10 Gateway Games 167
The title of 1up.com's feature is Top-Ten Girlfriend Friendly games, but the titles they suggest are generally intended to get a non-gamer interested in the gaming passtime. From the article: "...it is possible to bring non-gaming significant others over to the dark side, through a number of games designed to grab those who couldn't care less how many frags you got in Counter-Strike last week."
Why are old arcade games considered good? (Score:3, Insightful)
That game almost killed the mobile phone gaming market. Too boring to even play on the toilet!
Re:Why are old arcade games considered good? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Why are old arcade games considered good? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Why are old arcade games considered good? (Score:5, Insightful)
Thing is, these aren't necessarily good games to introduce people to. You are absolutely right about the Atari games. She loves those games because they are old, and she remembers playing them when she was little. Same with Dr. Mario, it was an accessible classic (certainly an easier concept than Tetris). And the Pop-Cap games are mostly variations on the theme.
Now, I can see where they get the Sims kind of, as well as Animal Crossing. My SO (much like many of her age) are big into the Trading Spaces type of show, and so the Sims is a nice little escape to design a really awesome house, or just play with design ideas. And on top of that, she liked to get the people involved in complicated relationships with the whole neighborhood, to see the social repercussions. I can see many other women of her age group getting into it for similar reasons, but other than that I think the whole "girl gamer" (or intro gamer) analogy stops there.
You see, there is such a variety out there, there is no set way to introduce any set of people to games. You're not going to lure the sports nut dad to video games with Ninja Gaiden (unless he is an armchair martial artist as well), and at the same time you're not going to lure most women in with a lot of the current popular games. This is because a lot of these games are aimed at men specifically, games like Grand Theft Auto and the afore-mentioned Counter-Strike. All this article did was pick a handful of pretty good games that weren't particularly aimed at the 13-34 male demographic. This list could have included any number of old Atari games, or a plethora of NES games. Nothing particularly insightful, they inductively deduced that many women who don't play games now probably don't because they consider them "boy toys". And lets face it, some women just aren't going to like your typical modern game fare that uses sex to sell. Video games are competitive by nature, and there are people who don't like competing, even with themselves or a computer. Video Games are not for everyone.
Re:Why are old arcade games considered good? (Score:3, Interesting)
Pac-Man on the other hand can be played with simple controls on just about anything. Women love that game also. It's simple.
I enjoy simple games. I hate things that suck all my time away with no pupose. I like games that don't pretend to be anything other than a distraction (eg. most 80's arcade games and most of the games in that list; also simple online deathmatch like Q3/UT).
If anything should not be o
Re:Why are old arcade games considered good? (Score:2)
You discovered this after playing it for hours and hours and hours, didn't you? I sure did. Don't care for the game now though -- I tried playing the Sims 2 (borrowed a copy) and just couldn't get into it at all.
My gf never played games before I bought my playstation, save for Myst on her PC (it came with her PC
What? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:What? (Score:2)
Re:What? (Score:2)
We play Pikmin 2 together.
What ... is Pikiman? (Score:2)
No Pikiman or Pikiman 2?
Spell-check has detected errors leading to ambiguity. Did you mean:
Antigateway: Marble Madness (Score:5, Funny)
Oh well. At least she lets me go fishing in Animal Crossing with our son.
She likes to spend time together (Score:5, Insightful)
What she doesn't like is me playing endless hours of FPS on my own. So to spend time together we play team deathmatch games.
Good enough for me.
Re:She likes to spend time together (Score:1)
Missed one (Score:5, Insightful)
Not that I'm partial or anything
P.S. I agree with the sentiment that the article, while trying to be inclusive, comes off a bit like a bunch of sexist men who are trying to be inclusive. Most of the female gamers I know are Everquest players, Counterstrike addicts, Katamari Damacy lovers, die-hard Ninja Gaiden fans, Sims players, Castlevania afficianadoes... Basically players with tastes as varied as any others, who like good games and maybe not so into the grossly overt sexualization thing. While there are some things you can do to make a female audience walk away, the only thing you can do to really attract them is to make a great game.
Re:Missed one (Score:2, Informative)
Missing Genre (Score:5, Insightful)
While that genre of games is pretty saturated, it provides a good scenario where I can help her learn the game and pick up the slack with killing the enemies until she gets the hang of it.
Rather than just giving her the controller, try plugging in controller 2.
