Poll: Why do female gamers like the Zelda series so much? *now with more political correctness!*
- Thread starter RaDeuX
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I'm a female gamer, and of all the things I ever played on Nintendo systems, Zelda was never one of them.
Although I like RPGs and the traditional Disney-esque "Here is a princess, please save her" story set up, for some reason, Zelda just never appealed to me when I was little and devoted either to Super Mario or 18 cert beat-em-ups, and the whole franchise has just passed me by.
Now I'm older, and Zelda still appears to be more or less the same game I ignored when I was a kid, I'm even less inclined to try it.
Although I like RPGs and the traditional Disney-esque "Here is a princess, please save her" story set up, for some reason, Zelda just never appealed to me when I was little and devoted either to Super Mario or 18 cert beat-em-ups, and the whole franchise has just passed me by.
Now I'm older, and Zelda still appears to be more or less the same game I ignored when I was a kid, I'm even less inclined to try it.
maybe because girls are looking for a hero on a steed (like Prince Charming or something like that)
Cause women are people and many people like Zelda.
Generalizations on personal experience is not valid material for statistical analysis. The singular of data is not 'anecdote.'
Generalizations on personal experience is not valid material for statistical analysis. The singular of data is not 'anecdote.'
Captain Obvious here. Could it be that the Zelda franchise is actually a good series and gender has nothing to do with it? Most people (us lowly men too) seem to enjoy it.
Ew, are you kidding? I'd love a game where Link runs Zelda through for being such a moron and causing so many damn problems all the time.RaDeuX said:
Personally, I like it for the graphic style, open worlds (excluding Twilight Princess, of course. I felt like I was back in SNES era in Castle Town), music and creative species. It's interesting and has potential to be expanded upon in many ways (although of course, regrettably, they rarely do).
But what maintains this love even with long dry spells punctuated by rubbish like Twilight Princess and Spirit Tracks? Honestly, this story [http://www.fanfiction.net/u/6351/Rose_Zemlya] that the games now merely reinforce the world she wrote.
And, also, a guy with no words is a guy who has to work hard to be annoying. That's just good game design.
Well, the Zelda series are action/adventure/puzzle games, which is a popular genre that many people can find fun, however unlike most other games of its genre, Zelda doesn't have a protagonist who is A) an embodiment of male meathead douchebaggery (eg. Uncharted), or B) a sexualised male fantasy of women (eg. Tomb Raider).
Link is pretty harmless and unexaggerated for a male character, so the game is unlikely to make its audience feel uncomfortable or insulted in any way.
Just my opinion.
Link is pretty harmless and unexaggerated for a male character, so the game is unlikely to make its audience feel uncomfortable or insulted in any way.
Just my opinion.
Firstly, being a female gamer is not a subculture of the gaming culture. That is just a sexist split in the already gaming culture, if you are treating the gaming culture like you would looking antropologically at any culture, just pick any other subculture, it's all the same. Like the gothic subculture. Female goths are not a subculture of a subculture. Female gamers are not a culture in and of themselves that are seperate from male gamers. Sure, female gamers might be more apt to spend time with other female gamers, but the same can be said for male gamers.RaDeuX said:
Getting back to the topic at hand: I am a female gamer and I personally love the Zelda franchise. I have been playing it since I got my first NES back when I was a wee lass, and I still play the games to this day. Are there parts of the franchise that I don't like? Yes, but what I love is still what I love. It is a fun game, that while the base story is nice and simple (Hero saves Princess) there is not only combat in the game, but there are also puzzles. Sure, you can get into it and say that Zelda is an empowering role model for young girls, which she might be, but thats not why I played the game. Why did I play? Because it is ENJOYABLE. That's the same reason why anyone plays any game.
It amuses me that you bring up your female friend who has a tattoo from Zelda. Not only do I have three zelda tattoos personally, I have several male friends who also have Zelda tattoos, but I also know people with other video game tattoos, one from Halo, one from Mario.
Most everything that I have read so far, granted I skimmed some of the thread, was just generalizations that could be made anywhere. Why do guy gamers love Call of Duty? Why do female gamers love Final Fantasy? Are there people of both genders who love every game out there? Yes, but if you only know a small percentage of the gaming community, of COURSE your female friends are going to love Zelda more then they would a random game like Battletoads because Zelda is iconic. Sure, you might love Zelda, you might hate Zelda but you know it because it is a game that has passed the test of time.
