I recently came across this article. Most of us probably think of online and video games as something that only guys are interested in. Well it turns out, that the girls also want to get in on the action.  As you can read below, developers are crating different types of games for your girls. The girls, it seems, are not that interested in shoot-em-up type games.

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In the past couple of years online games have really started to diversify into wider demographics. In particular, many developers are now creating them especially for young girls.

New genres such as dress-up, and cooking games are seeing a real explosion at the moment as more and more girls are spending time not only playing online, but also sharing those games via social media.

In fact, social sites such as Facebook and Bebo are one of the main reasons for this rapid growth in “games for girls” but it is also largely due to the fact that developers now see this as a viable demographic to develop for and are spending more time creating games to meet the needs of this group.

Traditionally video games have been aimed at young males. With typical genres including shooting, fighting and sports, console and computer games have always been largely aimed at male players. Girls (in general) tend to be less interested in the violent and highly competitive genres traditionally aimed at boys, but are very keen to join in when offered more creative games and puzzles.

The 2 sub-genres for which I’ve noticed a real spike in traffic recently (on my own games sites) have been so called dress-up, and cooking games. While the definitions are not set in stone, “dress up” typically involves choosing and positioning different items of clothing (or makeup, accessories etc.) on a character, while the cooking genre is more loosely defined as any game involving cooking (but typically involves matching specific ingredients to a recipe to fulfill customer orders).

Of course females have always played videogames, and certain genres such as word puzzles always attract a large number of female players, but it’s only recently that young females have been catered for with genres specifically designed for them. As online videogames continue to grow at breakneck speed I suspect that we will see more and more of these niche genres popping up over time.

Learn how to make Flash games at FlashGamesClassroom.com or play free cooking games and other types of game at Kwikgames.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bill_Deakin
http://EzineArticles.com/?Games-For-Girls—Browser-Games-For-the-Fastest-Growing-Sector&id=3523830

Ikariam is a newly released game by the german game company, GameForge. The company specializes in the coding and design of online browser games such as this one. The basis of the game are simple – build up your city and conquer the world. At the moment, other cities are not destroyable as that would mean one will loose everything he/ she has worked for but it has been announced that this will be changed in a future update.

Other games such as Popodopolous and Zeus worked on the same basis and their simplicity is what made them popular. Well, Ikariam has another popularity factor – the fact that you play it online, for free and without having to download anything on your computer. This feature is amazing as that means you can play it anywhere; at school, on the train, airport lounge or at home!

The game’s files which contain all your account details and statistics are stored on a central server at the company’s headquarters so you don’t have to worry about loosing your files.

Ikariam has only been released in February and it is one of the most searched terms on search engines such as Google and Yahoo. However, Ikariam is still in beta phase so there are a lot of bugs and missing information that you can only get from the developers if you ask on the forums – this can be time consuming as there isn’t a 24/7 customer support.

So, say you want to build a new colony or simply expand your palace and what to see what benefits you get. There’s nowhere to go apart from the forums as the game is recently released and a lack of documentation exists. There are numerous Ikariam videos in existence on YouTube talking about the high number of bugs in the game and how to fix them, but apart from that you have no other information.

Well, I have teamed up with two other website designers to bring you the Ikariam Tip website where we are adding new tools, sims, tutorials and guides daily as we progress through the game. We have started from 0 like every other player of the game just over a week ago and we are struggling to provide all the future new Ikariam players with strong information and documentation that is missing on the official Ikariam FAQ.

Tim Howard plays Ikariam on the Gamma server and he owns an Ikariam Tips website: http://ikariamtip.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tim_Howard

http://EzineArticles.com/?Ikariam—Latest-Browser-Game&id=1061602

Travian won the 2007 Browser Game of the Year award. It is an online browser-based multiplayer strategy game developed in Germany in 2004 that allows participants to play with millions of other participants all around the world.

It is militaristic game based broadly on the Roman Empire that is played in real-time. The game was originally in German and then English but has now been translated into over forty languages.

Travian has over three million players and takes over two hundred and fifty servers to keep the game running. Travian was the first game of its type to be playable on mobile phones.

You begin the game of Travian as a leader of a small village and the member of one of three clans: either a Roman, Gaul or Teuton. The village begins with a population of two and there is only the Main Building.

Around the village you will find eighteen resource fields that are at level 0. The first village you get always has the same distribution of resource fields but additional villages may have a different distribution.

The various resource fields are a woodcutter, clay pit, iron mine or cheat field. Each of these fields produces a certain amount of resources per hour. This production varies depending on the levels. Two units per hour are produced at level 1. These resources are required in order to construct new buildings or to feed and train the troops. By upgrading the fields the production rate can be increased.

The type of buildings a player can construct in the beginning is very limited, however as the village develops more building types become available.

A key component of the game is the troops. Troops allow a player to raid and pillage other villages and steal their resources. These troops are produced in the Great Barracks, Stabel, Great Stable and Workshop. When the barracks have been upgraded to level three, then the player can build an Academy which allows one to create new types of troops and buildings such as an armory or a Blacksmith.

The goal of Travian is to construct and upgrade a World Wonder to level 100. This requires a great deal of resources and takes a long time to complete. The game ends when a World Wonder is upgraded to level 100 and the winner and their alliance is announced.