What sort of games have you seen women stay away from?
I'd have to say from the women/girls I know, including my sisters and my friends' wives, there seems to be a predominance of platformer/adventure and RPG. But while they are similar in concept to other platformers, I have not seen women play games such as Prince of Persia or God of War. Furthermore, it seems like there is more Mario Kart than Burnout or Gran Turismo. I do see a lot of simulation play, whether Sims, Harvest Moon or any number of Facebook sims.
So if I was going to make a completely biased, unscientific, anecdotal assessment of the games I see women play, I would say they do seem to play the same genres as anyone else, but primarily there is a tendency towards the "stylized" graphics and away from "realistic."
My mother (retirement age) had a severe Pac-Man crush... on the 2600. She was vidja game free until around five years ago when she started playing the electronic versions of Yahtzee. A couple years ago I recommended that she try out a DS since the screen would be full color and a helluva lot easier to read and rechargeable and such. She's now hooked on it and the TouchMaster series of minigames. I think it's awesome that she knows her way around a GameStop now.
My better half (30s) owns the Wii and I bought her a DS. She goes for Zelda, puzzle games (Layton), the LEGO games, and anything Harry Potter. She has a history with Mario on SNES and such.
Her daughter (nearly tween) had a DS before any of the rest of us and goes for a lot of the kiddie fare like Hannah Montana, Zack & Cody, Petz. Other titles include Cooking Mama, The Simpsons, and Club Penguin. On the PC she loves the various child-targeted on-line games: Club Penguin, Toontown Online, Webkinz. (Man some of those game tick me off with their "gotta log in nearly daily or your in-game pets will DIE" crap. Seems like setting up kids for bad habits or failure.) She asks for help whenever she gets stuck in a game from her mother or me. Whenever we're all in GameStop there's a lot of "You know what I wish? I wish I could get <insert so and so game here>."
Well I worked for EB for a year so I know what I'm talking about if you want to listen.
I will tell you about a few cases that I remember for the sole reason that they were purchases that went against the norm.
1. I sold 2 copies of Halo 3 to women that actually wanted to play the game. Other women bought it but I always asked questions that led to "it's for my bf, dad, friend, son, etc".
So two copies to women vs the roughly 100 I personally sold to men.
2. One woman bought Black for ps2 to play.
3. One bought a Cabela's game.
4. I sold several Devil May Cry 4's to females.
5. Several women bought Mass Effect and Bioshock.
Now I would say that I sold 10-15 "GAMES NOT FOCUSED SPECIFICALLY TOWARDS WOMEN" over the entire year I worked there to gamer girls.
The other thousands of women I sold games to bought, get this: games geared towards women. Like Cooking Mama, Animal Crossing, My Little Pony, PETZ, DOGZ, CATZ, LLAMAZ, ect.
So in conclusion: You may not like the fact they have a section geared towards females with cutesy female games, but that is in fact what 99% of females bought. If you want to change that attitude then you need convince women to stop buying those games and pick up GOW3 instead.
how can games be successfully be marketed to women and girls in a brick and mortar store?
That's not "games for girls". That's "games for 8-year old girls".
Not going to read through five pages, but this pretty much sums it up. I'm not to sure where the confusion here is coming from - Twilight, Hannah Montana, Bratz, etc are huge. Whether "girls" are being programmed into this stuff or not, its not rocket science that tailoring games for young adults already tapped into that market is a good business move.
And we're talking about KIDS games. If these games were directed towards adult WOMEN, then sure - we'd have a problem. However I do not know too many adult women - age 20 and above - walking into an EB and asking for the latest Hannah Montana game.
The other thousands of women I sold games to bought, get this: games geared towards women. Like Cooking Mama, Animal Crossing, My Little Pony, PETZ, DOGZ, CATZ, LLAMAZ, ect.
So in conclusion: You may not like the fact they have a section geared towards females with cutesy female games, but that is in fact what 99% of females bought. If you want to change that attitude then you need convince women to stop buying those games and pick up GOW3 instead.
First, I wouldn't say Animal Crossing is specifically a woman-targetted game, I know a ton of dudes who love it. It's along the same line as the Sims, a sort-of simulation with a big emphasis on daily play and long-term collecting.
Second, I wonder which is more sexist: assuming that all girls want to play these girl games, or the thought that there is something wrong with that if they do. I'm not trying to be hostile or pick on you, but just addressing the terminology, why do girls need to be convinced that they should play God of War 3? Shouldn't they be able to play whatever they want?
