Why aren't girls into gaming?

[Syndarr]

While male gamers behaving badly is a large part of what keeps females away from games, the gaming industry itself is pretty strongly to blame, too. As Raven28256 said, the existence of nauseating dreck like "Barbie Horse Adventure" or whatever, marketed very specifically towards girls, is a joke. They don't market games like "Gears of War" specifically towards boys, so why do they feel girls need special treatment?

Here's a news flash, game developers: Girls are people and gamers just like boys are. We don't want to be pandered to or patronized. We don't like girly games, we like GOOD games. Wanna know how to target the female demographic? Make the game good, and girls will buy it. It's that simple.

Plus, I don't think it's necessary to make a game protagonist female in order to get girls to play the game. Again: make the character GOOD. And I don't mean morally good (case in point, three of my favorite video game protagonists are Kratos from "God of War", Kiryuu Kazuma from "Yakuza", and Raziel from "Legacy of Kain"), I mean well-developed and interesting and all that jazz.

Also, this is more of a personal gripe, but I'd be perfectly fine with female characters in video games being half-naked sex objects if we saw some male characters in the same roles (and no, "male half-naked sex object" does not automatically equal "gay"). Fan-service works both ways, people, come on!

Funnily enough, I say this as a girl who works in the gaming industry, specifically for the company who is now in charge of the "Tomb Raider" franchise. XD

 

[Kragey]

While male gamers behaving badly is a large part of what keeps females away from games, the gaming industry itself is pretty strongly to blame, too. As Raven28256 said, the existence of nauseating dreck like "Barbie Horse Adventure" or whatever, marketed very specifically towards girls, is a joke. They don't market games like "Gears of War" specifically towards boys, so why do they feel girls need special treatment?

Here's a news flash, game developers: Girls are people and gamers just like boys are. We don't want to be pandered to or patronized. We don't like girly games, we like GOOD games. Wanna know how to target the female demographic? Make the game good, and girls will buy it. It's that simple.

Plus, I don't think it's necessary to make a game protagonist female in order to get girls to play the game. Again: make the character GOOD. And I don't mean morally good (case in point, three of my favorite video game protagonists are Kratos from "God of War", Kiryuu Kazuma from "Yakuza", and Raziel from "Legacy of Kain"), I mean well-developed and interesting and all that jazz.

Also, this is more of a personal gripe, but I'd be perfectly fine with female characters in video games being half-naked sex objects if we saw some male characters in the same roles (and no, "male half-naked sex object" does not automatically equal "gay"). Fan-service works both ways, people, come on!

Funnily enough, I say this as a girl who works in the gaming industry, specifically for the company who is now in charge of the "Tomb Raider" franchise. XD

This post brings up some very good points. There's a gamer's guild on my campus, but my female friends and I were terrified away from it because the men all treated us like some horrible alien species who only played JRPGs and didn't REALLY understand what we were doing when we played D&D. It was just so awful. In the end, we decided to let them drink their 50 liters of Pepsi while cracking stupid jokes about T-bagging people online while we went off and played games with our own friends some more.

And while I like other women, I know that the "fanservice equality" always makes me smile.

 

[Joeshie]

Oh god. A thread about girl gamers and I forgot to post my girl gamer comic. My bad.

[http://img155.imageshack.us/my.php?image=girlgamers2lz1.png]

 

[Krakamaka]

BECAUSE GIRLS DO WE ACTUALLY PLAY AS MEN IN SECRET LIKE ME

 

[Spooky_101]

my gf plays gta IV
I was surprised lol
but I guess that it's not seen as a girl-ish thing to do in our society

 

[Krakamaka]

my gf plays gta IV
I was surprised lol
but I guess that it's not seen as a girl-ish thing to do in our society

I play a bunch of games that no one would expect girls to play--- I'm not trying to say I am sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo cool really

 

[samsprinkle]

Because adrenaline junkies are being catured to a LOT. And adrenaline, it's a testosturone(spelling nazi's stay away!) thing I think. Most girls just don't like to blow things heads off.

 

[samsprinkle]

Girls are gamers, but from what I have seen, not online gamers. One of my friends told me the second she gets on a vent server, or xbox live, all she gets are sexist comments, or some douchebag talking about his huge custard chucking man banana, and how she wants it.

yea, ppl can be real dicks. especially ppl who are conpensating for something... XD

 

[Kiarrens]

When games aren't oozing testosterone from every orifice, they treat women as sexual objects. I mean, sex appeal and having some really sexy female characters is okay here and there...But in gaming, this is almost ALL developers do. Soul Calibur, DOA, and countless other games include female characters with GG breasts barely contained within the bare minimal leather dominatrix suits they are running around in. Really, I don't think too many girls are interested in having to stare at the g-string burrowing into the ass of some sex-deprived concept artist's sexual fantasy for hours at a time.

This. THIS THIS THIS.
Seriously. Give me a strong female character who's wearing something PRACTICAL and I'd be one happy gamer. Look at it this way, guys. Would you want to play a video game if you had to watch your MALE main character running around in a string bikini and a thong?

 

[Quaidis]

... Odd; I must be terribly old and missed out on the last generation of gamers, but I have never had a problem with women playing games nor seen a large difference in the ratio. Though I have not visited Xbox Live as well, so that may be where the problem that stirred this thread originated (either that or Morgan Webb and her response to game-playing on X-Play long in the past). I've played with as many women as I have men on all sorts of games, and this is especially true on MMORPGs and Muds (and pencil and paper adventures). As a Wii owner, I have seen no lean in a sex ratio with that particular system, and I also haven't seen a problem with men over women or vice versa on the PS2. I know women and men that play the Xbox360, and I know men and women that are interested in PS3 games (though I only have one friend who owns one).

