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Girls Got Game
Via Joystiq, a story on the ABC News site discussing the (gasp) rising interest in games within the fairer sex. From the article: "I think it's easy to kind of stereotype that women don't want to shoot or that women don't want to do sports or that women don't want fast-paced action...I don't think that's true. I think that was part of the reason the industry wasn't speaking to women before." As Mr. Zackheim comments, I believe it more to be a lack of interest/effort on the gaming publisher's part that has resulted in the current player demographic profile.
One of my female friends who is studying to get into the gaming industry believes that some girl gamers, particulary those in development roles, push other girls away. She backs this up by saying that the majority of girl gamers (that she observes) play games "like men."
She thinks that there is probably a greater percentage of girls who enjoy games like The Sims or many MMORPGames, and I happen to agree. She further thinks that if there were more games like this brought to the market that focused on girls then there would be more girls in games (both developing and playing), as opposed to the girls who play FPS and other primarily male-orientated games.
I'm reluctant to agree, as I'm not a girl, but I still find it an intersting viewpoint.
The eternal struggle of good vs. evil begins within one's self.
I really doubt the kind of games that sell now will ever be taken up en masse by females. This almost sounds like feminism to me. Women are equal to men, I think most would agree. But, why is women gaming so important? If women don't game as much as men (by choice, mind you), does that mean there is some great imbalance and injustice? Are women less equal for some reason if they don't play games?
The whole medium of video games was based in the early days on fast reflexes and\or puzzle solving (mainstream I'm talking about, I know about text games, but they weren't huge sellers, were they?). Why can't people accept that maybe for whatever reason, puzzle solving and finger twitching might not appeal to most women, and that doesn't mean their any less equal to guys if it doesn't.
Heh...
I find it sort of funny that a girl is gaming right next to me. PLaying stepmania on her laptop.
Of course, she also plays RPGs and MMORPGs and, like the article mentioned, Sims2.
I find it funny, though, that they talk about stereotypes... And then almost perpetuate them. Anecdotes != proof, but aside from FFXI and then one of my friends playing Sims... None of my female gaming friends fit the stereotype. They all play action games, and most of them love RE (Which, you know, is mentioned... But to me, those seemed to be portrayed as the exceptions to the rule in the article. *shrug*).
(Again, funnier, she turns to me and mentions how she beat her boyfriend in Halo over the weekend. Hahah...)
MY wife plays games all the time, she plays ET with me, bloodrayne, Half Life 1&2 and we have both played countless MMORPG's. The interesting thing is that she will only play the MMORPG's without me, the other games she won't touch unless I am around. I think many women do this, and with how many guys play a female char in MMORPG's its hard to truly understand how many females are playing, but rest assured that I know of plenty, it just takes teh right game to bring the females in :)
**It runs through my veins like radioactive rubber pants! Do not deny my veins!**
I was quite surprised to learn recently that 40% of PS2 gamers were female. Mostly children and teens, but even so, I had expected the numbers to be way more seriously skewed. Based on my completely scientific analysis of the people I know, it sure seems that the adult gamers are still very much predominately male though.
For whatever reason, these types of articles or comments always put me into this semi-amused/semi-annoyed mood, as if girl-gamers are so difficult to figure out.
The PS2 and the Cube are *mine*; they do not belong to my brother. Of course, my game library contains "typical attractive to female gamers" games (RPGs), but on the Mac, I can hold my own. My Scintillating Sphere saved our arses last night when we were playing through NWN, and I've brought the flag over to our side a few times in Elite Force. I may not be into the war games of which my brother is so fond, or the whole 'Rainbow-6' genre like my brother, but I do like the sci-fi FPS. I even liked Oni, a shame what happened to Bungie... I also happen to be a regular on a gaming forum, but I'm one of two female regulars.
I play the SIMS, but my brother plays it more than I do since there's a distinct lack of magic missiles in that game. I didn't play FFX-2.
So how hard can it be? But then, perhaps I fall into 'atypical', seeing as how I'm the only one at the store who can recognise that the shirts a regular customer of ours wears come from ThinkGeek.
I actually haven't run into that a whole lot. I spent a lot of time playing Q2CTF on a few servers, and received very little harassment during the overall time I was there. The occasional person would come by and say a couple things, but overall people were friendly to me without being overly so. It was a very enjoyable experience.
I've had a little bit of it over Xbox Live Halo 2, but it's been usually the exception. The only thing I've really had to deal with is random people friending me after a game - I'm just used to declining them.
Most of the obnoxiousness I've seen has not been directed at me personally, but just teenage boys in general trying to pretend they're something incredibly cool or such. And those people are obnoxious to EVERYONE. It's unbelievable how much feedback I leave about people being lewd, obnoxious, or threatening - and I don't do it without good reason.
"You know your god is man-made when he hates all the same people you do."
Yes -- I'm always amazed at how themainstream media "discovers" girl gamers every few months. Although, every year when I go to E3 (the big games trade show), plenty of industry professionals are surprized by the women's gaming angle as well.
I always mention this, so the best source out there for mainstream girls gaming news is http://www.gamegal.com/.
Well personally I love gaming. I'm just not a huge fan of killing stuff. I've noticed that most games in the end are a blood hunt. I play games with invold killing things ...www.game.org...mmm TEXT ...
But personally I'd rather not see huge amounts of blood all over my screen. I REALLY wish that game makers would make a few more games today like the old (early 90s lates 80s) Day of the Tentical or Zork, Monkey Island(all of them) and Loom. (No not Doom, Loom). IE collect tons of dumb stuff and puzzel it together WITHOUT the need to kill more then a few plants. It's the type of game even my sister who thinks gaming is almost evil can't help but enjoy for hours.
Life is like untied shoe laces; it always tripping you up and getting in your way.