Talking With the Women Working In Games

MTV's Multiplayer blog is working, all this week, on a series of interviews called Women Working in Games. They've already had great discussions with Ubisoft's Elspeth Tory on the Ubisoft/SomethingAwful thing, and X-Play's Morgan Webb about her work on cable television. They've also spoken with GameGirlAdvance's Jane Pinckard about the differences between men and women and the games they play. "I also think that women have traditionally been at the forefront of this, because they're burdened with more than their fair share of house work and childcare, usually. That's just statistical. And so they're going to have less leisure time for games. Now men are sort of catching up. But I think women have always been less free to play games the way that men have. So maybe that's why women play casual games or they play more casually. And they just don't want the same kind of game that requires 20, 40 hours of play. I think that's totally right." Tomorrow they're speaking with Brenda Brathwaite, a designer and author of the book Sex in Games.

Billy Crystal put it best

[BadAnalogyGuy]

I think it is easy to explain why women aren't as "hardcore" when it comes to gaming as men are. Billy Crystal explained it all in two sentences.

"Women need a reason to have sex. Men just need a place."

Re:Probably the most insightful quote

[Rei]

Great post. I'm reminded a bit of a Penny Arcade comic featuring a female knight dressed in the typical way you see female knights dressed in video games, out in the middle of some frozen tundra, wondering what on earth she was thinking when she picked that outfit. :)

Re:Probably the most insightful quote

[Moraelin]

Heh. Yeah, I know what you mean. I know I was thinking exactly that when playing Legend Of Dragoon on the old Playstation. They had this party member who was an exotic dancer or such, and ran around in a tiny skirt and generally minimalistic outfit. So as my party was working its way through some frozen area (I can't remember which), I just felt... _sorry_ for her.

Look no further

[4D6963]

the reason gamers are skewed toward male is because women are too busy doing housework?

No, the real reason why lies in the content of the games. Let's take a few example games, say, Call of Duty 4, Kane & Lynch, and GTA San Andreas. These games feature cars, helicopters, fire weapons of all sorts, and killing tens of people every couple of minutes. Make no mistake about it, these features on their own aren't what turns women away from such games, no, the real problem is not what is in these games, but what's not in them. Namely, ponies.

When is the last time you've seen a pony in a game? Where are the scenes of combat against pony-riding RPG-totting Iraqi insurgents? Where are the cops who protect themselves from your bullets behind ponies? Where can you jack a mother fucker for his pony and run away with it with the mounties on, literally speaking, your tail? Not in any of the games mentioned, and that's why so many members of the female population prefer to watch cheesy movies that reminds them of the pony their father never offered them for their sixth birthday than to play the games we like to play.