Category: 
A while back in the Tomb Raider review for WG I mentioned that women don’t have alot of time for gaming. From reading and talking to so many female gamers I had gotten the impression that women have a very different game experience than males do. I set out to see if I was right.
Studies do show that women players account for many game - play hours in online games. In my experience as a games writer I have found that women don’t have an easy time of finding free time for video games. Often game play time is interrupted. Someone in the house will always need or want something if she sits down at the computer or picks up a controller. If people are not physically present there is the phone, the coffee pot, the micro (or crock pot depending on where you live), and washer / dryer that all will bleep, buzz or bloop for attention at exactly the wrong time.
It is no different if she has pets. When there are two small dogs and
three cats for example then there are endless possibilities for
someone’s dish of water or food to be empty. Or they bark because they
want “Out!” Or maybe a chew toy has fallen down the steps or a bone
has landed behind the couch. Those dramas cause whining from small
dogs which sounds like someone is filleting them for Carpaccio. Or the
16 year old cat may become suddenly interested in being on top of the
<i>fridge<\</i> and then <i>on top of Grandma’s TV</i>. Enter the “home chaos factor”, which may or may not be limited to one gender.
Where is everyone else in the place when one is playing a game?
Perhaps selective hearing is on a different gene than multitasking? No
one else can see who is at the door, get the mail or answer the phone,
once a character in an MMO is set up to play. In the frequent
situation when it takes you over an hour to get ready and arrive at
the location where you want to play next, having long blocks of
uninterrupted time is essential.
There has to be some furious multi tasking going on in the background
that no one can see. Thank goodness for virtual online avatars.
<i>”Wait a second one of the cats is trying to annihilate the
curtain…”</i> One of my favorite moments in gaming was when my cat
Miroku spelled out “M -I - L -T” when I stepped away from
<i>Dungeons and Dragons Online.</i> He made my all character’s skills disappear and had her dance merrily while stuck in a wall.
It is at these precarious times that one’s character may or may not be
safe while left alone to its pre-programed idling animation of
scratching her butt. She may be beaten to a pulp. In many games when the area isn’t safe you end the session by dying. Subsequently you lose all your points and items. This will depend on how sensitive the developers were to the million and one things that compete for a gamer’s time.
In other games once you are out of the group you will spend yet more time finding a new group when you go back. In some games if you own a house that requires maintenance as in <i> Ultima Online</i> it could crumble into dust.
Or you can get past due on your rent in <i>Dark Age of Camelot</i> The livestock in <i>A Tale in the Desert</i> could starve. There are the dreaded weeds of <i>Animal Crossing</i>. The randomness of life means there is going to be a lack of control over the length of our game session.
Not all games will have the content easily available for solo players
or even want to. It is more convenient to play games which are instanced or
provide content in small chunks. Games which require big clans of
people to band together in groups, can achieve larger goals, like
changing the landscape and becoming a virtual community. That has
other advantages and takes an even greater investment of time.
By now everyone has heard all the statistics that women make up 43% of all video game players. The number of gamers in the US is continuing to increase each year. At least four out of ten people play video games in the United States. When you read over all the reports it comes out even with women having a larger share overall. Games that make it easiest to save progress after a session of game - play or the ability to save at any time are assets to female gamers.
Because of what I’m calling a the “home chaos factor” (or office) women play a great deal of the flash based puzzle, games, board games and quizzes which have shorter initial durations. Women also have higher numbers playing
children’s games on PCs and consoles. Women have stats that double the
male numbers in playing dance and music games. Another area where
there seem to be more women than men playing are the classic arcade
type of ports.
Women are multi-taskers, and the Internet provides quick connectedness,
and information about games during game play. Women apparently do have a
different game experience than men do. Women surveyed stated they had
other tasks going and other media on in the background while gaming,
either the TV, radio or MP3’s were used no less than 70%. Since males
had higher console than PC use than women, then they weren’t necessarily able to be watching TV at the same time.
Using my reverse logic - if aspects in real life from travel and shopping markets were implemented in game-play, the experience would be even more
immersive. Some new statistics are said to show that women prefer to
play games solo. Then they demonstrate that men seem to be more likely
to group in an MMOG. Can the “home chaos factor” account for that too?
I know that when I am playing an MMO I don’t like to spend the extra
time it takes to find a group of new people to play with to solve a
quest. I’ve found that many of the women that I play with also try to
go solo to save time and avoid the hassle of doing a mission
repeatedly because new people don’t know how to work as a team.
Women seem to prefer to travel and game alike with established
friends. In fact if you look at those other industries like travel and
entertainment women’s preferences are much more apparent than in
gaming. Those are statistics that could be easily transferred to
marketing games that would make the game experience more fun. “Girls
travel in packs” it can be said. Games on Xbox Live for instance, make
it very easy for ladies to play games together and meet other gals.
In seeing who travel agents say is the average adventure traveler it
is not the 28-year-old male that you’d think it would be. Travel
agents figures show that a 47-year-old female is the most likely
demographic to take nature, adventure, or cultural trips.
There aren’t any universal truths about women. However reaching women
gamers is more than just making things Barbie pink. Women do process
information in a more detail-oriented fashion. Women will notice
more and likely expect more. That means we notice amenities, textures,
subtleties, and read between the lines.
<i>“Now will you all shut up so I don’t get killed!”</i>
Recently:
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- Geek Woman’s Best Video Games of ‘08
- Girl Geek Shopping Guide
- Lord of the Rings Online : The Mines of Moria PC Review
- Good Girl Power : Nancy Drew
- A Glimpse Inside Moria
- Not Much to Write Home About
- Bleach: Dark Souls DS Review
- Adam Sessler : Home is on the Way?
- Myvu on Ellen
