112 réponses à ce sujet

[Yrkoon]

batlin wrote...
I suspect the reason is more like "games that are simple and easy to pick up and play" than having anything to do with gender.

That just answers the casual vs. hardcore gamer question.  But we haven't established yet whether or not most female gamers are casual or hard core so this seems a bit seperate from the actual topic question.


Bioware games  are very romance/relationship heavy, almost soap opera-like.  If you want to try and theorise why Bioware has a huge female fan base, that is probably a good premise to start from.

Modifié par Yrkoon, 19 juillet 2012 - 10:00 .

[AkiKishi]

Yrkoon wrote...

batlin wrote...
I suspect the reason is more like "games that are simple and easy to pick up and play" than having anything to do with gender.

That just answers the casual vs. hardcore gamer question.  But we haven't established yet whether or not most female gamers are casual or hard core so this seems a bit seperate from the actual topic question.


Bioware games  are very romance/relationship heavy, almost soap opera-like.  If you want to try and theorise why Bioware has a huge female fan base, that is probably a good premise to start from.

Probably. Although most of the people I know who fall into that catagory play Bishi games.

Although things like Nintendogs don't have romance and were played by a lot more women than anything Bioware have made.

Modifié par BobSmith101, 19 juillet 2012 - 10:04 .

[Heather-Shepard]

Wow, people are far too quick to generalize.  There are countless problems with statistics, so I personally don't care what the numbers have to say.  It is impossible to determine m/f ratios when it comes to games (or anything for that matter) and seriously, what does it matter?  It's just more fuel for false stereotypes, which are a big enough problem as it is. 
I am female and I play RPG's like Dragon Age, as well as first person shooters like Halo, etc.  I am currently addicted to ME3 multiplayer.  I have never played the sims or any of those crappy mobile games.  One of my favorite aspects of Dragon Age is the tactical combat personally, I also love character creation/character building.  The assumptions about female Dragon Age players (and female gamers in general) are quite biased. I doubt very many girls would invest 50-60+ hours in a game just so they could spend a total of 10 minutes or so interacting with a fake boyfriend.  There are so many other things about the game that appeal to both men and women alike.  We are all unique individuals with our own preferences and cannot be lumped together so easily. 

[AkiKishi]

nemesisdivina-vow wrote...

Wow, people are far too quick to generalize.  There are countless problems with statistics, so I personally don't care what the numbers have to say.  It is impossible to determine m/f ratios when it comes to games (or anything for that matter) and seriously, what does it matter?  It's just more fuel for false stereotypes, which are a big enough problem as it is. 
I am female and I play RPG's like Dragon Age, as well as first person shooters like Halo, etc.  I am currently addicted to ME3 multiplayer.  I have never played the sims or any of those crappy mobile games.  One of my favorite aspects of Dragon Age is the tactical combat personally, I also love character creation/character building.  The assumptions about female Dragon Age players (and female gamers in general) are quite biased. I doubt very many girls would invest 50-60+ hours in a game just so they could spend a total of 10 minutes or so interacting with a fake boyfriend.  There are so many other things about the game that appeal to both men and women alike.  We are all unique individuals with our own preferences and cannot be lumped together so easily. 

Would you consider yourself typical?

[berelinde]

Dunno if there is such a thing as a typical female gamer. I prefer BioWare games because I like a good dose of story with my game, but I also play a lot of Diablo, so I have no aversion to hack-n-slash... although I don't care for Skyrim or the Witcher series. Tried them; didn't like them.

My partner, a guy, stopped playing BioWare games because there was too much dialogue. He plays Diablo with me, but I'm better at it than he is. He beats the heck out of me at Bejeweled Blitz, so there's nothing wrong with his hand-eye coordination. I think it's the "snap decision" aspect that throws him. If there's more to it than button-mashing, e.g. choose between left-click and some kind of special attack, he gets a killed while he's making up his mind.

