I think comparing across genres would be more informative...for example, the percentage of female characters in an FPS (say, CoD, Bioshock, or whatever) as oppo

I think comparing across genres would be more informative...for example, the percentage of female characters in an FPS (say, CoD, Bioshock, or whatever) as opposed to an MMORPG (WoW, Eve, etc.) There's also a certain danger in adding females into games, right? Behavior which may be acceptable against only male characters can get pretty bad when applied to females--consider the case of Postal 2, GTA, or any number of sandboxy games. Fallout, for what it's worth, at least was equal opportunity and let you shoot both women and children in the face. If you allow females in a game with violence as a major component, you open yourself up to all of the issues of some insecure jackass perpetuating violence against women and posting about it--or just getting yelled at straight-out for supporting that functionality at all. EDIT: It's kind of funny, actually, that we were arguably more progressive in FPSs in the 90s than we are today. Stronger female characters (System Shock, Jurassic Park: Trespasser), more options for character customization (Half-Life, Quake 2), and better socialization (Ultima Online, Asheron's Call, Everquest). For shame.