A more feminine solution?

[J'aen]

Maybe that's because of your buddies, and not because of the game? Just a thought.

 

[LoganAsh]

Of special importance is the MMORPG Genre, research shows that most females are attracted to games as a means to communicate and socialise, so providing online content that goes beyond the typical quest, combat, explore triad would be perfect. "Second Life" being a prime example of where encouraging content aimened at both males and females has been very successful.

Second Life is an overglorified chatroom, not a game.

While it may seem tempting to try to attract more women to the market, you have to consider how feasible it actually is. If a woman isn't interested in playing video games, then adding a female avatar or putting more shopping in a game isn't going to do much. You would need to find a way to appeal to them on their own terms, which is risky business since it tends not to appeal to your more reliable base market.

Games which do attract a lot of non-gamers, especially women, tend to be things like the Sims, where it's hard to replicate that success with other games. Surprisingly, World of Warcraft seems to attract a lot of female gamers, partially because of the real-life social aspect of it (and the fact that it's fairly easy, meaning that woman don't have to be hardcore about it in order to succeed up until you get into raid content).

The truth is, games are popular enough now, with a wide enough variety, that if a woman is susceptible to being made part of your core market, she's going to be part of it by now. You might get the other ones to buy the odd game or two in great quantities, when you hit just the right note with it, but playing the Sims isn't going to make anyone say "MY GOD! Video games are actually awesome; I'm going to give Medieval II: Total War a shot".

That's not what i mean, i'm not saying "convince girls to play games" i'm meaning, "cater to the females that are already fans of games, but want something that's geared towards them more"

 

[Takanaki]

No, First person shooters are not designed to attract men. They are designed to attract people who enjoy action and killing things. It just so happens that more men enjoy these things than women.

For example, if something is geared towards rap fans, and many rap fans are black, that does not mean it is deliberately geared towards black people. Many black people will buy it, due to being rap fans, but that was not the original intention - it's just a happy bonus.

Inb4 accusation of racism for daring to mention black people.

I'm not accusing you on racism, your point is valid. But you put my point in your comment, shooters are generally more popular with males, so the companies that make them cater to males more in their shooters (I.e. by only having big macho males characters, instead of female alternatives.)

If a female wanted to play a shooter, she would probably be more attacted to one that catered to them as well as males.

In addition, it seems to be generally accepted still that it's mostly males that play games, and this is influencing the "type" of games that are released. As you said, shooters. Companies will make an FPS because it's popular with guys and they're generally accepted as being the ones to play games. This just sin't true anymore and it ought to be recognised in the type of games made, quality games for females as well as males.

Where is the comfortable middle ground? If you want a game with a female heroine, what about Samus. The Metroid series has plenty of shooting etcetera in it. Sure, she's eye-candy, but as with anything hollywood or mass produced image is a key point to consider. Take any movie star, remove a few front teeth, give them a lisp and jaundice. I doubt they would be nearly as popular, or that they would ever have made it onto a big screen.

I agree with the point that there should be more female heroines on offer, but taking something from an earlier point you raised about women and MMO games. Aren't most of the women just men in disguise anyway? Isn't adding any women in a game able to be considered as pandering towards male tastes?

Seems like it would take some kind of fundamental shift in game developers minds, or wallets, to change things any time soon. Look ahead to Diablo III and it's interesting to see they're promising female avatars alongside the traditional male alternatives.

I'm a pondersome kind of person, there are lots of things you could attribute to the current state of things. Rest assured though, this thread will change nothing.

There is one other thing though, fragdolls I think they're called. How do women feel about this group of 'hot' female gamers serving as the vaguard for your gender in the games industry? They bill themselves as a group that supports the female gamer, it seems somewhat counter productive to me though. If 'you' as a gender wish to be taken seriously and included in game as something of substance then surely real life T&A can only serve to undermine this.

I'll cut my rambling short, I should probably proof read or thing about what i'm typing if I reply here anymore.