Re:Missing Genre (Score:2)
I know about Champions of Norrath, but we don't have a PS2 (just an Xbox and a Gamecube).
Re:Missing Genre (Score:2)
Re:Missing Genre (Score:2, Informative)
Brien Voorhees
Re:Missing Genre (Score:2)
Halo's great too if FPSs are fair game. Similarly with Outlaw Golf. Not exactly coop, but close enough where the competition isn't really against each other, but against yer previous bests and the course itself.
More games need coop.
Re:Missing Genre (Score:2)
second that (Score:3, Insightful)
She LOVES the Diablo series, at least on the PC, and has a decided weakness for the Civ family of games (even relatively crappy ones like Pharoh). She doesn't play from the strategy, "kill your enemies" standpoint, but she real
Re:second that (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Missing Genre (Score:2)
Bubble Bobble and Bomberman.
And a definite improvement to Pikmin would be multiplayer.
Re:Missing Genre (Score:2)
and it is VS multiplayer, not COOP.
For VS multiplayer, it's best to go with silly mini games like Wario Ware and Mario Party.
Re:Missing Genre (Score:2)
I've found that FPSes are almost death. It takes a lot (a lot) of coordination to get the hang of them. 3rd person games almost always work better.
m.
a shiny new xbox (Score:5, Interesting)
she didnt know hardcore gaming till gt4 came out though... heh heh.
Re:a shiny new xbox (Score:1)
Re:a shiny new xbox (Score:2)
Re:a shiny new xbox (Score:2)
I have gotten girls of all ages really really interested in the DOA fighting series, as sexist/fetishist as they might be. I think it's because DOA works at a much slower pace and is a bit more interactive than other fighting games.
Still trying to have the SO get better at Halo...
Re:a shiny new xbox (Score:5, Insightful)
Does it claim that these are the only games that women will like?
No.
Does it claim that all women like these games?
No.
Does it supply games in a single or small number of genres?
No.
Does it claim that women who already are gamers will want to play only these games?
No.
Does it in any way claim that all women are the same?
No.
The most this article says is that most women share a cluster of personality traits--which, if you've ever gotten to know any women, is true. Even if in many other ways they're all different.
What, then, is your problem?
Re:a shiny new xbox (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm a woman, and I can tell you my friends would not play ANY of those games mentioned, with the exception of Katamari Damacy. Most of them won't look "dorky" playing DDR... although I must confess, I play DDR for at least an hour a day.
"most women share a cluster of personality traits".... no, not really. We are individuals. Why do articles persist in lumping all women into one size fits all shoes?
Not all women like chick flicks.
Not all women like Orlando Bloom.
Not all women hate
Re:a shiny new xbox (Score:2)
The idea is to introduce people to gaming and to not turn them off to it. These games listed might work for someone who has never seen games before, and it would intrest them enough that they would take the time to learn it.
The ones in the article are games that someone who has seen gaming, but doesnt "get it" migh
Re:a shiny new xbox (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:a shiny new xbox (Score:2)
My father had no sons. He loved to teach me "boy things" like tools and cars and computers, because there was no one else to teach it to.
By your own words, you have labeled tools, cars and computers "boy things." Some might say you are therefore a hypocrite (and no, putting it in quotes does not make it sarcastic, or "society's term," so don't try that. Putting it in quotes made it a phrase).
Me, personally, I wouldn't call it sexist OR call you a hypocrite. Rather, I think
Re:a shiny new xbox (Score:2)
Yes we know already everything men do is sexist if it involves, is for or is about women (at least someone will always claim is). That is because (as it is commonly known) all women are personalities and all men are mindless sex machines (all exactly the same). For some strange reason (and despite the fact that all women are different) when women statistically are not interested or good at something (like science or games) it must be because of their upbringing and the society. It's easy with men: whenever
Dating a Sims addict? (Score:1, Funny)
(Posted anonymously? You bet!)
Welcome to the Slashdot-boast-a-thon! (Score:3, Funny)
The space below is reserved for all vain /.ers who actually have girlfriends even though they spend their days frantically searching the site for the opportunity to show off:
... mine likes Mariokart double dash: She *knows* the blue sparks.
No monkey ball? (Score:5, Insightful)
Rez with trance vibrator (Score:3, Funny)
Not too far off... (Score:2)
But her REAL passion is word games like "Text Twist" and "Bookworm" from Astraware for the Palm.
