1507 réponses à ce sujet

[ErichHartmann]

It's true most Bioware gamers are male, consider the statics they just release on ME2.

Hmm, what? The ME2 stats claimed 80% of players picked Male Shep. You
can't even say that means the majority of gamers are male based on this.

Most female gamer only play Facebook application/web page game or those cute looking online games.

Stereotype

Seriously,
how many female gamer owns a Xbox360/PS3? Bioware is currently pushing
for console sells so in another words, female gamers are still a
minority in these platforms.

Based on.....?

Modifié par ErichHartmann, 15 septembre 2010 - 11:35 .

[JeCy108]

Dave of Canada wrote...

tpryan01 wrote...

"Women outnumber men in online games, survey finds"

http://news.cnet.com..._3-6123172.html

you can argue the merits of this Nielsen survey, but the fact is we are far more common than marketers will acknowledge.

Farmville is an online game, popular amongst housewives and young women. Were they included in the survey? It would skewer it heavily.

exactly...   add in farm ville,  barbie paint, sims, and a bunch of others then sure..  

If you are talking,  RTS, RPG, MMO, Shooters, or the main  guy games,  if there are 8 to 1 i would be absolutly shocked..   While there are tons of female avatars, games having voice these days show how few real women are playing.

When you talk to 10-20 or the largest guilds on a  server and outta 500 people if 20 are truely girls that would be a high number..  Girls play games, yes..  But 2 in 1 is a total farse for most games.   just read the article,  It says women that own a game device..   

those little hand held games that have cartoon critters that teeny bopper girls play with count..  Id hardly call a girl with a vritual pet a gamer. You have any idea how many girls have that little game?  its in the millions..

Yes girls game.. But they are in the vast minority..  just goto a a gamer event..  if there is 1 girl for every 5 guys that would be a lot.  goto something like E3, outside of boot babes how many girls are on the floor..  go check out pics from gamer sites of the events a pic will have 50 guys and one booth babe.. and maybe a few extra girls in the back ground but guys vastly out number the girls at these type of events.

Trust me, guys would love it if girls played games more, Joined up in lan parties, Or put the smack down on some online goodness.  fact is most just dont. How many girls showed up at the last counter strike tournament?  a couple of girl teams outta the 100's that attendened?



Side note.. I love playing games with a hero thats a girl,  I find it more entertaining.  Tomb raider would be far less entertaining with a male character. In fact i wish more games had female character options.  I know id rather play dues ex as  Jessica denton,  vrs JC.,  Part of gaming is eye candy, and im watching a story unfold. Many times watching a female avatar is more entertaining.  I was nearly majorly disapointed to the point i wasnt gonna even buy DA2 when i heard Hawk was a male figure..  atleast there is a female option.   I didnt even get past, 15 mins into gothic before i decided i couldnt stand listening to his voice.  Personally i do wish more games had female avatar options.  Clasics like  theif deadly shadows,  would of been much better with an extra option.  Atleast there is always american mcgee's Alice..   and thankfully another version coming soon.

In the end i do wish more devs would make more interesting female characters, outside of the typical sassy eye candy. I think in the end it would make things better all around

Modifié par JeCy108, 16 septembre 2010 - 12:13 .

[JeCy108]

Arrtis wrote...
=
It is true that many men will be very turned off by a game if the main character being advertised is female.

completely....   then again many men are completly insecure with sexuality and the thought of playing a female character some how makes them gay..



(sorry, dont wanna get into a flame war about homophobia, but its a very real issue with many.. Bashing happens in so many forums ive seen over the last 10 years of MMO gaming)


Personally i love games with girls as the main character...   Can you honestly think of a better adventure game character than Lara Croft, and tomb raider?   There is no way that game would still be going strong if it was  Jack Croft..  Not a chance....

[JeCy108]

tpryan01 wrote...

... and fathers, brothers, grandfathers and uncles.

or are you implying only mothers buy presents for their children

either way we have this quote as well

"WOMEN age 18 or older represent a significantly
greater portion of the game-playing population (34%)
than boys age 17 or younger (18%)."


boys 17 and under being the group those mothers would presumably be buying for.

