are only marketing to girls". That's the very fallacy we're being faced with-- the perception that not aggressively marketing it as a boy's game means it's a girl's game. It's not our intent, but people may mistake it as one.

What it is, is a game children can play. Ascribing it as aimed at a specific gender is a reflection of the bias of the individual reader, based on their perception of the product and/or genre.

We did not intentionally create a gender-biased game, but by not deliberately stamping it as 'a boy game' or 'a girl game', each reader will probably assign it to their own category according to their own gender perception.

At the risk of being tangential, it's a bit like how people react to my name, Sandy. Sight unseen, they often ascribe a gender to me and then intepret my correspondance in that light, and occasionally are surprised when we meet face to face. Hazards of a gender-neutral name are the same as hazards of a gender-neutral game. In the absence of a clear gender stamp, the reader usually will presume a gender (then interpret accordingly).

In retrospect, Patrick probably should have released two editions of the same book, one with a blue-tinged cover and goblin artwork called 'Faery Tale', and the other with a pinker cover and all-pixie artwork, called 'Fairy Tale'. Then release a later 'Deluxe Combined Edition' that is, in essence, the original book

Cheers,
Sandy
sandy@rpg.net
freelance