I'm sure it'll all work itself out sooner or later, and if it doesn't, oh well i'm a man.

 

[WizardsQuest]

Two bits.

Alright, Catering toward Women, I hang around in mixed company more often than is explainable considering I have little to no romantic interest in anything (... leave me alone on this one) And I find that regardless of who the main charactor is and the appearance of the 1-2 females per shooter game, either sex can enjoy them, especially the creepy ones who are willing to dress up as these mockeries of human anatomy and form (looking at you Gears, you oversized bastards, and they say women are the only ones with weird body image problems...) anyway, there is something for everyone, again using Gears of War as an example, I love playing that game becasue the ideas and weapons excite my "sweeeet-new-toys" button in my brain and the idea of a bow and arrow that magically makes things into showers of Gore appeals to the little fanboy in me. Conversely, my Ex loved the game becasue the Locust are the coolest damn enemy ever in her opinion, especially the Brumak, yes I heard you. Now then, if Girls want games for them, get off the internet Forums and start spamming the inboxes of game developers. Let's face it, the only way to get thier attention is to be annoying. now I'm off to attack things with a chainsaw fixed to the bottom of my gun. Enjoy whatever pleases you in this Tangental-at-best commentary.

 

[J'aen]

Hell, Samus ain't eye candy anyway. Not unless you have a cold, unfeeling steel fetish.

 

[JaguarWong]

Anyone notice how most of the games that are geared towards girls/women on the DS are not competitive in style?

 

[BloodSquirrel]

That's not what i mean, i'm not saying "convince girls to play games" i'm meaning, "cater to the females that are already fans of games, but want something that's geared towards them more"

If a female is already a fan of games, then there's no gearing to be done; they're already a fan. Your best bet in that case is just to make the game as good as possible so that you can get the female gamers *AND* the male gamers, rather than girly up you game, losing male players and offering female players something that they may not even want.

 

[LoganAsh]

That's not what i mean, i'm not saying "convince girls to play games" i'm meaning, "cater to the females that are already fans of games, but want something that's geared towards them more"

If a female is already a fan of games, then there's no gearing to be done; they're already a fan. Your best bet in that case is just to make the game as good as possible so that you can get the female gamers *AND* the male gamers, rather than girly up you game, losing male players and offering female players something that they may not even want.

My point exactly. I never said make the games all girly, most girl gamers arn't girly (a large issue is companies thinking that if they make a girly game, they've catred for females, which is dead wrong) but games that are more balanced would be much more widely recieved I believe.

 

[J'aen]

I'd like to know what you mean by gearing games towards girls, anyway. IMO, female protagonists don't count, because they've been around since the NES days, so what do you mean?

 

[shatnershaman]

My point exactly. I never said make the games all girly, most girl gamers aren't girly (a large issue is companies thinking that if they make a girly game, they've catered for females, which is dead wrong) but games that are more balanced would be much more widely received I believe.

I point to games like these for that:

Smash Bros
Halo 3
Portal
Oblivion
Nintendogs
Viva Pinata

 

[LoganAsh]

I'd like to know what you mean by gearing games towards girls, anyway. IMO, female protagonists don't count, because they've been around since the NES days, so what do you mean?

Well i'm talking about the companies doing research into the genres/themes/game-play mechanics that females would enjoy using in their games. Gaming has always been traditionally a male persuit and to make it truely accessable to females will un-doubtably require a good deal of R&D into what makes a game better for female gamers, rather than sticking to the old formula and then throwing in a few pinks and some cute animals.

The Wii for example, while it was not for a lot of girl/male gamers, it did make an attempt to break the mould and create a new game mechanic that worked for all genders, all ages even. After all, with such high percentages of girl gamers these days, it seems like a realistic investement to expand into such new gaming ideas.

 

[LoganAsh]

My point exactly. I never said make the games all girly, most girl gamers aren't girly (a large issue is companies thinking that if they make a girly game, they've catered for females, which is dead wrong) but games that are more balanced would be much more widely received I believe.

