meece said:
The best way? Sex appeal for girls i.e. good looking scantily clad guys.
Probably.
JRPGs seem to be the only game genre that actually gets this. Seriously, look at Sephiroth and tell me he wasn't designed to appeal to a female audience. ;-)
More on topic, another female gamer here who enjoys everything from the Sims and Peggle to WoW, Mass Effect and Assassin's Creed. Like the others, I also have issues with the idea that "girls don't game" or "the only female gamer is a casual gamer." Having said that, the ubiquitous stereotype of the disapproving girlfriend demanding her boyfriend stop playing Halo has to come from somewhere. Offhand, these are my thoughts:
1) Within the "disapproving girlfriend" scenario, the issue may not be that they dislike video games but rather are thinking about what you could (or SHOULD) be doing instead. For example, if you are currently unemployed, the girlfriend (or significant other, in gender swapped or same-sex cases) may feel that the time you spend on games could be more productively spent in job searching or something similar. Or if both partners are free and could spend some time doing things together but one is busy doing something solo, like gaming... you see where the problems could arise. In these cases, I think video games are simply an easy target to blame, i.e. "My boyfriend isn't doing X thing that he should be doing, he's playing games instead. So gaming is more important to him than X thing. Gaming is causing this problem!"
2) Sexualization in games is definitely a turnoff, but sexualization within the gaming community itself is also a problem. Even that Extra Credits video fell into it with their pictures of a "girl gamer"... namely, that every one of them is beautiful or at the very least attractive. A lot of men say they want more women to game, but in my experience, what they REALLY want is more *attractive* women to game. There are plenty of girls who game but are not traditionally attractive... plain hair, overweight, bad teeth or skin, whatever. But rather than the community embracing them as equals, they're either ignored altogether (i.e. "They don't count!") or made into objects of scorn and derision ("LOL FAT ACNE-RIDDEN FANGIRLS LOL LOL"). This sort of attitude of exclusion and ignorance is a turnoff both for "non-attractive" AND attractive women, because who wants to be in an environment where they'll be picked apart for their slightest physical flaw?
3) It's been touched on numerous times that part of the problem with many female characters is that they are obviously meant as ideal sex objects for the men (ie they exist to please male players). But I think there's also a little bit of that in the male characters as well, that they are idealized and designed to please men. When I look at the protagonists of a game like Army of Two or Gears of War, I think, "This is the man that male gamers (sort of) want to be." Gruff, stubbled, badass... I don't know, maybe it's just me, but there's something about these characters that just seems tailored to hit upon what men idealize and revere, (or, perhaps, what developers THINK men idealize and revere). Nothing wrong with that, but it adds another level of alienation for women, I think. Not only are we confronted with female characters who are obviously only there to appeal to men, we have to deal with male protagonists who are also only there to appeal to men. The message seems to be that, yeah, these games were made for men. I'd prefer to see more games which handle the male and female characters in a more gender neutral way, presenting them less as fantasies for men (or what they think men want) and more as characters everyone can like. Good example: Assassin's Creed II. Despite being amazing and sleeping with tons of women etc etc, Ezio never comes across as pure wish fulfillment... or if he does, it's not the super "macho" kind. He's not awesome because he throws off oneliners and grows stubble you could light a match on, he's awesome because he's thoughtful, charming, funny and elegant... all things that men and women alike can appreciate. Other good examples would be Heavy Rain (Ethan and Jayden are not ALL THAT IS MAN but are just regular guys) and every JRPG ever made (the male characters are not BUTCH AND MACHO but still appeal to guys and girls alike). Honorable mention goes to Metal Gear Solid and Mass Effect, which do feature stubbled badass soldiers but often subvert expectations about their macho nature (Snake is troubled and vulnerable, while a Paragon Male Shepard is usually about four interrupts away from breaking out the tea and crumpets... and is AWESOME for it.)
4) OK, this is where I start running the risk of hitting on female stereotypes, so take it with a grain of salt.... but sometimes I wonder if women are turned off of hardcore games because of how ugly they are. Not in terms of the polygon count or rendering or anything, but... well... BROWN. And grey, and black, and rust, and muted green... basically, colors with less saturation than a dry teabag. If I were a girl who'd never touched a game before and I saw someone playing, say, Call of Duty, my first response would be, "Ick. Brown walls with brown doors and brown ground. Even the trees look brown. Looks boring." Whereas if I saw, say, Super Mario Galaxy, I'd think, "That looks colorful and dynamic. It looks ALIVE. I want to see more!" That may be less of a girl thing than a "new gamer" thing in general, but I think we underestimate how appealing and engaging color can be to a medium. It's not always *necessary* (Citizen Kane is an amazing movie without color, after all) but it's something to consider... I know lack of vibrancy is a turnoff for me when looking at games.
