What does a woman gamer want?

How about the games industry just goes on producing all different kinds of games. Games created because the creators have a passion about the game, etc, and then you analyze their sales? Not every game should be a targeted marketing strike on the pocketbook of the audience. Big companies wish they could be the ones to turn out the quirky hits that catch like wildfire. Well, the reason they never ARE the ones making them is because they make damn sure every single game they produce is a calculated risk.

What we need is a venture capitalist willing to fund games based on the excitement of the creators, the excitement that they themselves get when they play with a prototype, etc. An angel game publisher.

And then we need women to stop listening to stereotypes and junk and just play the things they like without fear of what people might say if they really dig "Topless Volleyball 8" or "Gore Feast 99".

I'm beginning to get sick of these stories everywhere. Why does the gaming community have to split up by gender? Can't a gamer just be a gamer?

#2, that would work if the large majority of games weren't bought by males. Since there is a discrepency in the data, the companies make it an issue because of course if as many females bought games as males then they'd make a ton more money.

Or to distill HardwareGuy's post to its essence, companies focus on this issue because they stand to make more money if the gender disparity in the video game industry is corrected.

Here's a question worth asking, though: do other industries with a clear gender disparity in their sales and marketing wring their hands over it like the video game industry? Jewelry, for example. Despite the growing popularity of jewelry amongst men, the primary market is for women. Does the jewelry industry publish articles about how to get men to buy more and progressively more expensive jewelry? High-end fashion is dominated by sales and marketing towards women - do they worry about getting more men involved?

From my experience, women just like good games that aren't too frustratingly difficult.

One thing the Gamecube and perhaps the others need more of is coop multiplayer. My GF loves Gauntlet, Baldur's Gate, etc. Especially if you get to level up and go shopping for new weapons and armor outfits.

Because men and women are different. While there are plenty of women happy with the games available right now, including ones geared towards men, there are other women who don't see much for them out there. Let's give the ladies smart, mature games aimed towards their tastes--that have nothing to do with buying shoes. Do that and women will be happy. I bet a lot of guys will probably take a look at those games too.

Aye.. sub-categorising genders is retarded; I'm a guy who has no interest in sports and racing games, but love RPGs and FPSs. My sister plays the same games, plus simulation/strategy-type titles like Rise of Nations and what not. I belong in some sub-male gamer category that can't possibly address my sister's preferences as well? I think not. Instead of categorising in terms of gender, how about going with *interests* (which is already the case, but you know, some marketing shitheads have got to justify their salaries by inventing something else)? Male and female gamers really aren't different.

I dont think the problem is so much the actual game type, its the image associated with them, that they are only for geeky teenage boys.

As OtakuCODE said, i think if girl just went and tried the majority of quality games out today, they would be able to enjoy them just as the male population do. It's all a matter of stereotypes.

Oh and Freud lived 1856-1939, not thousands of years ago *rolleyes*

I think the real problem is there aren't enough females in the industry. We can theorize all day about "what women want" or "how do we capture that elusive female crowd" but what we end up having is those questions asked in a room full of men. It's easy to say men and women are the same and have the same needs out of a game, but outside of a few noted examples (Nintendo Gal, et al.) that is simply not the case. There is a difference between the needs of the typical (note I say typical) female and the typical male gamer.

So lets get some of these female gamers in the industry. Oh wait we can't. Why? Because like all industries that make a crap-ton of money. Women are not invited in.

I don't want to go on an anti-republican tirade on a videogame web board, but this problem is much bigger than someone making "Lizzy McGuire 3" and trying to pass it off as a girl game.

To change the system, we need to change the system.

Does that make sense?

As already hit on, I think the biggest "problem" (if you want to even consider it that serious) is most females' perceptions of video games or people that play video games. Many consider video games a foolish waste of time that only for teens and younger or 40 year old virgin freaks in basements. I've gotten this perspective from my sister and other girls/women throughout the years. It might be shifting a bit now that games are more mainstream (and therefore becoming "cool"). The girls I know that do play games tend to like games from many of the already existing genres. It doesn't seem the biggest "problem" is the games themselves, but the perception of gaming.

I think one of the funniest examples of this (that I've witnessed) was at a party when a girl started hitting on a friend of mine and after awhile she asked about what he does for a living. He responded that he was a video game programmer. At that point she immediately stopped talking (didn't say another word) and walked away.

"Instead of categorising in terms of gender, how about going with *interests* (which is already the case, but you know, some marketing shitheads have got to justify their salaries by inventing something else)?"

