"In fact, women like shooters, as long as they have a story."
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I can't speak for all Sims-playing women, but the reason I like the Sims 2 is because it's an excellent tool for telling stories. The 'dollhouse' gameplay it was built for makes up a very small fraction of my time spent playing it.
Granted, only 50% of Sims-players are women. I enjoyed playing it for the same reason I enjoyed playing games like Theme Hospital, as it gets harder you have to rethink your schedules and perhaps redesign the house to make everything as effective as possible. But I also enjoyed it like I can enjoy playing a Sim City game on easy. There's no pressure, I can just relax and play around with with the decore and see how the sims will react to it.
Then when I get bored I go play some wc3 or UT : )
Then when I get bored I go play some wc3 or UT : )
I thought this was a pretty interesting piece of research actually. It may be telling Escapists what we had already figured out, but I should imagine that our prejudice free viewpoint (ha!) is not shared by the wider world, who seem dedicated to miscontruing video game content and their target audiences (case in point the Mass Effect Sodomy Simulator debacle).
I should imagine that the keywords are recovered by spidering web reviews as it's an impartial method, and can be backed up by some degree of statistical analysis - perhaps Jo could clarify that...- but there will reamin a certain eprception bias in those reviews, in that most VG reviewers are male (look at gamespot, ign etc). That's not that importnat though - if female gamers purchase on the basis of those reviews, as determiend by certain kew words, then those are the points that developers needs to address to target females.
Enough defence of the research, and now onto criticism. It's already been said - an awful lot of men prefer their shooters to have a story too. That would account for Bioshock and COD4's success this year. So - do feamles gamers like games witha a story, or do they just like games acknowledged as good by a wider (male) audience?
What are the buying statistics like for M vs F? is there a definite bias in certain genres or specific releases?
I should imagine that the keywords are recovered by spidering web reviews as it's an impartial method, and can be backed up by some degree of statistical analysis - perhaps Jo could clarify that...- but there will reamin a certain eprception bias in those reviews, in that most VG reviewers are male (look at gamespot, ign etc). That's not that importnat though - if female gamers purchase on the basis of those reviews, as determiend by certain kew words, then those are the points that developers needs to address to target females.
Enough defence of the research, and now onto criticism. It's already been said - an awful lot of men prefer their shooters to have a story too. That would account for Bioshock and COD4's success this year. So - do feamles gamers like games witha a story, or do they just like games acknowledged as good by a wider (male) audience?
What are the buying statistics like for M vs F? is there a definite bias in certain genres or specific releases?
alright, i've been seeing alot of "women gamer" topics showing up all over the forum and honestly i am starting to wonder why. sure when it comes down to it there are some fundamental differences between men and women but i've always beleived aside from the kind of surface generalizations you can made each and every person be they man or woman is an individual with personal preferences. you know "women like these games" or "women are tired of this or that." i mean come on, i'm sure to some extent these are all right but they are all also generalizations, and generalizations are fairly innacurate when applied to the real world.
Halo does have a Campaign Mode, you know. yeah, it's not great, but it might be a good place to start before you toss someone to the squeaky-voiced, foul-mouthed wolves.Lance Icarus said:
Yes we are different species. we have different brains and thus live in different perspectives. Nurture is only 1%... nature says is all.
reasons women won't get into shooters:
- they're less goal-oriented than men (this is good reason to not like games in general)
- less spatial ability (aiming at target's is a hunter ability, men have that thanks to our caveman ancestors
- less 'competition-oriented' (at least the competition most games use)
it's all in the brains however, NOT in the gender. There are lots and lots of women with a certain degree of maleness in their head and vice versa. I, as a male artist, have a bit of a feminized brain. You, as a female 'male-games gamer', might have a part-masculine brain.
I know far too many females who hate video games but haven't played one since Pac Man... My own mother used to absolutely hate myself and my brother's video game playing until I got her hooked on Everquest. After EQ we had to fight for PC time and she kept our hardware nice and updated so she could play EQ and other MMORPG's. I know a woman who is a complete beast in Halo and has been playing since the the first Halo. I've seen her sit at the top of her team round after round even when drunk and I certainly can't match her.
