I still don't get this "hardcore" vs. "casual" dichotomy, that somehow playing the 10 hour campaign on Modern Warfare 2 is "hardcore" while devoting two years of your life to Farmville is "casual". Makes little sense to me. I know a few women who've devoted hundreds of hours to WoW, Diablo, Dragon Age, and the Sims. That seems as hardcore as anyone who plays 2 or 3 hours of Call of Duty every night, regardless of sex.
Gralian said:
Look at comic book culture. Several years back it would have been one of those underground cultures that only a select few knew of and would secretly keep up with their latest comic book on a weekly, near religious basis. Now comic book heroes have been adopted by mainstream culture we see superheroes in films and even as the basis for television programs. Just look how much money films like Spiderman made, then look at who went to actually see Spiderman.
Just to nitpick it's mainly film where American comic books have suddenly become mainstream. Twenty years ago the top North American comic book titles were selling in the
millions; today a title is considered a smash success if it sells 150,000. There's been at least one live-action American superhero TV series every decade since the 40s, and many more animated series. As a young child in the early 80s, I had Justice League bedsheets and wore a Superman halloween costume one year; I remember playing Batman on the NES (which was more like a sprite-swapped Ninja Gaiden, but whatever), Spider-man on the Genesis, and the DataEast Superman game in the arcades. I'll grant you that since the late 90s it's become more socially acceptable for girls and women to profess an appreciation for superhero comics and movies, or geek fandom in general.