"i think if girl just went and tried the majority of quality games out today, they would be able to enjoy them just as the male population do. It's all a matter of stereotypes."

That's a typical gamer-centric reaction. The comparison to the jewelry market is off the mark. A better comparison would be to the film and television industry, as we're talking about entertainment. The idea of sports, racing, FPS, RPGs, and the other traditional genres of gaming as a wide variety is a mischaracterization, because the spectrum of experiences that the video game industry offers is extremely repetitive and limited, and has been for some time now. From a "marketing shithead" point of view, this is a clear explanation of the market fragmentation, both along gender and age boundaries. It would be like the film industry making only action and adventure films. Yes, there is a wide variety of types of films in those genres, but they're all essentially the same, and there's no comparable parallel when my girlfriend wants to see "Closer" as opposed to "The Island."

To write the problems off as being a result of perception and stereotype is far too idealistic and makes too many assumptions about the universal nature of your tastes.
Movies, television, drama, literature, and games have a lot in common, and finding the experience offered by Metroid Prime appealing is no more universal than finding Pride & Prejudice stimulating. While I can put down the Jane Austen novel and pick up The Mote In God's Eye, the game industry, by selling and appealing to males aged 12-30 almost exclusively, doesn't offer an option for the girl (or gamer, gender exclusive) who wants to change the channel from Monday Night Football to Six Feet Under.

If you keep doing the same thing you've always done, you'll get the same results you always have. If you have any question as to the viability of this concept, take a guess as to the most successful single game launch ever to come out of the Electronic Arts behemoth. Yes, that's right, The Sims 2. Go figure.

I just read all that and thought *great, games about going shopping at the mall and getting hot dates will be arriving soon.* Why do they have to stereotype us. Actually on average most of us (the female gameing population) are NOT your average females. OK, so they got me on the SIMS...so what.To be honest though i've been playing games since The Mario Bros. I wish they would just go about their business and stop thinking to hard. All I ask is for some decent RPG's for a change and not a "Sally's mystical adventure to the mall" RPG *rolls eyes*

Has anybody even considered that they're asking the wrong question? Maybe they should first be asking "Do women want games?" before they ask "What types of games do women want?" I'm not saying that there isn't any gender inequity in the types of games being made, but it's a question worth addressing.

This all on top of the fact that the industry is in an incredibly poor position to deliver anything that demographics research indicates women would want, after two decades or more of throwing all their R&D dollars behind graphics and sound. Games aren't even close to being able to create dynamic, free-form social exchanges (with AI characters) and intrigue.

See Chris Crawford's thoughts:

http://www.erasmatazz.com/library/Game%20Design/WomenWant.html

My girlfriend likes all of the fighting games and Japanese/RPG stuff.

my girlfriend loves her japanese RPGs, her vintage Sonic and Mario and the DS line up (Nanostray, Kirby, Nintendogs etc.). really wants a Rev and more stylus games on DS.

my sister doesnt bother with games as such. she doenst wanna be pressing buttons and sticks in directions. again she loves her Nintendogs and Kirby. has no console but is looking forward to the Rev.

my mum too hasn't been interested in a console game since Super Mario Bros but actually wants a Rev.

i dont think its genres, i think its controllers. at least thats what im picking up here.

As a actual female gamer I'm getting slightly annoyed at seeing these types of articles over and over again.
I don't need to be talked down to. What I want are fun and well made games.

Just because I'm a woman does not mean I love The Sims and neither was it the game that got into gaming in the first place. (It was Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for the Sega Genesis.)

What I really want as of this moment is the upcoming Dead or Alive 4 and the next gen Sonic the Hedgehog game.

I don't need a badly licensed crap game with pink plastered all over the cover.

http://www.smartkidssoftware.com/cdvvd1.jpg

I think that a lot of articles on this subject are looking at it from a skewed perspective and saying that there aren't enough games for women. The fact of the matter is that every woman gamer I've talked to doesn't want female-oriented games with horribly written plots that appeal to our "softer, more social" feminine side, and a cover that slathered in repulsive colours of pink and purple. We want quality games, just like the guys, with maybe a little more marketing sensitivity, be that by making it gender neutral (not likely to happen) or by evening the playing field and gearing some promotional materials for traditionally male games, at the female demographic.

That would be a lot more effective in getting women into the gaming fold than trying to shove flowers and Pepto Bismol coloured crap into our hands.

http://play-girlz.com/what-women-want/