What kinds of games 'hook' women?

I think there are inherent things that appeal to men and women in different ways, but to say it's only two specific things, specially when video games are all very very similar, is a bit rediculous. Video games are targeting repressed young males for the most part. Anyways, until women stop marginalizing themselves, there will always be gender gaps

female gamers are... gamers. Like other players, they don't belong to either one or the other category.

The question of what sort of games women tend to enjoy is a very interesting one, just like the one asking what sort of games do average teenagers okay. It's trying to understand (either for marketing purposes or psychological research) what kind of games a specific category of human beings is attracted to. Further studies will want to understand why they like it and all that research is good. Falling in the trap of easy categorization is quite stupid. I believe the reality is much more complex.

Female gamers are just gamers. Why the need to try to categorize us by what games we like to play. We hardly ever see this kind of attempt to categorize male gamers. I enjoy playing the same games as my husband, and contrary to what seems to be common belief, i don't play them simply because he does. Female gamers are gamers just like our male counterparts. You simply can't categorize all women gamers as only playing certain styles of video games. Female gamers are as diverse as any other group of gamers. Some like pink consoles, some don't. Some like simplistic puzzle games, while some of us want to play more complicated and challenging games. You just can't tie us down into one small specific group who only play one or two certain genre of games.