Programmer Mike Mika hacked in to the code for the classic video game Donkey Kong so that his three-year-old daughter could play as Pauline instead of Mario. He writes: “She really did seem to enjoy the game more. For whatever reason, she was more motivated to play as Pauline than as Mario.” Which makes a fair amount of sense. But — men and women alike seem to enjoy playing Tomb Raider, where the protagonist is an attractive woman. Is gender-specific identification peculiar to younger video game players? [Cross-posted on the main page; please comment there.]
