On Gaming, Girls, And Germane Genres 58
Thanks to GameGirlAdvance for their article discussing how the female videogamer may present the future of gaming. The writer suggests that "This is an insanely large, untapped market just waiting to be satiated with games (and girls to buy them)", and attempts an amusingly broad overview of relevant game features: "Women... in essence are more of a gatherer/collector more than they are a visceral hunter-killer. They tend to be more detail oriented, preferring subtlety and complexity over overt skull-crushing over-the-top carnage and mayhem." Elsewhere, a SeattlePI.com article also talks about the much-vaunted broadening of the game market, pointing out that, for Microsoft's Xbox, "For the first time ever, the company is also including female gamers in its television commercials. (Three of the four Xbox ads shown this holiday will feature women or girls in them.)"
Girls just want to have (digital) fun (Score:5, Interesting)
The Sims is only the tip of the iceberg, but icebergs move at a glacial pace...
Your (gender bending) Power Pill [levelupdesign.com]
It's really a non-issue (Score:2, Interesting)
Any changes are just messing with the current formula of titles but those are already a fine match for us.
What's with all the alliteration? (Score:2, Offtopic)
On Gaming, Girls, And Germane Genres
Welcome to Farkdot, News nor Nerds. Ntuff nhat natters?
A little bit of this and a little bit of that.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Eh, thats not saying much when you put it that way. If girls are detail orientated, and prefer sublety and complexity, then why don't girls like strategy games? Obviously there's still some "gore" but right now the "gore" graphics in the most recent games isn't even close to making a similar atmosphere like Doom (we've all seen the rooms full of a couple dozen/hundred imps before).
I'm gonna have to take the article from GameGirlAdvance with a grain of salt.
'In short, don't push home the female stereotype. People in general tend to not want to be sold something they can do already without your gaming system, so avoid the cliches and perhaps examine just what it is that girls like about videogames in the first place.'
I donno, the male stereotype is that guys like to beat each up, play rough sports, and drive overly expensive, souped-up, supercharge, chrome plated cars. Oddly enough these types of stereotypical games seems to sell the best : FPS games (ok, not quite beating each other up but close), Sports games (Madden series anyone?), and Racing games (Need for Speed series).
Re:A little bit of this and a little bit of that.. (Score:1)
Just curious...are you referring to Real-time Strategy Games, or turn-based?
Because being good at an RTS doesn't involve any subtlety - success is a result of memorizing a playbook and practicing each play until you can execute it perfectly. Coming up with new plays is equally tedious: you just keep trying builds until you find a good one.
I know this from playing a hell of a lot of Starcraft.
Games: On Gaming, Girls, And Germane Genres? (Score:5, Funny)
Simoniker seems starved of silly sounding subtitling suddenly.
Alliterating acronyms are always awful... avoid and abstain asmuch as appropriate!
Re:Games: On Gaming, Girls, And Germane Genres? (Score:1)
Assonance isn't any better, pal.
Different tastes for different sexes? (Score:5, Interesting)
Any given day of the week, I'm quite happy to sit down and play an RTS, RPG, FPS or puzzle adventure. My sister loves Mario Kart and the Monkey Island series. She likes the cute characters and the humour, but also likes to sit down and solve puzzles. My girlfriend is quite unwilling to invest any time in a game unless she gets an instant payoff - she gets frustrated quite easily if she isn't instantly good at something, and will turn off the PC/console and go listen to music or watch DVDs. She is quite happy to play something like DDR.
I think that while there is some (small) overlap between male/female game tastes, in general they are quite different. The reason we don't see more games for women is that the male market is a proven one, and easy to develop for based upon game type. If developers knew how to design games for women (and rake in big money), we would probably see a lot more games for girls out there.
Maybe the industry needs to find out what games girls want to play and then make them. If its more games like Rez, I wouldn't mind playing them with my girlfriend
Re:Different tastes for different sexes? (Score:1)
Re:Different tastes for different sexes? (Score:1)
Lets push gender stereotypes! (Score:5, Interesting)
C'mon people...
Women gamers want the same thing men gamers want: a fun game. Personally, I think the Mario games (including Mario Kart and Mario Party knockoffs), F-Zero, and The Sims are fun. No violence, but not always subscribing to the notion women should just want to play with digital dolls. But I also think Unreal Tournament, Medal of Honor, and Alien vs Predator 2 are some of the most kickass LAN gaming ever.
I do agree that companies should push the female market more. From a benevolent social perspective, it's a touchy-feely issue of equality. But for the selfish money-grubbing business majors running the gaming companies, it's the "untapped market" they all drool over. (No female-gamer pun intended.) (Well, maybe a little one.)