I've heard Style Savvy on the DS is actually a lot of fun, despite supposedly being a "girl game." Should we be out convincing guys to buy it? Is there something less than ideal about a world where they don't?
My girlfriend's niece just got a DS this past Christmas, and she enjoys Children of Mana (likes running around and bopping things with a hammer) and Professor Layton (both games). Not sure what else she's into, but it looks like she's liking the Action RPG genre, although she's 9 and not quite old enough to enjoy some of the more classic ones.
My girlfriend plays a lot of Civilization and The Sims on her own. She likes pretty much any Co-op game that she can play with me, like Left 4 Dead (one and two), Borderlands, Diablo, Neverwinter Nights, any Infinity Engine game, Spellforce, Two Worlds, etc. She also likes Professor Layton and Plants versus Zombies. She wasn't really interested in the Final Fantasy series, despite my pokings, although she has given it a decent try. She doesn't like games which make you sit and watch anime movies or cutscenes without any interaction for 30 minutes at a time.
I know several female co-workers who enjoy a panoply of games from Gears of War to Oblivion to Call of Duty, etc.
My girlfriend may be a bit of an outlier, but I know of NO girls that actually like "Pony Riding Xtreme" or "Hair Dressup EX Plus Alpha" or any of those games.
I've heard Style Savvy on the DS is actually a lot of fun, despite supposedly being a "girl game." Should we be out convincing guys to buy it? Is there something less than ideal about a world where they don't?
Yes. The industry and the gamers it's catering to could use a little bit of Style Savvy to counter the machismo.
My sister(26) basically only plays mario kart. when I got a ps2 like 7 years ago she said I should have gotten a GC to play mario kart. she hates zelda, which is apparently some sort of paradox from what this thread is saying. I think girls will buy what they like, which just happens to be girly games because the female audience seems to be primarily a younger age group than the male one. 2 out of every 5 gamers is a female, but what if 60% of those females are age 12 and below? Older ones were basically told when they were children that video games are for boys, keep out of our secret fort.
how can games be successfully be marketed to women and girls in a brick and mortar store?
That's not "games for girls". That's "games for 8-year old girls".
Not going to read through five pages, but this pretty much sums it up. I'm not to sure where the confusion here is coming from - Twilight, Hannah Montana, Bratz, etc are huge. Whether "girls" are being programmed into this stuff or not, its not rocket science that tailoring games for young adults already tapped into that market is a good business move.
And we're talking about KIDS games. If these games were directed towards adult WOMEN, then sure - we'd have a problem. However I do not know too many adult women - age 20 and above - walking into an EB and asking for the latest Hannah Montana game.
Even so, you still encounter what's called the Pink Aisle. Some places might 'get' how to display for women gamers, but most simply don't. It will take a long time and probably still not amount to much to change the perception of game players who are female.
Triple BBastard of the NorthMARegistered Userregular
edited March 2010
I work at GS. One night last week, I was working and this woman who had to easily be in her late 60's came in and excitedly asked for Dragon Age Awakening for PC. More than that, she had pre-ordered it. Before I could even finish assuming that she was buying it for someone else, she had explained to me just how much her and her daughter had loved Origins and had been eagerly awaiting the expansion. I thought that was fucking cool.
That said, I really don't get that many girls/women buying games for themselves. Mostly they come in to pick something up for their sons/boyfriends/husbands/what have you. A few recent female customers have grabbed stuff like the new Pokemon, FFXIII, and Heavy Rain. Aside from that, the tragically few female gamers I've known personally have been hugely into the survival horror genre. Resident Evil and Silent Hill especially. Also, one of them was borderline obsessed with the Metal Gear Solid series. Beyond that, I can't offer much input.
I've heard Style Savvy on the DS is actually a lot of fun, despite supposedly being a "girl game." Should we be out convincing guys to buy it? Is there something less than ideal about a world where they don't?
Yes. The industry and the gamers it's catering to could use a little bit of Style Savvy to counter the machismo.
If a game could teach me about fashion in an entertaining way, I would play it. It's ludicrous to me that discussing clothes is a "girl thing." Everybody cares about their looks, and clothing is an important part of that.
Anyway, the girls I know are very much like me: their gaming tastes are varied. Heck, I know two girls that really like BloodRayne.
I've heard Style Savvy on the DS is actually a lot of fun, despite supposedly being a "girl game." Should we be out convincing guys to buy it? Is there something less than ideal about a world where they don't?
