the fact stands that there are different tendencies and game preference is based on them. If you were designing a fun game for a dolphin it wouldn''t be the same as one for a rabbit. Perhaps some dolphins would like the rabbit game and some rabbits would like the dolphin game. People aren''t churned out in factories, they are different from each other. So yeah when you make a game you shouldn''t label it a girl game or a boy game but it will tend to be one or the other.

However if you want to make a game that is wildly successful among girls don''t you think that it''d be a little different than a game that would be wildly successful among boys? The boy game would probably fit into one of the more male oriented genres: hunting/fps, domination/rts while a girl game would fall into one of the undiscovered genres such as ?????? or ?????.

Currently some games seem to be more balanced between male and female styles of gaming. The whole MMORPG thing seems to attract more females (my friend''s sisters played EverQuest). Now why do more females play EQ than say Halflife? According to your theory it is because EQ is a better game. However even basic familiarity with the two games should be enough to convince most people that that simply isn''t the case. It cannot be a matter of standards anyway, why would females have higher standards? Games that are fun for males should be good enough for females, if you that males and females have similar tastes on average.

The reason for EQ''s relative popularity to halflife with females must be in spite of quality issues, not because of them. The only reason I can think of is that there must be something fundamentally different in personal preferences.

Keep in mind that I do not mean to say that not all girls dislike games designed for males and vice versa, it is merely a very strong trend.

"dolphin... rabbit. DIFFERENT SPECIES. Male... Female... SAME SPECIES. Read on."

yes, it is an exageration of course. However you could say that in any species that where male and female roles are different the two evolve seperately almost into subspecies. Well best not to get too deep into any one detail


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People aren''t churned out in factories, they are different from each other. So yeah when you make a game you shouldn''t label it a girl game or a boy game but it will tend to be one or the other.
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"Statement #1 was dead on. People aren''t churned out in factories. Personalities are not packaged in "male" or "female" varieties."

Yes that''s right. Ok to use a video game analogy people are games. Genders are genres. So I''m in the male genre but I''m not like all the other males out there. I might even have some traits in common with a lot of females, however in general I could be better characterized as belonging to the male genre.

"Girl games have failed to this point, simply because the people making them are trying to produce a "girl game"."

There are probably a lot of reasons for those games failing. The main reason is that people set out to make a game for a purpose instead of trying to make a great game. However one doesn''t actually ever make a great game, one makes a great game from his point of view. People who make a game and who don''t intend to ever play the game themselves tend to make bad games. So if say a group of men tried to make a girl game it probably wouldn''t come out right. Likewise if a group of women decided to make a game to appeal to girls they would probably fail too, unless they were making the game for themselves. However most of the people calling for girl games probably aren''t gamers themselves, thus there is really no way to break into the circle. Current girl gamers have similar tastes to male gamers so they wouldn''t be able to make a game to appeal to more mainstream girls (though they''d probably have an advantage).


"undamentally bullshit. Fewer women play games because of sociological dictation that they should not."

I think that''s over emphasized. We always try to get my friend''s sisters to play games but they don''t seem to like them, except for EQ (and one likes D2, the other doesn''t). You can''t blame society for stuff. Actually most of society thinks guys playing games is stupid, yet I still play them.



"taking these numbers into account, an proportionate amount of women play Unreal Tournament. If there were an equal ratio, we''d see about a 40% gender split amongst UT players."

I am not sure what numbers you are referring to

"Was Metal Gear Solid a Girl game?"

Never played it

My violence argument? If you read my post you will notice that I don''t once mention violence. In fact I did not bring up any specific possibilities. It can''t be something as simple as violence, then it would be easy to design girl games by replacing violence with something else. If I was to venture an opinion I''d say that violence has almost nothing to do with it.


"In addition, if designed right EQ provides dramatic tension that INTELLIGENT people are attracted to. That has nothing to do with gender, but the base pool of male video gamers ages 9 to 17 looks far less intellectual to me than the same ages of the female variety."

No EQ is not intellectually challenging, at least not compared to most games. It is not much more than a game of time investement. In fact the majority of the game is spent sitting "meditating". You rarely even feel as if you are playing a game. Most of the time you are just waiting, doing absolutly nothing, either waiting for mana or for new monsters to spawn.


"The solution is NOT to force ourselves into imagined markets of barbie fashion games and horse riding. Backstreet boys and f*ckung Brittney Spears. I don''t want that demographic."

Well of course slapping a female theme on an empty game won''t work, that''s the same as slapping a male theme on an empty game. Themes might sell a game initially but it is the underlying mechanics that people play. I personally would play a barbie game if it had good mechanics. After all in a good game you stop seeing the pictures after a few months.

My experience is that girls play good games like anyone else. In order for a game to be really well targeted at a female audience, it must be created by or with females. Hence, a bunch of guys sitting around yammering about what girls do and do not like is downright comical.

I read somewhere that the reason women don''t play FPS games as much as men is because they are mentally unable to "get it". Apparently, when presented with a 3D scene, women see the actual objects in view - walls etc. In contrast, men''s brains interpret the gaps between objects instead - i.e. corridors.

This leads to men being much better suited to these kinds of games, so they naturally enjoy them more than women do. This is the reason I dispute Landfish''s claim that "Fewer women play games because of sociological dictation that they should not".

As 99.99% of games are programmed by men, surely we can''t ever expect a game to be written that appeals to women on this kind of mental level?

Neil

So if you wanted to make games for women then it stands to reason that you must find it fun to do. It would also help if you were intouch with your femine side. Sorry to generalise again but it''s just a thought!!

I love Game Design and it loves me back.

Our Goal is "Fun"!

Women LOVE strategy games. Blood, guts and gore is more the male field (dictated by society in which men play a protector role). This is ever so true of our culture today, and this is the market we aim for. True, many men love strategy, too, but women love REAL strategy more. Things like Myst, The Crystal Key, something with a dramatic story line, where it''s almost like a book telling a story, and you''re the character!

This is the kind of thing most women look for, a deep level of interaction in the environment. Don''t get me wrong, my girlfriend played Dune 2k with me online ALL the time. We were one hell of a team

Speaking of which.. did you know SciFi channel has done a REMAKE OF DUNE!!! From what i saw, STRAIGHT from the books!!!! YEAH BABY! YEAH!

J