When will game developers realize there are female players too?

[DarkHuntress]

Maybe females don' make up a majority of players but they are out there. Every no sale of a game relects on the bottom line and I am a no sale on most current games.

Why don't they realize that most women don't want to play as male characters? I mean just switch it around, how many male players would enjoy games if most of the ones available had women as the main character?

Why is it a problem for them to develop games where gender option is allowed?

I, for one, don't purchase games that only allow a male character. I can't even role play a character like this. It's just not fun.

Usually these characters have a romantic interest. Of course the romantic interest is female.
C'mon, maybe some female players can go for this but not this player.

Maybe someone here can help me understand why gender option on MOST games, is not allowed.

 

[Jedamethis]

Becuase it's too much work, usually. Although there are tons of games with female main characters.

 

[Legion]

You mean like Gears of War 3 where there are two female main characters?
Halo Reach which also has one?
Tomb Raider.
Metroid.
Portal.
Mass Effect.
Dragon Age.
Fallout.
Tenchu.
Borderlands.
Mirrors Edge.
Perfect Dark.
Bayonetta.

Quite a few of these are Triple A titles.

I don't see why there has to be a female character for you to enjoy the game anyway. Portal is one of mine and a lot of peoples favourite games and a significant amount of them are males with no complaint.

Granted RPG's should always have a gender option because they are based upon role-play where people frequently like to play as themselves in a fantasy setting, but beyond that you are playing as a character not an avatar of yourself.

By that logic you shouldn't like books written in the first person with a male narrator either. Or television programmes or films where the protagonist is male as you cannot relate to them.

I personally have no issue whatsoever playing as a female character, and not because of the "If I have to stare at a pixellated ass..." argument either.

 

[Juk3n]

Men invented games. It's all we have, the only thing in our lives that the majority of women A) don't want to be a part of and B) won't take in the divorce settlement.

 

[The Austin]

You mean like Gears of War 3 where there are two female main characters?
Halo Reach which also has one?

Tomb Raider.
Metroid.
Portal.
Mass Effect.
Dragon Age.
Fallout.
Tenchu.
Borderlands.
Mirrors Edge.

Nice, very nice.

OP: Awwww, come on, it's true that there are more male characters out there, but you gals' aren't TOTALLY in the dark!

It's just some games are made to work with a male character, and some are made to work with female.

 

[Crystalite]

hm, I don´t understand this.
I am a female gamer, and I own lots of games with gender options.
Granted, I almost always play females when I can, but I don´t have a problem with a male protagonist, as long as I can identify with him. My identification is not limited to my gender.
I actually quite enjoy the male characters, since I often play to play someone I am not.
Always playing as myself would be rather dull, would it not?

And as for the romantic stuff, that is done very badly most of the time anyway, so I don´t care about it.

And, by the way, tomb raider has a female protagonist and sells very well with a male audience ;-)

 

[Phlakes]

5-10% more effort (especially if there's a lot of dialogue) for maybe 2% more sales. Not worth it.

 

[Siyano_v1legacy]

Well yes the target of games are guys, girl are not a big % to target. But I don't understand how can its change anything to playing a game if the hero is a male or female. There is a couple of game that has female character has heroine and some that let you choose. Mirror's Edge, Tomb Raider, Mass Effect 2, Bayonnetta. Depending of the type of game you like there are several sexless type game such has strategy (Starcraft!) and Puzzle.

 

[Necator15]

Because anything with voice acting would then require two voice actors, which could get expensive. Especially if you expanded that to have a love interest for each, then there are a total of four voice actors when they only need two, and then if the character is ever referred to in the third person... You can see where I'm going with this. It's expensive, and usually easier to just go with the majority.

Also, I don't care if I have to play as a female character. I'll pick a male when given the choice, but having a female character doesn't really break the immersion. This is probably because I consider the main character of the story more of a "friend" than "me". If that makes any sense.

 

[warrcry13]

Ridiculously close minded of you in my opinion I am a guy I look at the game as if I'm reading the book, and therefore I can role play any character. I don't have to have a character that is my own gender to like.

 

[sephiroth1991]

The think is most devs are males and their is a risk in making female characters cos some might consider them sexist if they make them in a perticular way.

OT:Well since a majority of gamers are males it's best to go with the majority.

 

[Flying-Emu]

Why don't they realize that most women don't want to play as male characters? I mean just switch it around, how many male players would enjoy games if most of the ones available had women as the main character?

Where are you getting these statistics? Most women I know don't care two shits if its a male or female avatar. Same with men.

If your argument was true, then Metroid would have terrible sales, rather than being one of Nintendo's top-selling franchises.

 

[Lawnmooer]

The reason most developers use male characters is because they want to make money and so target the majority which is males. Though it would be nice for more games to have choices it would also mean that there would be much more development needed for voice actors, making sure that the game doesn't use gender specific scenes and other things like that all costing more money which is not liked by people who are trying to make money...

 

[godofallu]

5-10% more effort (especially if there's a lot of dialogue) for maybe 2% more sales. Not worth it.

What he said. You need another lead voice actor, and have to redo EVERY cutscene. And why bother? So one in every 50 female gamers will buy the game?

Waste of time and as you know, time = money.

PS: I would be upset if I was you too. I don't play as female characters.

 

[Furious Styles]

Because its far too much effort for a relatively small part of the games market, the serious games market anyway.

In any case it doesn't matter, the gender of the character shouldn't matter, just enjoy the game.

 

[Dragonforce525]

That's funny, as I almost always choose to play as a female character when I can, I like to think that it makes things more interesting to have seemingly defenseless person annihilating everybody.