No women oriented games?

[Deepak]

read this....the market is underserving women

it says.....

The report also looked at differences between male and female gamers in terms of their preferences by gaming genre. While action and adventure games were most popular with boys, nearly half the girls surveyed favored "parlor" games.
Of the 12 genres examined, three were more popular with girls and boys: parlor games, simulation games and arcade titles. From the survey group, 21 percent of the girls said they do not play games at all, while only 2 percent of boys offered that response.
"Do boys like games more than girls? My assumption is no they don't, and the market is underserving women," Horwitz said. "I don't fundamentally think that boys like games more than girls."

Do we need (more) women oriented games or characters.....infact how do you define a women oriented genre....do grrls like male lead character games like Splinter Cell/MGS2 or female lead games like Tomb R/Primal/Dino Crisis/RE etc....do they like action or adventure or sports or whatever....??

may be Tagrineth can answer these!!!

BTW are there any females here apart from Tag.....

 

[Grall]

It's so funny...

So many people are so caught up in the struggle about equality between sexes in ALL areas except three: toys, fashion and computer games.

(Oh, I'm sure there are more exceptions than these, just trying to be funny in a stupid kind of way I guess... )


No seriously... Is there a particular reason (other than cultural indoctrination from time of birth) that girls are so intrinsically different that they can't enjoy the same kind of games as guys? Sounds like a load of bollocks to me.


*G*

 

[Tagrineth]

Most girls do tend to shy away from violence, while most boys revel in it.

It seems that split is dissolving more and more over time though.

Personally? I don't care. If I like the game, I'll play it, regardless of the content, with few exceptions... and I'll try most games at least once before dismissing them.

 

[marconelly!]

My wife couldn't stop playing Frequency and now it's the same with Amplitude. We both love those two games to death. She also *loved* ICO and several other games on consoles, as well as many adventure games on PC. Women might have different tastes on average, but I wouldn't say this industry doesn't have anyting for them, if they are willing to give it a try.

 

[jvd]

heh . my gf likes sonic and mario thats it. I dunno why though. If its a great game u should play it . I just think that more men are into video games and they are willing to try more games out since they started on the m younger. Where most of the women polled in that are most likely older and most likely didn't grow up with video games in the house .

My little cousins are growing up with video games in the house and they tend to play alot more video games than my little sister. There is only a 5 year age diff. Now my older sister 25 will only play the first mario for the nes. My younger sister 16 will play most of my xbox games.

 

[Sonic]

It's funny how these things work. A lot of games do seem to be oriented towards the male population in one way or the other. When it comes to adventure games it is usually the male taking on as the hero. If it's a female then it ends up usually being some big breasted girl to attract male gamers to the game. Truth be said, all market data tends to show that guys buy more games than gals, that way devs have to make their games appeal to the male sex more than the female sex.

Then there's also the lack of women in the workplace. The development workplace isn't devoid of women or anything like that, but in my experience women don't have as much of a say as the men do. If there were more women producers then we would see many more games being meant for both sexes and not just one or the other. It's bound to happen as games go even more mainstream than they are now.

 

[archie4oz]

I would say that some also depends on where you are... One thing I've noticed in the US has been the general tendency to try to downplay any gender preference or identity of content (in the name of equality) even though it may be very present... Whereas in Japan for instance, it's quite the opposite where content is distinctively targeted at genders. You see this in all sorts of content (manga and anime for example) where you have shonen stuff for boys and shojo stuff for girls. Therefor you do see a lot of games targetting at girls (e.g. Rhapsody, Magical Vacation, My Summer, Hamtaro, etc...), hell Sony's release party for Momotaro was women only... Even so-called more mainstream RPG titles have very strong female audiences (Lunar has always had some downright fanatical female following).

Then there's also the lack of women in the workplace.

Don't know about you, but there were metric tons on women at my studio (granted most were artists, animators, musicians/composers, etc), but you do make a good point here:

If there were more women producers then we would see many more games being meant for both sexes and not just one or the other.

I think having more women in key decision making positions will help make a noticeable difference, but not only in that position but also as general content originators (e.g. writers for content that is more story based).

Although when you look at it, some genres that are really popular in say North America tend to make it rather difficult to appeal to women in general. I mean Football title are bread&butter in the US, and it's hard enough to find a woman who's really into football let alone one to play a football game with you (please note that I'm just generalizing here!)... It's a little easier to do with RPGs, adventures and such, especially when you can base it off of some pre-existing franchise in another market that has a strong following.

On a bit more OT slant...

But the study found relatively little difference among low-income and high-income teenagers when it came to what is known as the "hard-core" category, or those who buy more than six games per year.


"Because video games are cost-effective entertainment, consumption statistics skew toward low-income households for console penetration, time spent playing games, and number of titles purchased," the Jupiter report said.

I thought that this was a pretty interesting observation myself...

 

[ChryZ]

heh . my gf likes sonic and mario thats it. I dunno why though. If its a great game u should play it . I just think that more men are into video games and they are willing to try more games out since they started on the m younger. Where most of the women polled in that are most likely older and most likely didn't grow up with video games in the house .

