Games For Women, By Women

[Edminster]

do you really think that Mirror's Edge was targeted toward a female audience

Nope! I just used it as an example of a legit good game where the protagonist is a woman who is NOT there to be TnA with guns / a sword / magical hair. You know, the kind of game a studio concerned with making sure good games come out for women that aren't Barbie's Magic Dream Pony Simulator TURBO would make.

e: Woo smiley_cow!

[Lethal Interjection]

I think it is great, provided they can keep some sort of mission. Because, since gaming is predominantly male, it will be way to easy to go all lowest-common-denominator and, like rustypup said, have it devolve into Twilight-esque games.

[Cirtur]

Portal was a good game and I read somewhere it was all about wombs.

So go for that.

[LordRetard]

do you really think that Mirror's Edge was targeted toward a female audience

Nope! I just used it as an example of a legit good game where the protagonist is a woman who is NOT there to be TnA with guns / a sword / magical hair. You know, the kind of game a studio concerned with making sure good games come out for women that aren't Barbie's Magic Dream Pony Simulator TURBO would make.

I'm just saying we're talking about "games targeted toward female audiences", which is a little ambiguous, and I wouldn't include Mirror's Edge in that because it's a game with a female protagonist, but I think anyone would play it (because it kicks ass). When I hear "games targeted toward female audiences" I think "well, what will women buy?" Which is a null point anyway since as we've already discussed, women who like pink 'n' fluffy shit don't really play video games anyway. Still, it's a strange thing to say and I am cautiously optimistic about it.

[Cirtur]

It will be games about nagging.

[smiley_cow]

do you really think that Mirror's Edge was targeted toward a female audience

Nope! I just used it as an example of a legit good game where the protagonist is a woman who is NOT there to be TnA with guns / a sword / magical hair. You know, the kind of game a studio concerned with making sure good games come out for women that aren't Barbie's Magic Dream Pony Simulator TURBO would make.

I'm just saying we're talking about "games targeted toward female audiences", which is a little ambiguous, and I wouldn't include Mirror's Edge in that because it's a game with a female protagonist, but I think anyone would play it (because it kicks ass). When I hear "games targeted toward female audiences" I think "well, what will women buy?" Which is a null point anyway since as we've already discussed, women who like pink 'n' fluffy shit don't really play video games anyway. Still, it's a strange thing to say and I am cautiously optimistic about it.

Actually, though not targeted towards women, strongly customizable games tend to be very popular. I'm especially thinking of games like Champions, City of Heroes and Sims, which all have a large female audience. I'm hoping this is the kind of thing that they're talking about when they say women look for different things.

I'm also optimistic that the design team is all women. It's my experience (though there are notable exceptions) that some of the "pinkest" girl products out there are designed by men for women. Or actually just that way too much media for women is created by what men assume women want. It's nice to occasionally have women decide what women want.

[Oldrac the Chitinous]

Blasphemy!

[Cirtur]

[LordRetard]

Actually, though not targeted towards women, strongly customizable games tend to be very popular. I'm especially thinking of games like Champions, City of Heroes and Sims, which all have a large female audience. I'm hoping this is the kind of thing that they're talking about when they say women look for different things.

I'm also optimistic that the design team is all women. It's my experience (though there are notable exceptions) that some of the "pinkest" girl products out there are designed by men for women. Or actually just that way too much media for women is created by what men assume women want. It's nice to occasionally have women decide what women want.

Ah, I didn't actually read that the design team is all women. That's a good sign. I don't really know who would actually play "pink games" and I can buy that they might be made primarily by men (or, at the very least, someone who mistakenly thinks "this is what people want"). I don't really know what female gamers like that's so different from what male gamers like (aside from your examples, which surprises me), although most of the female gamers I know really like MW2.

[smiley_cow]

I don't really know what female gamers like that's so different from what male gamers like (aside from your examples, which surprises me), although most of the female gamers I know really like MW2.

Honestly it's just a stat I heard somewhere. I tried to find where so I could give more but I've lost it. I think I may have heard too something about plot, but that may just be me getting my tastes mixed up with everyone else's.

[Snarky00]

I think the niche this company is trying to fill is for the women gamers out there that enjoy the play style of current main stream games but not the visuals which are targeted at 15 year old boys. Extreme violence, women with giant breasts covered in chain mail with exposed midriffs ect ect.

[FengharTheNord]

God it's probably gonna turn out that I'm gonna like the games this company makes more than other games.

[Cirtur]

That means you need to get down and dirty in the men's toilets.

I have a friend who does that.

[LordRetard]

I think the niche this company is trying to fill is for the women gamers out there that enjoy the play style of current main stream games but not the visuals which are targeted at 15 year old boys. Extreme violence, women with giant breasts covered in chain mail with exposed midriffs ect ect.

So they won't be covered in chain mail?

[Kovvy]

I would be interested in learning more about these games. They're not targeted at women in general, but specifically woman gamers. It's a niche market, but I imagine it will be loyal.