Post by sybil on Mar 6, 2006 19:52:31 GMT -5
Recently in San Francisco the "Women in Games International" conference struggled with the proposition
of which path should be taken to attract more women
gamers to video games. The camps still appear to be divided.
Women Gamers Duke It Out
source: Wired www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70313-0.html?tw=rss.partnerfeed
of which path should be taken to attract more women
gamers to video games. The camps still appear to be divided.
Women Gamers Duke It Out
For all the camaraderie fostered by the Women in Games International conference held recently in San Francisco, it was apparent a furious divide exists over how to get women to play video games.
In one corner are proponents of casual games -- the simple but addictive titles like Bejeweled and Tetris that promise brain-twisting challenges with minimal time investment.
In the other camp are women who want to roughhouse with the boys on their home turf, playing action games and team-based shooters. The Frag Dolls, a clan of female gamers who compete in tournaments worldwide, represents the tomboys.
Who will win over the girl gamers?
Casual games have definitely made massive inroads into women's free time. Lisa Sikora, of Microsoft's Casual Games division, says women make up 70 percent of their players -- up from 20 percent in 1996. Industrywide, the Entertainment Software Association reports (.pdf) that women make up 44 percent of online gamers, and that 57 percent of their total play time is spent on casual games -- puzzles, board games, trivia and cards.
Sikora lists common style elements of casual games: They're easy to learn, but hard to master; they're easy to acquire and set up -- no manual reading required. The games should come in "micro time slices," Sikora said. "Women are busy. We want to get 20 minutes' time-out." /p>
And, she adds, "violence, the use of force as a primary game mechanic, is an excellent way to keep women from playing your game. Negative emotions aren't attractive to women. They don't like heavy, adrenaline-rich, head-to-head sports. I play Half-Life 2, but if I get shot at, I run."
Not everyone is running.
Doom designer John Romero downplays the appeal of "blood and violence and body parts flying around," but many women say they like it.
"There are exceptions to every generalization," said Morgan Romine, captain of the Frag Dolls. "I've seen the whole spectrum, every color of the rainbow. There are girls who love big guns and bloody creatures.
"In general, women are social. We're good at coordinating team efforts, which can be really important," she said. "We also tend to be more thoughtful, more strategic in certain ways. Girls are really, really good at sniping."
The motive of Frag Dolls, says Romine, is to get more women to play competitive action games. If some see casual games as the end product because they are the type of game that women by nature want to play, Romine sees them as a Trojan horse by which action games can be introduced to a new audience.
"Some guy friends of mine are saying, 'I've got my wife into Bejeweled on Xbox 360, but now I can't get her to stop,'" said Romine. "But if games women like are now on home consoles, it's not a big step to think that maybe they'll try Halo, too."
Some women enjoy games that defy categorization altogether. The multiplayer online game Second Life, created by developer Linden Lab, is a massive time-sink that lets players buy virtual land, create virtual objects like clothes and buildings, then sell them for real-world cash -- sometimes turning a tidy profit.
Linden Lab's Senior Vice President Robin Harper notes that although women comprise only 27 percent of Second Life's population, they log 43 percent of the in-game hours. Second Life meets most of the criteria for a casual game -- it's easy to set up and learn, and lets players ease in to gameplay at their own pace. But can players who sink so much time into a game really be called casual?
Other popular multiplayer online games, like World of Warcraft and City of Heroes, are examples of games that appeal to both genders. Game designer Gano Haine says this is because the games offer diverse content that players can choose from freely: "Being able to customize, to play on your own terms, is hugely important.
"Persistence is attractive to women -- there's something about having your stuff, arranging your stuff and having it be there when you come back -- the whole collecting-slash-farming mechanic," said Hain. "I don't explore the dungeons very much, but I'm good at building my profession and finding herbs."
"I don't necessarily buy this, but evolutionary psychology says that men hunt and women gather," said Romine. But she uses a very different example to support her theory: "Women are better at memorizing the locations of re-spawn points" where opposing players appear on the map in a shooting game, she said.