So I agree with the focus of the first article, that companies should expand their target audience to include women. And while the quote given in the Slashdot summary (about gatherer/collectors vs hunter-killers) is rather silly, the list of games the article gives (games like Zelda, The Sims, Civilization, etc) that "grrl" gamers like to play seems pretty solid. There is a market for games that can sell to both men and women.
But I do think the example "men don't tend to bargin shop or hunt around" is a common misconception. *stereotype warning* The difference is in priorities. Most men don't bargin shop for clothing because, well, it's stupid. They're f*ing pants! But tell this "man" who won't comparative shop to buy a car, and it's nothing but comparative shopping until the best damn one is found. Likewise, most women aren't gonna be hunting around for videogames because they don't perceive a need to do so. *end stereotypes* This minor issue asside, I do think the Game Girl article is a good read. Their stuff usually is.
The second article, on the other hand, is shallow. The message? "Videogame companies want you to buy their product." No shit? Really? It talks about companies dropping prices, expanding lineups, coming out with new and exciting stuff...well, that's the same thing companies have been doing, in videogames, for the last twenty years and, in every other industry, pretty much since the beginning of the notion of personal property came around. You have to convince people to buy your things...
-Trillian
PS I have to note that the Game Girl article (the first one) does bug me because it specifically gives numbers for the Xbox and PS2 ownership but "doesn't take into account Game Cube, Game Boy, or any gaming peripherals, help guides, or other "value added" items." Why the hell not? Even though this rant is slightly off-topic, leaving out GC and (to a lesser extent) GBA as "real" consoles only hurts Nintendos immage. Check the numbers, people! They're doing better than Xbox! Maybe not stateside, but no one even pretends that the US is the only videogame market. Japan has always led the way and, in spite of Microsoft's attempts, it looks like they'll continue for the near future. Just had to get that out...
Re:Lets push gender stereotypes! (Score:3, Interesting)
It's actually a more benign reason than you might think. The author was trying to estimate how much money was spent entirely on male-oriented games. Since the GameCube and GBA/GBASP are generally intended to be gender-neutral
Re:Lets push gender stereotypes! (Score:1)
-Trillian
My Friend's Experience (Score:5, Interesting)
This situation might not be typical but not knowing everything about the consoles is understandable when its not a hobby that you spend hours reading about each week. That's why she sold the console to me, even though I already have one, because I will know the right person to sell it to.
Even though she has her brand names mixed she still knows what she wants - fun games. I am willing to spend half an hour adjusting to the controls of a new game if it pays off in the end with a great plot and the right amount of difficulty. But I have been gaming for 20 years. Kids' games are the ideal game for someone who wants to pick up the controller and have be playing within 5 minutes.
Re:My Friend's Experience (Score:3, Interesting)
Well, "kids" games is a bit broad of a term. I don't think many girls will be interested in Barney's funtime adventure or whatever. And, having played Mario Sunshine, I wouldn't call it a kids game because of the difficulty level.
But I see what you're saying, and I totally agree. I like Nintendo games that have characters that talk to you and guide you through your first time using a f
The Return of Monkey Island? (Score:3, Interesting)
Classic adventure games anyone? Is it just me, or does that seem like a perfect match to the above description? I know a whole bunch of male gamers who wouldn't mind the comeback of adventure games anyone.
Then it can of course be argued what is an adventure game and what isn't, but I'm associating straight to the classic point-and-click style of inventory based games now.
One wonders if the new Sam n Max will try to market itself to take advantage of this (yeah, I feel making more noise about adventure games is a great part of it. People need to hear about a game they will love playing to be able to consider it.)?
They dig it. (Score:2)
A women also holds the game record for highest score and number of hours/levels played.
An obvious way (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:An obvious way (Score:2)
Just curious - how well does the "cute guy" approach work on selling stuff to girls/ladies? Would you buy beer/a car/game/etc if it were advertised using cute guys?
Heh, would it also work on girls who don't want to admit they have hentai minds...
Re:An obvious way (Score:1)
gender neutral (Score:1)
Re:An obvious way (Score:2)
*sigh* (Score:4, Interesting)
Yeah, as if that's a real step forward. DOA Volleyball commercials had a lot of focus on all the playable female characters in the commercials. Did that make women go out and buy the game? If game companies focused half as much on game design elements as they do target demographics, they might actually get more women playing.
Of course, aiming for demographics has the promise of the Almighty Dollar (think "pop music"), so what do I know?
Gamer Girls (Score:2, Insightful)
Yeah, but are they really there to encourage girls to play or to get the attentions of boys?
"Look, it's a girl!!!"
I Wonder Why? (Score:4, Insightful)
Not surprising. One, however, should not infer that because MS is putting female gamers in their commercials they are attempting to appeal to that segment.
