Game Makers Aren't Chasing Women 154
Thanks to Wired News for their article discussing what videogames women are playing, and whether the mainstream games industry is serving them well. According to the piece, "Observers say the industry isn't exactly rushing to make PC and console games that appeal to both men and women, let alone women alone. That's despite the massive success of games with crossover appeal, such as The Sims." However, a researcher on the subject suggests being too calculating doesn't work either: "Making games in which you get women to do 'women things' isn't a very successful strategy." So what does?
Problem for ya. (Score:5, Insightful)
"McGroarty, these are terrible examples of girl games. You haven't a clue what women want to play."
And that's my second point: As a guy, I haven't a clue. If you want to see more girl games, get more women into making games.
Popcap games (Score:5, Insightful)
While fun, they arnt FPS type games, more brain teasers of sorts. My wife told her friends at work, and all the women seem to like these games, they even play multiplayer version of them.
So ya, women seem to play different types of games.
I play CounterStrike, she plays Dynomite. (a bubble bobble clone) Thou we both like tetrinet, multiplayer tetris with powerups. Something about being evil with powerups makes it fun.
Reality vs. Fantasy (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't think that the gaming industry really wants to make games for girls...yet.
"The Sims", as the article mentions, is higly popular with women -- more so than with men. But nobody in the industry really wants to quit working on Warcraft to make another game that is closer to real life.
Guys like fantasy games. Women tend to like more "realistic" games, despite the fact that really, they're fantasy as well.
There's still a huge market for fantasy games. Until developers need to market to women to survive, they probably will be very slow about it.
Marketing Idiots (Score:2, Insightful)
okay... (Score:2, Insightful)
Besides, how do you "gear games toward women". You make a good game. Whoever likes it likes it. So are they saying that women don't like RPG, FPS, strategy or simulation games? Then what DO they like? Those are essentially all the games that exist and they seem to do okay for the rest of the world.
Women of the world, enlighten us with your bold new genre of videogames that we need to make especially for you? Seriously, I don't mean to be flip - what exactly DO you want?!?!
The games I notice my wife likes, (Score:2, Insightful)
I think it's more of a generational thing (Score:5, Insightful)
My sister, who's 17, plays video games and that's true for at least half of her age group.
My 8-year-old female cousin loves video games, and doesn't have any problem with them at all. Just as video games grew into the mainstream for males, they are moving that way with females (although more slowly).
Playing video games doesn't have to be a "masculine" or "feminine" activity any more than watching a movie. There are plenty of games that can or could appeal to any gender.
That being said, I think video games lost a lot of girls when they started having more than one button. They lost even more when they went to 3D. When games got to the point that you had to read instructions or do tutorials, the gender gap emerged. The arcades also declined sharply at that point.
"Gearing" games towards women... (Score:5, Insightful)
This would effectively render games "mature" and "tasteful", (you are familiar with those words, yes?) and that would attract a wider audience of gamers right there.
As soon as you bring up "Barbie" games on the topic of "games geared towards women" you are already headed in the wrong direction. Try thinking of women as mature adults instead of a pink dress, shopping machine demographic an see what happens.
Truth about women and games (Score:5, Insightful)
It's like the myth that says women only want romance and girls only play with dolls.
The facts are really simple: women share most of the same neurology and physiology as men. They can enjoy games - voluntary challenges full of interesting choices - just as men can. However, they also hate the same things - they hate feeling like a failure, feeling stupid or embarrassed.
Most games today are designed for male neurology and skill level; that is, high degree of spatial and hand-to-eye coordination, navigational skills, and logical puzzles. The core gameplay is right, but the reward/punishment mechanisms are not accounting for the gender difference.
If you look at Bejeweled [popcap.com], it's easy to see why the logical yet forgiving gameplay appeals equally to both genders. It's built around reward, not punishment. Even if you didn't know what to do at all, you get rewards just by clicking around on the screen. You will never be embarrassed or humiliated by the game regardless of what degree of skills you have. And on the second go, you will probably better your score.
Another great example is the city building series by Sierra, which allows you to choose between the path of the warrior or the path of the builder. Almost always, you can pay off your enemies by running a successful economy instead of fighting the war.
This pattern of non-punitive, positively rewarding gameplay is core to almost all titles that have enjoyed high degree of success with women.
Making games for women is not rocket science. :-)
Jouni
Re:Problem for ya. (Score:4, Insightful)
There's a problem with getting boys interested in dolls?
Boys play with dolls all the time. They're called "action figures".
(My point: We can "get girls interested in computers" by giving them computers that they'd be interested in using. Easy? Not necessarily, but we could gain a lot of insight with a spot of good ol' market research.)
Re:Problem for ya. (Score:4, Insightful)
My SO isn't unique - most other girls who dabble in video games (they all like Mario Kart) have fallen in love with UT. Yes, its bloody and violent, but not gratuitously so, and its shiny, polished, and fun.
UT2k3 loses that - its more hardcore (harder gameplay, grittier graphics, and more "heavy metal" player models).