OT: As for me, my downfall is the old Roadblasters console game. It is so addictive, and I can frequently get the High score.
Eye Toy (Score:2, Insightful)
My wife only plays one on the article list - Bejeweled. Her favorites are the Hoyles series, mostly the Card and Board games.
Gimme a break (Score:4, Funny)
Resident Evil 4 (Score:5, Interesting)
It's actually one of the more watchable games that I've come across. It's a pretty decent horror movie. Actually given the length its more like a horror series in one package.
Previously she watched me play through Grim Fandango (after I knew all the puzzles of course, otherwise it'd be boring as hell while I do the throw the inventory at the puzzle and wander around trying to figure things out). That game is hands down the best game/movie I've seen.
A good portion of the Wing Commander games are good too, but the space battles get repetitive for the view unless they are a player as well.
She also likes watching parts of Splinter Cell, but the sneaking around is less fun to watch.
Re:Resident Evil 4 (Score:1)
Case in point: Final Fantasy X. When my husband and I were still dating, sometimes I would be over at his place and he would be playing that game. It's really pretty to watch, so I'd occasionally sit and watch him play. I also started playing that game, but since I didn't have my own PS2, I could only play at his place when he wasn't playing. I wound up watching him play a lot more than playing myse
Re:Resident Evil 4 (Score:2)
Re:Resident Evil 4 (Score:2)
Survival Horror (Score:5, Interesting)
I moved away from where the parents live about 6 years ago, after my student days came to a close and I got a job at the other end of the country. I'd never been much of a gamer before then. I mean, I guess I've been playing games on and off since I was about 10, but computers and games were never my "main" hobby, until a couple of years ago. Therefore, gaming was never actually something I'd particularly talked to my parents about. Sure, I'd done the usual tech-support-over-the-phone-and-at-holidays thing that most slashdotters seem to get roped into, but that was usually just with stuff like printing documents in Word.
Then one evening last year, around September or so, I get a phone call from my mother. She wants to pick my brains over a puzzle. This isn't particularly unusual; she's called me before when stuck on a crossword or something. Anyway, she describes this puzzle to me; it's basically a number-puzzle, based around finding a combination on a keypad from a series of clues. As I listen to the description, I get this weird sense of deja vu. I cut her off half-way through the description and say "The answer's 8631" (or whatever the answer really was; I can't remember now). There's a pause and she says "oh, you're right. How did you know that?" "You're playing a computer game, aren't you?", I say. "More specifically, you're playing Silent Hill 3." Cue an embarrassed pause and a very quiet "erm... yes". (For those who know the game, it was the "hard" difficulty puzzle to find the combination on the hospital door).
To be honest, this was a real shock to me. I guess I'd always shared a lot of the preconceptions demonstrated in this article; that if women played games, it was likely to be "simple" games, like Tetris, played for relatively short periods. Big-budget, high-profile survival horror games would not have been my pick for a "Gateway" game. To be honest, I find the idea of "Gateway" games a bit naff and artificial anyway. Either people like playing games or they don't.
Anyway, it turned out that my mother had already played Silent Hill 2, after being loaned it by a friend and fellow horror-movie buff at work. To tell you the truth, knowing her general level of IT literacy, I was pretty amazed she'd even managed to install and run a PC game. It did, however, get me thinking. Perhaps people outside the normal "gamer" demographic (which I probably just about fall into), are more likely to play a game if it's connected to other interests. My mother is a huge horror movie buff, so the Silent Hill games would have an obvious appeal that something "simple" like Tetris probably wouldn't. Moreover, the extremely realistic graphical style of the games helps to break down the barrier between games and movies. I'm pretty sure the original Silent Hill wouldn't have had the same effect; to somebody who isn't aware of or interested in the context for that generation of games, all that matters is that it doesn't "look" real.
Re:Survival Horror (Score:2)
The reason I ask is that SH3 is an unusual game for someone to cut their teeth on when they have very little computer knowledge.
Final Fantasy (Score:2, Informative)
Before the calls of sexism come, I don't care who the girl is, all girls like romance. Even when they say they don't. They only say that to see if you'll be romantic anyways. (Yes, girls are sneaky.)
Re:Final Fantasy (Score:2)
That said, there are a few games she doesn't mind. She loves Monopoly Party for the PS2. Animal Crossing didn't click, but Pac Man World 2 for the Xbox did. Any of the old Spyro games are big hits as well. The first game she ever really enjoyed was Jumping Flash on PS1.
