Cori wrote:
I tend to interpret "because that's what sells" as whiny butthurt and resistance to any and all forms of change.
Have you made extensive economic studies about this subject? Because that's what billion dollar companies do. They don't make giant business decisions based on assumptions. However, "that's what sells" is a reason, not an excuse. The issue is still problematic. The thing is that the problem lies just as much with what the consumer is buying as with what the producer is making.
In your other posts you talk about taking action. However what action do you propose? Being vocal and telling the devs what you want is a good thing, but there is only one action which has actual effect. Buy games that you like and don't buy games you don't like. This is the only way you can actually influence anything. Shareholders don't give a daisies about sexism (or any morals for that matter), but if they see something sells they will push it. This is already happening with the LGBT angle in EA and Bioware games.
What you need to realise though is that games that appeal to males will never dissapear. Horny teenagers and men are a powerful and easily accesible/influencable niche. It's pretty easy cheddar usually. But this isn't really a bad thing, just as porn isn't a bad thing. Males generally like to look at tiddies. That's ok, they were biologically programmed to do that. If you don't like to look at tiddies all the time, that's ok too, just don't buy stuff that's made to appeal to the lowest common denominator.