The US is generally regarded as the place to go if you want to innovate and carve out a niche, but games often require big money, at least to market successfully… and big money seems to be hooked on short-term profit.
Tracy Lien of Polygon did a pretty great in-depth examination of the history and development of this trend in video games since their introduction 30+ years ago.
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Hang on. Let’s not forget that most (and I’m generalising here) of the girls/women we know simply aren’t interested in games or geeky movies.
Back when Space Invaders machines were floating around the little girls had the same choice as the little boys to play these games before marketing made it’s impact. I agree that marketing TODAY is targeted at males but that’s based on the marketplace that has developed naturally from those Space Invaders days.
Why do we need to look for more complicated answers?
PS. I hope my post doesn’t come off as sexist. For the record I have a daughter who I’m raising without gender bias. She’s not interested in Barbie dolls or the colour pink and loves computer games, lego and dragons 
Exactly, I remember girls thinking that games were childish. Plus the same male geeks that were playing these games were the same ones making them.
Perhaps if “the fairer sex” got involved instead of just criticising the whole damn time things would be different /sarcasm 
I’m currently playing through Lego Batman, on and off, and boy do I die a lot in that. My brother plays Lego Starwars with his little boy. Meanwhile my sister has a kid who’s one of those horrible League of Legends players that berates their team-mates. She’s 13, and a veteran of Assassin’s Creed and Call of Duty on-line, though mainly with friends from school.
I don’t know that we DO need more variety, I think it’s already out there. If you’re the sort of person (ignoring gender for a moment) that likes a certain type of game, it doesn’t necessarily add anything to throw a triple-A budget at a match 3 or hidden object or sliding puzzle game. But the GTAs and the CODs get the attention because they have massive budgets and millions in marketing. If you can make $231 million dollars a year off a game with a budget that wouldn’t pay the catering bill at Rockstar then why change your formula?
Imagine how much it must have sucked if not only no one cared about you, but if they did it was only as an object to validate themselves!?
My god it would be enough to drive you into a solitary world with no interest in sharing anything with anyone.
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No matter how much we want to make this about certain popular-in-culture concepts of justice, these critiques always fall flat for me because they betray a narrow look at the larger picture. Two quick points: 1) “Gaming Culture” is a term we throw around a ton because “gamers” and “geeks” were a distinct subculture in the past. “Gaming Culture” in 2014 is nothing more than a representation of “Mainstream Culture” considering how gaming and geekery have gone completely mainstream in the last decade. 2) The issue and problem with “women in gaming” is complicated and not a singular topic. In terms of portrayal, the AAA gaming industry has a huge writing problem where they can’t seem to put together a shopping list without power armor and a minigun. Plots and scenes are poorly constructed and all characters tend to suffer from cookie-cutter plotlines and dime-novel characterizations. In games where you generally find better writing, you find better characters of either gender (The Longest Journey being the apex example… and that dev/writing team has a lot of work under their belt).
And just personally, it’s a little iffy, to me, that there’s a big push against harassment in online gaming. It’s not that it isn’t necessary or that harassment isn’t a problem, but that it feels really shitty to see the way the argument has been laid out. If you talk to anyone who has been gaming online from the start, you can hear countless stories of people harassing others for literally any reason under the sun. It must have been back around 2004? but I distinctly recall playing an online shooter and one guy on the team said something like, “hey, let’s work together and win this!” and he was met with ruthlessly constant harassment. “Comeon! Work together, ******!” and the general uninspired tirade of insulting race, class, penis size, sexual orientation… you name it. This has always been a problem but now we’re addressing one aspect at levels of hysterics that make it difficult to take it seriously when so much of the context is downright ignored.
The blinders inherent in thinking that this is 100% about hating women are just distressing. If tomorrow we had 100% female leads in games, we’d still have a problem because writing just isn’t as important as we think it is to most games. We’d end up with 100% women depicted in games we’d still have shallow, simplistic characters relying on tired and simplistic tropes for the vast majority of games. Funny enough, when you find well-written games with a focus on story and character you also tend to find those non-problematic women characters and a more egalitarian approach because the writing and character is simply of better quality.
