Poll: Do boys like Fallout 3?

[Nannernade]

Male, loved every single second of it, really didn't care for Fallout New Bugas, for obvious reasons.

 

[Headdrivehardscrew]

Apart from the fact that male players are still the majority, and Fallout 3 players are no exception to that very basic truth, I believe it not to be so much a question of male/female, but more of focus and dedication, or the lack of it.

I am female, and I finished every (proper) Fallout 1-3 at least twice... my brother, on the other hand, was never able to focus on one game for more than, say, two weeks or so. He's more into driving and FPS and whatever crap gets published on mobile iThings. Tiny Things, Angry Crapshoot and all those superb time-wasters.

Then again, he's somewhat obsessive-compulsive, which, to be honest, can be a good thing depending on how you earn your money - but when it comes to modern games, it can completely cripple, disable and ruin everything.

My first speed run of Fallout 3 (before any expansions) took me a weekend. My brother had died a hundred times in that time, and all he had seen so far was a dozen rather boring and/or deadly locations, because he was scanning the desert like a robot. By the time he eventually stumbled over the actual story/game he had basically already forgotten what it was all about, and he was carrying every single bit of crap there was to pick up. He didn't have a plan, and it showed. The PIP-Boy confused him, and he basically only used it as some sort of thing-detector. Oh! There's a thing! Gotta go check it out!

More generally put, I think what I enjoyed most in all the Fallout games was the story and presentation on one hand, and the incredible amount of personalized gameplay one could get out of them. But since I hailed from role-playing games of old (without computers, yay), I went at computer games very differently, whereas, say, my brother always focused more on the fighting AND collecting (everything), while always being in fear of "missing" something, which, eventually, made him not enjoy the experience very much.

Another prime example would be GTA IV - I finished that game in, say, 8 weekend sessions spread over, what, half a year? I did enjoy that "movie" I somewhat influenced over the stretch of that story. My brother, on the other hand, never finished it... but he had seen every TV Show, dated every girl, responded to every phone call and text message, got drunk several times in just one sitting, and watching him play made me want to jump out the window. It was the most boring, never-ending interactive movie experience ever. It was just plain wrong.

A lot of people seem to enjoy the very modern "on rails" experience of gaming, "choice" obviously being regarded by many as a very, very confusing element. Maybe that is part of what makes "Dragon Age II" so utterly unenjoyable to me. The choice there is, alas, mostly tacked on, a feature, a gadget, an afterthought, no matter how well-promoted. And I don't care much about the various opportunities for fornication. In Fallout 3, you could save someone, murder them or fail saving them or... If the game didn't croak or otherwise get funny, everything had consequences. Did you disarm the bomb? Did you blow up the town? Did you let that other guy live and help him achieve his goals, or did you drop a nuke on him? Did you speak to that one special character or did you minigun him out of his misery? Depending on your decisions and resulting actions, playing Fallout (any of them, really) is a very personal trip.

 

[Jinx_Dragon]

Depends, are we talking straight up 3 or are we talking Vegas?

Three lacked all the charm and 'flavor' of a true fallout game... yes I am a old gamer... but Vegas made up a lot of that missing content.

 

[Slayer_2]

I'll take it this is tongue in cheek, as Fallout 3 is a very popular game, and the majority of gamers are male. Although there are a lot of Fanboy haters, they generally can't see the game for what it is: a new gameplay style loosely set in the Fallout universe.

As for me, it's my favourite game, so far. I've been playing and modding it for over two years, and currently I'm still gaming it, although it's hard to recognize as Fallout 3, with all the mods I run.

Also, this is very well said, and what she describes is why Fallout 3 stands above other games for me. Not to say that I don't enjoy military shooters (like Flashpoint), but Fallout 3's choices are amazing and deep, for a game, anyhow.

Spoiler

Apart from the fact that male players are still the majority, and Fallout 3 players are no exception to that very basic truth, I believe it not to be so much a question of male/female, but more of focus and dedication, or the lack of it.

I am female, and I finished every (proper) Fallout 1-3 at least twice... my brother, on the other hand, was never able to focus on one game for more than, say, two weeks or so. He's more into driving and FPS and whatever crap gets published on mobile iThings. Tiny Things, Angry Crapshoot and all those superb time-wasters.

