During
the Nintendo press conference at E3, my mind began to wander somewhere that Im sure
they never intended; I began to think about
my mother. It all started during a
promotional commercial for their new title, Animal Crossing, in which we see several
seconds of humorous footage where a crazed-looking mother has stolen her childs GBA
and is sitting at the kitchen table playing while her child attempts to wrest it from her
grasp. I couldnt help but recall the stolen hours that my mother had spent on games
such as Space Invaders and Legend of Zelda, Tomb Raider and Riven. These were seemingly
decadent hours that Im sure my father thought could have been spent more
productively. But as I remember, her gaming was no less earnest than that of her
offspring, and I believe she had no less (dare I say it?) fun.
I continued this line of thinking during the general media briefing put on by the
Interactive Digital Software Association (IDSA). I was especially interested by some of
the statistics they had gathered which show that women are a smaller percentage of game
players (28% console gamers, 38% PC) and yet are a much greater percent of the game buying
populace (55% PC, 46% console). It is then a fairly obvious assumption that women are
purchasing games for people besides themselves (children, spouses, male friends, etc.).
The IDSA followed up by showing that 62% of the people who have been playing games for
less than a year are women. This, they feel, is "concrete evidence that more and more
women are being drawn to games." However, as I look around, I cant say that I
feel like the market is changing much to help attract adult women.
Lest some of you dismiss me as a femi-nazi, let me say that there
are parts of the gaming industry that are doing everything right. There are more titles
that are gender neutral and do a great job of making me feel welcome. Take Tony Hawk
Pro-Skater 4. It features Elissa Steamer, one of the few female skaters in the real world,
we can make female characters, and we are allowed to play them without being force-fed
women skaters with gravity defying breasts and barely-there clothes. This game
doesnt really get marketed to women, but I feel at home popping it into my PS2.
There are also great strides being taken to make childrens titles gender inclusive
(Mario, Spyro, Star Fox, and more), although most of the titles are still marketed more
toward young boys than girls (unless you look at the Barbie and Mary-Kate and Ashley
titles). And while there have been some improvements, there is still an unserved populace
waiting to be invited to playadult women.
I personally began playing games because I had an older male sibling, and when my
parents first brought home the Atari, it was meant as a present for both of us. I have
many fond memories from this time, and it isnt as though I got tired of the gaming
industry. It just seemed as though the marketers forgot that I was there. How can kids
know what they want if advertisers dont tell them whats hot, new and
must-have? My discretionary dollars were supposed to be spent on makeup and
teen-magazines, and if I bought a videogame, I was considered not just a geek, but an
aberration of nature (and the marketplace). Games were no longer picked up for me as
gifts, and my groups of friends who were boys now treated this territory as "no girls
allowed male bonding turf." And even at E3, where almost everyone there is a gaming
freak, I had booth attendants hesitate to turn the controller over to me. Maybe they
couldnt believe there was a woman gamer at E3, or maybe theyre just afraid of
women in general. "Im dying to play this game," my psyche screamed,
"and Im a good player. Its OK to let me have a turn
" Suddenly
I am a child again, desperately wanting to be a part of the cool world that is gaming, yet
the industry doesnt seem to want me.
Young girls are now considered a marketable demographic, and hopefully they will not
have to go through the things women my age did to be able to play videogames. Bless the
almighty dollar for that, at least. But I find that the industry as a whole still does not
see adult women as a gaming target. Yet, if the statistics are correct, women are buying
games en masse, just not envisioning themselves as viable "gamers." Countless
people cite the studies that show women prefer puzzle games, and, of course, suggest that
this would explain why women just dont game as much (only so many puzzle games
available, etc.). But I began to question the inferences of that statistic and instead
ask, "What do women really want from gaming?"
During E3, I was lucky enough to
encounter Ashley Bushore (Associate Producer of Myst III) at the Ubi Soft booth and seek
her input on this very important question. She believes that women gamers are just as
varied as men, and that there are just as many women who want to blow up things (myself
included) as there are puzzle gamers. However, she felt that there were three things that
women looked for consistently in a game. "I think," she said, "[that] women
go for beauty (aesthetics), quality, intuitive interface, and solid game play." Does
that sound radically different than what men want? Not really. We then began to ponder
where the distinctions might lie.
The first idea to come to the fore was the possibility that women tend to have less
discretionary time that they feel they can devote to games. Why? Perhaps because having
time to play may not be seen as important for women as it is for men (clothes to wash,
lunches to fix, time to game
whoa
who said anything about that?). Or perhaps
women dont see gaming as an option for relaxation because it is not marketed to them
as an option (relaxation for women is a bubble-bath, a juicy Harlequin, shopping, or extra
housework, right?). I also tend to think that the idea of quality, intuitive interface is
also an issue because women need to be able to pick up a game and have initial, successful
feedback so they feel they arent wasting their time, and so they arent
frustrated with their abilities (which, in turn, would lower their gaming esteem and
self-concept); maybe they havent yet had time to hone their videogame reflexes. Men
may not realize that seeing oneself as a "gamer" is something that women have to
work at . . . it is not an inherent idea (nay, right!) that we are given by the gaming
industry.
Finally, something else that Ashley Bushore said stuck in my memory. She mentioned that
she has a female friend in the industry who, like me, appreciates what many might call
"manly" titles (HALO, etc.) and who is in a position where her feedback on game
quality would be exceptionally important. However, this feedback is rarely solicited
because she is not the targeted demographic for that type of game (and therefore, cannot
have anything important to add, right?). If women are not seen as prospective players, why
would their feedback be important? Why would anyone even ask what women want? The industry
as a whole needs to realize that women want to be included. There are many who are just
waiting for an invite. And if that isnt enough to persuade marketers and developers
alike, consider that women have more discretionary money to spend right now than at any
other time in history.
Those of us who have already been at the edges of this party have great ideas to share
and this influx can only stimulate the growth of the industry. We dont require that
all games view us as the primary demographic, nor do we necessarily want the sex and
mayhem be taken out of all games. We are not prudes. Anyone who believes that women are
not capable of the more prurient interests has probably never seen a group of women at a
Chippendales show. Granted, there may have to be equal opportunity ogling involved for us.
At E3, I wouldnt have minded seeing some men in the X-men booth, or some
games where package size is as important as "realistic breast movement." But
equal debauchery is really not the issue either. There are just as many varied desires for
women as there are for men. Adult women just want to be seen as an important market worthy
of attention and to feel that our feedback is important as well. It is less an idea of
changing the games that we play than having an industry realize that we are here, that we
matter, and that we desperately want someone to hand us a controller.