Hell, the best written and most philosophically fulfilling game I’ve played in the last few years has been “Spec Ops: The Line” which is (for all purposes) 100% men-as-characters and rather gruff. Yet the writing is outstanding and the larger questions raised by the game’s story and your actions as the main character (which are often dripping in moral choice and self-doubt) creates an experience that is emotionally, intellectually and viscerally deep. There’s a writing problem and there’s a harassment problem, but none of these issues are intrinsically based on gender and being a victim of harassment or playing a poorly written story has little to do, at the structural level, with identifying as a certain gender.
If anything, the rash of non-AAA funded games and the explosion of indie developers will help all of this. Complaining about, for example, how EA sucks is like complaining about how Wal-Mart sucks: there’s a generic, uninteresting quality to those huge corporations which disallows for soul to be placed into work/creation. We’re complaining about the very structure of the game publishing industry and proving why top-down, money-over-creative approaches lead to poor service and bad product.
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I don’t mean to imply that the big budget GTA and COD games shouldn’t be made, as I think they have a place and people seem to enjoy them for sure. I more mean that its up to someone (other companies, or some new faces inside the big companies) to research and develop a new successful game formula that appeals to many people regardless of gender. This is what I think would break the cycle of “ladies don’t like games therefore don’t make games for them.” But its hard, and it takes money, and it will be met with some failure for sure. I am only one person with a preference so I know it means less, but if you wanted me to buy more games, then simply putting a woman in the protagonist spot and writing a less misogynist story for a FPS still won’t be appealing to me.
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Like it or not, there is a female version of this intelligent, but physically akward kid, and some of us found the same refuge in our 2600’s. Is our money not green enough to be sought after these days?
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People are arguing Apples and Oranges. There’s no need to change the triple-A big budget, big busts and big guns games that boys predominantly like - those games are for them. Other games are aimed at women, you just haven’t noticed yet because they’re almost embarrassed at how much money they rake in.
I disagree! I think you’re making the same mistake as these game makers and marketing people do; assuming that women like and want games that are very different from “the guy games”. There might be some tiny differences between genders, I don’t know, but there are much more differences between individuals.
It’s easy to look at the games that the majority of women play right now (which are more oriented towards “casual games”, though less and less every year) and assume that’s just the games they, inntely, just want to play. But these top AAA games aren’t very welcoming to women, and I’m not just talking about the terrible online experience - ever notice how the women in most (if there are any to begin with) games have giants boobs, wear next to nothing and have no personality? Heck, I was just playing Civilization Revolution (a game that’s marketed as “gender-neutral” as can be) and two of the three women characters you can play as, including Cleopatra, were wearing skimpy clothing and had their boobs hanging out. These are powerful women leaders we’re talking about!
Yes, men might like boobies (as a bisexual woman, I do too - nothing wrong with that!), but I think it’s insulting to men to assume that they regard women as only sex objects and want their games to only have men characters with personalities. I think the TV show Firefly is an excellent example of characters done right. Firefly is famous for having a very large female fanbase, because the women in the show were so excelently written (and there was still a boobie scene - they aren’t mutally exclusive!). But it wasn’t in any way targeted at women - as a matter of fact, the fans were probably as close to 50/50 as you can get, and it’s considered by many to be the best show ever.
You don’t need to change “military science fiction” into “romance”. Why change the tone of your game to give it broad stroke appeal, if it’s going to actually REDUCE your market?
Women don’t just want romance. That’s pretty insulting to suggest. The game you used as an example - Candy Crash Saga - isn’t very “womanly” as far as the the game mechanics are concerned, anyway. It’s just a casual game - something that’s very easy to pick up, like Peggle or Tetris. That’s why it’s so popular among people who might not otherwise be avid gamers. But I think it’s very important to remember that casual gamer doesn’t equal female, just as hardcore gamer doesn’t equal male.
Pretty much all attempts to make “games for girls” have been disastrous and resulted in terrible games, because - surprise! - girls don’t want their games to be full of make up, glitter, ponies, pink stuff and dating. Some people are into horror games, others like brain-challenging puzzles; some want to travel across vast worlds and see their character grow, others like fast-paced action that tests your reflexes. Whataver they play, women just don’t want to be faced with sexist characters.
I, myself, have been a video game nerd (a so-called "girl gamer) since I was a little kid. I consider myself a nerd in many other ways as well - I’m into coding (with Python) and am a huge science freak - but games have a big place in my heart. I grew up playing Legend of Zelda and Mario on Super Nintendo. My brother, who is 10 years older than me, taught me and my sister to use emulators at a young age, so I was able to also play NES, Genesis, Nintendo 64 and PlayStation, which we otherwise couldn’t have afforded.
I was heavily bullied for years when I was a kid and games were my escape. I remember playing things like Half-Life and when I was going through my toughest time. They saved my life. At one point (I think it was around 2005?) I got obsessed with the online FPS game Unreal Tournament and eventually joined a gaming “clan”, where I first really started to notice the rampant sexism. There weren’t many women tehre - or, more likely, there was but they didn’t want to draw attention to their gender. Wise choice.
I play pretty much everything; FPS games (Deus-Ex, Halo, Portal), Japanese role-playing games (Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy, Pokemon), click-and-point adventure (Grim Fandango, The Longest Journey, Sam & Max), general action (Okami, Silent Hill, God of War), rhythm games (Guitar Hero, Frequency). My sister is also an avid gamer - maybe not quite as much as me, but close. She plays all kinds of games, but she especially enjoys racing games and horror games like Silent Hill, as well as the occasional fun, casual Kinect game.
Now, the issue of misogyny in gaming and geek culture is a different one. Probably related, but tangentially insofar as men have culturally been misogynistic or paternalistic forever so it’s hopelessly disingenuous to blame geeks or gamers when the real crime is being male.
It’s true that misogynism is everywhere. But I would still argue that it’s more rampant in the geek community, because they are more likely to be socially awkward. People who are withdrawn are more likely to find comfort in games and in online communities - it’s certainly true for me. I’ve been diagnosed with social anxiety disorder and I have occasional panic attacks, so I know what it’s like. I’ve made pretty much all my friends online and I also met my SO there (in an online forum, not a dating site).
Once I decided to join a community for people with social anxiety, and you would not believe the amount of sexism I encountered there. It was disgustingly common for men to imply that women have it so much easier and can’t “really” have problems because women can get a man (read: get laid) any time they want! Those same people also spent a lot of time calling women bitches because they were rejected - apparently, whenever encountered with a man who acts nice - regardless of his actual personality, interests, looks and the usual things people look for - a woman is supposed to spread her legs. The last thing a woman should do is want to be friends with a man, or “friendzone’” him - regardless of the fact that most relationships these days start out by being friends. Apparently we women only date douchebags (which is everybody who isn’t you) and only for their looks (men never want a good looking girl, after all), and that makes us heartless bitches who just don’t notice the “nice guy”.
Sorry for the rant… It just frustrated me so much. I would have loved to stayd in the community because I could’ve needed some support, but the sexism was too overwhelming. I don’t believe all those people really HATE women or anything, it’s just their bitterness. It’s amazing what bitterness can do to a person.
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Hang on. Let’s not forget that most (and I’m generalising here) of the girls/women we know simply aren’t interested in games or geeky movies.
Back when Space Invaders machines were floating around the little girls had the same choice as the little boys to play these games before marketing made it’s impact.
It’s true that technically Space Invaders could’ve been played by girls as much as boys. But remember, it wasn’t the kids who bought the consoles and games, it was the parents. And back then, it was even more common to think that all that is technology related is for boys. Fathers bought Commandore 64 for their sons and taught them to write code, thinking that this will be the male occupation of the future.
As far as the “girls just like different things in general” argument, see my reply to Anton P Gully above.