It is possible that we are not representative of our genders, though.

[Maclimes]

The problem with the poll? 

Women are more likely to fill out questionnaires than men, skewing the results.

[Pasquale1234]

batlin wrote...

Pasquale1234 wrote...

Your links show that more women than men play mobile apps.  IOW, where mobile apps are concerned, a majority of the players are women.

It doesn't say what other games women do or do not play, and it does not mean that most women play mobile apps.  I'd be pretty careful about drawing any conclusions from that.

Personally, I've never played a mobile app, and don't do facebook.

I have a PS3 and gaming PC, and mostly play RPG and RTS games.

The topic is asking if Bioware games have a higher percentage of female gamers. I say no, that mobile games have the highest percentage of female gamers.

But your "evidence" doesn't prove your assertion, as I tried to explain before.  You're taking one piece of information and extrapolating it to try to make it mean something else.

Let's see if I can find another way to try to explain it to you.

If, for example, only 5% of the gaming public plays mobile apps, and more women than men play mobile apps, you still don't know:
- Whether that 5% plays any other games and the breakdown of that
- Anything about the gaming habits of the other 95% of the population

Your evidence does not address the entire gaming public, it is specific to mobile app play.  It tells us absolutely nothing about:
- The platform / genre preference of the entire population of female gamers.
- The gender breakdown of RPG gamers.
- The gender breakdown of RTS gamers.
- The gender breakdown of FPS gamers.
- The gender breakdown of Bethesda gamers.
- The gender breakdown of BioWare gamers.
- The gender breakdown of DA gamers.  (Which, by itself would not answer the question posed.  You would also need to know the gender breakdown of all other games in order to show whether DA's % of female gamers is higher than most other games)

Of course, many individual gamers would fit in more than one of the above categories.  Some of those women who play mobile apps might also play DA.

Yes, of course there's exceptions to every rule, yourself included.

It seems a bit silly to talk about exceptions when we've yet to establish this "rule".

Modifié par Pasquale1234, 19 juillet 2012 - 01:49 .

[Nefla]

Female gamers are rare enough (and no cellphone games don't make you a gamer) that men look at me like I'm a unicorn when I say I like games. The only people I know irl who game are men (though I know more about BW and Bethesda games than any of them XD). When I went to the ME3 midnight release at gamestop, there were like 50 guys, me, and one other woman (who was dressed in sweats where I was dressed in makeup/heels).

[Gotholhorakh]

I think that the 'straight white male gamers' club does not really exist in an exclusive sense in computer games.

Apart from actual prices, there is nothing excluding anyone of any demographic from backing the games they like with their money.

Whether people like it or not, women are, either inherently or because or environmental factors, often likely to prefer different games, notwithstanding that every individual is different and that the trends are often led by the bland masses.

I'd be surprised if the DA games were not more popular among women than some other games, but I'm not sure I'd analyze that in the same way some people do.

Especially the "learning curve" or "complexity" comments I'm seeing - if women do prefer a learning curve that doesn't require 5 hours of time invested, remember that a lot of women are providing care the for children, elderly family members, incompetent husbands etc. that means they do not have 5 hours in a row to invest in learning a game.

That goes for a lot of parents of either sex too, TBH, and other working adults - but it's women who are being concentrated on here.

If 20 minutes here and there is what you have to play in, it is sadly much more enjoyable and worth your time to play 20 minutes of angry birds or Dragon Age and enjoy yourself than eek out the 5 hour "learning phase" of a game to 3 weeks of gaming sessions before you have any fun.

I think this and the setting, fun factor, story, romance have a lot more to do with female uptake of DA games than their admirable inclusivity.

Modifié par Gotholhorakh, 19 juillet 2012 - 04:15 .

[EpicBoot2daFace]

A lot of women play WoW. I haven't seen many women playing Xbox Live, though.