I firmly believe that the only thing which keeps most women from playing games is social programming. I remember my grade school days when playing games wasn't even something most males would fess up to because it was "nerdly" or "childish" and even fewer females would admit to because it was both "male" and "nerdly". The only reason I can have video game conversations with the majority of people these days is because of consoles and especially Halo. So, video games have just one more social stigma to break through before it reaches the last market for games: women.
I firmly believe that the only thing which keeps most women from playing games is social programming. I remember my grade school days when playing games wasn't even something most males would fess up to because it was "nerdly" or "childish" and even fewer females would admit to because it was both "male" and "nerdly". The only reason I can have video game conversations with the majority of people these days is because of consoles and especially Halo. So, video games have just one more social stigma to break through before it reaches the last market for games: women.
it's an exaggerationEzraPound said:
but yeah, books like "why men don't listen & women can't read maps" make a lot of sense. The most important lesson however is that it's the brain wiring that determines behavior, not gender. But it's easier explained in men-female generalisation (they even do it in their own title -.- )
Like that best-selling book, "Men are from Mars, Women are arthropods", right?tobyornottoby said:
Let's see. Women are homo sapiens, men are homo neanderthalis, gay men are homo erectus, and lesbians are homo heidelbergensis - do I have everybody covered? So I guess that makes us all sterile hybrids!
Did anyone ever doubt this?Spinwhiz said:You guys are missing the point. This proves female gamers enjoy a bit of carnage. I see this as a plus and a nice way to start the weekend. I'll say nothing more about the topic b/c it would just make nerds everywhere pissed off
Have a great weekend all!
I have played online FPS games and come across a lot of women. To be honest if a gamer is over 20 they almost seem to be as likely to be a woman as a man. I've not come across many teenage girls playing games however...
Then again i believe that i read somewhere that the majority of gamers are older than 20 anyway. Its just a stereotype that all gamers are spotty teenage boys.
Well, it could be argued that everyone likes a good story; wouldn't it be more useful to know what makes a "good story" for women, compared to men?
Also, hardcore gamers are hardly representative of the majority of gamers in general, not only in number but probably also in taste; shouldn't the opinion of more casual gamers be preferentially evaluated?
P.S. tobyornottoby, you know reductionist, simplistic thinking it's extremely out of fashion these days, and for very good reasons too, right?
Also, hardcore gamers are hardly representative of the majority of gamers in general, not only in number but probably also in taste; shouldn't the opinion of more casual gamers be preferentially evaluated?
P.S. tobyornottoby, you know reductionist, simplistic thinking it's extremely out of fashion these days, and for very good reasons too, right?
I think everyone needs to keep in mind that everyone has a personal standard for games, male or female. Perhaps what they should be focusing on is that women have a very different sense of humor than men. What a woman finds funny or makes her tingle with joy is not what most men find appealing. Men tend to have more of a bathroom type humor as where women like a wise comment of some sort. men like to get a laugh from something naughty or dirty as where women like to have to think through something. Thought that dosent go for all men and women i know. men arent born to love blood and gore they are brought into it by some outside force. if a girl is growing up with a houseful of older brothers she would most likely enjoy the same things as them. it has so much more to do than with women just wanting a better story line. besides you cant say men dont like a game with a good story. thats like saying guys dont like games inless they have guns and some sort of camo. i can see where women would be more drawn to a game with a nice story line but then again who wouldnt? perhaps if men stopped saying women cant play fps and gave them a honest to god try at it, while honestly taking the time to teach them the game, more women would be playing games with their husbands or boyfriends instead of dragging them away from it. I know not all guy gamers are jerks but sadly the majority of them are. That is a real turn away for women. we get that enough in real life everyday, why should we have to go online to get even more of it?
When I've worked in the areas where it's all women and they forget I'm there, women will make a guy's ears burn.AnGeL.SLayer said:
90% of everything is crud. Welcome to life.AnGeL.SLayer said:
I don't understand this stereotype. Is their any FPS that does not have a story. The story may be patched toghther poorly and make no sense but it is a story non the less.
And if women like stories then shouldn't nintendo be going for the woman audience with a huge pile of RPG's instead of the "role the ball into the hole" games.
And if women like stories then shouldn't nintendo be going for the woman audience with a huge pile of RPG's instead of the "role the ball into the hole" games.