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From reading and talking to so many female gamers I have gotten the impression that women have a very different game experience than males do. I set out to see if I was right. In that search to discover what would make more girls and women more interested in playing video games, I’ve come up with 8 points so far. Please read on and let me know what your input is and what you have to add to this discussion.
I’ve been a writer and been an editor for many game websites and a few magazines too. I was all ready an author before I came to video games journalism. Most recently I have been writing an annual guide to gaming called Geek Woman’s Game Guides. This fall I will be releasing the third edition. In addition to reviewing games I interview developers and gamers. I read blogs, and articles by female gamers all day long. I’ve done that every day for three years. I dig and dig. My informal research is done by actually playing games and talking to the women who that play them and the women that have made them. I go after people in the industry and their handlers and I ask them questions. And for some mysterious reason - people like to talk to me.
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. 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. Girls often want to tell their families : “Now will you all shut up so I don’t get killed!”
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 like old Ultima Online it could crumble into dust. Or you can get past due on your rent in Dark Age of Camelot The livestock in A Tale in the Desert could starve. There are the dreaded weeds of Animal Crossing. The randomness of life means there is going to be a lack of control over the length of our game session. What girls want number one : The ability to SAVE GAME anyplace and anytime. Give us a break in the game world if you want us to go get you a beer in the real world.
Not all games will have content that is 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. What girls want number two : Solo Content on PC MMO’s.
Women are multi-taskers, and since 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.
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 MMORPG. 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.
What girls want number three : Make more Two Player Co -Operative games for the consoles. Women want to get involved with their partners’ interests and if there is an opportunity to play together, then your girlfriend or spouse with most likely join you. Much less arguments that way.
What girls want number four : Stereotypes are a myth. Women and girls play every kind of game out there, from the bloodiest survival horror, the sharp shootingest FPS, and the rudest Grand Theft Auto clones. There are female clans that are specifically dedicated to playing WW2 games. So if you think you know what women want - you don’t. Because female gamers want exactly the same thing that guys do. A good time.
The industry will have to start to think differently if it wants to reach the female customers. What girls want number five : Just making things pink is not what we are after.
Even though we write reviews, and make suggestions, go to conferences and kick butt in our clans and guilds the game developers and the console companies still don’t get it. We are gamers like the guys are. Stop reinforcing the stereotypes. What girls want number six : Give us female avatars in games and equal stats in them. This is an important one. I’ve found that young women don’t care so much about breast physics and skimpy costumes, as they are about not being represented. What matters to me in games is realism. It would make sense that a sex worker or even a sorceress with magical shielding might wear revealing clothing. But putting only a bra and a thong on a warrior woman does not make sense. If the avatar couldn’t fight in the clothes she is designed with in reality, then I think it makes the developers look foolish. This is perhaps the crux of the issue between male and female players. The males seem to want to play around with a semi nude female like a she is a blow up doll. That is one of the reasons why I would support more sexually oriented games from Japan being released to the Xbox and PS3. Put the sex into sex games. Put the war into the war games. If I am in the mood to kill something after a long day of work, then I want fantastic armor and bad ass weapons. If I am in a playful mood then I’d like to be able to play one of those naughty games that you can only get in Japan since I don’t have any kids at my house.
I was reviewing Bully recently and there again we have what might be expected to be a “guy game” that girls will enjoy. I know plenty of girls and women who play GTA. Enlighten up dudes, we don’t want Barbie - we want that game right there. Design me a female, gum chewing, pigtailed, kung fu fightin’ girl, in a leather jacket to play as, and put her in the sequel to this game, and don’t forget to pay me my royalties for the idea.
What girls want number seven : Cut the Trash Talk. Trash Talk is hate speech. How long do you think it is going to take politicians to put their noses into this aspect of gaming? Mark my words, it will happen, as soon as one of the daughters of a politician in one of those backwater places logs on to Xbox Live. Try this, think before you speak. Would you want some guy to say that to your mother, or how about your little baby sister? I wonder how he would like it if someone at the supermarket called his daughter that? There would be a fight - no doubt.
I am often asked by interviewers how women are treated by male gamers. How? Terribly. It is demeaning and it takes all the fun out of the game. I can’t even repeat the things that are said. I read many female gamers blogs and articles and the complaints seem to be worsening rather than getting better.
That means that a younger demographic of males each year are being brought up to treat women badly. When you are there to have a good time, and then someone calls you a retard or worse, it not only makes you quit out of the game for the night, but also it makes you feel violated on top of that. I think that guys get a thrill out of shocking and hurting women, why else would they do it?
I’ve often heard girl gamers complain about either suffering constant come-ons, or getting patronized by male gamers bending over backwards to help them as if they weren’t capable of playing themselves. It wouldn’t be as bad if it just was guys asking for dates. But it is vulgar abuse. The guys want the women to get offline and get out of the games. It’s more often the case that female players and men who play as female avatars, are getting wiped out by player killers.
What girls want number eight : Give female gamers jobs. From booth babes to executives if you want to know what girls like, then hire us. Don’t give gaming awards to models who have never picked up a controller. Don’t put words in our mouth and have men writing dialog in games that is supposedly said by women. When you get a female game writer on your staff don’t edit the hell out of her article and make it sound like what men expect to hear women say.
In the gamers world, guys said to us “You aren’t a real girl” or “If you are playing video games you must be the ugliest girl on the planet.” So the women put on their makeup and heels and did photo shoots and said “Hella we play video games and we are pretty, and smart too.” Unfortunately instead of creating empowerment, it back fired. Real world sex workers and models started calling themselves ‘gamers’ even though they know nothing about games. Then these women began to take the jobs that the real female gamers should be getting. Instead of hiring brainless booth babes, women who are expert gamers and champions should be getting those jobs. If publishers were smart, they would know that knowledgeable people sell more products. Anyone can put on make up and nice clothes and look good for a show. The woman that plays Lara Croft at cons is a model, not a champion player of Tomb Raider. When a beauty contest for female gamers was held there were no requirements in it about gaming.
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