Yes. The industry and the gamers it's catering to could use a little bit of Style Savvy to counter the machismo.
How bout getting forums hooked on Robot Unicorn Attack as a stepping stone?
My ex psychotic stalker, loved ocarina of time and tetris. My more recent, violent cougar enjoyed the shit outta lego starwars and starcraft. My most recent enjoyed old school sonic games but wasn't much of a gamer she started trying to play halflife but couldn't get through the intro.
I miss her she was actualy sane.
Edit: Realy though the games in question are marketed more for the "tween" demographic. The age group that is more or less responsable for the success of disneys teorist actions known to some as music.
Having worked at Best Buy for 2 years in Media and about six months at Target occasionally helping out in Electronics, my general sense is thus:
1. For little girls, it's about half licensed games/overly girly stuff and about half the popular family-friendly stuff (Mario cleans up here). If parents are buying, it gets way more Imagine, other girly things heavy.
2. With teenage girls and up it's pretty much family friendly games---Mario Kart kills here, as did both the "main" Mario titles. Rhythm games also pretty popular--and in my experience I had almost as many asking about DDR as I did GH/RB. There were exceptions, girls who came in to get quirky RPG's and such, but pretty rare all in all.
As to the women I know who game, no women in my family do so on a regular basis. I used to take turns playing Mario Bros with some of my female cousins but that's really about it. None of my college friends played anything on a regular basis, though they'd occasionally join in if we were playing Monkey Ball or something, but that was rare.
My friend's wife loves Katamari Damacy, Mario Kart, Bust a Move, and Harry Potter games. though I think in all honesty she plays more Snood than anything else.
My girlfriend (26) plays anything with Mario in the name (loves Mario Party especially), GH/RB games, and anything Lego. She also plays alot of puzzle games. She refuses to touch the 360 or PS3 though, she only plays Wii/DS. She also plays older systems, but again only Nintendo. She's the type that gets biased easily though.
My Sister (40) plays the Lego games, RB/GH, and a little bit of Mario. She mainly plays wii, but I've seen her give PS2 and 360 a chance.
My niece (13) plays anything she can get her hands on. She loves her DS/Wii, but really will play just about anything. Does pretty well too.
Casually HardcoreOnce an Asshole. Trying to be better.Registered Userregular
edited March 2010
Girl as in like 6-12 years old?
Put some god damn Pokemon on that shelf and everyother game that's popular in that age group. I never once met a girl who enjoys 'cooking mama' more then 'Poke-samegameyoubeenplayingofr12yearsnow-mon'. It seems like the 'cooking mama' niche market is mostly filled with twenty something guys.
I've heard Style Savvy on the DS is actually a lot of fun, despite supposedly being a "girl game." Should we be out convincing guys to buy it? Is there something less than ideal about a world where they don't?
Yes. The industry and the gamers it's catering to could use a little bit of Style Savvy to counter the machismo.
How bout getting forums hooked on Robot Unicorn Attack as a stepping stone?
Of the few girls I've known to game, here are the similarities presented between them (sample size is about 7 individuals, age ranging from 16-29)
The Sims - We used to joke about nesting instinct gone crazy, but I'd be damned if I haven't met a woman who doesn't enjoy the sims. I enjoy it, but I can't spend more than forty-five minutes playing it. My older sister played it for literally 8 hours one day - and she's usually someone to be a busy body (one of the top wedding planners in the state, master's in a couple of things, flippin' genius who would work rather than sleep). But it anchored her down something fierce.
Pokemon - Every single one of them loved pokemon (strangely enough, they shared a favorite - Eevee. But I'm willing to chalk that up to coincidence).
Silent Hill 2 - Every woman I introduced this to immediately fell in love with it. Maybe it's something about the story, but once I explained the intricacies of the design and what all the characters represented, they were hooked. Maybe there is something in the context that women can easily relate to? I'm not sure. But I'm a guy and loved the Hell out of that game, so maybe it just kicks ass regardless of gender.
Rock Band - I think almost everyone likes this game, so who knows if this counts? It's an excellent party game, and it's probably the easiest way to ease a girl into gaming if you want to, or to get anyone into gaming period. It's cooperative, social, and there is a preestablished cultural basis in there (popular music).
Now I'm not sure exactly what little girls are playing, as I don't have any younger female siblings/cousins/nieces in my life. I'd assume it would be the super girly stuff, if only because the marketing is so incredibly geared towards them and that any little kid is susceptible to marketing at that young an age.