My little cousins are growing up with video games in the house and they tend to play alot more video games than my little sister. There is only a 5 year age diff. Now my older sister 25 will only play the first mario for the nes. My younger sister 16 will play most of my xbox games.

I own almost every system ever made. I'm a collector. I have intelivison , collecovision , atari , the pong system , turbo graphics 16 and the cd , All 3 versions of the genises and the 2 versions of sega cd , a 32x , both versions of the nes , super nes , and the n64 . I have 2 broken psxs , a psone. Two ps2s in my house. A gamecube down here at school , My xbox in my gfs place down here at school (she likes splinter cell) I also own the jaguar and jaguar cd (tempest 2000 baby) So i hardly think I hate the sony (although my crappy dvd player made by then sucks ... never b uy something when it first comes out) No i just see people going all crazy for something that isn't even completed and say its the second comming. When its simply not .

What happend to Splinter Cell?

 

[FiggyG]

My sister likes Shenmue, Halo, SSX Tricky, and will even play DOA3 with me (Ok, now what's this about shying away from violence? She'll play Mortal Kombat with me). My friend's sister likes Worms and GTA3 (wow, more violence). I guess it really depends on the person. For example, I currently despise Final Fantasy and other RPG, and even worse, games like Diablo 2. (Ultima Online, Lineage; you name it, I won't play it). Those games are most popular among my closest friends. I love Red Faction (online play is soo much fun), C&C Generals, Halo, StarCraft, SSX Tricky, Need For Speed... My point is, it's pretty much a waste of time & resources to design a game soley for the female gamer. I like how they're doing with games these days; they are relatively unbiased. Anything else to add

 

[BenSkywalker]

Hmmm, I'll ask my wife to reply to this one on her own behalf. My daughter(5) likes racing games, the Barbie PC titles, and puzzle games. My baby sister(in her mid 20s) mainly likes RPGs(huge DragonWarrior/Quest fan) although she also enjoys the traditional Nintendo franchises and their updates and also has been liking the latest GTA games(I tried to talk some sense into her on that one ). She's not much in to the PC for gaming at the moment, although the PC they have at the moment blows(though their new rig should be up and running within the next week so that may change).

My mother is in to board games and puzzle games exclusively. My other sister(mid 30s) can't game(she is so horribly bad it is very painful to watch). My niece(9) likes platformers mainly, those and Pokemon style gameplay offerings.

 

[MrsSkywalker]

And here I am, replying for myself

I don't have a favorite genre. I pretty much like the best of the best from the all the different categories, with a few exceptions. I absolutely hate RPGs, sim sports games (though Blitz-type over the top games are fun), sim racing games, and 3D platformers (although my experience in this genre is limited to Sonic Adventure and Super Mario Sunshie, both games I hate with a passion). Having said what I don't like, here is a list of games I have really spent way too much time playing:

Racing: Burnout, Need For Speed series, Crusin' USA (hey don't laugh...you know you loved it too), F-Zero, Mario Kart, Sega GT 2002

Adventury-type: Zelda series (well, not Majora's Mask..that was just 30 hours of hell...and NO ZELDA ), Metroid Prime, Spider Man (though it was way too short), Eternal Darkness

Puzzle games: Tetris, bunch of free ones off of tucows

FPS: Serious Sam series, Halo, Jedi Knight: Jedi Outcast

Also, I can't shake my love for old 2D side scrollers. Every now and again I get the urge to dig out my old NES and relive the limited dimensions of my youth.

As far as women in general go, I don't really know. As far as gaming goes, I'm not a woman, I'm just a gamer. It matters very little to me if there is a lot of T & A in a game...as long as it's a game and not just a quick way to make a buck. BTW, this doesn't just apply to T & A, it's anything: blood, gore, cut scenes...if the game only has these elements and no real, honest gameplay, I guarantee I won't like it.

We see many women who'll only play the fluff stuff, and not get into what the mainstream considers "hardcore gaming". It's not b/c they are women, it's b/c they are "game dabblers". As difficult as it is to believe, there are millions and millions of people on this rock, men as well as women, that are satisfied to play a video game for only one or two hours a week. Yeah...parish the thought, I know, but it's true. IMO, gaming may be one of the few truly genderless activities out there. Either you are a gamer or not. Male and female are two words that really don't matter.

 

[Jogi]

When it comes to adventure games it is usually the male taking on as the hero. If it's a female then it ends up usually being some big breasted girl to attract male gamers to the game.

True, but do you usually see male figures in game as skinny or even normal build? No, most of them are strong and muscular, so why should female character be any different, as they just "magnify" female characteristics (sp) as male figures do the same. Or is it that males do not "envy" male figures and females do female figures??

Question to girls, what kind of figure you could see as female "hero" in games?

 

[Tagrineth]

When it comes to adventure games it is usually the male taking on as the hero. If it's a female then it ends up usually being some big breasted girl to attract male gamers to the game.

True, but do you usually see male figures in game as skinny or even normal build? No, most of them are strong and muscular, so why should female character be any different, as they just "magnify" female characteristics (sp) as male figures do the same. Or is it that males do not "envy" male figures and females do female figures??

Question to girls, what kind of figure you could see as female "hero" in games?

