Ben-DutkaAs usual, I have to first provide the disclaimer that will hopefully keep the hardcore gamer girls from slamming my inbox with reproachful e-mails: in no way am I saying females can't like games, in no way am I saying they're less feminine if they do like games, and in no way do I view girls who play games any differently. There, that should cover me…I think.
Anyway, the point is this: for a while there, it was my belief that as the industry continued to move forward and snag more and more female followers, that eventually, video games would be no more "male-oriented" than movies, music, or books. But I've come to realize that perhaps the core entertainment factor of games may be tied to the male psyche and if we alter the formula too much, that entertainment falters and dies. Now, I'm not saying that women have to like the same things but my question is, "would women find games specifically geared toward their gender fun?" I asked myself this question after seeing that Cover Girl game for the PSP. I just get the feeling that most girls would rather be doing something else; I mean, it's just a virtual fashion magazine, right? But…is that technically a "video game?"
There's no doubt that females are becoming more involved in the hobby but I've also noticed it's not due to games girls would like, but games girls would also like in addition to the guys. Know what I mean? For example, it's easy to name certain titles that lots of women play that also appeal to a lot of men, but can you name many games that appeal specifically to women? The key to the video game lure is interaction and – just to abuse the stereotype for a moment – it's not hard to find programming on Spike TV that could easily become a video game, but it's not so easy to find shows on Lifetime that would make for good "virtual interaction." This isn't to say entertainment geared toward one gender or the other is more or less intelligent (another disclaimer here), but it means this: I find it unlikely that women who read chick lit, watch the romance movies, and enjoy other activities like shopping would get a kick out of doing any of that virtually. Why not just…do it?
Perhaps it comes down to the fact that games that appeal to men have the player doing things we could never do in real life. Maybe that's the fantasy lure of the hobby. And therefore, if most women aren't interested in such things, and combined with the underlying interaction mechanic, how can gaming ever really target each gender equally? I actually think it's impossible. And if you're a girl scoffing at this, saying something like, "you're full of sh**; I like girly-girl things but I also love games like Uncharted and Gears," please just answer this question honestly: are you in the minority or majority? Hey, we gaming guys love ya, but we should at least be realistic if we are to address this subject accurately.
I think "Gaming May Never Appeal To Women" isn't exactly correct as a title here. It's true that girl-oriented games (i.e. games males wouldn't want to play) have always been and probably always will be terrible. The gaming analogue of chick flicks and romance novels just isn't all that great game design material.
But with "Gaming May Never Appeal To Women," you're saying gaming, as a medium, will never be accessible to females on a large scale. But that's not really true. Female gamers will always be in the minority, but the size of that minority can be large enough that you can't make the blanket statement that "games will never be for women." There are a wealth of games (I would say most games) which are equally accessible to both genders.
First-Person Shooters, and to some extent Third-Person Shooters, are the poster child of gaming, it seems, and those are male-oriented genres. "Girl gamer" has a stereotyped image of a girl playing an FPS online. There are other genres of gaming, though, like RPGs, adventure games, and platformers, which are less male-oriented as a whole and much more likely to appeal to both genders.
So you're probably right that the future will never see a 50/50 ratio for gamers, but I can see 30/70 happening, maybe even 40/60, and if that happens, female gamers will be in the minority, but not rare enough that you can say that "gaming does not appeal to women."
Are you kidding me? I'm sorry but the title of this piece isn't to be taken as a research driven, number specific, exact allocation type of display. It's a general blanket term, which you have identified. "May" is the key word in the author's assumption based on his experiences, and those that have been seen around, by other members of the gaming community. Now, we know there are some "out of the norm" females out there that love gaming but do you really think that if you put that group next to male gamers that we'd see a substantial amount? I apologize if this is coming off as attacking. I just don't see how women will ever be a large enough group that a good majority of males will say "Yeah, I knew a few gamer girls in my town."
I could probably re-write this with a different tone but I've got to take a dump and don't feel like waiting it out. Ha ha. Just adding to the conversation.
What fluffer nutter said.
And if the majority will always be men, how can we say that gaming appeals to women? That wouldn't be a correct statement, now would it?
My point is that as time goes on, more and more females are playing games. It's becoming less of a "boys only" stigma, and eventually I expect it to lose the stigma entirely. Certain individual games will still have male bias, but the medium as a whole will mostly get over it.