The problem is that I can't watc
My wife is already a gamer... (Score:1)
My wife and I are both very competative, and I find that anything in which we are pitted head to head is bound to end with one of us getting upset.
What I need is a list of games we can play together toward a common goal. And as long as I'm making requests, let's have only console games, PS2 and GC specifically.
Currently our solution is to play MMORPGs, but I'm dying to actually get some damn use out of my GC.
Re:My wife is already a gamer... (Score:1)
http://gamefork.com/content/view/21/54/ [gamefork.com]
http://charon.sfsu.edu/corey/ps2coop/index.shtml [sfsu.edu]
I guess my girlfriend isn't girly enough for 1up's list - the only thing on there she likes is Katamari.
Her co-op favorites:
GC - Phantasy Star Online
PC - Diablo
PS2 - Baldurs Gate, Champions of Norrath.
Shrek 2 is suprisingly a decent co-op game too.
Cookies and Cream is an old good co-op game for PS2 - but it's for hardcore puzzle/action fans only -
Re:My wife is already a gamer... (Score:2)
I think everyone else pretty much covered all the decent co op games out there. That's a pretty small list isnt it? I find that sad.
Oh, perhaps animal crossing, you guys could make characters in the same town and play when your so isn't around and leave some surprises for them.
Re:My wife is already a gamer... (Score:2)
And about Cookies & Cream (PS2), at least the first half of the game is fine for neophyte gamers. My wife handled it fine until the second half, at which point I had to bring in my sister to finish the game with me. Lots of complicated timed jumping in th
Re:My wife is already a gamer... (Score:2)
Three GC games come to mind (Score:2)
Zelda: Four Swords (Hands down, one of the best --if not the best-- co-operative games I have ever played.)
Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles (very good co-op game, but can cause some stress if you're combat styles aren't complimentary during boss battles.)
Pac-Man Vs. (while it's not co-operative, it is hours of fun for just about any skill level of gamer. It comes packed in with Pac-Man World 2.)
"Girly" subject matter is not the answer (Score:5, Insightful)
-Male gamers create an enviornment hostile to female gamers, both actively and passively. Examples: telling women that they wont like Doom 3 but they will certainly like DDR (AHEM!); Asking a women who's gaming if she actually likes games (of course she does you dope, she's playing one now!)
-Game creators and especially marketers create disincentives for women to play through sexist or oversexualized portrayals of females. Examples: Hijacking Lara Croft's image from female Indy to Drips-With-Sex-Balloon-Boobs; Bloodrayne; too many to list.
-Women in positions of influence tell young women not to game because it is "not a girl thing to do." I still see (younger and older) mothers tell their daughters not to game (in whatever form) and to play with Barbie. And at the risk of getting shot, I tell them off every time.
To be honest I'm getting sick of the way women are treated and portrayed by the gaming community. From a social standpoint, I want to see games exoand into a major culture-spanning entertainment, and that can't happen without the other half of the species; from a business standpoint, the game industry is ignoring signifigant potential sales on the games they make by being sexist; and from an equality standpoint, what we as gamers and game industry professionals are doing to women is morally objectionable.
Drew Nolosco
Chief Game Designer
Riot Media, Inc.
Re:"Girly" subject matter is not the answer (Score:1)
Male gamers create an enviornment hostile to female gamers, both actively and passively. Examples: telling women that they wont like Doom 3 but they will certainly like DDR (AHEM!); Asking a women who's gaming if she actually likes games (of course she does you dope, she's playing one now!)
This is all assuming girls do online gaming. Plenty of gamers are just as content to play against (or with) the AI. How do they relate? If you are referring to the way society treats female
Re:"Girly" subject matter is not the answer (Score:3, Informative)
Didn't slashdot recently run a series of vignettes from game industry insiders, who didn't exactly play it up as a funhouse? You can try searching for them
Re:"Girly" subject matter is not the answer (Score:2)
Take David Perry's Design Challenge [dpfiles.com].
100 games may sound like a lot to sample, but that's just 2 a week for a year. I've basically done this the past two years in a row, not to mention before college...
And I disagree with pretty much all of your statements WRT female gaming. Hang out with female gamers, watch them, listen to how people treat them and interact with them, and watch most modern games through their eyes. Watch how quick
Re:"Girly" subject matter is not the answer (Score:2)
Game creators and especially marketers create disincentives for women to play through sexist or oversexualized portrayals of females. Examples: Hijacking Lara Croft's image from female Indy to Drips-With-Sex-Balloon-Boobs; Bloodrayne; too many to list.
