Developing a New Major

I Play Like a Girl by Nancy Berman

women role play all the time in their lives – make believe

been an increse in women playing RPGs – usually female characters are as good to play as male characters – different powers but female characters have powers

“over the last 2 decades much time and more than a little money ahs been spent trying to figure out how women play, what htey play, and why they play,in hopes of attracting this potentially significant market segment. Unfortunately to date most companies have not enjoyed what htey regard as significant return ontheir investments in terms of positive reviews or cold hard cash. Fortunately, women are finally coming out of hiding nad speaking up for themselves in the mos teffective way…by playing.” (p. 157)

in 2005 Gamasutra ticked off girl gamers by publishing “on girls and videogames” article by Jess Bates – a woman – used outdated stereotypes and grand assumptions – girls don’t play games, men play alone and lots of men get addicted, there are physical differences between the genders to explain the different — people were pissed, wrote letters tothe editor criticizing the articles lack of accurate factual basis — 2005 E3 had a presentation by head of ESA saying industry needed to address girl gamers so girls didn’t have to be ashamed they played videogames, 2005 also say some women in gaming conferences – one conclusion was that current mmo’s succeeding with women in spite of their content/subject matter, not because of it

one problem with the call for making girl games – “designers [should] take  a step back from what appears to be an ingrained need to make female characters sexy. given the target market, theis is probably a naive wish, but it would appear that no real solution will be achieved until the perception  at the heart of hte problem has been altered” (p. 159) – - to realize that good game is more important than girl game

part of the reason for hte lack of girl focused games was the lack of shelf space for videogames – businesses want to sell to their target audience – male and young.

games with female heroines not necessarily popular wiht girl gamers

probably not as many girl gamers as news makes out  – maybe they’re playing single player games or social games on yahoo

what do girl gamers want – great graphics, engaging gameplay, challenges, rewards, good story (mentions a 2001 article by Meghan Fox called “I’m not htat hard to write for” – want a fun, involving game), want to be more than just a pretty face character, want to do more htan just flip cards, better stories, more complex characters, giving players challenging moral and ethical choices, games that makeyou happy you played

women not playing games just for hte social aspect – not in mmo’s just to hang out with other people -that’s a big assumption that needs to be tested, and women players do like the opportunity to talk with other skilled players and form guilds but it’s not the only reason to play

there are all-female guilds, well-known female guild leaders – look for info on Daughers of hte Alliance and Daughters of the Horde

not necessarily women behind female avatars and men often play as female character and women as male charcters

had some results from a little study – women liked to play as men and as women,they like to flirt in game, use different characters to try out different skills and strategies

check out gamegirladvance.com, caligirl.com, grrlgamer.com

to be good allplayers – male or female – have to have good skills, be able to multitask, plan communicate, know the rules, know the special abilities of hteir class of character

women like customization features – don’t want their characters to look like everyone else

men think women won’t want to play horde because the charactresr aren’t cute or thin or pretty enough

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