12 replies to this topic

[Nae'blis]

Just an article I wrote for my blog this morning. Then noticed that there's been several announcements in various gaming news parts of the web on this very subject this afternoon. Heh. Anyway, I just wanted to see what views other people here had on the issue - especially any ladies who are members.

EDIT: Please note in my reply to people's comments there is a correction to the intent of the first paragraph of my article. I made a brainslip somewhere and the first line does not reflect what I intended to say at all!

***


I've long felt that the percieved recent drive to make games to appeal specifically to females is misdirected and a cynical response by the money men and male execs in today's modern industry. I accept that this is likely partially media-inflated, judging by the number of letters and comments that they publish on this issue - see the current issue of gamesTM (Issue 68, April 2008) for the example which prompted me to write this opinion piece. But there is definately commercial release after release of dross hitting the shelves, particularly for the DS, which do bare out that this intention is real within many developers.

The key problem that the industry has long had, of course, is precisely that it is too set on marketing to focused groups of people: 6 to 10-year-old girls, teen boys, 18-30 "hardcore" males, over 50's who want to stave off Alzheimer's... Just make a balanced game, with a broad range of characters (they don't even all have to be playable) and don't revert to stereotypes or overt sexualisation of any of the characters. If no-one finds your game off-putting or offensive, then you stand a better chance of people playing your game, building brand awareness, having people spread the world, and ultimately increasing your sales.

But attempts such as just changing the colour of hardware to a lurid pink is insulting to grown women. At the same time, making all your games about nurturing animals or building a family home is demeaning. Just take the time to explore if your game can be better made using gender-inclusive design and work towards that. The changes aren't even that great: girls do guns, they do violence, they do action, they do hardcore platformers, and they absolutely do complex control systems; so why dumb-down your project as if because it's for a female they all play games like those designed for 6 to 10-year-olds. The changes come in the presentation of your game: your character doesn't always need to be an alpha-male; he doesn't always need some bimbo sidekick with tits so big she'd be on the Christmas card list of all her local chiropractors; the box art doesn't need to feature miniscule clothing and suggestive beads of sweat in deep valleys of flesh; female and elderly characters don't always need to be bit-parts with either "typecast" roles or meaningless interaction.

Think about it. Marketing to a set female population is a bit like quota management, the same thing now going on in many companies with a forced drive to employ more females in their teams. Now, that eventual goal is only a good thing, but the forced effort to do it, as if the key to braking into this lucrative "new" market is to get some female staff on board, is false. The industry has had (comparitvely few) female designers, programmers, etc. since right back in the 80's, and they were succesful. But they didn't make Games For Girls. They typically made adventure games, often with male lead characters, but always with engaging storylines, believeable worlds, rounded characters that didn't need their atributes sexed-up to appeal to a teen male, and so on.

And (whisper it) girls playing games isn't new; it isn't even contained within the last five years or so that this scrabble to get Games For Girls up and running has been going on for. Girls have always played games, just not as prevalent as boys because the games weren't there for them. But titles that did the job of apealling to both have sold well - early Tomb Raider (bar the breasts, which were just found comical/pathetic), Myst, the Resident Evil and Silent Hill series, The Sims, Pokemon, Zelda games (especially since the N64 releases)... All games I can vividly remember many females playing and enjoying. None of which are Games For Girls. Even World of Warcraft - the archetypal male nerd stalwart - has a keen female following.
Yes, the industry needs more females; yes, it needs to listen to them more. But then the views that they might express aren't particularly those that many male gamers wouldn't air, either - employers would just expect it more from their key new assets and probably more readily accept the advice. I personally long ago grew out of bulging breasts in games and cheesy male characters. I'm all for story, meaningful actions, expressive characters, emotional responses... just not unnecesary sexualisation or violence and no tacky promo and box art. Does that make me a girl, or just a Modern Gamer?

And, while we're at it, the industry needs more of everyone: older gamers, younger gamers, gamers of all races, gamers of any sexuality they feel like, casual gamers, hardcore gamers, narrativists, ludologists, games who want emotion, gamers who want gore, PC gamers, Sony gamers, Nintendo gamers, Microsoft gamers... And so on. Oh, and it definately needs more game degree graduates! Say, in about two-and-a-half years time?

[fireside]

We're finally starting to see more diversity in gaming. Shooters and RPG's both got boring for me a long time ago.

[starstutter]

Well done.

Just out of sheer curiosity, are you a girl (maybe I missed it somewhere in the article)?

I think this is one of the major reasons that you don't typically see girls and games go hand and hand...
Many girls have the assumption that games are all violence.

This is a mix of stereotype and what I've whitnessed. Almost every girl I've known says that they're not into blood and gore at the very mention of video games. And while this assumption is a false generalization, it's totally understandable why they would think that.

The most popular games are (from the outside) mindless killing. Yes, they might have deep compelling storylines and complex characters, but you first have to wipe the blood off them with a squeegy. I belive this is one thing that turns many off from the mainstream. My girlfriend is into video games, but to quote her, the gory ones make her want to vomit.