[Sylvanpyxie]

Based off of everyday generalizations? I would say that RPGs in general have a larger population of Female Players. The opportunity for full customization and romantic story arcs tend to interest the "Girl Gamer" crowd.

Let me clarify on that before i post, because i will be crucified if i don't.

There are two types of Women in the Gaming World. Gamers who are Women and Girl Gamers.

As a woman, i am not a "Girl Gamer". I am in fact, a Gamer. My interest in gaming stretches across many genres and into many areas of expertise. I play anything from Soldier to Medic in Shooters. Tank to Healer in RPGs. Support to Damage in MMOs. I will play anything, as long as it's the least bit interesting. I will blow stuff up, i will heal stuff up. I will stick things with pointy swords and i will shoot things with pointed sticks.

I will play games, without ever feeling the need to state that i am a woman. I will never flaunt my gender or my sexuality to random strangers in games, because it simply isn't necessary. I am a Gamer, just like every other Gamer in the world, my interests are the same as any Gamer's.

Girl Gamers, by comparison:

From what i've experienced, Girl Gamers will largely play RPGs, MMOs and Casual games. They tend to avoid things that require them being in the thick of battle, and things that tend to have a steep learning curve (It's unlikely you'll ever see a "Girl Gamer" as a Tank). They tend to prefer supportive roles such as Healers, Casters and other Ranged DPS.

They will also take every available opportunity to flaunt their gender, and their sexuality, in your face, because they believe they that the two globes of fat attached to their chests make them special on the Internet. They will try to use their gender as an excuse for how poorly they play and, in MMOs, often attempt to get free gear from everyone else.

Girl Gamers tend towards games that offer any of these things -:
Easy Game-Play.
Full Customization of Character.
Romantic Scenarios.
Social Interaction.
Opportunity to Role-Play and, as a branch off from that - Opportunity to Create Romantic Scenarios.

RPGs and MMOs offer a large number of these qualities, as a result Girl Gamers tend to flock to them.

Bioware games, such as the Dragon Age franchise, offer that and more. They offer complexity that encourages the Gamer crowd, and it offers romantic interludes and full customization for the Girl Gamer Crowd. As a result, i imagine the Female Fan Base is larger for Bioware games than most other companies.

TL:DR : Dragon Age offers complexity to Gamers(Including Women) and easy romantic interludes to Girl Gamers, who are the generalized portion of the Female Gaming Crowd.

Editted to clarify stuff.

Modifié par Sylvanpyxie, 19 juillet 2012 - 07:23 .

[EpicBoot2daFace]

Yeah. I mean, I rarely run into women gamers on Rainbow Six and other 'war' games. Some on Halo when I used to play it.

[AkiKishi]

My partner favours handhelds. When we are not playing together, she will spend her free time on MMO's.
Handhelds can be put into "sleep" mode a moments notice which is something she finds generally useful over leaving a PC or console turned on while getting to a save point or getting through a combat.

[RinpocheSchnozberry]

Since RPGs stopped being lame combat sims are started being methods to tell stories, more chicks have gotten into them.

Also, don't forget that RPGs have a well deserved reputation as popular with guys who like to pretend to be chicks. So plenty of the women here are G.I.R.L.s

[Heather-Shepard]

BobSmith101 wrote...

nemesisdivina-vow wrote...

Wow, people are far too quick to generalize.  There are countless problems with statistics, so I personally don't care what the numbers have to say.  It is impossible to determine m/f ratios when it comes to games (or anything for that matter) and seriously, what does it matter?  It's just more fuel for false stereotypes, which are a big enough problem as it is. 

I am female and I play RPG's like Dragon Age, as well as first person shooters like Halo, etc.  I am currently addicted to ME3 multiplayer.  I have never played the sims or any of those crappy mobile games.  One of my favorite aspects of Dragon Age is the tactical combat personally, I also love character creation/character building.  The assumptions about female Dragon Age players (and female gamers in general) are quite biased. I doubt very many girls would invest 50-60+ hours in a game just so they could spend a total of 10 minutes or so interacting with a fake boyfriend.  There are so many other things about the game that appeal to both men and women alike.  We are all unique individuals with our own preferences and cannot be lumped together so easily. 