But that's just my two cents. Hope I helped a little.
If anything, this thread has just made me really interested in Style Savvy
I've aded it to my evergrowing wishlist (46 so far!)
As a girl, I admit to playing things like Pokemon (playing SoulSilver right now) and RPGs (ones like Final Fantasy, TWENY, Lost Odyssey, Dragon Quest, Persona 4 and Mass Effect) and platformers and puzzle games like Tetris and Lumines. I generally don't go for scary games (prefer to watch others play them) or shooters and I don't go for the stuff aimed at little girls like the Hannah Montana and Imagine games (maybe it's because I'm 27).
We, the savvy gamer, often strive to see our pastime elevated to art. Whether it be art for arts sake, or simply legitimate form of literature, we often find it ripe with potential, and often succeeding, while fundamentally forgetting something.
Dude, check out this latest shooter, its got maps that're better than counterstrike! I'm gonna get all my buddies to buy it!
And so the question becomes, is the "female gamer" doomed to the same issue? Is it really so insulting to see the common, actually selling, actually marketable product not be what you, the savvy elite, might like?
But its pretty and it has puppies and I think I can get that outfit put together!
I posit that the genders are equal in this, you simply have something to bitch about for your side, now, too.
I've known maybe a dozen of other female gamers, and their gaming tastes have pretty much covered every genre. I know one autistic adult female who does play a lot of "girl games", and my two young nieces get the occasional one as gifts. I don't know if they asked for them or not.
As for me: I'm 31-year-old female and I have around 200 games. I've been playing for all my life. In my game collection, I'd say roughly 5% are games that probably have been made with the assumption that the player is most likely female (ex: Syberia, MillionHeir), but are not advertised as female only games. I have a few games that are "girl games" and marketed as such.
One is the original Babyz for the PC. It's actually funny that I like this game because I honestly don't like real babies at all, and I have no desire to be a mother.
The rest are horse games. I used to go riding when I was a teen, but nowadays my life situation (mostly location) makes it impossible, but I do miss the hobby sometimes. A friend of mine gave me a horse game as a gift a few years back, and I liked the nostalgia trip so much that I ended up buying several more. My favorite series is Horse Life for the DS. The gameplay is a mixture of Nintendogs and Elite Beat Agents, and it's actually pretty good. It's really easy and short, but the gameplay works and the graphics and animation are top-notch for the DS.
No doubt the biggest problems with "girl games" is with the quality, as well as with the assumption that girls are a unified group with stereotypical interests. But there are more. One is that if certain types of games are labeled as "girl games", they also get labeled as "not boy games", which limits the choices for boys as well. If you make a pink section for baby games, you are suggesting that girls are supposed to be interested in motherhood... and boys are not supposed to be interested in fatherhood. If a boy would like to buy a game about horse riding (there are riding boys and men as well!), they have to buy a game in a pink box.
Another problem is that some games are not being taken seriously for no other reason than the fact that they are for girls. Not all girl games are bad, but they are always assumed to be. Girl games don't usually even get reviewed, and even those rare reviews are nearly always terribly patronizing and treat the game as a joke.
...
- the sims... it is like crack to them
- ff iv there is a universal love for it
- fallout 3
(survey size is roughly 12 women 16-45)
I cannot emphasize the truth of this statement enough. Though my sample size is smaller (3), the depth of their fervor for the Sims is truly a force to behold. They own every single expansion. They have probably logged more hours in that game than I did in warcraft 3.. and that is saying something.
Finnbarr on
~Finnbarr
Statement: Just a simple droid, here, ma'am. Nothing to see. Move along.
1. My cousin was a fan of Final Fantasy/RPG games ever since we were in middle school
2. Cousin: See above. Mom: PC "Puzzle" games but hates anything timed. Card games, tile games, hunt for item games, logic games. Gave her my old DSL and likes playing Cooking Mama and Nintendogs. Girl above me in dorms: Counterstrike. Anime-loving Friend: Touhou, visual novels. Another friend: Chinese RPGs, Wii. Sort-of-friend/acquaintance: Kingdom Hearts, World End with You, a little more mainstream stuff basically. Another acquaintance/friend: Sims. Everyone else who plays games: Facebook games like Farmeville or Restaurant city. Oh, also girls on MMOs, not that common but I've met the gamut, including a grandmother.