Just because there are games like Gears of War with overly masculine protagonists so that guys can fantasize about being enormous space marines doesn't mean those are the ONLY kinds of games that exist.
Do you see books as a medium to be a girly kind of thing? There are a LOT more novels that men would never touch than novels that women would never want to read. More women read books than men. Publishing companies recognize this and they use it when they market their books. But I don't know anyone who thinks the whole medium of the written word is a woman thing.
Video games can be the same way. My arbitrary 30-40% isn't a negligible minority. We're talking about a large group. You might be able to say that "video games may never be successfully designed for and marketed specifically to women," admittedly less catchy, but you can't say that "video games may never appeal to women." Games can and will be designed for and marketed to everyone regardless of gender.
The male majority will primarily come from the fact that there are certain games marketed specifically to men, not from the fact that the whole medium is a boys' club.
Sedrata, how can one compare the audience of books to those that enjoy video games? Books can be bought, rather inexpensively, and the cost to produce and market a book is nowhere near what it would cost to get a game from conception to retail. It costs millions of dollars in development, production, marketing and advertising for a video game and I doubt that's the same with books. Yes, I know that marketing and advertising are virtually the same as they go hand-in-hand but for the sake of the few here that may want to dispute that, I listed them separately.
Someone hasn't bought a book recently. ;D
Inexpensive books are a thing of the past.
Sedrata, you're being entirely obtuse. Maybe you should actually read the article; nowhere in it do I dispute anything you said. You're making an argument where there is no argument to be made.
I have a female friend who play Dragon Ball Tenkaichi 3 and she kicked my ass real bad even though I kick most of my friend's ass………
first of all, its dragon ball. Not really a hardcore game. Kindda like how naruto is. you know there are female fans of these series. those games are the type that you just pick up and play, a lot of button mashing. Second, when i play against women in video games, i usually dont play as serious as i do when i play against guys. i know, its not right. but i try not to let it happen. i think its because guys like to compete with each other which can result in yelling and insults. If you try that with the opposite sex….lets just say guys should always spring for a really really comfortable couch. hahaha
LOL. My couch ROCKS so I always have a great time when gaming. It's a choice but currently I've been playing upstairs as that's damn comfy too. The wife isn't into video games but she was watching last night.
Btw, I like the seductive pic. I call it, "mating season".
Funny though how some devs have women producers and yet they're not hired to make girl games. Well… ok PoP was a girl game…
Littlebigplanet appeals to both sexes but sometimes it gets quite annoying when playing online plz don't die early!! lol
How about Mystery Prom Date or Talk on the Cel Phone game. The Sims & PS Home are popular with girls because they can shop, try on outfits & chat without needing a lot of button mashing coordination skills.
The small group of gamer girls I know enjoy Rumble Roses, Devil May Cry, Street Fighter, Oneechanbera, Final Fantasy and other titles.
One of them is looking forward to Bayonetta and Sigma 2. They also seem to hate overly simple "cutesy games" (their words, not mine).
Women are a rare and weird specie ok. Good looking girls ask their not so pretty friends to start a conversation with me so they can check me out. Video games can't appeal to them because they want to have a social life.
I don't think so…
My fav games are anything I can kill! I need to relive stress so I want to hop on to a game where I can kill someone it's great. BTW Love brutal legend music is rock'n !
Brooootal! LOL
Ben, great article, i really agree with you on this. I mean if you think about it, well for those who know women, not claiming to know, women aren't generally geared towards the gaming industry. Granted, I know some women who do enjoy playing games, could I say they're hardcore gamers? No. Now I know there are exceptions, but the tendency shows, there aren't many hardcore women gamers. That's not saying that it's because they don't like them, but like you mentioned, that fantasy aspect does play a key part with this. Like you mentioned, maybe it's the fact that it was really never targeted towards women, or maybe it's just the way it appeals to the gender, the fact is women have never really been AS involved in this industry as men. No I'm not saying this will never happen, as you said yourself, maybe as time goes on and gaming appeals more to the masses, maybe then we'll see this industry open up more to girls and women alike. Like your article about Uncharted 2 appealing to more women then expected, i believe in time gaming will appeal more widespread then now, but as of now, it's no where near that.
