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A question for women and video gaming

Can the gaming industry do more to cater to women ?

  • Yes

    Votes: 49 35.8%
  • No

    Votes: 88 64.2%

  • Total voters
    137

ZywyPL

Banned
Does it need to? From my experience and observations most women prefer to spend their free time outside, especially now during summer. As for a more passive, indoor activities, if books and movies are any indicator, women simply love romantic stories, affairs, stuff like this, so maybe that's what video games should provide more.
 
As in "candy crush" right? Ok.


And, say, students studying veterinary have become female dominated (90%+), although, they all want to work with cute little thingies, which has become a problem for farmers who happen to need people who can come and cure, you know, cows.

I disagree with the very statement that a gender gap per se is a proof that there is some problem, there might or might not be.

As far as I got your point, it revolves around assumption that a male team cannot create games that cater to female audience.
It might well be true, who has created Sims and endless sequels?

My problem in this area is that women might not be playing games, because, you know what, they are not into that stuff and that's it. (I know plenty of men who are not into it either, by the way, it's not like it's every human being's ting). And even though it might be because women simply are not into spending hours upon hours on gaming every week and hence, even though we might never "fix" that "problem", there will be a bunch of assholes, making un-falsifiable claims, labeling people left and right and terrorizing developers who do not bend to their will (most do bend)

I'm not trying to pigeon hole who can create what but if it's women wanting they're free to create more or work with other to the same end result. The idea that men are to be the mandated saviour just doesn't sit well with me. Happy to play a game designed by whomever.
 

BadBurger

Is 'That Pure Potato'
I think one can look at social media, stuff like Twitch, and the prevalence of female writers and other creators and see that plenty of women already enjoy games the same as guys do. It seems a really outdated notion to think women (and girls) don't enjoy stuff like GTA or Chivalry (AKA violent with toilet humor), or are vastly underrepresented.

Just anecdotally, my fiance plays games more than I do. And with more variety, as I tend to cling onto a single genre for months on end while she plays everything under the sun on any platform. She's several years younger than me but still, she seems pretty representative of women her age. EDIT: Oh, and I'll add my young niece. She's a hardcore PlayStation lover who asks for collector's editions of games while her older sister is asking for dresses and purses.
 
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DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
Definitely think the industry should do more to cater to women:

Case in point, how come there haven’t been any games inspired by Fifty Shades of Gray? Women love that shit. We need more games with powerful men and kinky BDSM stuff to really appeal to the female audience.
 

llien

Member
Male streamer is having a missed opportunity to not show his figure while gaming.
(I'd say, due to differences in mating strategies in our species) male streamer would need to be on the levels of:

sexy men GIF


while male audience finds 85% of women in fertile age attractive or very attractive.
 

NeoIkaruGAF

Gold Member
That problem needs to be solved immediately.
“Let!s force women to get into a forum / discussion they don’t give two shits about because a group of guys WANT their opinion, STAT”.

I’m not sure that sounds so progressive.

If women are really 40% of gamers*, I guess there’s enough stuff they’re interested in playing already.

*this number must have so many caveats behind it, it’s a gross generalization that doesn’t do women who play video games any favour.

What the entertainment industry in general actually needs, is content aimed at an actual public and not just at the creator’s ego.
 

Kamina

Golden Boy
Do ugly boys in games make you feel more included?
I seem to have triggered you. Do they for you then?
They don’t for me. And that isnt ever the problem to begin with as most games feature mostly good looking dudes as main characters.
However, woke game devs seem to think that ugly women as main character are more inclusive.
 
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German Hops

GAF's Nicest Lunch Thief
Definitely think the industry should do more to cater to women:

Case in point, how come there haven’t been any games inspired by Fifty Shades of Gray? Women love that shit. We need more games with powerful men and kinky BDSM stuff to really appeal to the female audience.
You might be joking, but I think those games would actually sell well.
 
video games for females are instagram, snapchat, tiktok, onlyfans, etc.

sometimes you will see women posing with an xbox controller or say they love call of duty lol
 

llien

Member
Do ugly boys in games make you feel more included?

Flaming and all aside, I've actually read a post by a, well, ugly men on this very subject.
Dude was obese.
What avatars he normally chose?
Good looking (not even overweight) women.

The question here is, how far into "let's not harm anyone's feelings" should we go?

In case of women there is this, rather peculiar, phenomena (see "slut shaming" in particular):


Same girl, two outfits (actual scientific paper):

QmaOCbm.jpg


my interpretation of results: women do feel that the left option is a threat.

Note that good looking women are routinely banned from making money from their looks.
The most recent one was F1 essentially firing them.