Ok.. soo women over 18 having kids they buy presents for?  Serriously who does the christmas shoping for 90% of the households in america?   if you say the guy you obviously have never gone to a mall around the holidays..

If you work at a game store you know this entire article is total bunk..  A random girl will walk in and buy a game.. A few mothers a week come in and buy games for their kids.., And 90% of the other people are boys 15-30..  Its certainly not 1 in 2..  with girls over 18  making up the vast majority of the gaming market..   if it was, the hottest spot in the mall to pick up girls would be the vid game store,  Anyone that has spent any time in one knows that is Soo not the case.


Ill compare this entire survey right up there with......  "we have proof of weapons of mass destruction"   Ohh wait..  We didnt have proof and the documnetion was completlyu miss construded...   the bomb making pipe was accually plumbing material..

Want to see someone laugh...  just go ask a game stop employee how often a girl walks through the door.,.   Anyone can take a few numbers and make um report what they want them to say..

[JeCy108]

Rapidiul wrote...

Arttis wrote...

tpryan01 wrote...

tpryan01 wrote...

Check out this World of Warcraft Statistic

"females ages 25 to 54, accounting for approximately 29 percent of total personal computer game players. Males ages 25 to 54 account for the next largest block at roughly 20 percent of all personal computer game players"

Source: http://blog.nielsen....040609_fnl1.pdf

I would say WoW has a similar demographic

Do they get that info from accounts and *put birth date here*....I have lied on so many of those things its ridiculous! I wanna play a game not give you my personal info!

There is also this kind of people. It is impossible to track down everyone who plays games.

and how many of those accounts are their mothers credit cards?  Ive been in a few large guilds with a lotta teens..  every single one of them its their moms CC.. 

[zahra]

RachelSkywalker wrote...


I couldn't agree more.

My main point is that fans of Bioware are LIFE LONG fans. After I played through Knights of the Old Republic I made a point to remember who was responsible for it. It was just THAT amazing of a game for me... The only reasons I got into Dragon Age and Mass Effect were because they were brought to us by my beloved Bioware... 

Well, what about other women gamers who pick up any Bioware game case at Best Buy and only see the traditional image of the male lead enveloping the cover, flanked by a beautiful woman and trusty sidekick. Frankly, it's not nearly as interesting or groundbreaking as these games actually are for a female gamer... I was on Jezebel.com (women's interests blog) the other day and there was an article about a new iphone(?) app game that was a "choose your own adventure" type style. This mini game was getting attention and praise by the Jezebel community however, because it allowed for same sex romance. Well of course I giggled to myself a bit and had to go on there and post a lovely video of the plethora of male/female Bioware romances, because frankly, Bioware, has been giving the option of same sex relationships for a LONG time. (Good ol' Juhani...) And then of course I mentioned, not only can you have all this romancing fun, but you also get to save the world in these games.

Well, nary to my surprise there were lots of intrigued responses to my posting about Bioware games... Women came on going, "I LOVE BIOWARE" to "Awesome! What IS that game??" or "I'm not much of a gamer but that looks like fun!" etc.

There are SO MANY potential female fans, it makes me WEEP Bioware. Yes, the majority of the market is male, but partly because YOU LIMIT it so.... You are enabling this male centric market. But look at the facts! Women gamers are on the rise, and all the most successful fandoms of any medium ARE so successful because they speak across gender. Despite the stereotypes, the past 4 Star Wars conventions I've attended have been about 60% male, 40% female. ACKNOWLEDGE US! WE ARE WORTH INVESTING IN! Other sci-fi and fantasy fandoms have equal amounts of female fans- Star Trek, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Avatar: The Last Airbender...

Bioware, since you already "own" the male demographic, most of them probably won't need much, if ANY, convincing of whether or not to buy your next release. So step it up and work on equality within your marketing. Sure, release the male centric trailers of DA2, but also try releasing one featuring JUST Lady Hawke. Try releasing another which features BOTH options, proudly!! Send them to Jezebel.com even! That site has over 10 million (predominately female) views per month! Reel in those potential fans! They will love you for it and it will show come release day.

Bioware is SUCH a progressive and innovative gaming company, that to see it behave in such a conservative way when it comes to marketing disheartens a part of me... Bioware, it's time to step up and out of this "Games 4 Gurlz", "Pink it and shrink it" traditional marketing mentality all gaming companies seem to fall into. Bioware you are SO MUCH better than that. The female characters you create have always been smart, strong, and beautiful. Within every game you've released, ME, KotR, JE, DA, you treat them like equals to their male companions.

It's time to start treating your potential and long standing female demographic with just as much love.

Hell, hire me Bioware, I'll do it for free.

"Change is coming to the world. Some fear change and will fight it with every fibre of their being. But sometimes, change is what they need most. Sometimes, change is what sets them free." -Morrigan 

THIS. THIS SO MUCH.

Bioware, you have the male gamers on lock. The females are a largely untapped market because your marketing department is apparently stuck in the 80's. The JRPGs know that there is a large female demographic and market themselves accordingly. Assuming that these women won't come in your direction in droves is silly, they aren't playing FF because of the awesome plot etc, its because it seems so female friendly whilst your game trailers are always "Look! You can play as a strong man and get to see some hot chicks!" 

Surely there is someone enlightened enough at Bioware to realize this. The reason "only 40 percent" (which I think is a MASSIVE slice of the percentage) of the people who played DA were female is because you don't advertise the fact that you can play as a female protagonist. Many many women out there are playing games, they just aren't playing your games, because you aren't giving them enough reasons to.

[Maconbar]

JeCy108 wrote...

tpryan01 wrote...

... and fathers, brothers, grandfathers and uncles.

or are you implying only mothers buy presents for their children

either way we have this quote as well

"WOMEN age 18 or older represent a significantly
greater portion of the game-playing population (34%)
than boys age 17 or younger (18%)."


boys 17 and under being the group those mothers would presumably be buying for.

Ok.. soo women over 18 having kids they buy presents for?  Serriously who does the christmas shoping for 90% of the households in america?   if you say the guy you obviously have never gone to a mall around the holidays..

If you work at a game store you know this entire article is total bunk..  A random girl will walk in and buy a game.. A few mothers a week come in and buy games for their kids.., And 90% of the other people are boys 15-30..  Its certainly not 1 in 2..  with girls over 18  making up the vast majority of the gaming market..   if it was, the hottest spot in the mall to pick up girls would be the vid game store,  Anyone that has spent any time in one knows that is Soo not the case.


Ill compare this entire survey right up there with......  "we have proof of weapons of mass destruction"   Ohh wait..  We didnt have proof and the documnetion was completlyu miss construded...   the bomb making pipe was accually plumbing material..

Want to see someone laugh...  just go ask a game stop employee how often a girl walks through the door.,.   Anyone can take a few numbers and make um report what they want them to say..

Look at me I just make up numbers:P

[Felene]

ErichHartmann wrote...

Felene wrote...
It's true most Bioware gamers are male, consider the statics they just release on ME2.

Hmm, what? The ME2 stats claimed 80% of players picked Male Shep. You can't even say that means the majority of gamers are male based on this.

I think its de facto. You have to admit Bioware's marketing department is still focusing on male gamer not female gamer. Why would they do that if they know the majority of their consumer is female?

ErichHartmann wrote...

Felene wrote...
Most female gamer only play Facebook application/web page game or those cute looking online games.

Stereotype

Yeah, turn out I was wrong, according to Nielsen most female gamer play Solitary.

ErichHartmann wrote...

Felene wrote...

Seriously, how many female gamer owns a Xbox360/PS3? Bioware is currently pushing for console sells so in another words, female gamers are still a minority in these platforms.

Based on.....?

Four in 10 US Adults Own Game Console; More Women Play Wii

"...found that the number of women who play console games has increased, from 23% Console Gamers in 2008 to 28% in 2009..."

Modifié par Felene, 16 septembre 2010 - 01:28 .

[Riona45]

JeCy108 wrote...

[ just read the article,  It says women that own a game device..   

those little hand held games that have cartoon critters that teeny bopper girls play with count..  Id hardly call a girl with a vritual pet a gamer. You have any idea how many girls have that little game?  its in the millions..

