Girls and Gaming

[Kenny Kondom]

IMO, i agree with your sentiments. however, there are those cherished few like yourself who stand out from the normal crowd. I do believe games are sold to men. men like wrestling, sports, fighting... and most games are based on the. however, i have female gamer friends, and they are not all tom-boy types.
Its all about what entertains YOU

 

[RanD00M]

the only images of women in relation to gaming are either of ugly.

What are you talking about.Most of the female gamers i know are fucking gorgeous.

I know what you mean. Most of the gamer girls around here are hot scientist geeks.
One of my friends is aspiring to get laid in Antarctica at some point. Just so kickass....

Really, though, my #1 recommendation is the works of Tale of Tales, not just because you would prolly never otherwise hear about them, but also because they seem to take on more feminine themes.
And welcome to the Escapist!

Wow.Quoted by three women in one day.My life is complete now.

 

[Neesa]

As a girl gamer, I guess it's never really bothered me too much. I just play a game just because. I guess I'm too tomboyish to care about marketing strategies. If I see a game I like, I play it. Regardless how "macho" it may look on the cover or the commercials. It's always fun to see a guy's face behind the register when I put certain games on the counter. Then when you see me, you don't really put 2 + 2 together that quickly. Or some sort of game related clothing (just a tshirt; I'm not THAT bad). As for me, I prefer a lot of MMOs and fighting games. But I've been known to waste hours of my life getting from easy to expert on Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Soon my life will be consumed again when DJ Hero's released on the 27th here in the States.

the only images of women in relation to gaming are either of ugly.

Also, there's a lot more "attractive" female gamers. Just like there's a lot more attractive male games. Just some of us tend to hide our "geekdom". I know I do. I can come off as a closet gamer/nerd until you bring up a subject. Then there's a chance I don't shut up and I show how nerdy I am. Ahem. Anyway, It's just people tend to focus more on the minority stereotype. However, I use the term loosely, since I remember all the people at the anime cons I've been to... But, what else is new?

 

[MelziGurl]

I've been a tomboy my whole life, I'm the polar opposite of my sister who won't play a game unless it's singstar/lips. I've played video games my whole life, it's not going to stop either. Most girls I know won't play a video game because they simply think that it's stupid and not worth their time. You could market to women but I don't think it's going to change the fact that most women think video games are beneath them. It'd be waste of money, in my own opinion and experience.

 

[orangebandguy]

I think Portal may have had a feminine insight, since it is actually about a mother's love for her child, and jealousy (though expressed in unrevealed imagery and monologues)

It is? You must have a greater understanding of symbolism than I do.

 

[Wing0fSilver]

What exactly are you looking for in 'Non-Girly' girl games? Many games that feature a female main character I believe would be just that. Blood-Rayne, the newly released Wet are two off the top of my head. Now, I agree that these fall into the 'Eye-Candy' things, but are games where male characters are in the lead any different? The men in video games are heavily masculine, being exceptionally muscular and brimming with male ego and confidence and just plain Bad-Assitude. Even when they're not uber muscular they're attractive and witty ala Dante from the Devil May Cry series.
I think it might be your mindset. Male gamers typically find it awesome to be this physically attractive shirtless badass swinging a sword around and killing monsters. But for you to be in the sexy but not scanty cargo pants of Rubi Malone doing just that is considered male oriented? I honestly don't see the difference.

 

[whaleswiththumbs]

Makes an interesting point. I think the reason theres a male dominant in gaming is because for most other mediums it follows suit, in movies Indy isn't a chick, its a guy(Neville) in I am Legend, Harry Potter, is obviously a guy. So when we started making actual protaginist for gaming who do we see for inspiration, guys. Maybe we should be one of the first mediums to progress to a more gender neutral situation(bad wording), but i don't see it coming for awhile.

 

[LadyZephyr]

Frankly, this isn't really the forum to connect with female gamers, if that's your goal. In my experience, they cluster in completely different sites, away from male gamers. My groups and communities tend to rec games to each other, jokingly worship the likes of Schafer and Kojima, and write long, meta-heavy posts analyzing the themes of the games we play. And we're all Tropers, so.

But uh, yeah. The Escapist is nice for general discussion, but not the best place to hang with the girls and not have to constantly hear about that fucking casual girl gamer stereotype.