It's not just girls who are sick of violence. I think most half-way sophisticated guys are too, but probably for different reasons. Personally, I'm bored wih mindless killing. It's just old and tiresome. I don't think FPS's need to go, in fact, I think they are really just beginning. I will say though that they need a serious change.

Bioshock was a step in the right direction with an amazing story and engrossing characters that totally suck you in, but %90 of the game is still blowing peoples heads off.

Call it a prejudace assumption, but I think as games becomes more sophisticated, have more depth and less mindless violence, we'll start to see more girls come into the scene. One thing that must ALWAYS be avoided for both gender's sake is games that promote "*Girl Power!*"

[TheNut]

"Nae'blis" said:

it is too set on marketing to focused groups of people

You have too. By selectively targeting your audience you can cater your product to meet their satisfaction without having to sacrifice your goals simply due to social constraints. I don't see this as Man vs Woman or Child vs Adult contest, but rather the developers can focus on the product they want to build without being socially bound.

"Nae'blis" said:

Yes, the industry needs more females; yes, it needs to listen to them more

This industry, like any other industry, does not need sexual or ethnic diversity, it needs talented, motivated and outgoing people to develop next generation titles worthy of the market and history books. I've seen my fair share of companies and products/services suffer because they had to meet the social status quo. F*** that BS and hire the right people for the job.

[starstutter]

TheNut said:

F*** that BS and hire the right people for the job.

Well said. *audience claps*

I think it severley hurts our industry (in general as Americans) because of laws that frankly put a lot of people in jobs where they shouldn't be; and at the same time denying people jobs who need and deserve them.

[Nae'blis]

:excl: A correction...

I apologise for the first line - it's not at all how I intended it and I'm not sure how I ended up with it worded like that, or how I missed it during proof-reading. What I intended to say was I thought it was lazy to think you can increase games interest in females specifically by ONLY increasing the level of females in the industry workforce, while ignoring the opportunities that gender-inclusive design and marketing offered. At the same time, I feel that there is a wide gap in the market where young adult women gamers are being neglected by poor tailoring of games to make them appeal to a more inclusive audience. In defence of any percieved position change, the letter in gamesTM I referenced to argues that adult female gamers often enjoy the same types of games that adult males do, it's just that they way they are packaged and the way that female characters are commonly sexually exploited within these games make them off-putting to a wider audience - and this is merely an article agreeing with that notion and stating that a rapid drive to raise levels of female staff isn't in my opinion the only way (or even the best way) to solve this issue. I accept that this is greatly different from the line as first published, so I want to assure readers that I agree that making games around brands and lifestyle interests that appeal to females is of course a worthwhile (and profitable) endeavour.

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TheNut: "F*** that BS and hire the right people for the job" says pretty much exactly my sentiments that I have with this recent drive for the staffing by quota issue to get more females into the industry.

starstutter: No, I am a guy. My feelings are also the same as yours, in that it's the games that need to be more mature and more accesible rather than simply having female names on the credits page that will bring the bigger change in consumer base and quality of game experience. Can I ask what sex you are?

Thanks for all your replies, guys.

[starstutter]

Nae'blis said:

Yes, the industry needs more females; yes, it needs to listen to them more.

As said above (kind of), I agree with this statement, but then again I don't simply because it probably would not work out in real life (in this stage anyway).

Because there are relativley few girls actually intersted in games (I actually question if there's a single girl in this entire forum), there's an overwhelming chance that the ones hired would be there only (as mentioned above) to fill a requirment. In that scenereo, the one who was hired might not end up doing any real work.

That in turn, would hurt the progress even more by further cementing the assumption that girls have no place in the games or digital industry. (those are corperate giant's words, not mine. Put your hate mail pen down. ;) )

EDIT:

Nae'blis said:

Can I ask what sex you are?

sure lol, I'm a guy as well. You could probably assume that though from my previous statement in this post.

[rouncer]

Video Games For Chicks!

[onyxthedog]

The putting the female names on the credits won't help, because, I don't know about you, but I never look at the credits in movies unless I want to know who a character was and almost certainly never in games.

[timothyinspa]

nice idea lol

[.oisyn]

Nae'blis said:

early Tomb Raider (bar the breasts, which were just found comical/pathetic)

As a daily admirer of Lara's boobs, I find that offensive!

Seriously though, I don't think it has anything to do with girls not being represented in the industry itself. There are things that guys digg more than girls, and vice versa. Like racing, how many female drivers are there compared to mail ones? Very few. Hardcore gaming is a typical guy thing. I'm not saying there aren't any hardcore girls, but the ratio is almost infinite to none. For most girls, it's usually the casual games that attract them more. They don't want to fiddle with "clumsy" controllers that you need to learn to handle, they want to play intuitively. And the casual gaming industry is growing very rapidly.

Btw, my girl likes Tomb Raider, but she's not skilled enough with the controller to reach that far ledge or correctly time jumps between those squashing walls. I have to do these parts for her

[timothyinspa]

maybe sim games for girls would be available for girls! XD

[starstutter]

timothyinspa said:

maybe sim games for girls would be available for girls! XD

or maybe we could market it to guys as a simulation of being a girl... I can hear the raving reviews now.