Then again, he's somewhat obsessive-compulsive, which, to be honest, can be a good thing depending on how you earn your money - but when it comes to modern games, it can completely cripple, disable and ruin everything.

My first speed run of Fallout 3 (before any expansions) took me a weekend. My brother had died a hundred times in that time, and all he had seen so far was a dozen rather boring and/or deadly locations, because he was scanning the desert like a robot. By the time he eventually stumbled over the actual story/game he had basically already forgotten what it was all about, and he was carrying every single bit of crap there was to pick up. He didn't have a plan, and it showed. The PIP-Boy confused him, and he basically only used it as some sort of thing-detector. Oh! There's a thing! Gotta go check it out!

More generally put, I think what I enjoyed most in all the Fallout games was the story and presentation on one hand, and the incredible amount of personalized gameplay one could get out of them. But since I hailed from role-playing games of old (without computers, yay), I went at computer games very differently, whereas, say, my brother always focused more on the fighting AND collecting (everything), while always being in fear of "missing" something, which, eventually, made him not enjoy the experience very much.

Another prime example would be GTA IV - I finished that game in, say, 8 weekend sessions spread over, what, half a year? I did enjoy that "movie" I somewhat influenced over the stretch of that story. My brother, on the other hand, never finished it... but he had seen every TV Show, dated every girl, responded to every phone call and text message, got drunk several times in just one sitting, and watching him play made me want to jump out the window. It was the most boring, never-ending interactive movie experience ever. It was just plain wrong.

A lot of people seem to enjoy the very modern "on rails" experience of gaming, "choice" obviously being regarded by many as a very, very confusing element. Maybe that is part of what makes "Dragon Age II" so utterly unenjoyable to me. The choice there is, alas, mostly tacked on, a feature, a gadget, an afterthought, no matter how well-promoted. And I don't care much about the various opportunities for fornication. In Fallout 3, you could save someone, murder them or fail saving them or... If the game didn't croak or otherwise get funny, everything had consequences. Did you disarm the bomb? Did you blow up the town? Did you let that other guy live and help him achieve his goals, or did you drop a nuke on him? Did you speak to that one special character or did you minigun him out of his misery? Depending on your decisions and resulting actions, playing Fallout (any of them, really) is a very personal trip.

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

These 'Do girls/boys like this?' threads are pointless. The only thing all girls have in common is that they have a vagina. The only thing all boys have in common is the penis. Now gaming preferences are, contrary to popular beliefs, not related to the genitals. It's down to personal taste and interests.

I loved Fallout. It had nothing to do with my ovaries.

And you put the head on the nail (proverbially). This was the entire point of this thread, though I must admit I would have expected a few more people to point out this obviou fact. Kudos to you for being the first to point it out!

 

[Cridhe]

My girlfriend recently tried to get into Fallout 3, following some success in games such as Left 4 Dead, Alien Swarm, Minecraft and the Sims. While she found it a bit too complex, we started thinking about the fact that most of our male friends do not play Fallout 3. So, do guys like Fallout 3? You girls are welcome to vote too.

(I was inspired by this thread [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.311200-Poll-Do-Girls-Like-Super-Smash-Brothers], hence the question.)

EDIT: The point of this thread was not really to see if boys do infact like Fallout 3, because that much I already knew (that a majority of people, men or women do like the game). The point was rather to point out how ridiculous these "Do girls like.." threads are. Gender isn't a determining factor in what games you like anymore than, say, ethnicity is. The reason a majority of voters has voted yes is not because they are boys, but because Fallout 3 is a good game. Likewise, do girls like Super Smash bros? Most probably do, but it comes down to personal preference, not my biological gender.

The hottest chick I ever met has a distinct obsession with New Vegas.

 

[GunboatDiplomat]

My girlfriend recently tried to get into Fallout 3, following some success in games such as Left 4 Dead, Alien Swarm, Minecraft and the Sims. While she found it a bit too complex, we started thinking about the fact that most of our male friends do not play Fallout 3. So, do guys like Fallout 3? You girls are welcome to vote too.

(I was inspired by this thread [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.311200-Poll-Do-Girls-Like-Super-Smash-Brothers], hence the question.)