3. Cooking Mama is probably the only game. They will not touch Barbie Pony Montanna.
I know this isn't typical, but my 6 nieces - ranging from ages 18-6, all love the Grand Theft Auto series, the God of War series and Mordern Warfare 2. The older girls are also fond of Madden 2010. My 6 year old niece has beaten God of War and God of War 2, and is playing through God of War 3. I showed my 12 year old niece Brutal Legend and she loves it and the metal soundtrack it plays to.
Before I got them their PS3, they also played the shit out of Rock Band. They also have a Wii, where various activity games such as Wii Sports and Mario Party saw a lot of gametime. They're just now getting into New Super Mario Bros Wii.
From what I observed, they tend to gravitate towards games that promote multiplayer, though this could just be a sister thing and not neccessarily a "girl" thing. The only one I've noticed playing video games solo is the 6 year old, who also has a DS.
My two sisters - one 22, the other 31, dont play video games, but will sometimes succumb to the Wii. Mostly they play Facebook flash games, or Sims.
Only female in my family I know play games fairly regularly (wife) mostly just plays Farmville, and other random games on facebook. She also has Bejeweled, Deal or No Deal, and Wheel of Fortune. She rarely touches those, but she'll check farmville every 20 minutes. Honestly it almost worries me.
Glad this topic got back to "What games do girls play".
Offer a wide range of games to varied interests (actually having some female developers would help here), and they’ll choose what they want. Shockingly enough that’ll differ.
The one time there's an attractive female involved in a game, they make sure to know that an attractive female had been involved in a game.
Offer a wide range of games to varied interests (actually having some female developers would help here), and they’ll choose what they want. Shockingly enough that’ll differ.
The one time there's an attractive female involved in a game, they make sure to know that an attractive female had been involved in a game.
Eh, there are a lot more female devs/writers/graphic-people out there than there used to be. Jade Raymond aside, you usually only see them in the dev team pictures, just like everybody else. They're still the vast minority, but it's certainly better than the days when you could count the number of female game devs on one hand.
SwashbucklerXX on
Want to find me on a gaming service? I'm SwashbucklerXX everywhere.
Rock Band
Mario Kart
Phoenix Wright
Professor Layton
Katamari
Portal
Pokemon
Arkanoid
From what I hear these all seem to be pretty common picks. It seems that the common denominator here is accessibility and gentle learning curve. Complexity/difficulty seems to be a non-issue as long as the controls are intuitive and easy to grasp -- the easiest way for her to lose interest is when she thinks "I'm not good at this!" because she's trying to remember a bunch of button combinations (fighting games = not my-girlfriend-friendly). Building complexity upon a simple interface works really well though... she's a mean drummer on Rock Band, and has "practiced" to the point that she can 5 star many songs I can barely 3-star.
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I'd have to say from the women/girls I know, including my sisters and my friends' wives, there seems to be a predominance of platformer/adventure and RPG. But while they are similar in concept to other platformers, I have not seen women play games such as Prince of Persia or God of War. Furthermore, it seems like there is more Mario Kart than Burnout or Gran Turismo. I do see a lot of simulation play, whether Sims, Harvest Moon or any number of Facebook sims.
So if I was going to make a completely biased, unscientific, anecdotal assessment of the games I see women play, I would say they do seem to play the same genres as anyone else, but primarily there is a tendency towards the "stylized" graphics and away from "realistic."
My mother (retirement age) had a severe Pac-Man crush... on the 2600. She was vidja game free until around five years ago when she started playing the electronic versions of Yahtzee. A couple years ago I recommended that she try out a DS since the screen would be full color and a helluva lot easier to read and rechargeable and such. She's now hooked on it and the TouchMaster series of minigames. I think it's awesome that she knows her way around a GameStop now.
My better half (30s) owns the Wii and I bought her a DS. She goes for Zelda, puzzle games (Layton), the LEGO games, and anything Harry Potter. She has a history with Mario on SNES and such.
Her daughter (nearly tween) had a DS before any of the rest of us and goes for a lot of the kiddie fare like Hannah Montana, Zack & Cody, Petz. Other titles include Cooking Mama, The Simpsons, and Club Penguin. On the PC she loves the various child-targeted on-line games: Club Penguin, Toontown Online, Webkinz. (Man some of those game tick me off with their "gotta log in nearly daily or your in-game pets will DIE" crap. Seems like setting up kids for bad habits or failure.) She asks for help whenever she gets stuck in a game from her mother or me. Whenever we're all in GameStop there's a lot of "You know what I wish? I wish I could get <insert so and so game here>."
