Why do people think games for boys & men

[verdant monkai]

That's because triple A games are openly targeted at straight males. If triple A games were about riding pink unicorns and , would you be surprised that 90% of the buyers would be males?

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I like the sound of the pink unicorn a lot. Also what was it "saving an handsome sexy prince" yes I want to do that! I want to save save an handsome sexy prince.

To be honest I have no idea what you are trying to say. But please let me know if you or anyone else makes a game like you suggested.

 

[Doom972]

Love the broken English!

Games (on consoles) are designed mainly for men as they are still the main console demographic. No idea whats happening on PC (indie games and shitty simulators still most likely).

However on mobile and IOS devices there are a lot more female users. Some have translated this into "There are now more girl gamers than guy gamers CHECK YOUR PRIVILEGE AND JOIN US IN 2014 YOU SEXIST WHITE BOYS!!!". I like that opinion as its a lot of fun, but the fact remains people who buy hardcore or triple A games are predominantly dudes, there are girls who play them too but 9/10 your speaking to a guy over xbox live.

That's because triple A games are openly targeted at straight males. If triple A games were about riding pink unicorns and saving an handsome sexy prince, would you be surprised that 90% of the buyers would be males?

That's why I specifically mentioned ballet and not dancing in general. I never said dancing in general is considered feminine. I picked it because it's a hobby/pass-time/profession that's considered to be female oriented, as gaming is male-oriented.


Again, that's what you read in forums and articles on gaming sites. I find that girls (either gamers or non-gamers) in real life to have a very different view on it, as I stated in my previous post. I already said that I personally know female gamers so I really don't know what you're trying to say by "You'd be surprised to see that women love playing videogames as much as men do", as something that I'm already familiar with couldn't possibly surprise me.

I'm a "girl in real life" and here's my view on it, as stated in my previous post.

I figured that out. So, would you say that in your area/culture gaming isn't considered a male oriented hobby?

If by "videogames" you mean "videogames aimed at a straight male audience" then yes, men aren't into ballet and women aren't into videogames.

By video games, I mean the digital games that are played by video game enthusiasts - gamers. There are games that are aimed at females, but the hobby as a whole is widely considered male-oriented for reasons I don't think either of us is qualified to discuss properly.

 

[verdant monkai]

Good, then you're like me, because I don't mind playing a gritty white male that shoots aliens and saves babes.

Too bad you and me are not most people, and trust me, just like most males would not play a videogame like I suggested, there's not many females who want to play the male power fantasy that 80% of the triple A titles are.

You understand the issue now.

Are you sure most guys wouldn't play that game? I think it could be entertaining. You could make a sort of reverse Legend of Zelda windwaker situation, you play as a girl who's love interest has been snatched by a horny evil sorceress. And she and er pink unicorn who provides dry wit and advice have to save said love interest. Then again I'll leave it to you its your idea.

Also I've never played a game like the one you just used as an example. I've shot plenty of aliens but not saved any babes by doing so.
The closest I can think of is Master Chief saving Cortanna in Halo, but to be fair Chief may be a black man or any other race or mixture for all we know as he never removes his helmet.
And in Gears of War Dom tries to save his wife but that doesn't go well...
I think fantasy is more of an offender if the saving of the princess offends you in some way.

 

[Doom972]

That's because triple A games are openly targeted at straight males. If triple A games were about riding pink unicorns and , would you be surprised that 90% of the buyers would be males?

.

I like the sound of the pink unicorn a lot. Also what was it "saving an handsome sexy prince" yes I want to do that! I want to save save an handsome sexy prince.

To be honest I have no idea what you are trying to say. But please let me know if you or anyone else makes a game like you suggested.

Good, then you're like me, because I don't mind playing a gritty white male that shoots aliens and saves babes.

Too bad you and me are not most people, and trust me, just like most males would not play a videogame like I suggested, there's not many females who want to play the male power fantasy that 80% of the triple A titles are.

You understand the issue now.

I figured that out. So, would you say that in your area/culture gaming isn't considered a male oriented hobby?

When I was a little girl, the thought that videogames were a male hobby never crossed my mind. And my male friends felt the same, too: no one ever commented that videogames are for boys and a girl playing a videogame was normal. But in high school, I remember some male friends of mine joking about how "it's crazy that a girl is better than me at a videogame". So it's interesting to see that these cultural prejudices aren't something we are born with but something our own culture and surrounding teaches us over time.

Now I teach to kids, and I have never seen any of them thinking that videogames are a male hobby. Sure, little girls tend to prefer playing Tomodachi Life and little boys tend to prefer playing Call Of Duty, obviously. But they both love videogames.
As they grow up, perhaps those girls will realize that most videogames are of the Call Of Duty kind, and stop playing or move to simple mobile games. As they grow up, perhaps those boys will start to notice about how videogames make you be a male hero and present women as prizes, and they'll think videogames are a male hobby.

And now I see that the whole point of this conversation was so that you can say how games are sexist because most of them aren't tailored to your taste. Well done.

 

[Rozalia1]

Same reason some think anything with colour is "girly". Old outdated thinking.

 

[JediMB]

Good, then you're like me, because I don't mind playing a gritty white male that shoots aliens and saves babes.

Too bad you and me are not most people, and trust me, just like most males would not play a videogame like I suggested, there's not many females who want to play the male power fantasy that 80% of the triple A titles are.

Personally, I think having to be a man all the time in real life is more than enough, so I try to keep that out of my escapist fiction whenever possible. So, yeah, I'd love to play as more female characters (that aren't designed/directed for the male gaze, 'cuz that's pretty creepy).

