The Fairer Sex and Playing Games
Girls, girls, girls - why exactly don't you play nicely with the boys?
The fairer sex has always been a mystery to me, ever since that day in year seven when, along with all the other boys in the class, I was ordered from the room. The girls were having a special talk about “women’s issues”, and we, the snot-faced, shorts wearing less intelligent half of the class were decidedly uninvited.
Today I no longer wear shorts unless absolutely necessary, and my face is clean of nasal mucus almost all of the time. Some of the Mystery of Woman, or MoW, has been cleared up, thanks in part to the pioneering effort of documentary television on the Discovery Channel. But I still don’t get one thing.
Why don’t more women play games?
Before I go on I will say this. I don’t know the answer. It is a multifactorial issue, and not one I purport to be an expert on. What I’m really hoping for here is some debate, some comment. A penny for your thoughts. So please feel free to comment on this article.
I started thinking about this issue when having a recent conversation with my sister. I remembered how, when we were younger, she loved gaming. She even had a SNES. Now she couldn’t tell an Xbox or a PS2 apart. What went wrong? She simply seemed to grow out of them – as our own Keri Stevens says, “Here the fact still remains that computer games seem to be something that girls just grow out of, like Barbies or My Little Pony.”
What my sister disliked so much about gaming was the competitive element. She hated the pressure, the emphasis on score, and the need to “beat” the game. She loved games like Zelda and Mario, because in these games there was less immediate pressure, and you could enjoy and explore the world given to you. She loathed Street Fighter 2 (my favourite game at the time), and in fact thinking back I do remember her constant whining about “giving her a chance” and “let me win, Nicky”, as I reeled off another perfectly executed dragon punch right in her face. Those were the days…
Comments
It's interesting that adventure games are currently completely out-of-fashion for the entire gaming industry. These story-based games (monkey island and grim fandango are great examples) are far more what the women I know enjoy playing.
It's a cyclical industry, so the genre will return one day, and I think we'll see women come with it!
i have to say that i aggre with you all the way. The futur of gaming will grossly invovle women to the point that they may even surpass men in numbers. so with that said this is my point. the indusrty need more women and minorities in oder to be more success and appeal to more people. so then they will make more money.
Hi,
First of i would like to say thet I am tierd of hearing all about the feamle characters in gaming and movies. If you look at the male avatars they are just as steriotypical as the females with there big muscular bodies and their bravery and all of that. I rather enjoy playing these steriotypes. If it is apropriate for the setting that is.
I have been working for 2 years as a graphic artist for a games devloper and we are currently somewhere around 60 people. There are 3 girls working here and only one in the production lines and she is working as a producer and not really that involved with the game creation part. This is the problem. Since i started there have only been 3 women applying for a job and none of them was even close to the standard we are lookning for. At least 50 men have applyed during the same period of ime. We would have hired the women on the spot if they could provide som work that was resonably good just because we need women.
Somehow women dont seek out these jobs I know that there are a lot of veary talanted females out there that if they applyed for a job would get it, but no. They dont and I have no idea why not?!
this comment became way to long without any real point but what I am trying to say is that women dont even apply for these kinds of jobbs and if someone could tell me why I would be veary happy. We need more women in the gaming industry! period!
(sorry about the spelling but I am not english speking so you will have to excuse :)
It's weird, I know some girls who are heavily into their games, I mean, to the point of being incredible geeks about it, but they HATE to be called gairl gamers. They are just gamers. Should it be an issue? We all like different things, and alot of girls just fall in with the norm and get into other things. And some love games (like me!).
Adventure games were always supposed to apeal to girls more than guys, but to be honest, I have tried a few, wanting to try all types of games and they drove me nuts. Not fast enough, illogical puzzles and not enough action.
I know some girls who like the idea of games but are so intimidated by their boyfriends or male friends who play them all the time that they won't even try them!
I know some girls who only play fighting games because in alot of cases it is about bashing buttons randomly and getting lucky (ahh it is now, I hardly ever play fighting games but when my boyfriend and I play I wipe the floor with him).
Sims, I think alot of guys see Sims as a real girl's game and say they get bored, I felt it was repetitive but 6 hours would fly by without me knowing, it was submersive. You'd think 'oh I'll just get him up to his next level in the job then I can get that really cool comfy bed and he won't have to sleep as long'. I say the Sims is downright dangerous! LOL
I love games, I love to finish them, I hate it when my gaming male friends are there over my shoulder giving me 'tips' when they can't be arsed to finish the game and I persevere. More girls should give em a chance. More fun than painting your nails...
playing
l;i;i
hi
whats up?
i love u
hi my name is paul
hello
any women want to have a chat?
I will let her p;ay the game.
I play many video games.....TOny Hawk games mostly but i love other games 2
another example of why us girls don't tend to talk about games much in big groups due to some of the -ankers shown their comments here with stupid comments of s*x who didn't read the artical at all.
anyway good artical, i personly think it is partly due to the way women and men mention stuff about games, guys tend to boast more and obess more about talkin about it, but girls then to just play and move on.
i want to get marred to a girl im 43 years old i live in humboldt nebraska at 829 4th st
i love cheeses
helo my name is mohsen
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fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff..hi this is mika saying i like to play grand theft auto games.you should sell more games.there cool.
is fairer sex a sex game if it is i want it.
if there is girls out there i want to have sex with them
i love you
i love sex sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
hi
i love to have sex
I love this webside
and im 11 years old
and give you what evar
male
I LOVE PRETTY GIRLS AND SEX SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!
Uh... because women are stupid? Everyone knows that...
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