I point to games like these for that:

Smash Bros
Halo 3
Portal
Oblivion
Nintendogs
Viva Pinata

Nintendogs and Halo 3 hardly count. Nintendogs is basically slapping the "girls like cute things" label about, not really addressing females gamers at all. Halo 3 is pretty much a standard shooters, it's nothing new for female gamers, so i don't know why you brought it up. Yes it has female characters, but read my above post fo an expansion on the idea.

 

[Prospero]

personally i feel
although alot of girls are into gaming and games in general
the rest of the female population simply arent interested in games
for example when me and my friends go to town at the weekend
we will go in the game shops and look at the newest games
as soon as we mention that our destination is Game or Gamestation
that incites a groan of disapproval from all of the female members of our group
and these girls are the most gamer-ish girls i know!
i think, alot of girls will say they play games
it is not a main activity of theirs
whereas for guys it is
no matter what games are relased
i think that will stay the same

 

[LoganAsh]

Anyone notice how most of the games that are geared towards girls/women on the DS are not competitive in style?

Interesting point, yes i have found the same thing to be true. A lot of females gamers don't seem to like full on competative games, but more exploration games. Something you will never find in FPS's and most games out today. (Bar a few of course)

 

[J'aen]

Uh, Prospero? Why did you write that out like poetry?

Also, Halo is pretty gender neutral, IMO.

 

[shatnershaman]

Nintendogs and Halo 3 hardly count. Nintendogs is basically slapping the "girls like cut things" label about, not really addressing females gamers. Halo 3 is just a standard shooters, it's nothing new, so i don't know why you brought it up. Yes it has female characters, but read my above post fo an expansion on the idea.

Guys like Nintendogs too now dogs are Girl only? I still don't see the problem with Halo 3 I mean you can be a girl spartan online andThe most bad ass in RvB is Tex.

 

[J'aen]

Besides, most of the dogs aren't even that cute.

 

[AntiAntagonist]

Sometimes comics explain certain conundrums rather succinctly.

In any case one "in-depth" genre that traditionally gets females playing are RPGs. Even single player ones. Most JRPGs particularly have side plots with love interests and design their protagonists as non-threatening (androgynous) males. Games are somewhat more prevalent among females in the far east, but this also has to do with dating "sims", economics of game production and genre preferences.

I've met many female gamers, and the more socially inclined they are the less likely they are to mention themselves as a gamer. Some small scale social studies do reference stigma for girls and gaming (sorry I don't have a link handy).

 

[BloodSquirrel]

My point exactly. I never said make the games all girly, most girl gamers arn't girly (a large issue is companies thinking that if they make a girly game, they've catred for females, which is dead wrong) but games that are more balanced would be much more widely recieved I believe.

Balancing a game between being macho and girly is still making it more girly. The demand for such a thing has been imaginary, unless you can point out an instance where having a female character caused a game to sell a lot more copies than it would have otherwise sold.

 

[LoganAsh]

My point exactly. I never said make the games all girly, most girl gamers arn't girly (a large issue is companies thinking that if they make a girly game, they've catred for females, which is dead wrong) but games that are more balanced would be much more widely recieved I believe.

Balancing a game between being macho and girly is still making it more girly. The demand for such a thing has been imaginary, unless you can point out an instance where having a female character caused a game to sell a lot more copies than it would have otherwise sold.

Most FF titles.. as mentioned above by AntiAntagonist, they're popular with females because, I believe, of their non-macho style, emotive themes and often a better choice of strong female characters. I've got a good female friend who loves FF7 because of Aeris and Tifa. They're just as important as the men she says. Plus, apparently the game play on FF games is at a slower pace, but that's just her opinion.
You want an example, there you go, FF games sell very well with females and when I can find some statistics i'll post them.

As i've said, females gaming is a relatively new idea for some and so not many games have been given the chance to shine in the females market.