Are they being sexist? It seems like they oversexualise their portrayals of males too (all muscles, no brains, etc), but no one seems to complain as much about that. From what I've heard, it's just a male thing to oversexualise everyone. Now, if there were
Re:"Girly" subject matter is not the answer (Score:2)
My personal gripe are games where your sex doesn't matter to the story of the game, and yet there's still no way to select 'male' or 'female' avatar. This was the only weak part of System Shock 2, that you're assumed to
Re:"Girly" subject matter is not the answer (Score:2)
False. In WWII, the army of the USSR made heavy use of female soldiers, who got rifles like everyone else. Other nations, such as France, recruited women to a lesser extent.
For an example in movies, look at Iron Cross. Or for an anti-exmple, look at Enemy At The Gates, where a woman who had really been a sniper was changed into a clerk, because USA audiences wouldn't believe a
Re:"Girly" subject matter is not the answer (Score:2)
-Game creators and especially marketers create disincentives for women to play through sexist or oversexualized portrayals of females. Examples: Hijacking Lara Croft's image from female Indy to Drips-With-Sex-Balloon-Boobs; Bloodrayne; too many to list.
It's not like women don't oversexualize men too. I'm guessing you haven't run across any romance novels lately.
Re:"Girly" subject matter is not the answer (Score:2)
How can you know they're not aspirational? It has been noted that the photography in mens' and womens' magazines are both dominated by airbrushed women in revealing garments. Only by the gender-specific text alongside does an underlying explanation of why she is dressed that way come through.
"Wouldn't
Super Monkey Ball Deluxe! (Score:2, Interesting)
My girlfriend lovesSuper Monkey Ball Deluxe! We had a party a few weeks back and most of the women gravitated to the basement to play that game on xbox. Fine by the guys, the fridge with the beer was upstairs.
If you don't have the game, rent it, buy it, download it, whatever it. It's a blast.
Two things wrong with that article... (Score:5, Funny)
Secondly, you don't want to introduce your s.o. to Animal Crossing if you ever want to get near your Gamecube again.
Re:Two things wrong with that article... (Score:5, Funny)
And this is a perfect example of how Slashdot is full of nerds (no offense to the OP). Instead of being worried that you'll never get near your GF again, you're worried that you'll never get near your GC again.
Re:Two things wrong with that article... (Score:2)
Re:Two things wrong with that article... (Score:2)
World of Warcraft (Score:2)
almost not in my favor in that it is now all she does...
be careful the dark side...
Re:World of Warcraft (Score:2)
Works for me - I get an AMD64 upgrade, she gets my old rig, and we both get to game.
Hope you two get lots of quality time together with it. I'm looking forward to it myself.
Top Women's Game Mario Kart (Score:1)
Not Subject to Gadgetitis (Score:3, Interesting)
Although I disagree with Centipede and Suikoden, I think I can sum up with a brief history of games that accidentally or on purpose were of general interest to women:
1) Pong. It's just not fun anymore, though.
2) Breakout, Super Breakout, Arkanoid, and all those other block busting games (many currently released). Very little actual violence.
3) Pac Man/Ms Pac Man. The first one was a hit with women because it was the first game with a personality and a lot of soft colors. The second one was just an all around better game and it had Pac Man in drag!
4) Dig Dug/Mr. Do! I'm not sure why. I saw more women playing Mr. Do! than Dig Dug back in the day. Dig Dug should replace Centipede on the list IMHO.
5) Galaga and Moon Cresta. Colorful and varied was the key here, I think.
6) The Legend of Zelda. Only the first one had the simplicity and depth ratio right.
7) The Adventures of Lolo. The graphics were particularly hard on the eyes, but the trilogy of Lolo was some of the hardest ever. The key to this puzzle game was in failure--it gave you a clue as to what went wrong.
8) Puzzle games. Bust-a-move/Puzzle Bobble, Tetris, and even Lolo counts. The appeal is a simple concept/difficult play combination and the "pick up game" quality.
9) Solitaire. After all, PC solitaire is the most popular PC game. I suggest Solitaire Antics Ultimate and Hardwood Solitaire (PC and Xbox Arcade).
10) Pitfall/Jungle Hunt/Safari Hunt. Something about vine-swinging. I don't know why, except they're all about survival in a jungle.