...

Yeah.

 

[Zen Bard]

Because, historically, the core audience for computer and console games as been young men. This comes from the bygone days of video game arcades. You rarely saw any girls there who weren't bored girlfriends or sisters of feather haired dudes pumping quarters in to a "Street Fighter II" or "Zaxxon" machine.

So when PC and console games finally made it to the household, the core audience remained male.

Now, of course, things have changed. And the audience is wonderfully widespread and diverse.

But for some reason (as I continually rant on these threads), the gaming industry still thinks it's the 80's.

 

[hermes]

The simplest explanation is that around 1997-2002 there began a shift in the way games were marketed from general audiences (mainly children) to teenagers. This has resulted in the whole "boys toys" thing and has only gotten worse over time as more and more franchises are being created with only one target market in mind. A market that has in fact been getting smaller over time.

...

I know I'm over simplifying things here, but that should give you a small idea of how some people feel.

Pretty much this.

I only want to add a little something. As that audience grew, they became the next generation of the gaming industry (developers, designers, artists, PR, etc...), which consolidated and perpetuated the cycle of men making the games they liked to play as boys...

 

[NoX 9]

Most of what I would say to explain it has already been said by other posters -and in a far more intelligent way than I ever could-, but I would like to add that I never felt unwelcome in gaming as a young girl and now a grown woman. I've had my share of uncomfortable experiences in multiplayer games for sure, but so have my male friends -the primary difference being that they were assholes and I was going to get gangraped, but hey...- and even random people on the internet haven't made me feel like I don't have any business enjoying my chosen hobby.

Not that I didn't notice it being very male-dominated, at least when I was younger. I still only have two female friends, and a bunch of guys. Growing up the girls in my class were easily the most horrible, and if that small group of videogaming StarWars nerds I call my friends hadn't been there I don't know where I'd be today.

 

[TheGamerElite33]

Because gaming is man's hobby. plain and simple. that doesnot mean girls cant play games. they do. everyone do.
certain type of games are for girls too. majority of them are into JRPGs like tales of games.

 

[white_wolf]

Go back and look at the ads for gaming machines back in the 70's the industry early on wanted it to be about boys since mainly men and 1 woman kicked the whole thing off. With ads like this it wasn't exactly inviting for girls and women to want to join despite the fact they did by ignoring such ads and just looking at the games them http://nyssaharkness.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/image-11.jpg

It was a perception invented, cultured, framed, and nurtured over multiple years sometimes purposefully othertimes it was just going with the flow but it never was just a mans hobby to was always men, women, and children's hobby.

Game companies now also employ just ignoring women.

 

[Scarim Coral]

What's not to get? Back then only boys played it when it was first created. I talking about Pong and arcade era which kind of set in mind in future generation until a few years ago when gaming became far more mainstream for anybody to picked up and played.
It also doesn't help that back then all of the games were males character and females were damsel in distress.

 

[Doom972]

snip

And now I see that the whole point of this conversation was so that you can say how games are sexist because most of them aren't tailored to your taste. Well done.

I was of the idea to dismiss your comment, but I have to ask: how do you possibly reach that conclusion by reading my comment? I'm afraid to ask, but curiosity got the better of me.

Mostly because of this:

As they grow up, perhaps those boys will start to notice about how videogames make you be a male hero and present women as prizes

At this point, it just seems like you are making a very exaggerated generalization to make a point.

 

[Rozalia1]

Because gaming is man's hobby. plain and simple. that doesnot mean girls cant play games. they do. everyone do.
certain type of games are for girls too. majority of them are into JRPGs like tales of games.

For someone who doesn't really care for RPGs you sure are fixated on JRPGs. A JRPG kill your parents or something? Your constant shifting things to JRPGs is really telling of a couple of possible characteristics you have.
Anyway your claim is incorrect as usual, but I'll give you the opportunity regardless because I'm fair like that (and I know you're wrong). Post those demographics on gender makeup in the JRPG playerbase, or failing that the breakdown of what the female gender plays.

You know what, your colour analogy is the best analogy to explain the issue. Mind if I'll use it too in the future?

You can use it of course.

 

[Mangue Surfer]

Because Mega man go hunt while Roll stay to clean the lab.

 

[Doom972]

Mostly because of this:

As they grow up, perhaps those boys will start to notice about how videogames make you be a male hero and present women as prizes

At this point, it just seems like you are making a very exaggerated generalization to make a point.

You're right, but you didn't see that I made an *intentional* exaggerated generalization because it'd have been a whole lot longer to type "perhaps those boys will start to notice about how videogames make you be the male hero 90% of the times, and present plenty of sexualized women but hardly ever sexualized men, and female characters are often the eyecandy of the male hero or the girlfriend/wife/daughter that the hero must protect/rescue, and often they wear sexually provocative clothing or will keep sexually provocative attitudes aimed to the player".

Things are changing - Destiny has a character creation and it doesn't matter if you play as a man or a woman. And Destiny is a multiplayer FPS: the last type of game from which I'd have expected this awesomeness.

That's an innovation... That has existed since the 90s. Games like Baldur's Gate and Fallout (and probably some older ones I never played) have allowed you to play a non-sexualized female. It's not even limited to RPGs. Ever heard of Alone in the Dark (original - not remake)? Also, I don't see what the problem is with sexualized females. Having muscular guys and sexy women seems fitting for epic heroes, but that's going off topic.