Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Gear Up For Female Gaming Invasion

Posted by Zonk on from the getting-beaten-badly dept.

rmanocha writes "BBC is running a story stating that women are set to explode onto the gaming scene in the near future. 'Existing online role-playing games are succeeding with women in spite of their subject matter, not because of it. When we get more games whose gameplay genuinely appeals to female players, we can expect to see huge growth there,'. What I found really amazing was the statistics for the number of women players - 'women gamers in the UK made up a quarter of the gaming population. This compares to 39% in the US and 69% in South Korea.'."

4 of 75 comments (clear)

  1. Anyone else tired of hearing about this? by Evro · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Is anyone else tired of hearing about "girls'" tendencies to playing/not playing video games? It seems every week there's a new story about "Why girls don't play games" or "Why girls do play games" or "Girls will play more games if _____." If girls don't play games, apparently they don't want to, so who cares? The only people I can see who'd care about this is the game companies, looking to profit from a relatively untapped demographic. Men and women are different and tend to like different things. There are many reasons and explanations for this, and any of them can be applied to this specific issue. But as the French say, vive la difference.

    --
    rooooar
    1. Re:Anyone else tired of hearing about this? by Snowmit · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The reason that it's a big issue is that GIRLS HAVE ALL THIS MONEY and the gaming industry would like some of their money, please. So there are stories written and studies commissioned and discussions had in an attempt to let girls know "hey, the industry wants some of your money, please at least consider giving it to us."

      These studies are at least somewhat self-fulfilling. Girls read about how girls are getting into games and they start thinking things like "hey what do those girls know that I don't?" and then maybe they actually pick up a game and suddenly the are playing the game and then HOORAY, MONEY!

      --
      I have a lot of opinions about Cyborgs and Architects
  2. Inflated Numbers... by Jinsaku · · Score: 3, Insightful
    From the article: The figures include free games that are accessed via portals such as Yahoo.

    The so-called casual gaming market, made up of games such as poker, pool, bridge, bingo and puzzles, is a booming one, especially among women.

    Yeah, pretty much every woman I know (including my Mom) that has a computer has played solitaire or bejeweled or something when they were bored.

    The real gaming crowd that people think of as "gamers".. people who buy games at the store and play them (console or PC), I'm sure the percentage is probly more like 2-5%. Of course, that's just an estimate.

    --
    -- Jinsaku
  3. BS by vga_init · · Score: 2, Insightful
    I call this BS. There have always been women gamers, and there will always be women gamers. How is a game supposed to appeal to women? What subject matter is supposed to be becoming of a woman anyway?

    We're talking about adults playing games, and I don't think gender roles should be a factor in game consumption. In markets with children, we make games for little boys and little girls, because we want them to be molded into what we want. That's what we do to our children, but by the time we're all grown up we realize that gender roles aren't all black and white. Is a game effeminate because it's main goal is to care for and nuture some creature? Nonsense; many men play such games and enjoy them. Similarly, many women enjoy playing games where you get to blow stuff up or find the lost amulet.

    Also, I don't think the sex of a character hardly matters. Is the main character male or female? Why would that lesson or increase the appeal of a game? We've had our fair share of games with main/major characters of both genders.

    One might argue that women are oversexualized in games, but aren't men too? How often do we see games depicting men that women find sexually appealing (perfect bodies, smart, talented, sexy voice, kind/caring, rich...the whole gammut). In addition, it'd be incorrect to neglect the fact that some women (not all) actually do enjoy in one form or another a sexualized depiction of their own gender (the same can be said for men).

    Who says gaming is not for women? Honestly? WHAT, pray tell, makes a game girly and feminine? A game is a game, much like a PC is a PC, and "girly" games are "girly" games, just like a Barbie PC is a "girly" PC. Barbie PC's didn't sell well at all, and it's a testament that "made for the female sex" does not necessarily mean that women [i]like[/i] as much as it means it's what society wants to impose on women.