11) Megatouch/touchscreen games. These are popular with the ladies.
12) Multi-game arcade cabinets. Probably the smartest move if you have to sate your Soul Calibur urge while on a date.
I should end my list by saying it is not scientific in the slightest. My qualifications to these observations is playing Pong when it was first released.
Re:Not Subject to Gadgetitis (Score:2)
my wife is really good at galaga. She also loves Centipede and Warlords. I don't get all the centipede bashing on here.. it's the best shooter ever made.
But I'd have to say that Animal Crossing is the one game she'll play for hours on end. She even breaks out the gameboy and makes clothing for the animals.
My memory cards are filled with her animal crossing towns.
Re:Not Subject to Gadgetitis (Score:2)
Centipede is fine with a trackball, or a mouse. But the problem is that it was re-released for portable devices a few years ago, and playing it with arrow keys makes no more sense than using those controls for Half-Life 2.
Therefore, many people today only remember Centipede as an unplayable cell-phone offering.
Games for girls (Score:3, Interesting)
Also, not one adventure game listed on that page? From King's Quest to Loom to Myst, those were the first games that drew me. Since they're all story-oriented and tend to have no violence, surely those would be a hit with most non-gamer women.
Re:Games for girls (Score:2)
If you're into adventure gaming, the single best one I've ever played is The Longest Journey. Grim Fandango is a very close second. Both can be quite difficult.
For new gamers... (Score:1)
Nintendo has the right idea in this sense, as they always espouse games that the average person can enjo
Re:For new gamers... (Score:2)
Funny thing, I think my GF would like Burnout
That list is a little questionable (Score:1)
Re:That list is a little questionable (Score:2)
I don't think it's a simplified control scheme that's needed but a well designed learning curve. A complicated interface is fine if it's not all needed at the very beginning. Much of what people are saying here to get girls into games applies to new gamers rather than girls specifically. Fighting games often have this kind of learning curve where advanced techniques and good timing are not needed until you face the CPU at higher skill levels. More than one poster here has mentioned that women like the f
Simple Games (Score:2)
Simple Games have a great value. They are easy to learn, simple to play and are extremely effective at being a diversion.
I have effectively dropped all gaming in my home on the simple fact that all the games are the same:
they are also all very dark, literally. The screen displays are only
What about co-operative games? (Score:2)
If you want to play a game with your significant other, how about a game that's based on two player teamwork? (Actually, that might apply to Dance Dance Revolution; I've never played it).
In particular, if your girlfriend likes puzzle games, cooperation and extremely cute cats (mine certainly does), it's worth giving Uo Poko a try on MAME. Um, assuming you live in Japan and own the arcade game. Otherwise you'll be prosecuted to the full extent of the jam.
Wrong link! (Score:4, Informative)
Vantage from an EB-er (Score:4, Insightful)
As far as EB sales, I can't deny that the Sims and Animal Crossing did very well with women. But many of the the women that actually walked into our store (and it was admittedly rare for one to walk in save Christmas and Valentine's Day) tended to like - surprise - fighting games. Not sure why they liked fighting games, but it definitely goes at odds with the traditional viewpoint that games that sell to women are non-violent and don't advertise big bouncy breasts.
Among PC owners, adventures games did very well. I remember having several female customers that we would see every few months who would come in and lament the decline of the genre, poke around the shelves, pick up a few of those subpar European adventure games, put them down and then sadly leave. Longest Journey would whet their appetite once, but it raised the bar for them and there was little more to offer.
Then there were the few women who were excited about games only because their man's enthusiasm was so infectious. Those were the most fun, because it was always weird to have one of those few come in and excitedly put preorder money down on Def Jam Vendetta or something like that.
It was surprising to me how many males came in wanting, so desperately, to find a game that their girlfriend would play. I wonder about this; why we work so hard to get the women who (kind of) love us to love our games. I've lost count of the number of times I've called my wife into the living room to try to get her to play. Maybe it's a form of validation?
Games girls like (Score:4, Insightful)
Honestly, all this talk about "simple" games, "real" games and so on is just patronising and untrue. Two of the most commonly cited "popular with females games" are complex and menu driven (The Sims and Final Fantasy X). By and large, with variations for individual taste and genre preferences, female gaming preferences are basically along the same lines as male. A good game in any genre will be recognised as such by players of either gender. Final Fantasy X, Resident Evil 4, Half-Life 2, Halo 2 and The Sims are good games; their appeal is fairly universal, although there are always a few fanboys (and it's almost always boys), who define themselves as "real gamers" and consider it somehow obscene to profess a liking for those games.
