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Female MMORPG Developers On Influences
Thanks to Warcry for their discussion with a number of female MMOG developers, asking whether "the reason so many MMOGs follow the same paths... is that they were designed, built, and maintained by men." Of the respondents, Judith at Turbine Entertainment points out that "an audience that skews towards immature males will very likely have exaggeratedly female avatars for them to play with", and Srand at Turbine doesn't see any particular male-patterned design trap, suggesting: "the reason so many MMOGs follow the same paths... is that they were designed, built, and maintained by people. And people, as the mantra goes, are stupid."
"...And people, as the mantra goes, are stupid."
Absolutely no argument, what-so-ever!
What about the exaggerated male avatars? Are they there because immature females were driving their design?
Step back and figure out exactly what you're trying to say by these kinds of studies. Are you just upset that you can't get a job developing games, or are you actually concerned about a gender disparity in gaming?
And if there is a disparity, will whining and producing statistics do anything contructive about it?
I believe the answer is no.
maybe someday, but NOT YET.
You'd be the only one with that fetish, I'm afraid.
You could put a mirror near your computer and glance at yourself as you beat off to Lara Croft.
Somebody once said something to the effect of "The fool sees ignorance everywhere. The wise sees ignorance within himself". This basically means that the truly wise concentrate on their own ignorance, instead of spewing off on others'.
-Enfors-
Personally, I think the biggest issue is that most MMORPGs cater to a certain type of obsessive behavior. For whatever reasons, women seem to be much more immune to this obsession. Guys on the other hand eat it up. Diablo is a perfect example of a game that made itself a hit not off an interesting story, neat quests, or anything of that lack. Diablo was a hit because you spent hours mindlessly killing stuff. It wasn't even that you were killing things. It was that you were just clicking a button for a prize. I don't think it is even the killing that terms women off. I think it is just how tedious these games are and how you need to be obsessive to enjoy it. Throw the average woman in front of GTA3 and she will find it amusing. Throw her in front of Diablo and she will fall asleep after a few minutes. The difference between the two isn't the killing, it is the obsessive and tedious nature of the games.
The thing is, that while women might be more immune to this then men, I think most men are immune to it too. I think that there is a vast audience out there for MMORPGs. The problem is that they all cater to obsession (granted, there are some exceptions these days, but they are woefully under advertised). Once these games evolve beyond needing someone to be addicted to hitting the button for a prize I think the market will start to really expand. If you could enjoy the game for the games sake, I think that things would drastically improve. How to do this? Build worlds. Build worlds where you don't need to kill to be happy. Even if you do kill on occasion, don't make it so that the only way to kill is to be obsessive about it. I think A Tale in the Desert is about as close as one can get to that these days.
Personally, I'll stick to RPI MUDs until MMORPGs are more then multiplayer Diablo. My MUD, http://www.armageddon.org/ provides a cohesive world based around role playing, permanent death, and it doesn't require you to be obsessive about killing in order to play. You can still kill stuff, you just are not going to gain anything by mindlessly killing hordes NPCs. Once a MMORPG can copy what that MUD has, I'll shell out my 15 a week.
If you think there's any weird fetish without its own website, you do not yet grok the internet.
I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
Impressive troll. Nice work.
I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
Go ask Hollywood, and the music industry too.
Sequels, rehashes, cover versions etc.
...and just blame the "stupid men"?
"the reason so many MMOGs follow the same paths... is that they were designed, built, and maintained by men." Of the respondents, Judith at Turbine Entertainment points out that "an audience that skews towards immature males will very likely have exaggeratedly female avatars for them to play with"
MMOG's seem to have more women players than any other online genre. They also seem feminized. I'm sure some people won't like that statement, but seriously, what other online games put such restrictions on killing/harming other players? What other online games make such a big deal over what your avatar looks like?
Take star wars galaxies for example, it's almost a barbie game online...You can be a dancer! Customize your clothes! Become a tailor or a chef! Only 1 in 500,000 of you will be Jedi though. YEY FUN! Is this what a typical teenage male wants to do? Give me a break.
As for the women characters being "exaggerated" aren't the men too? Maybe it's just that men don't (typically) have the same poor self-esteem when it comes to their body that many women do. I'd bet that 99/100ths of the men play avatars that have bodies they could never have, even if they tried.
I hope game developers don't take this seriously. I don't want to log on to matrix online and have to chose between my avatar looking like Rosie O'Donald, Opera, or Ms. Cleo.
It's simple. Just like with other entertainment forms, often the makers are backed by large companies who have a vested interest in the success of the game. It's even magnified in the case of these games since they're paying to set up servers, hire support staff, (etc) in addition to the development of the game. They're not going to try anything risky, but rather take the existing model and change a few elements as systematically as possible.
That's how Hollywood's operated since... always.
The sad thing is that MMORPGs likely have operational costs that are too high for independent developers, so the chances of seeing massive innovation in the genre isn't especially high, IMO.
The claim that they're same-ish because of men developing them is frankly retarded, and I'm sad to see it get any sort of exposure. We're in this situation because both men and women want money, and part of the current formula for a successful MMORPG is physically appealing avatars. The sexual politics that created the situation aren't even really an issue.
--- "Yeah, I'm a bit stressed out. I have a research paper due tomorrow and it has to be +5, Insightful."
...that half-naked female avatar that follows you around and talks about "doing it" all the time is probably some overweight, depressed guy named Bruce.