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[Michaël Samyn]

I might agree to some extent with the people who are claiming that games as a form are inherently more appealing to males than to females. Just like certain types of movies and sports are more appealing to men than to women.

But to me, this only means that games need to grow up and expand. If this beautiful interactive technology is really as powerful as they claim, then surely it must be possible to make so many different types of games that there is a type of game for every single person on the planet.

The only real gender problem that games have is that they are (or have become) a male-dominated industry. This is probably caused by the extreme technological complexity and convoluted software interfaces that some boys really seem to enjoy. As the medium moves out of kindergarten and the technology becomes powerful enough to create tools that are suitable for use by different kinds of people, we will see more women in the industry and the gender problem will go away.

When game development studios consist of an equal amount of women and men in the creative positions, then there's a good chance that their production will appeal to both genders. But don't be surprised by the games that come out of this. They will most likely not be very appealing to most hardcore gamers and developers of today.

[Movius]

I once read an article about supposed racism in games and how it was a bad thing. Then every second paragraph made claims along the line of, "If there was less racism in games then more minorities would be games and if more minorities buying games then they could sell more record scratching games to black people. Because they like that sort of thing."

This thread reminds me of that article.

[Inane]

Now I want to read that article, Movius.

[Chris Whitman]

Let's just make games about grape soda, fried chicken and carjacking and be done with it.

Wait, fuck, someone really did that.

[Movius]

Sadly I can't remember where the article came from. It was a couple of years ago now. When it was the fashion to clumsily insert video game references and analogies into poorly-thought-out, vague 5000 word justifications of socio-political agendas.

[fish]

i read exploding girls aimed at girls.
i am dissapointed.

[Akhel]

i read exploding girls aimed at girls.
i am dissapointed.

 

[fish]

uh.
i meant game.
exploding games.

freudian slip?
freudian explosion!

[Akhel]

[fish]

LOL

man, im brian peppers scary in this.

[fish]

im sorry ive once again completely derailed a perfectly fine thread.

[Soulliard]

I read a letter to the editor in my friend's gaming magazine recently. It was written by a girl who enjoyed playing Halo over Xbox Live, but was repeatedly pestered by other players with sexist remarks.* I don't know whether this is usually the case with online games (I don't play shooters or MMOs), but it seems possible that the player base turns away many female gamers, in online games at least. There's nothing game designers can do about this, of course, except to market their games at a different demographic.

It seems to me that there are two main reasons that more girls don't play games. First of all, gaming is currently very male-dominated. This means that games are often designed by males. They aren't intended to exclude females, generally, but male game designers don't always know what female gamers want.

Secondly, video gaming goes against the culture of teenage girls. It's viewed as a nerdy hobby, in general, and few girls want to seem like nerds when popularity is so important. For games to reach girls, it would take more than just game designers reaching out to them; the culture of teenage girls would need to change as well.


*In case you were wondering, the editor replied to the letter with another sexist remark.

[skaldicpoet9]

I don't know. I think a lot of it does have to do with the fact that the games industry to a certain extent is geared toward males. However, I don't believe that this necessarily deters women from playing games, as evident in the posts previous to this we all know girls that play games. My girlfriend plays most of the games that I do (Morrowind, Zelda, Cave Story, Toribash etc...) and she actually just joined the forum a few days ago and I wouldn't say that she is an exception because most of the girls that I know play games. I think that developers need to realize that there is a large audience of female gamers out there that are looking for something that caters to their tastes. When developers learn how to tap into that then I bet we will see dramatic increase in the current gaming demographic.

[Chris Whitman]

NEWS FLASH: Awesome is a noun now.

[1337-n00b]

Eden, I guess that's what I'm asking: What types of fantasy do you, as a female, want to see in a videogame?  It would be interesting to see if that fantasy could work alongside a more traditional, male fantasy; couples co-op, anyone?  I agree, though, that the "non-roll" games can really appeal equally to both audiences.

Akhel, you're my hero.

Something that merits pointing out: a lot of movies are directed, produced and written by men, yet plenty of women enjoy those films.  While I agree the videogame industry could use a feminine touch, I don't think having one girl for every guy is going to somehow magically make the games appeal to women.  I do agree that the industry needs to grow up, though.

[Michaël Samyn]

You have a point. A lot of fine art and music is made by men too. And enjoyed by women.
Would this have anything to do with the fact that the men who make movies are artists and the people who make games are engineers?

[Ivan]

My girlfriend doesn't play alot of games and with her it mostly comes down to a) her aversion to violence and b) her indifference to fantasy and sci-fi. That pretty much cuts out 98% of the games out there. She's kind of my litmus test for good games actually, because when a truly interesting game comes along, she'll get into it. (She played Mario Galaxy for hours on end when we first got it).

I actually don't think it has anything to do with games being games. If you're really into Harry Potter movies, i doubt you'd have any problems with a Harry Potter game. On the other hand, if you can't stand that shit, most games will automatically look to you like Harry Potter.

[Chris Whitman]

I think it has a lot to do with this exact thread.

If you want games which appeal to women, stop trying to make games which appeal to women, because it's more than a little insulting to say: "Here, you'll like this; it has stuff about clothes and feelings and it's not too difficult for you."

I don't mean to be a jerk or nothing, but are you guys from the past?

[mike]

I don't mean to be a jerk or nothing, but are you guys from the past?

Hmmm, let's see...

My liscence says I was born on 1st June 1983, todays date is 18 Dec 2007...

Yeah, I guess I am.

There's the problem.

[Chris Whitman]

You're going to have to get used to some strange customs of the modern era.

Are you sitting down for this? They let women vote now.