Developers and marketing to the female gamer - DNF vs GoW3

[deathtoll]

With the recent release of Duke Nukem Forever and the sexist attitude it (deliberately) portrays. Does this show us that these publishers and developers are not interested in catering to the female market at all?

 

On the other hand. I have been looking at the development and promotion screenshots for Gears of War 3 for some time now and, with the addition of female COG soldiers, it has become clear to me that Epic Games is looking to tap into the female gamer market.

 

It is plainly obvious that Duke Nukem Forever is clearly not aimed at the female market. I don't think I need to give any details here.

 

Allow me to elaborate on the reason why I believe the GoW3 screenshots gave me this impression. The artwork for the Gears characters is dramatically different from 1 & 2.

1. You'll notice that the models show lots of bare upper arm, as well as showing more of the neck and neckline.

2. The armour on the Gears models is also more streamline and much less "chunky" than previous games.

3. Inclusion of female Gears that are NOT in scantily clad armour.

 

I realise that each game is marketed to different demographics. But with GoW always seen as a man's game these changes seem subtlety different, so much so that most people might not notice the direction the developers seem to have taken.

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

The female market? I'd tap that.

[Strangelove]

I dont know, do women like bromances as much as dudes?

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

In all seriousness, though, it's possible that's what they were going for, but just because the women aren't scantily clad doesn't mean their inclusion wasn't targeted at attracting more guys. The general aesthetic and costume design really wouldn't mesh well with chicks in metal bikinis running around on the battlefield, so the more conservative dress style makes sense.

 

Then again, this is Epic Games we're talking about here.

[Mr W Phallus]

Hmm well to be honest a part of me thinks, is it really the characters that are attracting a female gamer to a game like Gears of War? Someone playing GoW is most likely in one of two categories: 1) a (male) teenager attracted to the game because blood and gore is 'cool' or 2) a 'hardcore' (as opposed to a 'casual') gamer. Now what attracts a 'hardcore' gamer to a game like GoW? In my experience the campaigns of GoW 1&2 are pretty good, the story is passable for stringing the campaign levels together but what I'm mostly purchasing the game for is the multiplayer. In short, I'm not buying the game for the story or the characters at all but for the gameplay mechanics. So in terms of attracting female gamers, as opposed to a female who owns or has access to a console and occasionally plays on it but is most likely never going to pick up a 'hardcore' title like GoW, I'm not sure the former will particularly care who the character they play as is, as long as the gameplay mechanics are solid.

 

That is not to say, however, that the introduction of female characters (especially if their characterisation is good) will go unnoticed, just that in terms of the type of person playing GoW (and while I'm using GoW as an example here, this applies to any game really which is aimed at 'hardcore' gamers) the issue will only ever be the cherry on top of good gameplay mechanics.

 

As for games which appeal to a more traditional 'sugar and spice and all things nice' stereotype of femininity, the growth of the casual market has given us plenty of games which are, if not directly marketed towards a female demographic, are definitely gender neutral (plenty of examples to be found in Nintendo's catalogue, I won't bother naming any since I don't play a lot of them and might inadvertently pick a bad example).

Edited June 21, 2011 by Mr W Phallus

[deathtoll]

Yes, I suppose in the case of GoW3 it may be just down to catering to the female "hardcore" (I hate that word) gamer, and simply trying to grab a few more sales while not endangering the sales to the GoW fans and male gamers in general.

 

My wife has been enjoying playing GoW2 with me, even though she has trouble with the controls due to only ever being a Nintendo gamer, and never once mentioned anything about the graphic violence or any other part of the presentation of the game. I would be interested to see her reaction to DNF.

 

Perhaps I'm turning this into a GoW thread, but I wanted to use it as an example.

[RockyRan]

You'd be surprised how many female gamers there are out there. Some chick who I could've sworn knew nothing about gaming casually brought up on Facebook something about her Gears addiction.

 

Of course it's probably not a common sight but I get consistently surprised at the breadth of gaming's appeal myself

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

Yup. Games are simply engaging; in my personal opinion, they are more compelling than film or television a lot of the time. Though for some reason they seem to evoke a response more often or more commonly in males, there is no reason a woman can't be engaged by a game just as much as a man can.

 

My wife, for instance, never played many games aside from the occasional casual PC game and some old NES titles, yet for some reason Twilight Princess dragged her in and she beat the thing a couple times before I ever got around to it. Similarly, she reluctantly tried Left 4 Dead splitscreen on my PC at my beseeching, and now she's got more Steam hours logged in it than I do. There are certain games that just push certain people's emotional triggers, no matter their gender.

