if you want to see a good example of this look no further then Dora The Explorer, even though we have a animal speaking "explorer" toy they needed a version for boys so we get Diago
The important thing is who is "they"? Do you really think that little boys didn't like the show because it had a female character? The kids didn't really care.
I think the male character was added to appease parents who didn't want their sons watching a girls show.
Dont forget the 58 year old child molester they are also drawn to Hello kitty mmo's.... Joking aside as much as MMOs in general are for guys those that do appeal to the female market seem to be lacking. Had a friend play the other Hello Kitty game stating that the game was unbalanced, rampant with bugs, and other serious faults. Why make a game for a an audience if all your going to state to this audience is that they dont care enough with the game to make it not crap.
Honestly I still don't think we are at the point where Games in general have really breached into the Female culture enough for an MMO to be based on that market. Given 5-10 years you might have a real hit on your hands but at the moment the current female market of MMO players with A) Play the same games as their male counter part and thus why would they need a game based for them. Only play games to play with certain males namely their husbands/boyfriends/ w/e, these people don't really need an mmo for them either just enough of the MMO they are already playing to appeal to them. C) Use MMOs as social forum.
In the end their really isnt an appeal enough to pull on this market, trying to tap into this market as new potential is a good idea but falls short since the majority of Female possible Gamers are not likely to jump to MMOs as their game of choice as their first choice.
To be honest, when I was a young girl, I was more focused on consoles than MMO's, simply because I thought they were more fun. I loved RPG's, and just didn't have the gaming rig to play MMO's. Not once did it occur to me that there was supposed to be a game that was tailored to me. I am going to have to go for you A) I have been playing since I was 7, with my Atari 2800. I don't think we really need a game dedicated just to girls.
We just need for male gamers to not freak out when they find out that there is a girl playing their game and not make the girl feel like they "need to be in the kitchen" which is so stupid and yet so common with forum posts. That way we can recommend games for our other girl friends, and eventually there will be a lot more of us. I know I had a female friend I met at work that even though I was hardcore WoW at the time, I did not recommend it simply because of the playerbase.
In addition, I think there are a lot of games out there that already appeal to girls like the Sonic games just by default, the Wii does a lot of it (I LOVE MY WII!!!), and from there if the female gets hooked, she gets hooked. Simple as that.
I would honestly classify HKO as a game aimed at children . Really when you start to define games as male or female based you lose out on a bigger audience.
As a female player in a gaming world that has always been predominantly male, I don't wish for games to be more "feminine" in the sense of "baking cakes, weddings and dress-up", I'm here to play just like you "guys". I enjoy my share of cute things in games but I am not looking for a game based around this nor have I even been.
Comments
The important thing is who is "they"? Do you really think that little boys didn't like the show because it had a female character? The kids didn't really care.
I think the male character was added to appease parents who didn't want their sons watching a girls show.
To be honest, when I was a young girl, I was more focused on consoles than MMO's, simply because I thought they were more fun. I loved RPG's, and just didn't have the gaming rig to play MMO's. Not once did it occur to me that there was supposed to be a game that was tailored to me. I am going to have to go for you A) I have been playing since I was 7, with my Atari 2800. I don't think we really need a game dedicated just to girls.
We just need for male gamers to not freak out when they find out that there is a girl playing their game and not make the girl feel like they "need to be in the kitchen" which is so stupid and yet so common with forum posts. That way we can recommend games for our other girl friends, and eventually there will be a lot more of us. I know I had a female friend I met at work that even though I was hardcore WoW at the time, I did not recommend it simply because of the playerbase.
In addition, I think there are a lot of games out there that already appeal to girls like the Sonic games just by default, the Wii does a lot of it (I LOVE MY WII!!!), and from there if the female gets hooked, she gets hooked. Simple as that.
I would honestly classify HKO as a game aimed at children . Really when you start to define games as male or female based you lose out on a bigger audience.
As a female player in a gaming world that has always been predominantly male, I don't wish for games to be more "feminine" in the sense of "baking cakes, weddings and dress-up", I'm here to play just like you "guys". I enjoy my share of cute things in games but I am not looking for a game based around this nor have I even been.
-Kaozz
Author of ECTmmo
http://www.ectmmo.com