Who is pushing it? This is how current US Feminist Matriarch looks like:

1024px-Roxane_Gay_in_conversation_with_Rachel_Zellars_-_Montreal_-_2015.jpg


my wife is looking way younger than her actual age, she's also very hot, but even she makes a rather offensive remarks when wife of a friend of mine (and, at least in theory, her friend :)) posts her swimsuit selfie.
 
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Kev Kev

Member
listen man, all were trying to say is its just not practical to play video games while wearing oven mitts and cooking a delicious turkey dinner. thats their problem, not ours
 
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justiceiro

Marlboro: Other M
For girls below 25, i think it's hard to find one that doesn't game regularly, even if just f2p mobas or shooters.
Outside that, the themes are important. Domination generally attracts men, while social interaction attracts more woman( the Sims, etc). That's why MMO in general have a more balanced audience, because they invest in both.
 

DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
You might be joking, but I think those games would actually sell well.
I was saying it in a comedic way, but yeah it’s true. If you look at the kind of entertainment products that women consume, by and large it’s not filled with the sort of SJW-ideal non-sexualized Mary Sue who’s great at everything and outsmarts all the guys.

A lot of it is kind of smutty and is about a woman who uses her femininity to win the devotion of some powerful alpha male. Look at Twilight and Fifty Shades of Gray. Listen to any pop music.

So that makes me really skeptical any time I hear some feminist prescription for how to fix the gaming industry.

IMO if there’s anything keeping women away from gaming, it’s all the sex-starved niceguys with no social skills, whose only area of expertise is video games. They see a girl who likes games and immediately they’re like “oh… oh my god!!! Finally a girl with whom I have something in common!!” Then they creepily shower her with attention and can’t take a hint when she tries to let them down gently.
 
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llien

Member
Here is a collection of articles on the subject of women who play videogames and work in the industry. Happy reading:

Let me bite, links in the given order:

1)
Women Hide Who They Are When They Game Online
A study by an organization that would be irrelevant had they found that there is no issue.

2)
The 20 Highest Earning Pro Female Gamers
So, female plaeyrs, who would be beaten by noname boys, are actually able to make money, when given a gender specific league. OK. Good. And your point was?

3)
Video Gaming as a Gendered Pursuit (Loyola School of Business)
Wow, an actual paper, das ist fantastisch!

So, the conclusion section:

The constructs of sex and gender are fundamentally distinct (Fischer & Arnold, 1994). Sex is a biological category; whereas gender constitutes a collection of characteristics associated with femininity and masculinity (Fischer & Arnold, 1994; Muehlenhard, 2000; Palan, 2001).

This bit is followed by bashing previous authors for being so <insert slur word> for using "sex" and "gender" interchangeably!

This is so... inspiring a study. Thanks for sharing! And the point was? (don't get me wrong, I am really glad I've read that sex and gender are fundamentally distinct)


4)
The Complexities of Being a Female Gamer
"Poor women love gaming, but male conspiracy prevents them from it".
An article.
By a single journalist.
Making "out of my southern part" statements.

5)
Video Games: More Women Play Now Than Teen Boys
More than boys play games, eat this, patriarchy!!!
On the other hand, what was the point again? That we, actually, do not have a problem?

6)
Women in Gaming (Coastline College)
An article. Dedicated to "women history month". With some anecdotal evidence in it.
What was your point again?

7)
These 7 Women Are Leveling the Playing Field Within the Gaming Industry
"41% of games are women."
Well, that's great, is it not? Doh.
So what was the point again?
I thought women were greatly underrepresented and we had to encourage the to play games, yet you show me the stat that is quite close to number of male students enrolling in US colleges.

8)
Women Perform As Well As Men in Spatial-Action Video Games When Accounting For Previous Gameplay Experience
In other words, had women played game more, they would probably beat men.
That's cool.
And your point ws?

9)
She's Got Game (Marie Clare)
A rather depressing story about male patriarchy going all out against noble female game developers, such as Zoe Queen. God bless her.
And I even get your point on this one!

10)
"I Was Always Told I Was Unusual": Why So Few Women Design Video Games
A Guardian article.
Those are my favorite, you can see here why.
X4AoCfv.png


11)
20 Women in Gaming You Should Know
"Women have always been a part of gaming, and they always will be."
I absolutely agree with that.
The rest is a bit confusing, to be honest.
For instance article describes how countless gaming companies have female co-founders.
I thought women weren't playing games (although, ok, as your link show they actually do play games en mass, but that's beside the point) or rather, although they did play games, they didn't do it for long enough, which, as your link #8 reveals, leads to female league champions losing against random noname boys.

So, what was your point, stranger?
 