I think when you started, if you were a child that is, has more to do with your parents than your gender. My mother had an Atari so that was my first system. Then an original nintendo and so on.Douk said:
I don't mind Zelda; my husband likes it a lot more than me. I liked both N64 versions, but not really 1 or 2. Frankly though, if I had to choose between replaying OoT or say, Lost Kingdoms, that's not really a hard choice. If you haven't played Lost kingdoms, try it out. Great, great game.
Well those two are sorta together. Your parents expose you to certain things when you're young, depending on your gender and what they think you should be interested in. So its likely that girls aren't interested in games as much as boys because as kids, they're playing with dolls and whatever kids do. Not sayings that's all girls but its what usually happens.Xisin said:
Does anybody else find the overuse of the word "subjective" as a verbal shield to be quite irritating?
I'm not really in a position to answer your question being male and uninterested in LoZ games but I have never noticed any impact on gender and games played, from FPS skill to ability to trashtalk over voice chat..it's all down to the individual apart from when the phrase "beaten by a girl" is thrown around annoyingly.
I would however like to point out that even commonly female dominated things like your own example of twilight do not represent even a fraction of the total female population(to the point where it almost seems like they don't exist because you do not find them anywhere.), the distinction between having a fanbase of 'mostly' women and having a fanbase of most women is quite important to remember.
I'm not really in a position to answer your question being male and uninterested in LoZ games but I have never noticed any impact on gender and games played, from FPS skill to ability to trashtalk over voice chat..it's all down to the individual apart from when the phrase "beaten by a girl" is thrown around annoyingly.
I would however like to point out that even commonly female dominated things like your own example of twilight do not represent even a fraction of the total female population(to the point where it almost seems like they don't exist because you do not find them anywhere.), the distinction between having a fanbase of 'mostly' women and having a fanbase of most women is quite important to remember.
While it's true that there is a certain amount of subjectivity when it comes to debating specific subcultures/genres, the problem is that you're not understanding what basically defines a subculture or a genre.RaDeuX said:
Female gamers aren't a subculture of gaming any more than female musicians are a genre of music.
You're thinking of the word "demographic", not "subculture".RaDeuX said:
The problem here is that you don't understand what "subculture" means. You've been using it this entire time as though it were synonymous with both the word "minority" and the word "demographic".
Subculture, minority, and demographic are all separate words with separate meanings, and though there may occasionally be overlap in the groups they are referring to, they are not interchangeable words.
sub·cul·ture
the cultural values and behavioral patterns distinctive of a particular group in a society.
dem·o·graph·ic
a single vital or social statistic of a human population[footnote]Biological sex falls into this one[/footnote]
mi·nor·i·ty
a group differing, especially in race, religion, or ethnic background, from the majority of a population[footnote]And this one[/footnote]
While certain subcultures may be subjective, the definitions of these words are not. If you had a grasp of the meanings of these three words, you would know that female gamers are a minority of gaming culture, and in certain situations[footnote]such as marketing[/footnote] they are a demographic, but they are not a subculture because they are not united by any one ideology, behaviour, or style. They just happen to all have the same naughty bits.
I played the very first Zelda a long, long time ago. A guy I was dating played Ocarina of Time or whatever it was called. I just simply don't care for them.
I would guess that if more girls like the Zelda games, it's probably in part because they expect not to see insulting stereotypes of women or exaggerated examples of masculinity (the steroidal dudes) as you see in some games.
I would guess that if more girls like the Zelda games, it's probably in part because they expect not to see insulting stereotypes of women or exaggerated examples of masculinity (the steroidal dudes) as you see in some games.
The subjectivity is there, and there are people here that agree with that. Have you ever tried to label certain electronica songs with their respective genres? It's sometimes damn near impossible. The same applies to subcultures, as they can be subjective as well.Cavan said:
I never said a lot of females like Twilight. The argument was to prove that certain entertainment mediums were designed towards certain genders.
There are communities in my area where groups of people like "coder girls" or "gamer girls" meet up and participate in certain activities with each other. That alone creates their own subculture. I'm pretty sure there are other tech-savvy places out there (e.g. RTP area) that have these types of meetups as well. There are girls that even label themselves as "gamer girls", as if they are different from us male gamers. What distinction is there between a male gamer and female gamer? I have my assumptions, but I will stop here with generalizations before I anger more people.MasochisticMuse said: