Oh, dear; as if Disney wasn't bad enough, here comes EA games with their opinion of the female gamer demographic. David Gardner was trying so hard, wasn't he? But he's still not quite getting it. Why don't we take a look:
He said if EA cracked the problem [of catering to female gamers] the firm "could add a billion dollars to its sales." He said the industry had to learn from the film business. "The movie industry doesn't just make films for boys.
Very true, Gardner, and a point I agree with. A good portion of the video game industry seems focused on creating games for boys (and, in some situations, believing they are instead). Would you like to elaborate?
"Star wars was the biggest film of all time until Titanic came along; Titanic became the biggest because women went to see it and women went to see it multiple times.
Ok, we're starting to tread on some dangerous ground here--
"Just boys saw Star Wars multiple times."
Aaand there it is. I seriously doubt that there were no hardcore female Star Wars fans back in the 70s. I must have watched those movies a thousand times when I was a kid, and I'm sure I'm not alone. Does anyone else out there see the trainwreck coming?
Mr Gardner said one of the biggest problems was that the content aimed at women gamers was not appealing. "They don't want 'pink games'. They are not trying to play girly games where Paris Hilton and Britney Spears go shopping and put make-up on. "Those kind of things have not been that successful."
Once again, another point I can agree with. As we've stressed here at Girl in the Machine, the way to attract the female demographic takes more than stuffing glitter into a cartridge. Good job, Gardner.
But he said games such as The Sims and websites such as Pogo.com proved there was a market for women gamers. "Most of the Sims players are girls - 70% are women under 25," he said. "The Sims is really a game about relationships - and that's what girls want - they want relationships, they want to be able to chat."
I--guh? The fact that Gardner feels confident enough in his opinion to make such a blanket statement about female gamers is giving me a headache trying to comprehend it. Sure, I love the Sims. I love watching my Sims get abducted by aliens and get lei'd by the Grim Reaper--establishing relationships with fellow Sims who jabber in Simlish at me isn't exactly at the top of my list of fun things to do in that game. But you know us women; we just looove talking and carrying on. Gardner totally gets us, doesn't he?
He added: "One of the things that is going to make games for girls happen is creative teams. It's going to be new people and experiments. Four of our 11 studios around the world are run by women. That's an important start. "Investing in new and upcoming talent is critical."
And then he rounds it all off with another point I agree with. Reading this article in its entirety just gives me a headache; how can there possibly be so many contradictions in one place? It simply boggles my mind.
If you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to have a little lie-down now.
If it helps, it sounds like execs are starting to figure it out. The situation is a lot better than it was 10 years ago, that's for sure.
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid I disagree, Chadius. Things may have improved in the gaming industry, but the gender theories this guy is espousing are the same crap the film industry's been spouting for 20+ years, no matter how many times a project's success strongly suggests there's something else going on there.
ReplyDeleteAnd since when is SW not about relationships? Every bit of the action in that saga depends on a Skywalker having intense feelings about another Skywalker.
Oh, wait - he's using "relationships" as a euphemism for womantic wuv. Right. How come it was only boys I heard going on about how great the Anakin/Padme romance was (I thought it sucked worse than a high school play).
I seriously doubt that there were no hardcore female Star Wars fans back in the 70s.
We were there - we were just dismissed as anomalies, made to feel like there was something seriously wrong with our femininity if we liked Star Wars, and generally ignored. This continued into the 90's, when I saw Phantom Menace on opening day and three guys behind me in line harassed me for an hour trying to solve the mystery of how on earth I could be at that movie with female friends and not a boyfriend in sight. I finally quizzed them on some Star Wars trivia they were completely ill-equipped to answer, sneered and informed them they were lightweights and should go home and play with their Nintendos.
Sorry, still bitter. ;)
...and I've added you to my feedreader. :)
ReplyDeleteAwesomely said, betacandy! When it comes right down to it, even through the glimmers of hope, the blinding headlights of ignorance continue to overwhelm everything.
ReplyDeleteWomen are not "anomalies." We are not a singularity. We, in fact, comprise half of the human population, and our interests are just as widely varied as with any other massive group -- from Star Wars to Titanic and beyond.
And Chadius, you're right in a sense. Progress is progress even if there's still a lot of bullshit to wade through.
Gee... I guess I better cancel that pre-order I placed on Halo 3 back in June (when the dudes behind the counter fawned all over me because I was buying it for myself and not a boyfriend), because them games are for teh boys!
ReplyDeleteI guess I should drop DOA 4 and Bioshock and pick up Barbie Adventures or the SIMS (which I've never played, thank you-though I was hooked on the SimCIty franchise).
This just bothers me. As if it weren't bad enough that women who play games are constantly harassed by dudes who either don't want us there, or don't realise that we don't want to be treated as novelties, the companies completely disregard the growing number of young women who are playing mainstream titles like Halo. It bothers me to no end. We're half the fucking population, but we get treated like the forgotten minority, to be rediscovered every time a company goes looking for new demographics.
It's like they ask themselves, "Why don't we get girls to play games?!" instead of, "Wow, women are playing games! What are we doing right?"
It's like they ask themselves, "Why don't we get girls to play games?!" instead of, "Wow, women are playing games! What are we doing right?"
ReplyDeleteExactly. You hit the nail right on the head, cola.
And betacandy, thanks for your story! It's sad that situations like that seem to happen over and over--like Bombergirl mentioned, women are far too often treated as anomalies when they express an interest in something supposedly for men.
Way to lay the smackdown on those clowns, too.
As a female CS major and will probably go into the industry I have talked to people in the industry. And it really is odd how things play out. You can criticize them for not getting it but even I don't really get it. You can say how that the games sexualized women and that makes us turn away but that makes no sense. Are we trying to say that Final Fantasy is a turn off but America's Next Top Model isn't? Desperate Housewives? Or even Gossip Girls? Are we out of our minds?
ReplyDeleteWomen from 18-35 appear to like simple Wii and flash games. Other than the Sims they don't appear to be a money making demographic. Or maybe I am too far in the "boy's club" and can't see it from an outside perspective.