On Gaming, Girls, And Germane Genres

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.)"

Comments

A little bit of this and a little bit of that..

[MMaestro]

"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."

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).

Gamer Girls

[ElleyKitten]

Three of the four Xbox ads shown this holiday will feature women or girls in them.

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?

[vjmurphy]

" the company is also including female gamers in its television commercials"

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?

Grrl gamers?! .... Please....

[Pooquey]

This is a ridiculous attempt, at best, to justify small mindedness by the gaming company's (both hardware and software). Do you honestly think they haven't researched this or aren't currently? Obviously it's not working. And it's not simply because they aren't doing it right. You have to remember, in retail the bottom line is "whatever sells the most wins". Period. No discussions.

What has been winning for the past several years is GTA and UT/Counter-Strike style games. Period. The games that people are actually PAYING for, are what is determining the market these companies go after. Honestly, I am a girl gamer (even though the term offends me). I can tell you that while I prefer the Crash Bandicoot/Mario/Sonic platform/adventure game genre, those are exactly the types of games I'm more apt to RENT as opposed to BUY. I can finish that game in the 5 day rental period. There isn't an awful lot of replay value in those games as opposed to the ones I am apt to buy (e.g. Tony Hawk, WakeBoarding, DDR). I can play THPS online as many times as I can count and never get board. DDR lends itself to tournaments and parties, and I just like Extreme Sports games like Wakeboarding Unleashed. How many times would you go back and try to beat the boss in Mario Sunshine. It gets old and boring really fast.

I bought a GameCube because quite honestly, Nintendo is more willing to put money into these kind of games because that's their target and they do it well, so I have more gaming choice as a result. I still prefer to play extreme sports games like SSX on the Playstation because Sony does that well, but I've played more on the GC since I bought it than the PS2 because there are more games to my taste to choose from than on the PS2. I have yet to find enough games on the XBox that AREN'T also on the GC or PS (or that the others don't have a better version of) to justify purchasing that. I also have a bunch of games for the GBA that lend themselves to the quick burst of play action that a portable system depends on (though I have a hard time with the small buttons on the SP becuase of my fingernails).

So I think there is enough of a choice out there for "Grrl Gamers" IF you understand the players and who they market to. The ONLY point those markets are going to change is when we start buying. Of course, it wouldn't hurt to participate or even be ASKED to participate in the marketing research/polls etc to be counted. Lets face it, how many of us actually think about filling out those registration cards? And of those who do, how many get offended when asked a demographic question (i.e. gender/race/age)? If more girls who actually bought games, actually filled these out, these companies would be faced with numbers they couldn't ignore. As it stands, they'll ignore us until we put our considerable purchasing power where our mouths are.

The problem isn't marketing

[Joe the Lesser]

It's society. Despite the gripes of you 'we completely determine who we are' people, girls have been conditioned not to play video games by other girls. Have you ever wandered in on a gaggle of girls squawking about the lastest in gaming? No, because they're trained to squawk about the latest in fashion, or reality TV (Forgive my bird motiff). Guys have more independent qualities, because they're social structure is competitive and not supportive. Therefore, you see more guys shrugging off the geek stereotype and playing Civ II for 8 hours straight. Girls raised independently however, are more likely to consider gaming as a viable option for entertainment.