Look, i'm no hardcore gamer. For me it's a hobby, I'm usually studying, playing for my soccer team, or with my friends or girlfriend. I'll occasionally pick up the controller and play maybe an hour or so, so maybe i'm not the right person to express my opinion on this. But i know for a fact, even though my girlfriend has played some games with me, she is not interested in the least bit in it. The most she'll play is a guitar hero or singing game haha. Now to say she doesn't appreciate games isn't true, she appreciates the complexity, the artistry, and the effort it takes to create them. Honestly, the majority of girls i know really don't show an interest in this. They rather be out with their girlfriends, go out and shop, or just be around their boyfriend. I know there are those hardcore gamer women out there, but right now they are the minority, and i honestly think it will take time for women to be as involved. Will it ever happen? I don't know. But in MY OPINION (capitalized because it is an opinion and i know some people won't take it as that and try to sway my point), I don't think it will ever get there. No hard feelings to those hardcore women gamers, i just don't really see it happening.
Wow. As a girly-girl who also happens to be a gamer (and screw things like the Sims or anything typically associated with chicks. Yawn. I'm much more into RPGs and first person shooters) I take literally no offense to the article itself, because, yeah, I admit I may be a minority in that.
But some of these comments are ridiculous. Women want to talk on the phone all day, shop, and meet the right man? Seriously? Do you actually know any women? Because while I know a few women like that, most of my friends are much more concerned with things like their careers to bother themselves with all day shop fests or talking on the phone. But maybe I just know a way higher caliber of woman than you do.
You admit to being in the minority, which makes the entire point of my article.
And once again, I suppose I should probably clarify: there are certain things that appeal more to most women than to most men, and vice versa. And furthermore, saying they think about their careers isn't a valid analogy because I was referring exclusively to leisure activities.
i just played a few games of uncharted coop with a girl that said uncharted 2 was now her official second game. socom was her first for her ps3. we partied up and played some more and she was doin better than i was at times.
she was tellin me how she was addicted to uncharted 2 now which is awesome 😉
Sounds like a future Mrs.Imagi!
she said though that she has been skipping the cutscenes cuz she just wants to play. i was very suprised at that. she was a good way into the single player but was playin multi more i guess. still skip the cut scenes?!?! she just likes the game play.
Speaking in favor of stereotypes is always dangerous ground. A lot of injustices have been commited in the name of generalizations and differences. Anyways I think I don't like the comments you've made Ben, you come off very elitist and not much open to discussion. you state that no one has refuted your points, but have you answered to ones made in the coments? If stereotypes are grounded in fact, then the majority of black people are thieves, hiphopsters or gangsters?. the majority of Jewish people are greedy or have annoying mothers? the mayority of latin people are lazy or thieves or great lovers? Cause that's what I get from the majority of girls don't like videogames, you might as well be saying the majority of girls want to find a good husband and have lots and lots of children. I may accept any point made by your studies in behavior, which you threw in the face of another poster, but a point made because of a stereotype?
P.S. Sorry If I mispelled a lot, English is not my first language…
Last edited by darxed on 10/19/2009 6:40:12 PM
Ugh I know I'm part of the minority when it comes to girl gamers but the comments that most of you put up are the reasons why there aren't enough of us. Yes stereotypes exist for a reason but you shouldn't always go by them.
I love to come to this website to get my gaming updates and whatnot and this article just made me have a little nerd rage. Shame on you all for even thinking that most of us just like to shop, gab, and pretty much take up space. I tried to read through most of the comments and excuse me if I'm wrong but are most of you even living in the 20th century? The whole 'oh my girlfriend isn't into those type's of games', is getting old. Personally I love my RPG's, racers, fighting games, and some adventure games but as a whole I think this industry continues to fail it's female fanbase because they don't get 'us'.
They keep saying things similar to what most of this article says but Ben why in heaven's name would want to play a game based off of a Lifetime show? (But if it was Golden Girls related sign me up.) Most of the reasons why (at least in my opinion) girls like myself play games is to get away from the melo-drama that is "female entertainment" because even that doesn't speak to us.
And that comment that Ben but up sums it up nicely. The companies didn't even TRY to market their games to females in the 80's but now that they see that same 'female group' is a cash cow they put out crap like (put generic badly coded game here) and expect girls to like it, when most of them are smart enough to know crap when they see it. You know let me just end this here before it becomes nerd rage. But just know this even casual games like Sims and Harvest Moon are hardcore when you see how much hours are being put in to playing it.