I see this argument a lot...basically you're suggesting that the survey takers were complete idiots and came to the wrong conclusions because they failed to account for something supposedly obvious (ie. "These are just women buying games for their sons!").  I think if you are going to make this argument, you need to offer proof, otherwise it comes off as if you just don't want to accept the conclusions.

[Darkwingduck]

I am a female gamer, I own both an Xbox 360 and a PS3 and I am not the only girl in the EB Games or Gamestop when I go in there. In fact at the EB games I go to their are two girls working there who I've casually chatted to about games so I know they too are gamers. Perhaps the majority of "real" gamers are male but that will never change if the industry continues to alienate female gamers. With how it is now we're "lucky" to get a screen shot of Lady Hawke and it's a damn near miracle when their is a female on the cover of a game who isn't being objectified. It would be nice if the industry actually recognized us besides a patronizing pat on the head every so often, it's very irritating being told their aren't enough of us to warrant even a fraction of the advertisement aimed at male gamers. My point is there are female gamers out there, there are female gamers on these forums and there would be more of them if companies actually bothered to even put a little effort into attracting their attention. I suppose I expect a lot from Bioware but it is the nature of their games that makes me expect more. They have created games where your Character can be whatever you want them to be male, female; gay, bisexual, straight; whatever you want it's a very appealing game to those of us who are tired of playing a grizzled brown haired mostly attractive man or an overly sexualized female.

[aaniadyen]

Darkwingduck wrote...

I am a female gamer, I own both an Xbox 360 and a PS3 and I am not the only girl in the EB Games or Gamestop when I go in there. In fact at the EB games I go to their are two girls working there who I've casually chatted to about games so I know they too are gamers. Perhaps the majority of "real" gamers are male but that will never change if the industry continues to alienate female gamers. With how it is now we're "lucky" to get a screen shot of Lady Hawke and it's a damn near miracle when their is a female on the cover of a game who isn't being objectified. It would be nice if the industry actually recognized us besides a patronizing pat on the head every so often, it's very irritating being told their aren't enough of us to warrant even a fraction of the advertisement aimed at male gamers. My point is there are female gamers out there, there are female gamers on these forums and there would be more of them if companies actually bothered to even put a little effort into attracting their attention. I suppose I expect a lot from Bioware but it is the nature of their games that makes me expect more. They have created games where your Character can be whatever you want them to be male, female; gay, bisexual, straight; whatever you want it's a very appealing game to those of us who are tired of playing a grizzled brown haired mostly attractive man or an overly sexualized female.

Wait...

Darkwing Duck is a chick?

*head explode*

[savagesparrow]

While I'd agree that there's not a whole lot of chicks into shooters and RTS games (I go to lan parties. I'm usually the only lady =\\ ), I'd say it's really different for RPGs because the genre doesn't really require a whole lot of skill to get into--it's more about the story. Furthermore, JRPGs are marketed to women as much as men, with their androgynous-looking main characters that it seems silly to me to make the claim that women make up a small percentage of RPG fans. Hell, I'd go as far to say that the only reason Kingdom Hearts is as popular as it is is because of the insane fangirls who go gaga over the girly boys.



But yeah, Bioware games do cater to a more hardcore audience than the JRPGs, but it's silly to think that there's no crossover there. I mean, there's tons of ladies these days who play DnD and WoW (I've been in many all-girl power squads!), and I know because I make my living selling funny RPG inspired t-shirts and comics. And yeah, while one of the devs said that having two characters on a poster makes it difficult to market, they've been making it work for Pokemon for years *shrug*



As to the Mass Effect thing, I know my boyfriend (who usually plays as girl characters) picked default male shep because he thought all the girl models/hairstyles looked ugly--male shep was the only one that actually looked 'interesting' he said. I agree with him, but I didn't like male shep's VO and figured that'd be more annoying than a generic-looking lady.

[Riona45]

savagesparrow wrote...

I'd say it's really different for RPGs because the genre doesn't really require a whole lot of skill to get into--it's more about the story.

I see some unfortunate implications.

Modifié par Riona45, 16 septembre 2010 - 06:21 .

[aaniadyen]

Riona45 wrote...

savagesparrow wrote...

I'd say it's really different for RPGs because the genre doesn't really require a whole lot of skill to get into--it's more about the story.

I see some unfortunate implications.