After all, Budweiser/Coors/Any Beer Company puts women in their commercials too, but isn't necessarily trying to sell the product to that group, are they?
Uggh (Score:2)
yeah, i knew this. (Score:1)
I believe this statement, seeing that my wife's two favorite games are Final Fantasy Tactics and FFT-Advance.
Grrl gamers?! .... Please.... (Score:2, Insightful)
What has been winning for the past several years is GTA and UT/Counter-Strike style games. Period. The games that peopl
sure (Score:2)
Well, sorry to be the one to point this out, but could that be because it will help sell the product to men / boys? Just like all other products, throwing a pretty girl in the commercial usually ups sales.
Sorry. (Score:2)
Re:Sorry. (Score:1)
I don't think this is quite as true as many people would like to believe. Many women don't care if they have a traditional wedding or not, especially as they get older (or, more accurately, as younger generations get older). It's more so
oh and.. (Score:2)
Hopefully they will be half naked strippers.
Re:oh and.. (Score:2)
Re:oh and.. (Score:1)
wild divine - hot game for spiritual people (Score:1)
Ye Gods! (Score:2)
As are:
Pensioners
The under fives
Amputees
What is this unholy obsession with 'markets', FFS. If nothing has been exposed over the past couple of decades, it's that the old rules of marketing are beginning to crumble and targetting things at specific markets is leading to some real confusion, especially when trying to apply those rules across cultural boundaries.
What happened to making a game with broad bloody app
The problem isn't marketing (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:The problem isn't marketing (Score:2, Interesting)
There are exceptions, myself incl
My question (Score:1)
There's a big difference between booth babe and fellow gamer.
Given the way M$ markets this thing, I'm going to bet on the booth babe angle. Of course I could be wrong.
Personal Experience (Score:3, Interesting)
I work with one girl who enjoys 'deep' games - Final Fantasy, Metroid, Zelda - and platformers - Mario, etc. I work with another who loves first person shooters (she goes for the sniper rifle every time - a girl after my own heart). Another I met the other day was raving about Max Payne 2 (she'd never played the first) - a game that she'd bought herself, not something she found on her boyfriend's computer.
A couple asked me the other day which system they should buy - XBox or PS2. I asked them what kind of games they had, and the guy said he played pretty much everything. I asked the lady, and she said she liked the 'fun' games, like Mario Kart on the N64. As soon as I mentioned Mario Kart Double Dash her eyes lit up. I've met a gaggle of ladies, from 14 to 74, looking for a copy of Harvest Moon 64 of late - for themselves, their mothers, or their daughters.
The impression that I tend to get of girls buying games (from my experience behind the counter) is that they don't tend to know anything about the games, and so they stick to what they know. If they're getting something for their boyfriend, they'll ask me for advice, or pick out a few things and get them (or, they'll ask the guy and get it for him). If they're buying for themselves, they tend to stick to games they've played already. I don't make a habit of asking people who their games are for, but when I ask girls if the game is for them/if they've played it, the answer is usually the same for both questions. Maybe it's coincidence.
Most of the 'girls' (and ladies) that come into my store alone are looking for (or looking for something for) their boyfriends. Most that come in with their boyfriends/husbands stand around bored to tears. I sometimes want to try and introduce them to the non-blow-em-up games and see if they'd like them, but that would be rather intrusive - 'I see you look bored, can I find something to sell you?' just doesn't go over well. Still, I'm willing to wager that every girl that comes into my store could find a game somewhere on my shelves that they would like. I'd pretty much guarantee it. But they don't bother to look, because they're not interested. And who would with front runners like Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty, and the like?
To sum up, girls that I meet generally stick to games they know they like and have played before (a sensible attitude in this era of shitty overhyped games), as they seem to have this idea that they won't like any games, with a few exceptions (which may be true). Perhaps it's just a matter of 'girls don't like games' that girls are beginning to get over. Who knows?
Probably, the girls do. But no one seems to ever ask them.
--Dan
Because Games Are New (Score:1, Troll)
When I was a kid that's all my friends and I wanted to do. My sister, on the other hand, wasn't interested. So now I've got a decade or so general gaming experience and she has relatively none. If she decides to start playing games now she'll want games that are more simpl
Re:Because Games Are New (Score:1)
Seriously, though, girls are just people. They all have different tastes. Some people like story games. Some people like sports games. Some people are shooter addicts. Getting girls to play games is really the first step, and once they try one they like, they'll keep buying them. It's not nearly as complicated as most people make it sound.
Let us not forget (Score:2)
Let us not forget that Game Girl Advance already has ideas [gamegirladvance.com] about how to draw in more women gamers.