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Youth Spot: Gaming is not man’s territory
Smashing stereotypes that gaming is a man’s playground, 22-year-old university student Maryam Kamal plays on Age of Empires at every chance that she gets. Maryam spends most of her pocket money on gaming consoles.
“I know most women my age are buying clothes and shoes. But I love gaming. I play for over six hours every day,” added Maryam. Recent statistics have revealed that globally, 42 per cent of all gamers are women.
Leaving the Twilight frenzy aside, several young girls in the UAE are now getting pulled into the console world. Data released by global market research firm, the NPD group, shows that the international gaming industry generated revenues to the tune of Dh91.7 billion through the sale of video games, hardware and accessories in 2010. The regional gaming industry itself is estimated at $750 million (Dh2.7 billion), of which hardware is about $600 million.
Experts have suggested that Nintendo Wii played a big role in introducing women to gaming and the way developers create content.
“I love playing strategy games. My all-time favourite is Skyrim and Final Fantasy. I occasionally play Farmville and Castleville when I am on Facebook,” said 18-year-old student, Janice Ian.
Taimoor Hafeez, Editor of Tbreak, UAE’s most popular technology website says, “Gaming is now a mainstream form of entertainment in UAE, not just relegated to PC gamers in network cafes. In the early 2000s the gaming scene used be dominated by PC players. Counter-Strike obviously struck a chord with millions of gamers worldwide, and UAE was no exception. With the coming of the current generation consoles, the gaming scene shifted a lot over the past five years.
Handheld consoles (DS and PSP) are still the favourites at schools. Console gaming at home is done pretty much by everyone; family, friends, competitive and casual. There are now games created for people of all ages, and with consoles becoming affordable, everybody can have some fun.”
An avid gamer, techie and blogger based in the UAE, Muhammed Ali says: “The future of gaming in the UAE looks good. A lot of people are interested in gaming these days, and the good news is that many corporates are also taking an interest in it, not only looking at it as a money making business, but genuinely wanting to create an awareness among the people and getting them involved and interested in gaming.”
“The recently launched 3D TV provides gamers a very affordable and technically brilliant outlet to experience games in 3D. While that’s not an advantage in competitive gaming, it certainly is beautiful to look at.
Furthermore, with the new Dual Play technology coming to Cinema 3D TV, split-screen gaming will become better than ever, with full screen support for both players; something I’m really looking forward to once the new TV sets are available.”
MMOG (Massively Multiplayer Online Gaming) is one of the biggest trends in gaming worldwide.
Dhanusha Gokulan
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