PS. I hope my post doesn’t come off as sexist. For the record I have a daughter who I’m raising without gender bias. She’s not interested in Barbie dolls or the colour pink and loves computer games, lego and dragons smile
I certainly don’t think you’re sexist. Just a little misguided, in my opinion. It’s easy to forget how much we’re affected by the gender stereotypes that have been enforced (either consciously or unconsciously) for ages. Even if things are now changing, peple are used to seeing girls do this and boys do that and assume it’s because it’s natural, not because what is expected of us.
Good for you for raising your daughter without gender bias! It’s really hard to do, isn’t it? Even if you try your best to let them decide and not assume anything, kids are bombarded with messages about gender from ads (which are everywhere these days) and the media. A huge influence is also the kid’s peers - it’s long been assumed that parents are the biggest influence, but we’re just now starting to realize that your peer group affects you just as much, if not even more.
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So what happened to make women feel unwelcome at conventions?
Oh, yeah. Now I remember. Lots and lots of examples over the years spring to mind.
There is a lesson there. Women are interested, but dealing with jerks takes its toll. Maybe it isn’t so much the games in themselves, but the other players one has to deal with in order to play them.
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I would say the relevant issue is sex in general, not hetero or otherwise.
Color me completely normal, but when I look into playing a new game, I’m not thinking about sex. Rippling bodies of any gender are not going to make me more attracted to the game. In fact, as an indicator of focus, they’re more likely to make me turn away from learning more about the game…and I’m a huge fan of rippling bodies in other contexts.
The marketing of games (like so many other consumer items) is done using sex as a primary motivator. It’s as if they don’t know any other way to convince consumers to like what they’re selling.
You don’t think the fact that they spend all of their time in a mostly anonymous physically passive male-only environment is exacerbating the very the things that make them romantically unsuccessful to begin with? That sounds like attempting to cure lead poisoning by chewing on old paint chips.
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I actually think you have a good point in general but I just can’t keep from noting this because I swear that EVERY time something about women comes up you will see the word “hysteric” and people seem not to even notice what they are saying.
This stuff goes deep. And in an argument about how gender is less of a problem than we think, using a word like hysterical to frame the opposing discourse is basically going to trash your whole point.
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Which is the cause and which the effect?
I have teenaged daughters. Let me tell you, teenaged boys aren’t isolated from “the rest of us”: they have significant daily social dealings with girls at school, online, and in the neighborhood. And when they act like jerks to the girls in their social sphere, and then close ranks with each other for assurance that THEY didn’t do anything wrong, it’s hard for a parent to have much sympathy for their “descent into self-pity and resentment”. Especially when we have to deal with the aftermath.
Teenaged boys have no right to expect a girl on their arm no matter how they act towards them. But where did they get that idea in the first place? Rather clever marketing, to convince an entire group that the way to solve the non-problem of not having a beautiful sexual partner by their side at every moment is to get hooked on a game instead.
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It goes deep, and it goes 100% passed-over when it happens to men. We’re saying we want to destroy the “women on a pedestal” trope but our actions keep supporting it over and over again.
There are more ladies than just cheerleaders, though. Not all the girls in your high school were into football players, and I’m guessing that the guys who asked out non-cheerleaders might have got a few dates too.
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For the vast majority - not really. Sure a few who were marginally acceptable might have made the cut with sufficient cultivation, but for the vast majority - they need (1) about another 5-6 years of maturation and (2) about 5-6 years of maturation on the part of the young women so that such assets as they might have become valued.
Otherwise, it’s just constant reinforcement of their self-pity and misogyny. Far better to separate them so that their deficits don’t make both them and us miserable (and they don’t dig themselves further).
I’m old enough that it wasn’t video games, but D&D that kept me from making life miserable for myself and some unfortunate young women. Ten years later, in university, I’d matured sufficiently that I met my wife (through D&D, ironically enough - but I’d have alienated her (and rightfully so, I was awful) if I’d met her in high school.
100% passed over eh? Because we really can’t talk about women here, it needs to be about men.
Umm… look I have a job and I don’t want to play bingo. So let’s just get all the usual out in one list.
So far we have:
"hysterics’
“but what about the men”
“gender is a red herring for the real problems”
Do go on…
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