29 replies to this topic

[fireside]

Quote

That's a bit like the gay pride parades

Um, I don't think naming your company Her Interactive is quite the same thing as a gay parade. They are capitalizing on the fact that they are women in the game industry. So what? Their market segment is young girls. Out of all the phony things people do to market their goods, I consider it pretty innocuous. How many game companies are there that are run by women? I don't know of any others. Although somewhat of a gimmick, it would never stand on it's own. From what I hear, the games are pretty good.

Quote

To me that would suggest that the market tends to "railroad" girls into these games with horses and puppies more heavily than anything.

And how would they go about doing that? Are you sure boys aren't being railroaded into action games? Maybe we're all being railroaded into playing games of any kind. Maybe what we really want to do is meditate on our navels and society has taken us over. But really, I doubt it. I think someone discovered that those puppy games sell and it was a need or desire that caused the product rather than the other way around.

[SamuraiCrow]

TheNut said:

SimKitchen?

Don't laugh. My friend's kids all play Diner Dash which is essentially what you said.

[LizardGamer]

My little sister likes playing Left 4 Dead 1 & 2, Saints Row, Devil May Cry, Prototype and many more

[Hyper]

LizardGamer said:

My little sister likes playing Left 4 Dead 1 & 2, Saints Row, Devil May Cry, Prototype and many more

I think the most important game left out here, has to be: Portal! :)

[Gripp]

in my own personal experience, most girls/woman tend to gravitate twords games which aren't extremely involved and don't take much to get into or games that don't compel one to keep playing that instant (games with stories behind them, or hour long boss fights, etc.) but rather games that can be put down at a moments notice - mortal combat, burnout paradise crash courses, etc.

actually, need4speed vs burnout crash courses would be a perfect example: the former involves races which can be lengthy and require practice and skill. the latter can be finished in 30 seconds flat and doesn't require excessive practice.

so if you're looking to create a game that girls would like, just make it simple and fast.

bare in mind that i'm talking specifically about girls who don't already like games. once they get into a couple, everything becomes fair game.

[Luz Reyes]

Alphadog, I couldn't agree more with your opening remark. I will certainly be using this description of a simultaneous "myth and stereotype" in my own descriptions of such things. Well said. The solution though? I doubt it will be bottom up - although it could be if a group of dev's banded together to form a "coalition againse unrealistic female imagery" or some such title. But it would have to go for males too. And where do we draw the line for what's realistic and what's not?

[AeroCat]

When my sister was in her early teens she played the death out of "Perfect Dark"

[mezzodaemon]

I have two daughters, 16 and 19 now. I'm a geek so ask them too: it isn't that they don't particularly like the game mechanics or settings, it is 1) the assumption that the main characters -either main player rendering or main story arc - are guys; 2) the tendency to visually make women into bikini-clad bimbos; 3) showing women as cowering in fear or being weak when the guys aren't shown being that way; 4) Men and boys are perverts and think sexual jokes and conversations about sexuality are just fine; being asked "are you a girl", "flirted with", "cussing and rude comments; including gay insults to other players" are a 'why bother playing' moment that ruins any social fun and 5) games designed around risk = reward aren't their thing - they want to enjoy the environment.
I sometimes log into WoW to fish for instance. They like doing similar things - walking about and going helping quests and "gunning for top gear" isn't it. I'm also of the opinion that kill = cash = xp = reward is a masculine guy mental model and although "carebears" get a lot of heat in games, the majority of time my girls would learn the game system and enjoy it if their was more opportunity for NPC social grooming or interaction that wasn't death-based as an objective.

[jennstar21]

Hmmm I know for me as a young girl I played any action game my brother played, as well as mario cart and commander keen. Those girly chihuaha princess games didn't really interest me at all!

[fireside]

You have to use statistics for this kind of thing. I think the Sims is more or less proof that women prefer care type game play. 60 percent of the Sims players are female. That's a really high ratio for a video game. It's in jobs and every thing else. Women choose care giver jobs a lot more often than men, so what mezzodaemon said was pretty much on the money. That doesn't mean every woman will prefer that kind of thing, but if you are targeting women, then you had better give some thought to those things. Everything he said was dead to rights from my experience. So, if it's a social game, put something in there to get rid of the annoying jerks, add care giving, exploration, and other types of game play, and choose strong female roles that don't over emphasize sexuality. The Sims proved that a lot of women will buy and play a video game, so it's a worthy market.