Oo\ Ironsizide
I will tell you about a few cases that I remember for the sole reason that they were purchases that went against the norm.
1. I sold 2 copies of Halo 3 to women that actually wanted to play the game. Other women bought it but I always asked questions that led to "it's for my bf, dad, friend, son, etc".
So two copies to women vs the roughly 100 I personally sold to men.
2. One woman bought Black for ps2 to play.
3. One bought a Cabela's game.
4. I sold several Devil May Cry 4's to females.
5. Several women bought Mass Effect and Bioshock.
Now I would say that I sold 10-15 "GAMES NOT FOCUSED SPECIFICALLY TOWARDS WOMEN" over the entire year I worked there to gamer girls.
The other thousands of women I sold games to bought, get this: games geared towards women. Like Cooking Mama, Animal Crossing, My Little Pony, PETZ, DOGZ, CATZ, LLAMAZ, ect.
So in conclusion: You may not like the fact they have a section geared towards females with cutesy female games, but that is in fact what 99% of females bought. If you want to change that attitude then you need convince women to stop buying those games and pick up GOW3 instead.
Chicks LOVE kingdom hearts.
Not going to read through five pages, but this pretty much sums it up. I'm not to sure where the confusion here is coming from - Twilight, Hannah Montana, Bratz, etc are huge. Whether "girls" are being programmed into this stuff or not, its not rocket science that tailoring games for young adults already tapped into that market is a good business move.
And we're talking about KIDS games. If these games were directed towards adult WOMEN, then sure - we'd have a problem. However I do not know too many adult women - age 20 and above - walking into an EB and asking for the latest Hannah Montana game.
Second, I wonder which is more sexist: assuming that all girls want to play these girl games, or the thought that there is something wrong with that if they do. I'm not trying to be hostile or pick on you, but just addressing the terminology, why do girls need to be convinced that they should play God of War 3? Shouldn't they be able to play whatever they want?
I've heard Style Savvy on the DS is actually a lot of fun, despite supposedly being a "girl game." Should we be out convincing guys to buy it? Is there something less than ideal about a world where they don't?
My girlfriend plays a lot of Civilization and The Sims on her own. She likes pretty much any Co-op game that she can play with me, like Left 4 Dead (one and two), Borderlands, Diablo, Neverwinter Nights, any Infinity Engine game, Spellforce, Two Worlds, etc. She also likes Professor Layton and Plants versus Zombies. She wasn't really interested in the Final Fantasy series, despite my pokings, although she has given it a decent try. She doesn't like games which make you sit and watch anime movies or cutscenes without any interaction for 30 minutes at a time.
I know several female co-workers who enjoy a panoply of games from Gears of War to Oblivion to Call of Duty, etc.
My girlfriend may be a bit of an outlier, but I know of NO girls that actually like "Pony Riding Xtreme" or "Hair Dressup EX Plus Alpha" or any of those games.
Yes. The industry and the gamers it's catering to could use a little bit of Style Savvy to counter the machismo.
Even so, you still encounter what's called the Pink Aisle. Some places might 'get' how to display for women gamers, but most simply don't. It will take a long time and probably still not amount to much to change the perception of game players who are female.
That said, I really don't get that many girls/women buying games for themselves. Mostly they come in to pick something up for their sons/boyfriends/husbands/what have you. A few recent female customers have grabbed stuff like the new Pokemon, FFXIII, and Heavy Rain. Aside from that, the tragically few female gamers I've known personally have been hugely into the survival horror genre. Resident Evil and Silent Hill especially. Also, one of them was borderline obsessed with the Metal Gear Solid series. Beyond that, I can't offer much input.
If a game could teach me about fashion in an entertaining way, I would play it. It's ludicrous to me that discussing clothes is a "girl thing." Everybody cares about their looks, and clothing is an important part of that.
Anyway, the girls I know are very much like me: their gaming tastes are varied. Heck, I know two girls that really like BloodRayne.
How bout getting forums hooked on Robot Unicorn Attack as a stepping stone?
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I miss her she was actualy sane.
Edit: Realy though the games in question are marketed more for the "tween" demographic. The age group that is more or less responsable for the success of disneys teorist actions known to some as music.
1. For little girls, it's about half licensed games/overly girly stuff and about half the popular family-friendly stuff (Mario cleans up here). If parents are buying, it gets way more Imagine, other girly things heavy.