EDIT: The point of this thread was not really to see if boys do infact like Fallout 3, because that much I already knew (that a majority of people, men or women do like the game). The point was rather to point out how ridiculous these "Do girls like.." threads are. Gender isn't a determining factor in what games you like anymore than, say, ethnicity is. The reason a majority of voters has voted yes is not because they are boys, but because Fallout 3 is a good game. Likewise, do girls like Super Smash bros? Most probably do, but it comes down to personal preference, not my biological gender.

Gender may not be a determining factor but it is surely a contributing factor in preferences towards all sorts of things including video games. I'm not arguing that mere possession of male or female genetalia creates these preferences, still less that they are "genetically determined" as so many pop-psychology articles claim but gender does not exist in a cultural vacuum and in most contemporary cultures patterns of behaviour and preferences towards many things are shaped very early on.

I have no particular desire to wear lipstick (unless I get really drunk) but when I see my 3 year old niece staring lovingly and in wonder at my sister as she applies lipstick with a handheld mirror at christmas I wouldn't be at all surprised if my niece has a tendency to apply make up, not least because that behaviour will be constantly reinforced throughout her life. Whereas my nephews early fear of spiders has withered away over the years while it is still extremely strong in his mother.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if a game Fallout 3 was more popular among males than females. You don't have to be a biological determinist to think so. That there are some physical differences is undeniable, high levels of testosterone in adolescent males certainly has an effect on behaviour and preferences to some xtent.

So, for me, the threads entitled "Do women like x?" are not necessarily silly, as they are probably started by young males trying to create a theory of the mind for what they see as a seperate species (ie females), this perspective being shaped in part by anecdotal evidence ("my sister loves the Sims but hates Black ops") and cultural reinforcement that there must be "innate" differences (men are from mars women are from venus).

What is "innate" anyway? Much psychology involves searching for the answer to this question. Although some are saying even the terms of the question (nature vs nuture) is misleading and unhelpful. The little bit I know about developmental biology seems to suggest its not "in the genes" as was initially hoped when the genome was mapped and instead genes are only one aspect in the development of an organism. In particular it is very hard to map particular genes or groups of genes to particular types of preferences or behaviour. Theres no "gay gene" or "Shooting game gene" or even "langauge gene" although at least in the case of language there are genes which if absent can make langauge more difficult.

Funnily enough I just got a delivery from amazon this morning "Delusions of Gender - The real science behind sex differences" by Cordelia Fine so I hope to be more enlightened on the subject in the near future.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

Personally I adore Fallout 3 although it does make me want to eat sugar puffs and drink Coca Cola.

I think what really annoys me about the 'do girls like?' threads is that it sepearates the women out like they are some sort of different gamer. We aren't we like the exact same games you do. We don't need specialist games that have shopping and ponies. Fair play to people who like that kind of stuff but they shouldnt be called 'games for girls.'

Everyone can enjoy anything.

My little neice has a car garage she asked for and plays with, gender roles are reinforced by parental behaiviour and society and are a complete and utter myth. They just cause complete misery to people who don't conform.

Don't wear makeup?...not making an effort...

Like video games games as a girl? Trying to be cute to impress men...

Like to wear jeans and a hoodie and couldn't give a crap about fashion? Ridiculed...

Men who like MLP:FIM...shunned

It's truly ridiculous. I think it has effected me badly throughout my life as I have always disliked things I am 'supposed' to like.

 

[LuckyClover95]

Female, yes. Am quite surprised at the lack of females voting actually. If they represent the forum there is a LOT less females than I though. I thought it was about 65:35, or 70:30. Woah.

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

Gender may not be a determining factor but it is surely a contributing factor in preferences towards all sorts of things including video games. I'm not arguing that mere possession of male or female genetalia creates these preferences, still less that they are "genetically determined" as so many pop-psychology articles claim but gender does not exist in a cultural vacuum and in most contemporary cultures patterns of behaviour and preferences towards many things are shaped very early on.

