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Game Designers Lack An X Chromosome

Posted by Zonk on from the point-of-view dept.

heartless_ writes "GamerGod is running a response to a recent Chris Crawford article discussing Women and Gaming. The problem with identifying winning game elements lies not in the efforts of the game makers themselves; they can only work with what they have. It lies in the fact that most game developers lack one thing - the elusive extra X chromosome. As a result, we have men trying to decide what women most want to play." We linked to Crawford's piece when it was originally run.

9 of 80 comments (clear)

  1. Err... by Jon+Chatow · · Score: 5, Funny
    [...] elusive extra X chromosome [...]

    Extra? Extra?! I think someone failed genetics.

    :-)

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    James F.
    1. Re:Err... by gauge+boson · · Score: 4, Funny

      Same thing I was thinking... would programmers with Klinefelter's syndrome solve the problem?

      --
      This is sqrt(not) a sig.
  2. Re:No shit by Seumas · · Score: 2, Interesting

    But they DO like videogames. They just don't like ours. And that means that we can't play ours either. They can't do their own thing and enjoy it and let us do our things that we enjoy. No, they have to decide that if they don't like doing it, we can't do it either. And then we have to adopt whatever it is they want to do and how they want to do it and pretend to enjoy it ourselves.

    At least, that must be how it is. Otherwise they would go find games they like and stop bitching in every other article about it. Guess what? I don't like most games either and most are lacking in some way to really satisfy me. I don't play those. If ind the one or two that I *DO* like and that *DO* meet my recreational needs. THOSE are the ones I play.

    So like.. yeah.. holy crap already.

  3. You know... by BigZaphod · · Score: 3, Interesting

    There's nothing stopping a group of women from getting together and starting their own indy game company and making the kind of stuff they want to play. Female programmers do, in fact, exist. The other elements of games (such as art/sound/music) are often already created by women or with the help of women, so, really, where's the problem here? If the market isn't fulfilling your desires then START YOUR OWN COMPANY! Plenty of guys have done it. Girls can too.

    --
    Hexy - a strategy game for iPhone/iPod Touch
    1. Re:You know... by BigZaphod · · Score: 2, Informative

      Slashdot might not be your target audience directly, but depending upon the product I bet there's people here with daughters or sisters that are. That's how word spreads and how marketing works. Plus, your comments here will be crawled by Google and the like eventually and the more links to your site there are the better your search engine rankings. Just something to consider. :-)

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      Hexy - a strategy game for iPhone/iPod Touch
  4. a real double standard by artifex2004 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    When people talk about how maybe there aren't greater numbers of women in engineering and science disciplines because they may think a bit differently, they get censured, lose tenure, and even get fired. But it's okay to say that male programmers can't make videogames that women would like, because they think a bit differently from women?

  5. Re:Lies and the Lying Liars who Tell Them by Atzanteol · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I hate to go off topic, but that's what Liberal America specializes in. Trying *sooo* hard to make sure women and minorities are being treated equal, to the point of treating them "special!" And only in the most condescending ways...

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    "Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge"

    - Charles Darwin
  6. What women really want.... by SalaciousPucker · · Score: 4, Funny

    The trick to selling games to women is that you have to take your time. The male market is established quickly and fades fast after a game's release. On the other hand, the women's market takes alot longer to get started, but can go on and on, just think of the Sim's. You can rely on simple pictures and video from the internet to bring in the males. Since the female market isn't as easily swayed, it can often take repeated oral prodding from friends before they are ready.

  7. Makes perfect sense. by Sj0 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It makes perfect sense. Frankly, it's about time someone pointed this out, even.

    If women want games for women, they should get out there and make some games for women. Demanding men create games suitable for women is simply regressive.

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    It's been a long time.