Romine agrees with the casual-games faction on one point. "I don’t have time to play that much," she said. But, you won't catch her going too far down that road. "Halo has been great for me," she added.
In one corner are proponents of casual games -- the simple but addictive titles like Bejeweled and Tetris that promise brain-twisting challenges with minimal time investment.
In the other camp are women who want to roughhouse with the boys on their home turf, playing action games and team-based shooters. The Frag Dolls, a clan of female gamers who compete in tournaments worldwide, represents the tomboys.
Who will win over the girl gamers?
Casual games have definitely made massive inroads into women's free time. Lisa Sikora, of Microsoft's Casual Games division, says women make up 70 percent of their players -- up from 20 percent in 1996. Industrywide, the Entertainment Software Association reports (.pdf) that women make up 44 percent of online gamers, and that 57 percent of their total play time is spent on casual games -- puzzles, board games, trivia and cards.
Sikora lists common style elements of casual games: They're easy to learn, but hard to master; they're easy to acquire and set up -- no manual reading required. The games should come in "micro time slices," Sikora said. "Women are busy. We want to get 20 minutes' time-out." /p>
And, she adds, "violence, the use of force as a primary game mechanic, is an excellent way to keep women from playing your game. Negative emotions aren't attractive to women. They don't like heavy, adrenaline-rich, head-to-head sports. I play Half-Life 2, but if I get shot at, I run."
Not everyone is running.
Doom designer John Romero downplays the appeal of "blood and violence and body parts flying around," but many women say they like it.
"There are exceptions to every generalization," said Morgan Romine, captain of the Frag Dolls. "I've seen the whole spectrum, every color of the rainbow. There are girls who love big guns and bloody creatures.
"In general, women are social. We're good at coordinating team efforts, which can be really important," she said. "We also tend to be more thoughtful, more strategic in certain ways. Girls are really, really good at sniping."
The motive of Frag Dolls, says Romine, is to get more women to play competitive action games. If some see casual games as the end product because they are the type of game that women by nature want to play, Romine sees them as a Trojan horse by which action games can be introduced to a new audience.
"Some guy friends of mine are saying, 'I've got my wife into Bejeweled on Xbox 360, but now I can't get her to stop,'" said Romine. "But if games women like are now on home consoles, it's not a big step to think that maybe they'll try Halo, too."
Some women enjoy games that defy categorization altogether. The multiplayer online game Second Life, created by developer Linden Lab, is a massive time-sink that lets players buy virtual land, create virtual objects like clothes and buildings, then sell them for real-world cash -- sometimes turning a tidy profit.
Linden Lab's Senior Vice President Robin Harper notes that although women comprise only 27 percent of Second Life's population, they log 43 percent of the in-game hours. Second Life meets most of the criteria for a casual game -- it's easy to set up and learn, and lets players ease in to gameplay at their own pace. But can players who sink so much time into a game really be called casual?
Other popular multiplayer online games, like World of Warcraft and City of Heroes, are examples of games that appeal to both genders. Game designer Gano Haine says this is because the games offer diverse content that players can choose from freely: "Being able to customize, to play on your own terms, is hugely important.
"Persistence is attractive to women -- there's something about having your stuff, arranging your stuff and having it be there when you come back -- the whole collecting-slash-farming mechanic," said Hain. "I don't explore the dungeons very much, but I'm good at building my profession and finding herbs."
"I don't necessarily buy this, but evolutionary psychology says that men hunt and women gather," said Romine. But she uses a very different example to support her theory: "Women are better at memorizing the locations of re-spawn points" where opposing players appear on the map in a shooting game, she said.
Romine agrees with the casual-games faction on one point. "I don’t have time to play that much," she said. But, you won't catch her going too far down that road. "Halo has been great for me," she added.
source: Wired www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70313-0.html?tw=rss.partnerfeed