/mood_sarcastic I hope that helps with the people taking me seriously...
We are always complaining about how WoW changed MMO's and the MMO market.. but what good things has WoW done for us?
Among other things (unimportant things like making the market profitable enough for top end game makers to keep creating MMO's for us) WoW has brought more REAL girls to MMO's!! now slightly fewer of the females you see in game are sweaty old men!
Proof you say? go to my web profile www.myspace.com/ravensong3 .. scroll down until you see the big pic that says "gamer" at the top, this is my girlfriend and she LOVES WoW and EQ2. She made this pic to model her new warcrackwear.com t-shirt . Scroll down a little further to my top friends and notice the second one.. Amy Lee. She is a huge WoW fan as well... and now an MMO gamer for life thanks to WoW... but be careful this one (she's actually our neighbor) is still underage!
1. You have a kickin personal web site! I wasn't expecting the music LOL! Great song BTW, you couldn't have picked a better choice
2. It's more of a case that "Blizzard has brought more REAL females into online gaming. After Blizzard created WoW, those females came into WoW.". If you go to a PC Bang (aka "Internet Cafes" in non-Asian communities) you will see up to 50% of the gamers are females, playing Blizzard games. Especially Diablo 2. Many of the most hardcore Diablo 2 players are females.
I still agree with your point though.
3. UO was the first mmorpg to noticeably bring in enough female online gamers. Then EQ (many guild leaders were female!). AO next increased the amount of female online gamers (mostly European females). Next cSWG insanely increased the amount of Females in mmorpgs. Many of the game features strictly catered to female gamers (cSWG was the ONLY mmorpg that allowed players to change their character's looks - hairstyle, etc...- AFTER character creation, as many times as the player wanted.) Players could go to a Professional Hairstylist. The housing in cSWG was unmatched by any mmorpg - basements, balconies - players could hang items for display. The main thing about cSWG that catered towards female gamers, was the tons of professions that were non- combat related. It was possible to play the game, and advance, without being forced to slay a single thing.
WoW does indeed have a noticeable amount of female gamers. But the majority of them were Blizzard fans from Diablo 2, and other Battlenet games. It's all about the culture. ONLY in America are gamers negativly stero-typed (it's gradually changing). In Europe it's not as big a deal. In Asia it's not even thought about. You are more luckier than you will ever know, to have an American gf who enjoys the same things you enjoy!
The most intresting about female gamers, is that they bring a different P.O.V. which makes whatever mmorpg they are playing more enjoyable for everyone. One can learn a ton from them, and they learn from everyone else.
According to studies there are generally more men than women playing games but the number gap is quickly closing in recent years. Women generally prefer more casual styles of gaming while guys generally prefer hardcore gaming styles. In about 20 years time I'd say the numbers will be pretty much even as the next generation gets exposed to more and more gaming.
Survey conducted a few years ago shows 25% of MMO players are female. It's probably more now. That means whenever you join a party out for adventuring, there will be at least 1 female in your party.
There are even more female game developers now. Few years back, you won't be seeing any female game developers. Now...my (previous) boss is a female and producer of the title. And yes, I have been in the gamedev circle for a few months...it just doesn't pay well enough for me to stay there.
Comments
2. It's more of a case that "Blizzard has brought more REAL females into online gaming. After Blizzard created WoW, those females came into WoW.". If you go to a PC Bang (aka "Internet Cafes" in non-Asian communities) you will see up to 50% of the gamers are females, playing Blizzard games. Especially Diablo 2. Many of the most hardcore Diablo 2 players are females.
I still agree with your point though.
3. UO was the first mmorpg to noticeably bring in enough female online gamers. Then EQ (many guild leaders were female!). AO next increased the amount of female online gamers (mostly European females). Next cSWG insanely increased the amount of Females in mmorpgs. Many of the game features strictly catered to female gamers (cSWG was the ONLY mmorpg that allowed players to change their character's looks - hairstyle, etc...- AFTER character creation, as many times as the player wanted.) Players could go to a Professional Hairstylist. The housing in cSWG was unmatched by any mmorpg - basements, balconies - players could hang items for display. The main thing about cSWG that catered towards female gamers, was the tons of professions that were non- combat related. It was possible to play the game, and advance, without being forced to slay a single thing.
WoW does indeed have a noticeable amount of female gamers. But the majority of them were Blizzard fans from Diablo 2, and other Battlenet games. It's all about the culture. ONLY in America are gamers negativly stero-typed (it's gradually changing). In Europe it's not as big a deal. In Asia it's not even thought about. You are more luckier than you will ever know, to have an American gf who enjoys the same things you enjoy!
An excellent site for anyone to browse:
http://female-gamer.com/
http://www.ladygamers.com/ladyhunt/homepages.htm
The most intresting about female gamers, is that they bring a different P.O.V. which makes whatever mmorpg they are playing more enjoyable for everyone. One can learn a ton from them, and they learn from everyone else.
According to studies there are generally more men than women playing games but the number gap is quickly closing in recent years. Women generally prefer more casual styles of gaming while guys generally prefer hardcore gaming styles. In about 20 years time I'd say the numbers will be pretty much even as the next generation gets exposed to more and more gaming.
The Female Liberation Movement.
What? Someone has to say it as this is where this thread is going.
so? girls play games to like my sister in law. its not just wow.
WoW brought more people, period, to MMOs, so of course it probably brought more females to MMOs.
No way to prove it, but it's a reasonable assumption.
CH, Jedi, Commando, Smuggler, BH, Scout, Doctor, Chef, BE...yeah, lots of SWG time invested.
Once a denizen of Ahazi
Survey conducted a few years ago shows 25% of MMO players are female. It's probably more now. That means whenever you join a party out for adventuring, there will be at least 1 female in your party.
There are even more female game developers now. Few years back, you won't be seeing any female game developers. Now...my (previous) boss is a female and producer of the title. And yes, I have been in the gamedev circle for a few months...it just doesn't pay well enough for me to stay there.
Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and consciencious stupidity.