Girls In The Game Chair

The site The Game Chair, which does interesting experiential reviews of game titles, has up an editorial from new reviewer Maggie. She once again brings up the oft-discussed topic of women in gaming, and tries to throw some new light on the subject. From the article: "I always bristle a bit at the idea of creating a game that 'appeals to women.' After all, no one game appeals to all people - so why in the world would one game appeal to all women gamers? Each of us is looking for different things in a game, regardless of sex. I don't play first person shooters because the movement of the camera makes me feel nauseous - not because I'm a girl."

Comments

The problem

[superpulpsicle]

The big problem with discussing women in video game is the word "Sex". Why can't this topic be discussed using the word "Gender". That's where the big problem start or that's where the problem is.

Re:evidence to the contrary

[Neeze]

I agree. There should be no gaming lines as far as gender goes. We (female gamers) are not as rare as society seems to think we are and by creating a game or games aimed at a female audience would just be supporting an annoying stereotype.

I couldn't pass it up...

[paploo]

"I don't play first person shooters because the movement of the camera makes me feel nauseous - not because I'm a girl."

Okay, the inner sarcastic bastard (picture Dave Foley on News Radio) just has to say this: Maybe you just feel nauseous playing FPS games *because* you're a girl?

Okay, I'm done--mod me down please. I'm gonna go back to being a responsible adult now. I just couldn't pass a set-up like that. :)

Games for Girls

[teratogenicbenzene]

Actively targeting Girls/Women as a demographic for computer games is sort of barking up the wrong tree.

It reminds me of a move made by the Lionel toy train company back in the sixties. They made a train set where the locomotive and cars were molded in pastel colored plastics. They overlooked the possibility that the type of girl who would play with model trains probably didn't want them in exceptionally unrealistic pastel shades.

As a husband to a wife addicted to both Halos and PoP, I can say that there are plenty of women attracted to video games for the same reason your average slashdotter is.
(Or maybe I just got really really lucky...yeah, that's it).

Re:Modded Sexist but...

[kaellinn18]

When I first started playing Wolfenstein 3D when I was about 12, I experienced this problem as well. However, the game was so cool at that time that I just didn't care. I eventually grew out of it. Now, Wolfenstein 3D is a lot less detailed than some of the current 3D games. I imagine that just learning to play first person shooters with the latest and greatest would probably cause more serious nausea than Wolf 3D did. Maybe they should start from some older games and work their way up to the current stock?

Re:Modded Sexist but...

[porcupine8]

perhaps you should be re-evaluating your presence in the group.

So I should get a sex change because I don't have the exact same opinions as all other women???