[deanb]

I'll post a tad more in-depth later but:

http://www.interpretllc.com/new-media-measure-interpretations.php?rid=57

And summary of said report:

http://www.industrygamers.com/news/women-remain-the-ignored-audience-in-gaming/

[Cyber Rat]

I thought the only games girls play were Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2. Although I'm suspecting there will be interested in Mass Effect 3 now as well.

 

 

In all seriousness, if the game intends to go for macho characters, complaining it doesn't cater to the female audience is like me complaining that Kirby doesn't cater to my needs for a mature storyline. It's the game's aesthetics and no one should hold that choice against it, in my opinion.

 

[WTF]

Dude don't drag me into Gaming is for Men! -.-

 

Jokes aside, generally most women have insane puzzlebrains. I know I can see and figure patterns but my wife give her lumines, chime, etc and she gets to a near autistic state of perfection/zen. We both know it and joke about it from time to time. When it comes to action-ey games she's rarely inclined to play the game but is much satisfied to see me play the game (With the exception of titles like Alice). I know that tastes may vary but I noticed that most women do like good game aesthetics and then there are those that love really terrible B plot horror games because they're fun.

My wife plays a lot of RPGs on the Wii and PS3 and adventure games on the PC. I think publishers cater to the female market of various demographics quite easily. I know many women who were really good at FPS team deathmatch games when I was growing up but now they just find it dull and boring and prefer adventure games to those. It's a matter of taste really.

I've always come across women who love RPGs particularly with Bishi designs.

I've come across women who like horror/survival games. Women who loved the Tombraider games and that style. So on and so forth.

 

In general, this is what I believe. Women just like men love games and different women have different tastes. And you don't really need to tailor a game to a female audience. You just need to make a good game with decent gameplay that has various difficulty settings (Wife plays DMC on easy but I know of women who play DMC on dante must die mode with ease) and an engaging story or storyworld or characters. It does not need to be tailor made to any gender specific audience.

We don't all listen to the same music, but we can still be music lovers right? it's the same thing really. You really don't need a strong female protagonist to attract a female audience. In fact you need that to attract certain cerebral male gamers. For instance I always make female characters when I play customise your game games, and I loved titles like The Longest Journey, Beyond Good and Evil and so on. My wife sort of liked BG&E but doesn't feel like returning to the universe and hence I've not bought the HD version yet whereas I enjoyed it for some reason (realised it recently too) and would like to revisit it when I've time. I think women are fine with it really.

 

As for Gears, the novels were written by a woman. In fact she had a strong say in crafting that storyworld so there should come as no surprise. Karen Traviss is good with fiction like that.

 

Honestly I'm not surprised that there are so many female gamers. Hell I've dated many to know that they've always been there. I'm only surprised if they say they've never played anything which is an obvious lie because they're trying to hide something. Most women I've come across have played something or the other. Guess it depends on your culture too I suppose. I should post that picture of Mila Jovovich playing SMB with two controllers some time

 

Also say what you will - I do know some people who while finding it a bit odd ended up playing DNF and enjoyed it and were women too. I know they went over the top and the game was a frankenstein's monster but sometimes you just need to see it for what it is really and that it really was an abomination. I've not played it personally though.

[deathtoll]

Wow! This has been some great input! Thanks for all the comments!

 

It has been good to see how the "other half" plays and WTF made some great points. I didn't even know that the Gears books were written by a woman. This just goes to show how gaming really has matured over this last decade or so.

 

I hope this thread can encourage some comments from female gamers about their feelings about how developers are catering to the female or combined market. As far as I can see the comments have only been from a male perspective.

[deathtoll]

OMG! This is quite a coincidence and just too freaky for me.

 

I did a Google search on "Games and Girls: Video Gaming’s Ignored Audience", the title of the article Deanb posted, and sure enough there's been a whole lot of articles across the web about this exact same issue. And, no, I never knew about this article at the time I created this thread.

 

http://www.left4deadforums.com/33365-women-remain-ignored-audience-gaming.html

http://games.slashdot.org/story/11/06/22/0322226/Women-Remain-the-Ignored-Audience-In-Gaming

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/do_video_game_developers_ignore_women_gamers.php

 

Judging by the date most of the articles, that appear after a Google search, this report must have been brought to the attention of the press around the 16th of June.

 

Cue the Twilight Zone theme...

[AgamemnonV2]

Great first post. I should start a thread where I wonder if video games are far too violent and use Postal 2 as an example.

[Faiblesse Des Sens]

I laughed

[deathtoll]

Oh well, as long as it entertains. This first post will now go VIRAL!