2. With teenage girls and up it's pretty much family friendly games---Mario Kart kills here, as did both the "main" Mario titles. Rhythm games also pretty popular--and in my experience I had almost as many asking about DDR as I did GH/RB. There were exceptions, girls who came in to get quirky RPG's and such, but pretty rare all in all.
As to the women I know who game, no women in my family do so on a regular basis. I used to take turns playing Mario Bros with some of my female cousins but that's really about it. None of my college friends played anything on a regular basis, though they'd occasionally join in if we were playing Monkey Ball or something, but that was rare.
My friend's wife loves Katamari Damacy, Mario Kart, Bust a Move, and Harry Potter games. though I think in all honesty she plays more Snood than anything else.
Oo\ Ironsizide
My Sister (40) plays the Lego games, RB/GH, and a little bit of Mario. She mainly plays wii, but I've seen her give PS2 and 360 a chance.
My niece (13) plays anything she can get her hands on. She loves her DS/Wii, but really will play just about anything. Does pretty well too.
PSN = PessimistMaximus
It's fun and addicting. Search for the official thread to get a better idea.
If so, they made a console version?
Put some god damn Pokemon on that shelf and everyother game that's popular in that age group. I never once met a girl who enjoys 'cooking mama' more then 'Poke-samegameyoubeenplayingofr12yearsnow-mon'. It seems like the 'cooking mama' niche market is mostly filled with twenty something guys.
I love Robot Unicorn Attack...
PSN = PessimistMaximus
The Sims - We used to joke about nesting instinct gone crazy, but I'd be damned if I haven't met a woman who doesn't enjoy the sims. I enjoy it, but I can't spend more than forty-five minutes playing it. My older sister played it for literally 8 hours one day - and she's usually someone to be a busy body (one of the top wedding planners in the state, master's in a couple of things, flippin' genius who would work rather than sleep). But it anchored her down something fierce.
Pokemon - Every single one of them loved pokemon (strangely enough, they shared a favorite - Eevee. But I'm willing to chalk that up to coincidence).
Silent Hill 2 - Every woman I introduced this to immediately fell in love with it. Maybe it's something about the story, but once I explained the intricacies of the design and what all the characters represented, they were hooked. Maybe there is something in the context that women can easily relate to? I'm not sure. But I'm a guy and loved the Hell out of that game, so maybe it just kicks ass regardless of gender.
Rock Band - I think almost everyone likes this game, so who knows if this counts? It's an excellent party game, and it's probably the easiest way to ease a girl into gaming if you want to, or to get anyone into gaming period. It's cooperative, social, and there is a preestablished cultural basis in there (popular music).
Now I'm not sure exactly what little girls are playing, as I don't have any younger female siblings/cousins/nieces in my life. I'd assume it would be the super girly stuff, if only because the marketing is so incredibly geared towards them and that any little kid is susceptible to marketing at that young an age.
But that's just my two cents.
Naw, DS only. I swore I quoted you. Here's the thread:
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=102783&highlight=style+savvy
I'll probably grab it when the 3DS comes out
I've aded it to my evergrowing wishlist (46 so far!)
As a girl, I admit to playing things like Pokemon (playing SoulSilver right now) and RPGs (ones like Final Fantasy, TWENY, Lost Odyssey, Dragon Quest, Persona 4 and Mass Effect) and platformers and puzzle games like Tetris and Lumines. I generally don't go for scary games (prefer to watch others play them) or shooters and I don't go for the stuff aimed at little girls like the Hannah Montana and Imagine games (maybe it's because I'm 27).
I'll get desperate one day, I'm sure
Dude, check out this latest shooter, its got maps that're better than counterstrike! I'm gonna get all my buddies to buy it!
And so the question becomes, is the "female gamer" doomed to the same issue? Is it really so insulting to see the common, actually selling, actually marketable product not be what you, the savvy elite, might like?
But its pretty and it has puppies and I think I can get that outfit put together!
I posit that the genders are equal in this, you simply have something to bitch about for your side, now, too.
And most of the women I know either don't care at all about games or just like Popcap stuff.
The most gamey stuff any of them ever liked was The Sims.
As for me: I'm 31-year-old female and I have around 200 games. I've been playing for all my life. In my game collection, I'd say roughly 5% are games that probably have been made with the assumption that the player is most likely female (ex: Syberia, MillionHeir), but are not advertised as female only games. I have a few games that are "girl games" and marketed as such.