Well, considering that large breasts would probably be awkward when you're, say, infiltrating something... probably a slimmer and 'flatter' build would be more practical in most cases.

Side note, some male heroes are HOT. So it does kinda go both ways...

 

[jvd]

When it comes to adventure games it is usually the male taking on as the hero. If it's a female then it ends up usually being some big breasted girl to attract male gamers to the game.

True, but do you usually see male figures in game as skinny or even normal build? No, most of them are strong and muscular, so why should female character be any different, as they just "magnify" female characteristics (sp) as male figures do the same. Or is it that males do not "envy" male figures and females do female figures??

Question to girls, what kind of figure you could see as female "hero" in games?

Well, considering that large breasts would probably be awkward when you're, say, infiltrating something... probably a slimmer and 'flatter' build would be more practical in most cases.

Side note, some male heroes are HOT. So it does kinda go both ways...

While i'm not a fan of a huge chest i know most men are. Big chest and a tight gut and long legs are what most men go for. Most women like men that have huge arms and a six pack. I'm sure if tag picked up a new final fantsy or whatever and all the guys in the game had beer guts and balding hair she would think twice about playing it

Of course i know tag well enough from her posts that if the game is great she'd still play it but i'm sure she'd think twice .

 

[Tagrineth]

While i'm not a fan of a huge chest i know most men are. Big chest and a tight gut and long legs are what most men go for. Most women like men that have huge arms and a six pack. I'm sure if tag picked up a new final fantsy or whatever and all the guys in the game had beer guts and balding hair she would think twice about playing it

Of course i know tag well enough from her posts that if the game is great she'd still play it but i'm sure she'd think twice .

Hmm, yeah, pretty much.

 

[jvd]

While i'm not a fan of a huge chest i know most men are. Big chest and a tight gut and long legs are what most men go for. Most women like men that have huge arms and a six pack. I'm sure if tag picked up a new final fantsy or whatever and all the guys in the game had beer guts and balding hair she would think twice about playing it

Of course i know tag well enough from her posts that if the game is great she'd still play it but i'm sure she'd think twice .

Hmm, yeah, pretty much.

Tag , i dunno if i'd play a game if the guy was running around with a beer gut and was balding .... I can just run around the house and get the same experiance ... well i still got my hair. 8) Ugh ... gym or should i kick this keg .. hmm

 

[London Geezer]

While i'm not a fan of a huge chest i know most men are. Big chest and a tight gut and long legs are what most men go for. Most women like men that have huge arms and a six pack. I'm sure if tag picked up a new final fantsy or whatever and all the guys in the game had beer guts and balding hair she would think twice about playing it

Of course i know tag well enough from her posts that if the game is great she'd still play it but i'm sure she'd think twice .

Hmm, yeah, pretty much.

Tag , i dunno if i'd play a game if the guy was running around with a beer gut and was balding .... I can just run around the house and get the same experiance ... well i still got my hair. 8) Ugh ... gym or should i kick this keg .. hmm

hey MOD-jvd.... havent had the opportunity to congrat the new and improved u....

 

[jvd]

thanks london boy , i'm having some trouble though , i almosted edited tags post haha , i clicked edit instead of quote and i'm like waitttttttt thats wrong as i was typing haha . But yea i've been granted the power of the gods and I shall smite thee if i feel like it ....

 

[Colourless]

If I think of a female action hero, ideally you'd think of someone who could be a soldier. As Tag said "a slimmer and 'flatter' build". And there is a reason why this would be the case. A soldier for example is extremely fit, and has extremely low amounts of body fat. This has an effect on the bust line... with less fat, breat size reduces. It's pretty obvious

Of course, I can't really name any games that have put great thought into the appearence of female 'action heros', nor have they often thought even about the logic of the clothing being worn. Exposing as much skin as possible, is not a good way to prevent cuts, burns and other injuries. IMO RPGs are among the worst offenders of this... 'low cut' armour is not a good way to prevent yourself from being skewered by a sword or knife.

Eh, marketting vs logics, and I have to wonder, how many extra sales unrealistic characters actually gain.

 

[Sonic]

I didn't really think about the aspects of male characters features getting the same treatment as female characters. It does go both ways, that is something I overlooked. If a male character had a beer gut and was balding it would probably turn off a few gamers unless it was Homer Simpson starring. I'd still play the game regardless, but it might take away from the fantasy factor of a game. We often play games to escape reality and take on roles that we normally wouldn't or couldn't do in real life. I guess being a big macho man is part of that fantasy, and if it was just a character with a beer gut and balding it might take away from getting into the game as the character. Though some may be able to relate with such a character, that's not really the type of character we would to relate to.

As for unrealistic characters helping a game sell well, in most cases it helps tremendously. Just look at the Dead or Alive series, would it sell just as much if the girls weren't everything many guys dream about? It might, but the chances are against it. The previous generation saw a major increase in the amount of female gamers across the board and I really don't have any clear statistics in this generation. I'd be willing to bet that at least 30 - 40% of games are being bought by females. If it's any less than there is huge potential in publishers getting games that appeal to females more, as that would just help the market keep on growing.