Maybe, but why focus on the one part of an otherwise good post that you might not agree with?

[Altima Darkspells]

Riona45 wrote...

savagesparrow wrote...

I'd say it's really different for RPGs because the genre doesn't really require a whole lot of skill to get into--it's more about the story.

I see some unfortunate implications.

The statement is actually true for all genders, not just women.  Shooters are somewhat tricky for people new to gaming to get their heads around, between having to keep track of multiple enemies, ammo, when to reload, where to take cover, etc.

At any rate, I find this thread becomes more and more pointless.  People point out statistical evidence of the growing female demographic, and then others--who tend to be part of the male market who's already over-saturated with marketing--simply say that the statistics mean nothing.

[namedforthemoon]

Altima Darkspells wrote...

Riona45 wrote...

savagesparrow wrote...

I'd say it's really different for RPGs because the genre doesn't really require a whole lot of skill to get into--it's more about the story.

I see some unfortunate implications.

The statement is actually true for all genders, not just women.  Shooters are somewhat tricky for people new to gaming to get their heads around, between having to keep track of multiple enemies, ammo, when to reload, where to take cover, etc.

At any rate, I find this thread becomes more and more pointless.  People point out statistical evidence of the growing female demographic, and then others--who tend to be part of the male market who's already over-saturated with marketing--simply say that the statistics mean nothing.

Yep. And then they turn right around and point out that statistically, the majority of gamers are male. Even though statistics don't mean anything. So it's like you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't.

[zahra]

 
Statistics can be bent to serve any theory, if you're wily enough.

1. "Only 20 percent of Mass Effect players play as Fem Shepard". [Hence it proves that not a lot of females want to play games/RPG games etc] <-- May I point out that it is stupid to base your ideas of the female gamer demographic on data from ONE game?? Anyway.

a) Mass Effect did not advertise Fem Shep AT ALL. In fact, unless you are already an avid Bioware fan/stumble upon these forums/go hunting for ME vids on Youtube, you will not know that it is an option.

You must also consider the fact that these numbers are "conservative" as the sampling method cannot monitor each and every players choice indefinitely. 

c) You must also consider that there will be females who play as both male and female Shepard (like I did). In fact the cumulative data cannot prove conclusively that "More males play ME than females", it is a speculation based on the assumption that males will want to play as males ONLY and females will want to play as females ONLY. It is a popular speculation, but unless the polling also interrogates the players on their "true" gender, this data is speculative and not "concrete truth".

Even if the data is to be taken at face value and to be regarded as "fact", this does not prove that females would not want to play Mass Effect if they were exposed to it/if it was marketed towards them. In fact no one can prove this as of yet, because it hasn't been done before.

In fact the arguments in this thread end up frustrating both sides because it goes like this:

(Mostly) Males: You guys are the minority, so thats why marketing towards you guys is unimportant.
Females: We are the minority BECAUSE of the lack of female-focused marketing.
(Mostly) Males: There is a lack of female-focused marketing BECAUSE you are the minority.
Females: GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Modifié par zahra, 16 septembre 2010 - 08:36 .

[Altima Darkspells]

Oh, I like zahra. Her cynicism and frustration nearly matches my own. Give into your hate, and let us rule the galaxy as father and son! I'd have to cut off your hand, but still.

[zahra]

Altima Darkspells wrote...

Oh, I like zahra. Her cynicism and frustration nearly matches my own. Give into your hate, and let us rule the galaxy as father and son! I'd have to cut off your hand, but still.

Ooh I've always wanted to have a sinister hooded father who speaks like his mouth is a ventilation duct. Losing a hand is ok as long as I get to fulfill this worthy ambition.

[marquiseondore]

I see the cycle continues

[Altima Darkspells]

zahra wrote...

Altima Darkspells wrote...

Oh, I like zahra. Her cynicism and frustration nearly matches my own. Give into your hate, and let us rule the galaxy as father and son! I'd have to cut off your hand, but still.

Ooh I've always wanted to have a sinister hooded father who speaks like his mouth is a ventilation duct. Losing a hand is ok as long as I get to fulfill this worthy ambition.

And I've always wanted a son of whom I can braid his hair and eat ice cream with and generally be great ****es with each other!