One is the original Babyz for the PC. It's actually funny that I like this game because I honestly don't like real babies at all, and I have no desire to be a mother.
The rest are horse games. I used to go riding when I was a teen, but nowadays my life situation (mostly location) makes it impossible, but I do miss the hobby sometimes. A friend of mine gave me a horse game as a gift a few years back, and I liked the nostalgia trip so much that I ended up buying several more. My favorite series is Horse Life for the DS. The gameplay is a mixture of Nintendogs and Elite Beat Agents, and it's actually pretty good. It's really easy and short, but the gameplay works and the graphics and animation are top-notch for the DS.
No doubt the biggest problems with "girl games" is with the quality, as well as with the assumption that girls are a unified group with stereotypical interests. But there are more. One is that if certain types of games are labeled as "girl games", they also get labeled as "not boy games", which limits the choices for boys as well. If you make a pink section for baby games, you are suggesting that girls are supposed to be interested in motherhood... and boys are not supposed to be interested in fatherhood. If a boy would like to buy a game about horse riding (there are riding boys and men as well!), they have to buy a game in a pink box.
Another problem is that some games are not being taken seriously for no other reason than the fact that they are for girls. Not all girl games are bad, but they are always assumed to be. Girl games don't usually even get reviewed, and even those rare reviews are nearly always terribly patronizing and treat the game as a joke.
I cannot emphasize the truth of this statement enough. Though my sample size is smaller (3), the depth of their fervor for the Sims is truly a force to behold. They own every single expansion. They have probably logged more hours in that game than I did in warcraft 3.. and that is saying something.
Statement: Just a simple droid, here, ma'am. Nothing to see. Move along.
2. Cousin: See above. Mom: PC "Puzzle" games but hates anything timed. Card games, tile games, hunt for item games, logic games. Gave her my old DSL and likes playing Cooking Mama and Nintendogs. Girl above me in dorms: Counterstrike. Anime-loving Friend: Touhou, visual novels. Another friend: Chinese RPGs, Wii. Sort-of-friend/acquaintance: Kingdom Hearts, World End with You, a little more mainstream stuff basically. Another acquaintance/friend: Sims. Everyone else who plays games: Facebook games like Farmeville or Restaurant city. Oh, also girls on MMOs, not that common but I've met the gamut, including a grandmother.
3. Cooking Mama is probably the only game. They will not touch Barbie Pony Montanna.
Switch: US 1651-2551-4335 JP 6310-4664-2624
MH3U Monster Cheat Sheet / MH3U Veggie Elder Ticket Guide
Before I got them their PS3, they also played the shit out of Rock Band. They also have a Wii, where various activity games such as Wii Sports and Mario Party saw a lot of gametime. They're just now getting into New Super Mario Bros Wii.
From what I observed, they tend to gravitate towards games that promote multiplayer, though this could just be a sister thing and not neccessarily a "girl" thing. The only one I've noticed playing video games solo is the 6 year old, who also has a DS.
My two sisters - one 22, the other 31, dont play video games, but will sometimes succumb to the Wii. Mostly they play Facebook flash games, or Sims.
Glad this topic got back to "What games do girls play".
I lent her my 360 for a month and 20+ games and that's the only game she played. She bought her own 360 and now still only plays SCIV. Go fig.
She loves the characters style. Being able to customize characters helps bigtime too. It is the easy to get into gameplay that hooked her though.
The one time there's an attractive female involved in a game, they make sure to know that an attractive female had been involved in a game.
Eh, there are a lot more female devs/writers/graphic-people out there than there used to be. Jade Raymond aside, you usually only see them in the dev team pictures, just like everybody else. They're still the vast minority, but it's certainly better than the days when you could count the number of female game devs on one hand.
Rock Band
Mario Kart
Phoenix Wright
Professor Layton
Katamari
Portal
Pokemon
Arkanoid
From what I hear these all seem to be pretty common picks. It seems that the common denominator here is accessibility and gentle learning curve. Complexity/difficulty seems to be a non-issue as long as the controls are intuitive and easy to grasp -- the easiest way for her to lose interest is when she thinks "I'm not good at this!" because she's trying to remember a bunch of button combinations (fighting games = not my-girlfriend-friendly). Building complexity upon a simple interface works really well though... she's a mean drummer on Rock Band, and has "practiced" to the point that she can 5 star many songs I can barely 3-star.