I have no particular desire to wear lipstick (unless I get really drunk) but when I see my 3 year old niece staring lovingly and in wonder at my sister as she applies lipstick with a handheld mirror at christmas I wouldn't be at all surprised if my niece has a tendency to apply make up, not least because that behaviour will be constantly reinforced throughout her life. Whereas my nephews early fear of spiders has withered away over the years while it is still extremely strong in his mother.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if a game Fallout 3 was more popular among males than females. You don't have to be a biological determinist to think so. That there are some physical differences is undeniable, high levels of testosterone in adolescent males certainly has an effect on behaviour and preferences to some xtent.

So, for me, the threads entitled "Do women like x?" are not necessarily silly, as they are probably started by young males trying to create a theory of the mind for what they see as a seperate species (ie females), this perspective being shaped in part by anecdotal evidence ("my sister loves the Sims but hates Black ops") and cultural reinforcement that there must be "innate" differences (men are from mars women are from venus).

What is "innate" anyway? Much psychology involves searching for the answer to this question. Although some are saying even the terms of the question (nature vs nuture) is misleading and unhelpful. The little bit I know about developmental biology seems to suggest its not "in the genes" as was initially hoped when the genome was mapped and instead genes are only one aspect in the development of an organism. In particular it is very hard to map particular genes or groups of genes to particular types of preferences or behaviour. Theres no "gay gene" or "Shooting game gene" or even "langauge gene" although at least in the case of language there are genes which if absent can make langauge more difficult.

Funnily enough I just got a delivery from amazon this morning "Delusions of Gender - The real science behind sex differences" by Cordelia Fine so I hope to be more enlightened on the subject in the near future.

Of course, social reinforcement of behaviours is a very important key in what we like and what we do. My point wasn't to rally against the fact that there are differences in how the genders behave and what the genders like, but rather this unsettling trend that people tend to view the other gender as a homogenous group comprised not of individuals but almost as a different species, as you call it.

That's what bothers me about these "do women do/like/think/have sex with x?" threads that pop up. I could have made it alot more obvious by picking out a less universally praised game (most girls also tend to like Fallout 3, go figure) such as say The Witcher or Tropico 3 and we'd have seen that "guys" doesn't necessarily like any particular game because they are "guys".

I mean, it is a well accepted fact that some like shooters, some like adventure games, some like strategy games etc. but this understanding about different tastes seems to be totally gone when you change perspective from "Gamers" (who are implied to be men by default) to "Girls" (Who are implied thus to be even more homogenous than the group "gamers"). Instead of taking any of the other hundreds of things that influence my gaming preferences (such as ethnicity, hobbies, education, line of work, age etc.) into account, it is decided that my double XX cromosomes makes me similar enough to others with double XX cromosomes that you can safely make blanket statements about us.

TL DR: I am fed up with being seen as less of an individual because I am a woman. Especially by gamers.

And I've got to say you are in for a treat, I found Delusions of Gender to be a very interesting book. Cordelia Fine makes a very convincing case and brings up lots of interesting studies.

 

[GunboatDiplomat]

Of course, social reinforcement of behaviours is a very important key in what we like and what we do. My point wasn't to rally against the fact that there are differences in how the genders behave and what the genders like, but rather this unsettling trend that people tend to view the other gender as a homogenous group comprised not of individuals but almost as a different species, as you call it.

That's what bothers me about these "do women do/like/think/have sex with x?" threads that pop up. I could have made it alot more obvious by picking out a less universally praised game (most girls also tend to like Fallout 3, go figure) such as say The Witcher or Tropico 3 and we'd have seen that "guys" doesn't necessarily like any particular game because they are "guys".

I mean, it is a well accepted fact that some like shooters, some like adventure games, some like strategy games etc. but this understanding about different tastes seems to be totally gone when you change perspective from "Gamers" (who are implied to be men by default) to "Girls" (Who are implied thus to be even more homogenous than the group "gamers"). Instead of taking any of the other hundreds of things that influence my gaming preferences (such as ethnicity, hobbies, education, line of work, age etc.) into account, it is decided that my double XX cromosomes makes me similar enough to others with double XX cromosomes that you can safely make blanket statements about us.

TL DR: I am fed up with being seen as less of an individual because I am a woman. Especially by gamers.

And I've got to say you are in for a treat, I found Delusions of Gender to be a very interesting book. Cordelia Fine makes a very convincing case and brings up lots of interesting studies.