 

[LadyZephyr]

I think it might be your mindset. Male gamers typically find it awesome to be this physically attractive shirtless badass swinging a sword around and killing monsters. But for you to be in the sexy but not scanty cargo pants of Rubi Malone doing just that is considered male oriented? I honestly don't see the difference.

What a women looks for in a protagonist is pretty different. Like, with my buddies, Jade from Beyond Good and Evil is universally loved because she is undoubtably feminine, but is also strong and kicks serious ass while remaining compassionate and driven. Solid Snake's another good example. On the surface, he's just an action hero dude, but in reality, he's very philosophical and warm in his own way to his friends and allies. We often find guys thinking he's just a stone cold badass, while the gals notice the way he takes teasing from Otacon, who's obviously important to him, and how he really helped Raiden discover what it means to fight and to fight for something.

Girls don't care about gender as much as they do about depth of character and how relatable the given protagonist is. Men's heroes can be our heroes too, we just look for different things.

Also, Snake is very obviously marketed to girls, gay men, and confused straight guys. Have you SEEN Dat Ass?

 

[Gmano]

It's more the artists who decide what the characters look like, plus, if we have to look at the characters they should be easy on the eyes.

As for the tough male role, i though lots of women found that attractive?

Also, I have to tell you most people do not have biceps larger than their head and an extremely low voice. Especially most of the hardcore players who spend their lives on GOW (either interpretation) and such games.

 

[Cobra_X_Commander]

Truth be told I think gaming is somthing completly male dominated mainly as many of the other have said due to the fact that most gaming males wont give a female character a second look if her breast size isnt at least a D-cup. Not only that but most game developers dont seem to make any interesting 'normal' female characters that anyone would care about. And by 'normal' I meen a character who is judge on her actions, not her ass and figure.

Though you cannot fully blame them without pointing a finger at the game whores that came out when gaming began. Lara Croft and Tifa Lockheart stand proudly saying that they got men to like video games with there virtual tits.

But I would like to say theer is one female character I love souly for what she dose not what she looks like. Thats Ashe from Final Fantasy XII, a woman who has lost everything in her life, her kingdom, her husband, even the right to be called a princess. Yet despite all this she wishes to continue to fight for her people and sacrafices life and limb to do it. Its the passion of her actions that drove me to like her character not her looks and I think if more gamers could do that we could have interesting and cool female characters who dont need D-Cups and who wear two peices of torn tissue to get our attention.

 

[VanityGirl]

Seriously, as a fellow vagina talking to another vagina.. is it really that big of a deal?

It's like a man opening up a Good House Keeping magazine only to find ads targeted towards women. But if house keeping's your thing, don't let it bother you.
One of my favorite games is Gears of War, a very manily game full of testosterone, but that doesn't stop me from playing it.
Also, the main reason you don't see many normal looking strong female characters that would appeal to females is because honestly, the demographic isn't large enough. Until women can get over the "these are GUY games" mentality, then we will continue to see "guy" games.
I know many girls who wouldn't play a game just because it's seen as a GUY thing to do. Until people jump over that hurdle, we will see no progress.

So what if you aren't the target audience of a game, would that stop you from playing it? Also, I'd rather be staring at a handsome looking male protaganist than a female one. Ever think of it that way?


But I guess you do make a point, it would be nice to see more girl games, but what makes a girl game exactly?
If it's exactly the same as a shoot-em-up game like Wet, then why are we complaining?

Wet:
-strong female protaganist with a awesomely foul attitude
-lots of guns
-violence

 

[crape]

mmmmmmmkay, i'm a girl and "appealing to men" are you referring to like girls with big boobs or just like sexy girls? Because i love that, you can't go wrong with a sexii girl as your main character!! as for the whole girls like the sims and rock band blah blah... ok i LOVE R5, all the halos, any final fantasy, i adore the zelda series, and i could play any resistance for hours! sims takes too much boring time and rock band WAS fun now it's like old people party pleasers! my boyfriend is a WoW guy, me i dunno WoW seems so redundant to me but i've nooooo problem with it..let's see any others oh ummmm assassin's creed, i fruckin luvs star wars and any game derived from it! eh i'll stop now but yes, i agree with girls being less interested in video games and that they are those that love sims and rock band. few are acceptions, and i'm one of them

 

[Spitfire175]

There are more male gamers than there are female gamers. It's as simple as that. It's like that extra-fancy, "volume and body" shampoo: There are probably men out there that use Herbal Essences hair care products, but they're the minority, so the product is still marketed toward women.