In the past, when Nintendo dominated the market with the NES, SNES, and Gameboy, there was no trifle over gender. Further back, when text adventures and arcades were 'in', there was also no real difference. Is sexism in video games a recent phenomenon?

Pardon, let me edit and rephrase that last question: Is sexism towards players of video games a recent phenomenon? There have always been women in bikinis on games, but I've not known anyone who had a real issue with it. If the game was about having woman-on-woman sex or a woman's strip-beach party, my female friends simply showed no interest in it. Men-on-Men Japanese action is another story, though.

 

[Trivun]

We need to see more female gamers.. I won't date anything else. =P

I couldn't either.

can i just say u guys are small minded idiots and need 2 get a life, there r plenty of great girls and guys who r'nt into gaming (i shud know, my gf isn't a gamer and i'm about as big a gamer as u can imagine...). back 2 the topic, there r plenty of girl gamers, they just dont make themselves known, mainly for the stupid sexist reasons in earlier posts (like guys making comments about sex, mainly...), but ive played plenty of games online (in particular halo and dawn of war) where there hav been plety of girls who when asked make no secret of their gender.

 

[MercurySteam]

Dont ask me how i found it: http://www.girlsentertainmentnetwork.com/category/video-games/

I think there may be something wrong with the page. i dont wanna sound sexist, but cant girls create a working webpage?


I was playing Gears of War 2 and my sister asked me if there was any playable female characters.
I said "Everyone in Gears of War 1 + 2 are steroid pumped men"
She asked "Are their any steroid pumped women?"
HAHAHAHA

We both want Fable 2 so we're both gonna pay for half each, be she and I both know she's gonna play for 2 hours and then forget about it.......

 

[Shellsh0cker]

When games aren't oozing testosterone from every orifice, they treat women as sexual objects. I mean, sex appeal and having some really sexy female characters is okay here and there...But in gaming, this is almost ALL developers do. Soul Calibur, DOA, and countless other games include female characters with GG breasts barely contained within the bare minimal leather dominatrix suits they are running around in. Really, I don't think too many girls are interested in having to stare at the g-string burrowing into the ass of some sex-deprived concept artist's sexual fantasy for hours at a time.

This. THIS THIS THIS.
Seriously. Give me a strong female character who's wearing something PRACTICAL and I'd be one happy gamer. Look at it this way, guys. Would you want to play a video game if you had to watch your MALE main character running around in a string bikini and a thong?

Lara Croft, while admittedly having some of the largest breasts known to gaming, does dress fairly sensibly otherwise. And you can't tell me that Samus doesn't do the same. More game devs are starting to catch on to this "women as something other than sex objects" thing, too; just look at Mirror's Edge.

We need to see more female gamers.. I won't date anything else. =P

I couldn't either.

can i just say u guys are small minded idiots and need 2 get a life, there r plenty of great girls and guys who r'nt into gaming (i shud know, my gf isn't a gamer and i'm about as big a gamer as u can imagine...). back 2 the topic, there r plenty of girl gamers, they just dont make themselves known, mainly for the stupid sexist reasons in earlier posts (like guys making comments about sex, mainly...), but ive played plenty of games online (in particular halo and dawn of war) where there hav been plety of girls who when asked make no secret of their gender.

First, please don't insult people. Second, proper English is appreciated around here. That is all.

 

[I3uster]

I just state my expierence:
I, and i think most of you, can play a game for like 6 hours in a row
Girls just cant, they cant jsut focus on one thing

 

[insectoid]

I just state my expierence:
I, and i think most of you, can play a game for like 6 hours in a row
Girls just cant, they cant jsut focus on one thing

I've played a game for 6 hours before.

 

[Sennz0r]

You do realise one of the best Guitar Hero players around is a strikingly beautiful woman.

Sorry just had to say that.

 

[I3uster]

I just state my expierence:
I, and i think most of you, can play a game for like 6 hours in a row
Girls just cant, they cant jsut focus on one thing

I've played a game for 6 hours before.

Well congratualtions, i said its just my expierence

 

[masterkang5]

It's been my experience that the female gender is much too mediocre (IN GENREAL DONT START ON ME) to try something that isnt the latest fashion or craze which i am nuetral on that because it doesnt effect me there will always be noobs when i'm pro.

I think that sexism against female gamers is a minority happening because i was born in the internet age and i havent heard it once, If you have a high voice like a boy or a female then you will get picked on but yeah really dont listen to them and just avoid chat coz it is annoying.

But i do have some unique respect for female gamers that arent SP noobs because they have ignored the entire sterotype of their gender and done something different, Respect y0.

 

[santaandy]

I think it's stupid and small minded (but perhaps not sexist) that people keep going on and on about how awesome Mirror's Edge is just because there's a woman in it. Mirror's Edge is not the female gaming messiah, come to correct all the wrongs wrought against female gamers and vindicate them against all the terrible, evil mens-type people.

It's like Mirror's Edge is the first game with a female character, or it's somekind of justice for women. There have been plenty of good female characters and female-friendly games recently. Why do we need such a big "I love Mirror's Edge" circle-jerk in our gaming society?