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General: Female Gamers: Not a Myth
Dana
Member Posts: 2,415
New writer Donna Desborough pens her first editorial for the site and dismisses the sometimes popular belief that girls do not play games. They do and Donna looks at what they like to do and how they differ from their male counterparts.
;) Females and gaming, it happens you know.
We aren't creatures of myth. Female gamers have existed for a lot longer than people think. It's not something that's new, but it is something that games developers are trying to tap. What do girls want out of a game? Now that is the eternal question, to which there is no simple answer. Well, really there is, but it's not as simple as it seems. Female gamers want the same kind of things male gamers want. So, let's go over a few things that female gamers might want from a game, especially an MMO. |
To read her full column click here.
Dana Massey
Formerly of MMORPG.com
Currently Lead Designer for Bit Trap Studios
Comments
I know that a big draw for me is the ability to customize my avatar, is that an important draw for lady gamers as well? (generally speaking).
-Raenz-
Excuse me but one women should know what "female gamers want"? Oh please, its like saying some guy would make an article saying what male gamers want when even in the realitevely small MMORPG genre there are thousands of different views on the best MMORPG. Male or female is too large of a group to generalise like that.
Also from my 10 years experience in MMORPGS female gamers are either reluctant to say that they are female or the portion of female gamers in MMORPGS is quite small compared to male gamers. (Sims Online excluded).
My gaming blog
Being a girl (woman
) gamer since the 80's and the Atari 2600 and Commodore 64. I can tell you want I don't want. I don't want any stupid girly, girl games like I saw on the eb games site once. A shopping game, trumpeting that it was especially for the female gamer. Pulease! I felt like taking a shotgun to the game package. 
I agree one of the most important things is community. When I played Wow we had a guild that had a family feel to it.
I admit that I am not all that gung-ho on fps, I prefer rpg's. But if you were in my house and saw the game selection, I think you would not be able to tell I am a woman from them. I have everything from the Sims and Zoo Tycoon to Baldur's Gate II to Battlefield 1942.
Right now I am obsessed with Oblivion! And I recently preordered Auto Assault. Do not think that you need to single us out to make a "special" game just for us....I can almost guarantee that it will fail.
Julie "Lissette" Myers
Lissette, Lissy, Lyssette etc of LotRO
formally,
Lissette, Lissy, Lyssette etc of DDO
Lyssette of Anarchy Online
Lissette of Shadowbane
Lissette of Asheron's Call
Lissy of World of Warcraft
And many more!
In answer to your question the customisation of your character in an MMORPG is the main pull for myself, my first MMORPG was SWG, and I fell in love with the game for its character creation, best part of the game hands down
Though I wish there were more science fiction MMORPGs out there which weren't copies of Phantasy Star or flighty ones like EVE, which are all good and fun, but I want more science fiction :P Thats what I want out of mmorps ^^
"We could walk right by and she wouldn't be able to stop us."
"Unless we were wearing uh.. metal belt buckles. Then we'd stick to her..."
"In my plan we are beltless"
"Wow!" - Andrew, Johnathen and Warren, Storyteller
As to the equality bit, there is a bit wrong with this topic:
Wanting equality is all well and good... but the reality of it is that it doesn't really exist. I am a fairly expeienced MMORPG gamer: I've played MUDs in additon to UO, EQ, among many others.
Most males can and will tell you that females characters are definitely treated differently than male characters. I have played both (I'm a female in real life) and can say that this is true. I have plenty of male friends who all agree that females are treated differently.
Hell, some of them even have female characters just so that they can gain money/exp/items from a kind male character for whatever reason.
Check this out: http://www.somethingawful.com/articles.php?a=3635
All I can say is this: FFX11
All I can say is this: FFX1
I enjoy games just as much as the typical male. It's the competition, working together for a common goal on a quest, chatting it up about equipment, taking you out with my shotgun in Quake, or just forming online friendships. I'm tired of people trying to put us in a category all of our own. Sure more of us might like the SIMs, but then the SIM's was in a league of it's own with no similar competition when it released.
I can tell you straight up, a female does not want to be treated like a man (we go though harsh stuff with our own sex. You should be proud you can say would you want and not (hope not) get the snot beat out of you). Sorry if that went off a little harsh though.
Female gamers are getting was male games want. It always been that way. Gamplay, Graphics, PVP, Community, etc. Now I got to contemplate about this artical. I read so many "female gamer" articles that I'm about to go blind (not a bad thing). It's just so many simple solutions to these complicated problems.