Indeed, if there's one big difference between male and female gaming habits, this is where it lies. By and large (and yes, I'm going to stereotype here, even though I don't like doing so), girls are brought up in an environment in which it's less acceptable for them to play games. They're less likely to have spent their childhoods talking about them with friends and they'll generally come to them later in life. For this reason, I've generally found women games less likely to be involved in, or impressed by, the willy-waving that characterises so much of the "male" gaming discussion. There's a trend among male gamers, particularly noticable here on slashdot, to attempt to accumulate Kudos by professing deliberately archaic tastes ("What, you like Final Fantasy X? Disgusting. They've not made a good installment since 2, when everything was in text and you controlled the game by throwing rocks at the screen!") or claiming to be a "real gamer" ("I only play Nintendo games because only Nintendo make REAL GAMES for REAL GAMERS").
By and large, if you exclude the small but unfortunately noisy demographic that think like this, male and female gaming tastes are the same. The same considerations of gameplay, graphics, sound and story all come into force, with the specific balance varying between individuals
Nintendo = girl friendly (Score:3, Insightful)
A lot of guys make fun of Nintendo for being "kiddy", but they aren't really childish. It's just that they lack the uber-macho posturing stuff you see in a lot of other consoles/games. Some guys are put off by that, but obviously girls are not. In fact, most of the people saying "Nint3nd0 iz k1dd3" are probobly pimply teenagers, not men.
IMHO, while girls can like blowing away people in GTA as much as any guy, they're not as swayed by the macho feel of those games so much as by the gameplay.
No thanks (Score:2)
Rez (Score:2)
For those not in the know, the PS2 version of Rez was released in Japan with a special device that vibrated. A bit like a rumble pack, except that this one does not connect to the pad, but rather you place it on your... er... body/lap/in your pants. Basically, it's a vibrator controlled by the game. Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase "two player".
Counter-Strike? (Score:2)
CS fanboys, mod me troll if you must, I just had to say it.
E&B (Score:2)
A Few More (Score:2)
Heroes of Might and Magic 3- Something about this series has a strong draw on my women friends. Could be the sparkly graphics and sound... maybe they also like the flow of gathering up resources and even making armies? I know several of my women friends who don't play that many games but played the Heroes 3 games like ("male") power gamers.
Caeser III, Pharaoh, Zeus Something about these citybuilder games ha
MAME (Score:2)
Well, that was my story, anyway. Almost 4 years ago, I put MAME on my girlfriend's computer with a few classics (notably Mario Bros., Donkey Kong, Burger Time). Eventually I noticed over time that the play counter on her MAME installation was reaching into the hundreds, and that
Re:So yeah. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:So yeah. (Score:2)
Re:So yeah. (Score:1, Offtopic)
Re:So yeah. (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, they are.
When one is making an effort to attract another demographic, in this case women, one tends to be a little "sexist". You cannot make 50,000,000 products that are appealing to 50,000,000 women. You must make one product that would be appealing to some expected percentage based on some generalization that "most women, because of 'X', will enjoy this game".
And I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that no, not ALL women are the same, but a very large majority of them are. Women in general have not given sufficient feedback to be fully included in a number of areas (esp. gaming). It is a known fact that chicas tend to avoid the hard sciences and mathematics. Is it because big, bad men wont let them in? Or are there broader reasons (for instance, lack of interest in subjects that aren't perceived as "emotionally relevant")?
As such, these trends do not indicate a "defect" in females, but another feature of innate behavior or perhaps an artifact that results from the differences between men and women as they are being raised as children. There are big differences between men and women and it is obvious, that so far, most game companies have done little to encourage women to play. Now that they are, you claim they are sexist fucks for finally making an attempt to be inclusive and you bemoan the site's statistics because they don't include your tastes as favorites in the list. That's the problem with polling, the odd man (or woman) out is always the odd man out. If you have more escoteric tastes that do not follow the trends of your peers, it will appear that you are being left out. But this is not the case.
Re:So yeah. (Score:2, Informative)
How do those two go together? One of them is a theory about how things whould be better of if the government (and everyone else) where less invovled, the other is a system that by necessity forces government into your life.