I can't disagree with that and even though I suspect gender plays more of a role in gaming preferences than you imply, I have no evidence that is the case nor a particular desire to hunt any down or manipulate statistics until I can use them to support my biased opinion

I can't help thinking if your title was "First Person Shooters, liked more by girls or boys?" we may have learned more. But that wouldn't have been any fun at all. And it would still be just an internet poll and therefore of, err, "dubious" value.

However I'm now thinking of other thread titles:

"Does loving the SIMs make my brother gay?"

followed by:

"Should I rat out my brothers gayness to my religious fundamentalist parents who would promptly send him off to summer camp to cure him?"

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

I can't disagree with that and even though I suspect gender plays more of a role in gaming preferences than you imply, I have no evidence that is the case nor a particular desire to hunt any down or manipulate statistics until I can use them to support my biased opinion

I can't help thinking if your title was "First Person Shooters, liked more by girls or boys?" we may have learned more. But that wouldn't have been any fun at all. And it would still be just an internet poll and therefore of, err, "dubious" value.

However I'm now thinking of other thread titles:

"Does loving the SIMs make my brother gay?"

followed by:

"Should I rat out my brothers gayness to my religious fundamentalist parents who would promptly send him off to summer camp to cure him?"

Don't get me wrong, I believe that gender definately plays a part in what kind of games we like and why. It makes sense after all that someone who's been raised to care and nurture likes the Sims more than someone who's been raised to be competitive and thus might enjoy Call of Duty's multiplayer more. I am also saying however, that I don't believe my gender in itself makes me extremly pre-disposed to liking anything.

If a girl likes sci-fi it is more logical to assume that she likes Sins of a Solar Empire or Mass Effect because she is a sci-fi fan, not because she's a girl. And that's what I am getting at. In these discussions the female gender often overshadows any other variables to the point that being a girl is pretty much the only variable that most guys want to discuss.

And please, do create those threads.

 

[Jazoni89]

I'm a man, and what a stupid question this is.

Maybe you are confused, but the reason why some people don't play Fallout is not because of their gender, but rather they A) Don't like it, and they spread hate on it faster than a typical day on the no mutants allowed forum, or B) They are gaming Scenesters, who are frosting their pants over the next popular war shooter then to bother with any other game with any kind of thinking involved other than see person, shoot person, dead person, reload, and repeat (with a bit of swearing, and mum jokes for good measure) . Fallout with all of it's RPG mechanics, over shooty shooty action, is perhaps a bit too much for their ADD riddled brains to comprehend.

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

I'm a man, and what a stupid question this is.

Maybe you are confused, but the reason why some people don't play Fallout is not because of their gender, but rather they A) Don't like it, and they spread hate on it faster than a typical day on the no mutants allowed forum, or B) They are gaming Scenesters, who are frosting their pants over the next popular war shooter then to bother with any other game with any kind of thinking involved other than see person, shoot person, dead person, reload, and repeat (with a bit of swearing, and mum jokes for good measure) . Fallout with all of it's RPG mechanics, over shooty shooty action, is perhaps a bit too much for their ADD riddled brains to comprehend.

It is kind of bad to throw the "S-word" around when you obviously didn't read the entire OP or any of the discussion on the last page of the thread, which would have put the (admitedly somewhat silly) question in the OP into context. Stones in glass houses and all that, you know?

 

[Jazoni89]

I'm a man, and what a stupid question this is.

Maybe you are confused, but the reason why some people don't play Fallout is not because of their gender, but rather they A) Don't like it, and they spread hate on it faster than a typical day on the no mutants allowed forum, or B) They are gaming Scenesters, who are frosting their pants over the next popular war shooter then to bother with any other game with any kind of thinking involved other than see person, shoot person, dead person, reload, and repeat (with a bit of swearing, and mum jokes for good measure) . Fallout with all of it's RPG mechanics, over shooty shooty action, is perhaps a bit too much for their ADD riddled brains to comprehend.

It is kind of bad to throw the "S-word" around when you obviously didn't read the entire OP or any of the discussion on the last page of the thread, which would have put the (admitedly somewhat silly) question in the OP into context. Stones in glass houses and all that, you know?

Yeah, bad move on my part, sorry.

I saw the post before it was edited yesterday, and i hopped into the topic today without knowing.