Would you consider yourself typical?

"Typical" is a subjective term and irrelevant to the point that I was trying to make, which you obviously didn't understand...  DId you read the last sentence?

There is no such thing as a 'typical' anything because the psyche is complicated and there are too many variables.  Being atypical is typical, which pretty much turns the term on its own head. 

There are negative stereotypes associated with male gamers as well, the whole 'nerd in his moms basement with no friends or girlfriend' thing, but I understand that gamers as a whole come from all walks of like and would never make such generalizations.  People wish things were as simple as 'men are like this, women are like that, black people are like this, white people are like that' etc, because that would make life easy... but I understand that these assumptions only lead to problems and misunderstandings because the vast majority of people are more complex than that. 

[AkiKishi]

nemesisdivina-vow wrote...

BobSmith101 wrote...

nemesisdivina-vow wrote...

Wow, people are far too quick to generalize.  There are countless problems with statistics, so I personally don't care what the numbers have to say.  It is impossible to determine m/f ratios when it comes to games (or anything for that matter) and seriously, what does it matter?  It's just more fuel for false stereotypes, which are a big enough problem as it is. 

I am female and I play RPG's like Dragon Age, as well as first person shooters like Halo, etc.  I am currently addicted to ME3 multiplayer.  I have never played the sims or any of those crappy mobile games.  One of my favorite aspects of Dragon Age is the tactical combat personally, I also love character creation/character building.  The assumptions about female Dragon Age players (and female gamers in general) are quite biased. I doubt very many girls would invest 50-60+ hours in a game just so they could spend a total of 10 minutes or so interacting with a fake boyfriend.  There are so many other things about the game that appeal to both men and women alike.  We are all unique individuals with our own preferences and cannot be lumped together so easily. 

Would you consider yourself typical?

"Typical" is a subjective term and irrelevant to the point that I was trying to make, which you obviously didn't understand...  DId you read the last sentence?

There is no such thing as a 'typical' anything because the psyche is complicated and there are too many variables.  Being atypical is typical, which pretty much turns the term on its own head. 

There are negative stereotypes associated with male gamers as well, the whole 'nerd in his moms basement with no friends or girlfriend' thing, but I understand that gamers as a whole come from all walks of like and would never make such generalizations.  People wish things were as simple as 'men are like this, women are like that, black people are like this, white people are like that' etc, because that would make life easy... but I understand that these assumptions only lead to problems and misunderstandings because the vast majority of people are more complex than that. 

This is why we have statistics. Sure everyone has a story but you can't meet everyone.

[Heather-Shepard]

Statistics are unreliable. I have studied statistics myself, and there are countless ways to manipulate statistics to make any claim you want. They don't actually prove anything.

[AkiKishi]

nemesisdivina-vow wrote...

Statistics are unreliable. I have studied statistics myself, and there are countless ways to manipulate statistics to make any claim you want. They don't actually prove anything.

Unless you think there is some sort of hidden agenda at work why bother?

[Yrkoon]

nemesisdivina-vow wrote...

Statistics are unreliable. I have studied statistics myself, and there are countless ways to manipulate statistics to make any claim you want. They don't actually prove anything.

This is a false statement.  Statistics are neutral.    They're  tools.  The fact that someone can take these statistics and use or manipulate them in a bias/unreliable manner simply makes the user/manipulator unreliable, not the statistic.

As it stands,  the thread stater's question can be accurately answered, or rather, reliably answered, with a large enough poll sampling.

Modifié par Yrkoon, 20 juillet 2012 - 03:26 .