Now prove your evilness by playing Bayonetta!  For eighteen hours!  Straight!

[JeCy108]

Riona45 wrote...

JeCy108 wrote...

[ just read the article,  It says women that own a game device..   

those little hand held games that have cartoon critters that teeny bopper girls play with count..  Id hardly call a girl with a vritual pet a gamer. You have any idea how many girls have that little game?  its in the millions..

I see this argument a lot...basically you're suggesting that the survey takers were complete idiots and came to the wrong conclusions because they failed to account for something supposedly obvious (ie. "These are just women buying games for their sons!").  I think if you are going to make this argument, you need to offer proof, otherwise it comes off as if you just don't want to accept the conclusions.

No,, im sure they did a fairly decent survey..  But serriously, Just look at the article.  It says game device, Or online game.  That is such a giant varriety, outside of the normal soo called gamers.  Lets look at some top selling, or top playing games these days..   farmville, mafia wars and guitar hero, and that hand held virual pet thingy..  All are hugly popular with girls. If you goto a school and say how many girls have or play guitar hero ill bet you see 75% of the hands go up in the room, (ok, would have to be suburbs as im sure cities its far less).  Every single person that i know that has a kid has this game or has a freind that has it, so if this kid plays guitar hero for a few hours a couple times a week,  that makes them a gamer in the eyes of this article. 

playing guitar hero does not make one a gamer.. more like a bad musican. Im sure girls are 2 to 1 on game devices...   But this article makes it out like girls are 2 -1  gamers in things like RPG's, MMO's, RTS, FPS. (maybe they dont, and we are just jumping to conclusions. Personally id love to see the real data and full write up on this because there is so much room for interpretaion..  Heck if they took a survey, why not include what games they played..  

I never took any surveys so i cant say any type of exact number.  But what i do know is ive been in 100+ person guilds in MMO's  and have played them and many other types of online games for going on 15 years now, and been a gamer for double that.  Trust me when i say in No way, shape of form is the guy/girl ration  2-1. And outside of the last couple years, I almost never saw a girl walk into a game store to pick up a copy of quake, though now its not unheard of a girl going in and grabing a copy of halo.  But next time halo, or maden or some other big game launches, just take a look at how many girls are waiting in line for it..  .


also, like i stated farmville and mafia wars, these are supremely popular with girls, infact well over half of my daily updates on face book,  are from these 2 games, every single one of the players is a girl.  Just compare the numbers of farmville players to say  Starcraft II.  Ill bet there are 2 times as many,  ( anyone have any idea how many farmville players there are?  Does 12 million facebook people playing it, sound really outta line?)

really the fact is girls and guys play vastly different games. And please dont take this as me not thinking that games like RPG's or MMO's or any other type of online game are for girls.  Infact i wish they would.  Its nice when your in chat playing an MMO and there are 3 or 4 girls in the group. Or even make RPG's and others with more female lead characters geared towards girls.  (please lets not make it like twilight though)

I love a good story and some of my favorite heroes and fantasy characters of all time are girls.  Joan of Arc, Ameila earhart, cleopatra, Aphrodite, Xena, Lara croft, Electra..   These are all wonderfull characters and highly interesting, (yes i know some are real and some are fiction)  But the point is, If more girls did play RPG's and demanded more, then they would get more..  and people like me could enjoy more architypes than just burly men, or angry devilish spys.

So in the end girls, dont talk about being gamers, go buy some games, and start playing and make your voice heard, perhaps in the end i can enjoy my gaming more.. 

[JeCy108]

zahra wrote...

 


In fact the arguments in this thread end up frustrating both sides because it goes like this:

(Mostly) Males: You guys are the minority, so thats why marketing towards you guys is unimportant.
Females: We are the minority BECAUSE of the lack of female-focused marketing.
(Mostly) Males: There is a lack of female-focused marketing BECAUSE you are the minority.
Females: GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

haha..  You about summed up the whole thing..

You got your chocolate in my peanut butter

No you got your peanut butter in my chocolate...

You know what?  they taste great together !!!!!!!



