The original article can be found at http://t.co/e8Vl1sv
I'm not really sure what point the article was trying to make, but it struck me that it represented quite a dated view of our perception of 'female gamers.'
Gaming is growing. That isn't just because the whole male demographic now feels it is acceptable to play videogames as a pastime; gaming is growing because it is learning to try different things and different styles. It is these approaches which have demonstrated how to not only capture the female market, but also the mature and elderly market.
Rather than simply waiting for the first true gaming generation (now arguably approaching their late thirties) to age, some game developers like Nintendo have taken the market in hand and produced games for a wider audience.
Anyhow - this is my comment from the comments section of the article:
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I think you missed quite a lot of the impact of various games on female gamers over the years.
It is true that the majority of titles which seem to be ones which people think of and refer to as "games" seem to appeal largely to a male audience. But is it really rocket science to see that games based around shooting, motor racing or driving are aiming at a majority male audience? (although that's not to say that some of these games, like their equivalent in film or TV don't attract female fans).
I have a number of female gaming friends and the games which are popular among them are games like Assassin's Creed, Heavy Rain, Monster Hunter and particularly the Lego movie-tie-ins.
I think it's enormously contentious to suggest that women's time is any more precious than men's. I think we all commit time to the activities we enjoy and I would say that if games have not been designed with a broad appeal to the whole audience then sections of that audience will switch off after a few hours or minutes. I'd say that games such as The Sims, Animal Crossing and Theme Park have demonstrated that games full of complex gameplay that often require a large time commitment have proved popular with female gamers over the years.
While headline grabbing games like Call of Duty do continue the image of games aimed at 18-25 male audiences this represents a very small part of the gaming landscape (albeit perhaps not the financial landscape).
The original article can be found at http://t.co/e8Vl1sv
I'm not really sure what point the article was trying to make, but it struck me that it represented quite a dated view of our perception of 'female gamers.'
Gaming is growing. That isn't just because the whole male demographic now feels it is acceptable to play videogames as a pastime; gaming is growing because it is learning to try different things and different styles. It is these approaches which have demonstrated how to not only capture the female market, but also the mature and elderly market.
Rather than simply waiting for the first true gaming generation (now arguably approaching their late thirties) to age, some game developers like Nintendo have taken the market in hand and produced games for a wider audience.
Anyhow - this is my comment from the comments section of the article:
*****************************************
I think you missed quite a lot of the impact of various games on female gamers over the years.
It is true that the majority of titles which seem to be ones which people think of and refer to as "games" seem to appeal largely to a male audience. But is it really rocket science to see that games based around shooting, motor racing or driving are aiming at a majority male audience? (although that's not to say that some of these games, like their equivalent in film or TV don't attract female fans).
I have a number of female gaming friends and the games which are popular among them are games like Assassin's Creed, Heavy Rain, Monster Hunter and particularly the Lego movie-tie-ins.
I think it's enormously contentious to suggest that women's time is any more precious than men's. I think we all commit time to the activities we enjoy and I would say that if games have not been designed with a broad appeal to the whole audience then sections of that audience will switch off after a few hours or minutes. I'd say that games such as The Sims, Animal Crossing and Theme Park have demonstrated that games full of complex gameplay that often require a large time commitment have proved popular with female gamers over the years.
While headline grabbing games like Call of Duty do continue the image of games aimed at 18-25 male audiences this represents a very small part of the gaming landscape (albeit perhaps not the financial landscape).