[Direwolf0294]

Not really, no. I think female gamers are such a common thing now-a-days that there's no "this game has more female players than men" or "this game has more male players than women". I mean, yeah, there will be games that do have a higher percent of male or female gamers, nothings going to be 100% 50/50, but I don't think the numbers are going to be so disproportionate in most cases that it's even worth mentioning and I don't think the DA series has particularly more female players than any other series.

[leighzard]

Sylvanpyxie wrote...

There are two types of Women in the Gaming World. Gamers who are Women and Girl Gamers.

I don't see any benefit to classifying females who play video games this way.

Sure there are gamers out there of the female persuasion who flaunt their gender/sexuality, but there are plenty of dudes who do it, too.  There are also lots of males who gravitate towards easy game-play.  I believe they're usually called casual gamers, and it doesn't matter what gender they are.  I don't think these are distinctions that belong to "Girl Gamers" and it creates unnecessary division in group that has historically been a minority, albeit a growing one, in the gaming community.

As to why I personally enjoy the DA franchise: I do love the customization options (hell, I still think it's great to be able to play a female character) and the romance arcs, but that's not why I picked up DA:O, which was my first BW game.  I was interested in the story and the monster slaying.  I didn't even know you could have romances between video game characters, but when I realized it was included, it quickly became one of my favorite aspects of the game.  I think that the variety of relationships you can have offers almost as much replayability as the choices that you make to influence the story - what can I say, I love me some party banter.  On the other hand, I also love to get up in a big, fat nest o' monsters and swing my sword.  And I prefer my gaming to be a solitary experience.

Anyway, if Bioware has a larger segment of the female population buying their products than other developers, I'd say they're doing something right.  It can't hurt to expand and diversify your consumer base.

[Yuqi]

EpicBoot2daFace wrote...

A lot of women play WoW. I haven't seen many women playing Xbox Live, though.

Being a Female Gamer on xboxlive is...errr..annoying? The female gamers I have met on Xboxlive prefer to appear offline, so there's more then you think.

The demographics have changed though, since technology has become less of a 'geeky' thing.(Arguably the more complex technology is still geeky, but your consoles? Not so much.) I've watched my neice grow up and she barely remembers the PS2, but she also has alot of her female freinds with D.S's. The industry will have to change, to accomadate a much higher percentage of female gamers. In the 90s you had to hide the fact you played pokemon on the Gameboy, if you were a female. Now its pretty much normal for girls to play games,which is why you have the influx of cooking mama games,nintendogs, ect,ect.

Modifié par Yuqi, 21 juillet 2012 - 07:12 .

[Night Dreams]

I play games for storyline, something artistic and interesting that stands out from the norm. But this isn't a female generalisation. I think what guys have to realise is that we are just as diverse in our likes and dislikes and reasons for playing games as they are.
If I absolutely had to point out a majority reason for DA being popular among female gamers, however, I would say a lot are attracted to DA because of the customisation, and being able to actually play as a female character (who isn't a sex object, ala early tomb raider). I know it is appealing to me, although I still enjoy playing as male characters, sometimes prefer it, depending on context.

[Imrahil_]

Night Dreams wrote...
and being able to actually play as a female character (who isn't a sex object, ala early tomb raider).

Just wondering, seriously, why you chose the name "Night Dreams".  The sentiment & the name choice seem a bit at odds, is all.

Modifié par Imrahil_, 21 juillet 2012 - 11:10 .

[Maike91]

Night Dreams wrote...

I play games for storyline, something artistic and interesting that stands out from the norm. But this isn't a female generalisation. I think what guys have to realise is that we are just as diverse in our likes and dislikes and reasons for playing games as they are.
If I absolutely had to point out a majority reason for DA being popular among female gamers, however, I would say a lot are attracted to DA because of the customisation, and being able to actually play as a female character (who isn't a sex object, ala early tomb raider). I know it is appealing to me, although I still enjoy playing as male characters, sometimes prefer it, depending on context.

This