No further explanation needed.

 

[Harley Q]

Yeah people always seem to get me games like Viva Pinata and things to do with fashion. I just don't get it. I like Bioshock, Devil May Cry 4, Fable 2, a game i downloaded on Xbox Live- Faranheit. I've heard good things about Oblivion too. I'm not sure if that helps.

 

[Wing0fSilver]

I think it might be your mindset. Male gamers typically find it awesome to be this physically attractive shirtless badass swinging a sword around and killing monsters. But for you to be in the sexy but not scanty cargo pants of Rubi Malone doing just that is considered male oriented? I honestly don't see the difference.

What a women looks for in a protagonist is pretty different. Like, with my buddies, Jade from Beyond Good and Evil is universally loved because she is undoubtably feminine, but is also strong and kicks serious ass while remaining compassionate and driven. Solid Snake's another good example. On the surface, he's just an action hero dude, but in reality, he's very philosophical and warm in his own way to his friends and allies. We often find guys thinking he's just a stone cold badass, while the gals notice the way he takes teasing from Otacon, who's obviously important to him, and how he really helped Raiden discover what it means to fight and to fight for something.

Girls don't care about gender as much as they do about depth of character and how relatable the given protagonist is. Men's heroes can be our heroes too, we just look for different things.

Also, Snake is very obviously marketed to girls, gay men, and confused straight guys. Have you SEEN Dat Ass?

I can agree with and understand that. But if that's the case, then the argument shouldn't be that there are no positive female characters but that there are no positive characters at all. Solid Snake is a good example of a character and I wish that I could see more like him. I'd make the same comment for Jade but I honestly didn't have the honor of following her adventure, but I digress. With games like Prototype, Gears of War, and even the frequently mentioned Wet, positive role models just aren't the stuff of modern protagonists. The market demands brooding, 'dark', and generally unpleasant people to drive the action of today's games.

I can honestly say that if one more brooding anti-hero stars in a critically acclaimed game, I will cease to play anything that came out after the turn of this century. And that has nothing to do with gender, but then again I'm not the average Monster drinking, ritalin popping, alien killing male gamer myself. The point I guess I'm trying to make is, there's something out there for everyone but there's not something out there for Everyone and there's not much we can do about it, dig?

 

[IckleMissMayhem]

Women who like playing video games aren't just playing The Sims and platformers. That's a silly generalization.

Ding! Ten Points!

I find it quite funny how so many people assume I'm male on XBL, especially playing TF2 or L4D. Usually until I speak. Then I'll usually get some sort of "wow... you're really a girl!!!" type response.

most gaming males wont give a female character a second look if her breast size isnt at least a D-cup.

Not true... case in point: Rikku/Yuna from FFX. Both awesome, both fairly flat-chested, yet both lusted after by scary guys usually more often than busty ol' Lulu.
Although to be fair... with the huge numbers of girly-male characters nowadays, you need some sort of obvious hint to the player as to who's what gender sometimes.

 

[Xojins]

I think it might be your mindset. Male gamers typically find it awesome to be this physically attractive shirtless badass swinging a sword around and killing monsters. But for you to be in the sexy but not scanty cargo pants of Rubi Malone doing just that is considered male oriented? I honestly don't see the difference.

What a women looks for in a protagonist is pretty different. Like, with my buddies, Jade from Beyond Good and Evil is universally loved because she is undoubtably feminine, but is also strong and kicks serious ass while remaining compassionate and driven. Solid Snake's another good example. On the surface, he's just an action hero dude, but in reality, he's very philosophical and warm in his own way to his friends and allies. We often find guys thinking he's just a stone cold badass, while the gals notice the way he takes teasing from Otacon, who's obviously important to him, and how he really helped Raiden discover what it means to fight and to fight for something.

Girls don't care about gender as much as they do about depth of character and how relatable the given protagonist is. Men's heroes can be our heroes too, we just look for different things.

Also, Snake is very obviously marketed to girls, gay men, and confused straight guys. Have you SEEN Dat Ass?

Male gamers also care about this stuff... why do men and women require different standards for games? All that does is more clearly define differences between them, leading to sexism in games.

But I know what you mean about Snake; now that's a mean ass.