Basically, I think you only really need two things to get girl gamers into male-style games: first, don't make things ugly - make them stylish, a little cute, and personable. Second, make the game n00b-friendly. WarCraft III is too complex. Maybe if you had a game with Dune II's simplicity and WCIII's stylish characters (and less of all that glowy shit) then you could get girls playing it. And yes, even girls like the "HEAD SHOT" announcer in UT.
The big thing, I think, is that games must be social - either playing with other humans (UT, Mario Kart) or with fictional characters in the game (like the Sims). And not obsessive - most girls prefer to be "casual" gamers. The Sims is a very gradual addiction. You have to slowly take over their lives, not just try and snap it up all at once. They will _not_ put in the time to learn the game, to put up with stupid, overcomplex design. They expect to be able to jump in including the social (multiplayer) part of the game. Yes, you can let them get their asses kicked in the multiplayer part - the point is that they have to at least know what's going on first off.
And for another game to use as a reference: all girls I've introduced to games love Mario Kart 64, Dance games, The Sims, Abuse. Use that for basis.
Personally, I think a good game that girls might like would be if someone made a simple multiplayer FPS based on BubbleGum Crisis.
Basically, the theme is this: they won't put up with shit. If the game is too hard, they'll leave. If they don't know how to play, they'll leave. If they think its "ugly" they'll leave. They will give it one fair shot. Design around that one fair shot, but keep in mind that, for them to tell their friends, you have to hold their interest long enough for them to become a fan. This is why puzzle games are so popular with girls - they tend to be good for jump-in-and-play mentality (my girl swears by Puzzle Bobble) but with gameplay that will stand the test of time.
Oh, and if they're the type of girl who likes to squeeze they're boyfriend while they watch a horror movie, consider getting them a trap-oriented game. Something that really startles you. Crack-dot-com's "Abuse" is excellent for that effect (plus having dead-easy controls).
Perhaps Importing? (Score:5, Insightful)
Another observation is that a lot of the women I know, including my wife, really enjoy two player fighters. My wife loves Soul Calibur and is chomping at the bit to play the new one at home (gotta go with the GC version - Link is gonna rock!). She also really enjoys the Street Fighter-derived games (not so much SNK's fighters). DOA is one of the few that I've found that my wife and her friends aren't all that interested in (no, I don't think it's the "bump-mapping"). Perhaps there is something about the competition in those games that the manufacturers need to explore.
I honestly believe that many women are interested in gaming, but there are both social barriers and gender barriers that block them for some reason or another. There's definitely money to be made there...good luck to whomever decides to attack it.
Oh, wait, since this is /.: one thing i know, MS sure as hell won't figure it out. But they may buy the folks that do. ;)
Re:Non-Issue (Score:2, Insightful)
A large portion of american women have expectations about "dating and finding the right guy" that are "largely unrealistic and are mostly composed of multiple-choice quizzes." Read a Redbook or cosmo sometime, It'll scare you.
Think about how many women are absolutly obsessed with soap-operas, these japanese dating sims would have similiar appeal.
Re:Problem for ya. (Score:1, Insightful)
From a girl gamer and retail slave (Score:2, Insightful)
But, I can say what pisses me off, as a woman, in a game.
The busty heroines I'm fine with; it's nice to see women with curves, as they usually are, than skinny rakes. It's just what they're dressed in most of the time that I really have issues with. I mean, hello, cleavage is all very well but a bare chest ain't much protection against a sword.
Not to mention sex-object women thrown in for the sake of being sex-objects. It's silly, and I don't think most men are that easily drawn. ("oooh! Boobies!")
What I've noticed in my work (I sell video games. All video games.) is that the women who are casual gamers tend to gravitate towards puzzle games, yes, but also platformers.
The thing about most platformers, Spyro, Mario, Rayman, is that they're not geared towards a gender, they're geared towards an age group.
The fact that they're largely games with a younger audience appeal means the controls are not difficult to master, there's less of the glorious gory gibbing going on, and there is nothing there to alienate anyone of a specific gender.
That's all that really needs to be done. Don't make games -for- women, (being a woman, I have no idea what a woman's game would be, but it sounds scary), just don't make them specifically for men. Probably toned down violence would appeal to a lot of women, but I happen to like the red mist. ; )
And for that matter, make high quality games! That way, anyone will like it.
(Argh! The time! Must catch bus!)
Re:okay... (Score:2, Insightful)
If we only knew what we wanted...
But seriously, I think Jad was on to something when he mentioned GTA. Personally, I loved GTA III and Vice City (if you don't believe me, read my review). I'm also a big UT2K3 freak and know of a significant (though still small) female percentage playing that.
But I'm also the only girl I know in RL who likes FPS. And I read Slashdot. Obviously I'm not a representative sample.
Other girls I know who like VGs (such as a designer interning with EA for the summer) love fantasy sword-and-sorcery RPGs. Puzzle games too, even as old as Tetris and Dr. Mario. And in the arcade, everyone loves Dance Dance Revolution. *shrug*
Besides, I'm still waiting for those male skins to show some, well, skin.