I read how some females are offended by the sex appeal of video games when they are buying female magazines that talk about sex and sex appeal itself (far beyond any video game). Making them feel bad and not good about how they look on an everyday basis. There has always been female gamers. I would I could get a really good debate on a topic like this to see what some of these females mean or where they are comming from.
Sorry for spelling and grammer.
-In memory of Laura "Taera" Genender. Passed away on Aug/13/08-
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RISING DRAGOON ~AION US ONLINE LEGION for Elyos
Females have played games. They exist. Let it go already. It's one thing to write about female games and quite another thing to verify a "female gamer myth". No use beating a dead horse.`
I agree with you. It's as if some people (or women) think that the rise of female gamers is beginning when it's been there for years.
You are the first female (I think) I ever herd that has mentioned Duke Nukem. I'm guessing you go way back (like my father).
-In memory of Laura "Taera" Genender. Passed away on Aug/13/08-
|
RISING DRAGOON ~AION US ONLINE LEGION for Elyos
-In memory of Laura "Taera" Genender. Passed away on Aug/13/08-
|
RISING DRAGOON ~AION US ONLINE LEGION for Elyos
I agree with you. It's as if some people (or women) think that the rise of female gamers is beginning when it's been there for years.
You are the first female (I think) I ever herd that has mentioned Duke Nukem. I'm guessing you go way back (like my father).
Ack I hope I'm not as old as your father! LOL But yeah I'm in my mid 30's and have been gaming for a while now. I'm addicted, I admit it and I don't ever want to find a cure!
-G
I used to think that perhaps women did want other things from games than men but it simply isn't true. The reasons we women play are just as varied as why men play so there's no magic 'ingredient' to put in games to draw and retain women. Personally, I enjoy mmorpgs, rpgs, and games like CIV as well as the old adventure games. I started playing with no prompting whatsoever as soon as I owned my first pc in 1987 and have been playing mmorpgs since UO. In fact, I rarely watch tv and prefer gaming any day of the week just like my husband and most people I know who are gamers, male and female.
-Tessa
I enjoyed, and agreed with your entire article. I think what some people are missing, is that it is being rehashed because so many still claim that either there are no female gamers or that we can be filed away as only interested in "girlie" things. I would bet its the continued misconceptions from the community that inspired this article.
One thing I would add to what you said about community, is that while yes I enjoy having people there to help me and answer questions, I also really enjoy helping others. In fact, I quite often would go to the noob areas in SWG and help a random person who seemed lost but wasnt spamming for donations or being rude.
Anyway, good comments and enjoyable article.
"The man who exchanges Liberty for Iconic classes is a fool deserving of neither." - Me and Ben Franklin
Women want what everyone wants, a good well designed game that is fun to play.
Donna Desborough
Staff Writer
www.mmorpg.com
Notice: The views expressed in this post are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of MMORPG.com or its management.
Female gamers are not a myth, however, single female gamers are!
In WoW, my two best friends are female gamers. I met them in the game. However, just like any female I've met in WoW, they are married and basically got into the game because their husbands stopped paying attention to them. They started to play WoW to get closer to their husbands and they themselves found out how much they too love the game.
It is human nature for men to treat women differently. Just because we are human beings interacting with each other in a game world should not make any difference. Just like in real life, I would prefer hanging out with females rather than males. I have always gotten along with the opposite sex better. As a result, some people think that the females who hang out with me online are taking advantage of me because they are girls and I'm a guy and they can get whatever they want from me. The truth is, I help out everyone equally, male or female. I don't give things to or help out a female just because she's a female. Most of the time, they just happen to be a friend, who is also female, and so any help/assistance I give them always looks like "Oh he's just helping her because she's a girl."
Lets Eat It!
In the MMO I play I do get treated differantly by some, I think, because I'm female. But to counter that I also get a hell of alot of respect from other gamers because I'm female and the leader of a rather successful guild. So the differant treatment can be varied depending on the person(s) involved. Also differant MMOs help to foster certain kind of responses depending on the overall game attitude. Not to say these games are bad, but differant games create/attract differant attitudes
Donna Desborough
Staff Writer
www.mmorpg.com
Notice: The views expressed in this post are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of MMORPG.com or its management.
http://www.somethingawful.com/articles.php?a=3635
you have to read this!
And a little addition to this after reading an above comment... I am 35 years old and my RL Husband doesn't and has never played Online games. I began playing because my friends were playing and I've always loved computer games, but the online games seem so much more fun because I am able to share my adventures with others. I've been playing computer games since my father brought home his old Commodore 64 and Vic20 years and years ago. Most females that play would probably agree that their playing online games had nothing to do with their husband, but with their own love of the game.
Aspire to Inspire before you Expire...