PS,  You go girls, Stand up for your right for more girl characters,,  Im all for it,  keep posting and making your voices heard.  break that mold that all girls are farmville players.  I know some of you are as strong as Joan Of Arc..  Stand tall !

Modifié par JeCy108, 16 septembre 2010 - 04:32 .

[KIrving]

zahra wrote...
In fact the
arguments in this thread end up frustrating both sides because it
goes like this:

(Mostly) Males: You guys are the minority, so
thats why marketing towards you guys is unimportant.
Females: We
are the minority BECAUSE of the lack of female-focused
marketing.
(Mostly) Males: There is a lack of female-focused
marketing BECAUSE you are the minority.
Females:
GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

../../../../images/forum/emoticons/wizard.png

You've just summed up my frustration perfectly!!

JeCy108 wrote...
I never took any surveys so i cant say any type of exact number.  But what i do know is ive been in 100+ person guilds in MMO's  and have played them and many other types of online games for going on 15 years now, and been a gamer for double that.  Trust me when i say in No way, shape of form is the guy/girl ration  2-1. And outside of the last couple years, I almost never saw a girl walk into a game store to pick up a copy of quake, though now its not unheard of a girl going in and grabing a copy of halo.  But next time halo, or maden or some other big game launches, just take a look at how many girls are waiting in line for it..  .

Well I can't speak for the majority of female game consumers, however I do a lot of my game price comparison and shopping online.  I get a better deal and I don't have to wait for, practically non existent, service in an EB or equivalent.  I occasionally go into stores and I have never waited in line to buy a game.  The game is going to be available for some time anyway and by the time I've waited a couple of weeks the, overblown, Australian prices might have lowered.  One thing I have noticed though is if my husband and I enter a store together, he gets acknowledged and I get ignored.  Perhaps my experience is not uncommon.

JeCy108 wrote...
PS, 
You go girls, Stand up for your right for more girl characters,,  Im
all for it,  keep posting and making your voices
heard.  break that mold that all girls are farmville
players.  I know some of you are as strong as Joan Of Arc.. 
Stand tall !

I'm sorry but considering that  a number of your posts have made so many judgements about what females or males like to play I find it difficult to take this encouragement seriously.  It just reads as condescending to me.   What's this 'farmville' game that people keep mentioning anyway?  Do you get to kill things?

Modifié par KIrving, 16 septembre 2010 - 11:17 .

[savagesparrow]

Yeah, I agree with KIrving--with Steam now I don't bother to go to gamestop for my games because 1. Developers get more money from Steam and 2. I don't have to go outside. Not having to go outside = huge bonus.



But yeah, I didn't mean to offend anyone with my "RPGs take less skill" comment, but admit it--with your typical JRPG ATB system most battles come down to 'press a, wait, press b, wait, heal, press a again" --not nearly as complicated as learning a new map for an FPS or all the effort that goes into learning the latest tactical strategies of Starcraft 2, which seem to change every two days. And that has more to do with the fact that with those types of games you're facing other people--usually more hardcore and insane people who will spend way more time than you learning this stuff--instead of facing an AI, so they're a lot less easy to pick up.



Even Dragon Age, though it has a tactical battle system and is all about min-maxing as you play on the higher difficulties--on easy mode, you can just plow through enemies if you don't care about learning any of that, so its not hard for a casual player to pick up (my boyfriend hates the DnD style game mechanics, so he stuck to easy mode and just hacked and slashed his way through the game. But I've been playing Bioware games since BG 2, so I got more into hard mode and the overhead strategy planning).



So yeah, my main point is that this isn't about marketing to gamers in general, it's about marketing an RPG, and there're a helluva lot of girls who play RPGs, again, since the advent of the JRPGs. Having a separate trailer or even little flash banner to be posted on girl gamer associated blogs or magazines or whatever would help draw in more of that crowd. I mean, I know that it took me about a month to convince a friend of mine that she's love da because she was turned off by the initial images of just big burly dudes dancing around blood and violence. If there was maybe something to convey the story or an image of a lady PC or something about the romance options it wouldn't have taken a month! XD



I also want to point out (just in case nobody else did) that it seems that the females tend to be the more obsessive fans, as if you go to the community creations thread, about 90% of the contributes and posters there seem to be ladies. Just sayin' is all ;x