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Not really accurate, there's a ton of female twitchers that aren't titty streamers. And I've seen way more male streamers that use dumbass overlays that take up 60% of the screen and do the loudest/cringiest noises and overly-enthusiastic reactions.


Note that good looking women are routinely banned from making money from their looks.
The most recent one was F1 essentially firing them.

Who is pushing it? This is how current US Feminist Matriarch looks like:

1024px-Roxane_Gay_in_conversation_with_Rachel_Zellars_-_Montreal_-_2015.jpg


my wife is looking way younger than her actual age, she's also very hot, but even she makes a rather offensive remarks when wife of a friend of mine (and, at least in theory, her friend :)) posts her swimsuit selfie.

Kinda cringey post. One person is fat so they all are? Post pics of your WAY YOUNGER AND ALSO VERY HOT WIFE and we'll be the judge.

"Good looking women are routinely banned from making money from their looks"

What the fuck are you even talking about? Men and women both have made made collectively probably trillions of dollars on careers based on their looks. Models, actors, singers, strip clubs, porn, etc.
 

llien

Member
there's a ton of female twitchers that aren't titty streamers
Is there a single male titty streamer? (just for my education)

One person is fat
Have you heard about, I dunno, "fat acceptance"?
And, "Fat Bodybuilding"?
If not, perhaps you should do more research, cough.
I'm also fine to help.

Post pics of your WAY YOUNGER AND ALSO VERY HOT WIFE and we'll be the judge.
No problem, stranger.
Just be more specific please, would naked photos go, or you'd rather see the coitus?
Should it be with me, or should I ask her to masturbate?
Don't be shy, it's a totally adequate request.

And feel free to ignore an actual study, let alone, wiki page loaded with links to actual studies.
Crap like that should not restrict discussions like this one.

What the fuck are you even talking about?
Indeed.

Men and women both have made made collectively probably trillions of dollars on careers based on their looks. Models, actors, singers, strip clubs, porn, etc.
That's pretty ignorant a statement.
For starters, what does "made collectively" prove to begin with?
Male models (we were talking about looks, remember) make times (!!!) less than female models.
Porn... Ahem. Like, seirously?
I was told that even "lesbian porn" is watched by... male lesbians.

That being said, your point was?
 

Garani

Member
My third grade daughters just love RIvet in R&C Rift Apart. Is it because of the strong empowered woman that smashes crates and bad guys?

Nope, it's because she has the most wonderful tone of lilac. There you have it :)
 
Is there a single male titty streamer? (just for my education)


Have you heard about, I dunno, "fat acceptance"?
And, "Fat Bodybuilding"?
If not, perhaps you should do more research, cough.
I'm also fine to help.


No problem, stranger.
Just be more specific please, would naked photos go, or you'd rather see the coitus?
Should it be with me, or should I ask her to masturbate?
Don't be shy, it's a totally adequate request.

And feel free to ignore an actual study, let alone, wiki page loaded with links to actual studies.
Crap like that should not restrict discussions like this one.


Indeed.


That's pretty ignorant a statement.
For starters, what does "made collectively" prove to begin with?
Male models (we were talking about looks, remember) make times (!!!) less than female models.
Porn... Ahem. Like, seirously?
I was told that even "lesbian porn" is watched by... male lesbians.

That being said, your point was?
Tom Delonge Wtf GIF by Justin
 
Is there anyway that a male protagonist of a game is modelled like that?

Anyway the guy that said social interaction is more important in a video game to women is probably right. Hence why videogames are more popular now since there is more social interaction now than ever before.

Stuff like Animal Crossing and Sims gets the female demographic sales more than males for example respective to other games.
 

DeafTourette

Perpetually Offended
I know more than a few women who game. They have their OWN systems and buy stuff like FPSs, fighters, old school types, etc. One of my closest is BEAUTIFUL and we'll rounded as an adult... And she has has her own system but let's her daughters play the upgrade (PS3; PS4). Another one has an Xbox One and a PS4. Though she ALSO let's her daughters play, they get shoo'd away when she wants to play.

The notion that women and girls play "or pretend to play for clout and exposure and fame" is a ridiculous argument on face value and in any substantial, meaningful way!
 
I know more than a few women who game. They have their OWN systems and buy stuff like FPSs, fighters, old school types, etc. One of my closest is BEAUTIFUL and we'll rounded as an adult... And she has has her own system but let's her daughters play the upgrade (PS3; PS4). Another one has an Xbox One and a PS4. Though she ALSO let's her daughters play, they get shoo'd away when she wants to play.

The notion that women and girls play "or pretend to play for clout and exposure and fame" is a ridiculous argument on face value and in any substantial, meaningful way!
It seems that female gamers gaming preferences have changed over the years. FPS tend not to be a common preference for females in the past.
 
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