199 réponses à ce sujet

[Northern Sun]

Pretty high number for female Inkys. As I recall FemShep only got 18% in ME3.

[Kinsz]

Playing a single gender has nothing to do with being Casual or " hardcore" I only ever play as male because I can't relate to a female pc , I self insert into these games , considering how many hours I have put into RPGs and games in general from the 90s up to now I would say I'm pretty hardcore.

[Steelcan]

I'd say that 30% is unusually high and not representative of the gender mix of the audiences of other big name game releases. I highly doubt 30% of the audiences of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Assassin's Creed: Unity, Destiny, watch_dogs, Shadow of Mordor, or Dark Souls 2 is female. Bioware's focus on storytelling (and romance) rather than on 360 no scoping noobs or butchering orcs is probably why they have an unusual audience mix. Now that does not mean for a second that devs should not consider female gamers as a viable audience (they absolutely should), rather it indicates that there are types of games that can be made that will appeal to a female audience, but that those games are fairly different to those that will typically appeal to the young adult male audience and that there isn't much overlap between the two.

In short, it seems that in order to get women to play a game (in any significant numbers), you need to offer them an interesting story, as the mechanical aspects of gameplay alone are unlikely to draw them in and keep them engaged; whereas males tend to care far less for story and can happily do through the same gameplay motions near endlessly without ever caring why they are doing them (the competition against other players tends to be what drives them rather than any story reasons). Designing a game that will appeal to both audiences is thus very difficult, but it's one that Mass Effect is perhaps the best example of, combining the action shooting gameplay beloved of young males, and the deep storytelling and romance elements which female gamers seem drawn to. That said, I think there are developers that are seeking to find that female audience that is out there, but they are still trying to figure out exactly what sort of game it is that they need to make for women, whereas with males they have a very clear idea of what sorts of game designs will work.

TIL men only want to shoot stuff and blow sh*t up whereas women are significantly more refined

[Panda]

I wonder how many people actually make characters for both genders. Right now, I have 3 female inquisitors and 2 male ones (all elves....because I have a problem. LOL). I always play female first because I'm female, but I usually try males, too, and I know at least one of my friends started as a female quizzy but then restarted as a male when she realized that was the only way she could do Dorian's romance.

 

I have also tried to make a male qunari but didn't really like the way he turned out. Plan to try a female qunari at some point. Played around in the character creator with human male trying to make one for Dorian, which turned out very nice. If I ever do Blackwall's romance, I'll totally make a lady dwarf for him, though. LOL.

 

There probaply isn't any good statistic about that although it would be nice to know and also if one gender players more opposite gender than other.

 

Lets see, in

DAO: 1 female Warden 3 male Wardens

DA2: 2 female Hawkes 1 male Hawke

ME: 1 female Shephard

DAI: 1 male Inquisitor (qunari), on my friends laptop cause I don't have DAI on my PS3 yet.

 

That's what I have completed so far since I have tons of characters I have left unfinished. I think overall I play pretty much equally both genders.

[Sylvianus]

Playing a single gender has nothing to do with being Casual or " hardcore" I only ever play as male because I can't relate to a female pc , I self insert into these games , considering how many hours I have put into RPGs and games in general from the 90s up to now I would say I'm pretty hardcore.

 

That's pretty much what feel many " casual gamers " actually, those who play once or two times with DA. That doesn't mean that hardcore gamers can't feel the same, or that as a casual gamer you can't play the opposite gender or both gender. It's just more a trend in their group than with the hardcore fans. 

 

My brother is a casual gamer of DA, he never wanted to consider playing a female pc, he has just no time to play Dragon age several times, he has other favorite games to play, so he goes with what he identify with for his only playthrough as always, his gender. He did the same with Skyrim, Oblivion.

[Hazegurl]

I always take these statistics with a pinch of salt, tbh. I mean, I've created about 20 characters (either gender) just because I have fun in the DAI character creator. It doesn't really mean anything if those count towards this total. Though I do imagine I'll play some of them eventually.

I agree. I've created several female PC and all of them have been deleted save for one. The reason is that I'll create a character, see how ugly they look when the game actually begins, delete them the first chance I get and start over. I wonder how the numbers would be for both male and female if they added a "mirror of transformation" in game.

[Steelcan]

I agree. I've created several female PC and all of them have been deleted save for one. The reason is that I'll create a character, see how ugly they look when the game actually begins, delete them the first chance I get and start over. I wonder how the numbers would be for both male and female if they added a "mirror of transformation" in game.

gotta make my mouth slightly less wide and chine slightly wider, been bugging me

[Kinsz]

That's pretty much what feel many " casual gamers " actually, those who play once or two times with DA. That doesn't mean that hardcore gamers can't feel the same, or that as a casual gamer you can't play the opposite gender or both gender. It's just more a trend in their group than with the hardcore fans.

My brother is a casual gamer of DA, he never wanted to consider playing a female pc, he has just no time to play Dragon age several times, he has other favorite games to play, so he goes with what he identify with for hs only playthrough as always, his gender. He did the same with Skyrim, Oblivion.

I see what you mean , though I have played Inquisition and beat it 4 times so far and started 5th playthrough that I haven't finished yet , all my Inquisitor's are males so for me , and many , it's not a question of not having the time just a matter of preference , when I play Mass effect i am Shepard , when I play DA I am the Warden , Hawke and the Inquisitor , I even make them look like the real me, that's just how I approach these games. I wouldn't be able to relate to a female shep.

[daveliam]

If we only count the characters that I have created and intend to play to the end, then I have 5: 4 males and 1 female.

 

If we count any character that I created and watched the opening cinematics for before either deleting or recreating, then I have 24:  13 males and 11 females.

[Sidney]

I think a more interesting figure would be of people who only made 1 inquisitor...what is the ratio. I've got a 1:1 ratio and like a lot of others it seems bounce back and forth on genders to see different aspects of the story and reactions. Same with race. I'm more curious about the "not hardcore" players and how they balance out.

[Hazegurl]

Sadly my latest Female mistake.  She looks the way I want her in darker light. Get her in daylight and it's "Clown College"

 

The CC lightening sucks.

Spoiler

Spoiler

[Ajna]

I'm currently at four male characters and two female characters, but I would expect that most serious RPG/DA fans play both character genders since they're more likely to play repeatedly. More casual players are the ones you'd probably find to only play their own gender.

Well I for one only play female characters and I'm certainly not casual ... I don't know how true that is for others though.

[BlueElf2]

Sadly my latest Female mistake.  She looks the way I want her in darker light. Get her in daylight and it's "Clown College"

 

The CC lightening sucks.

Spoiler

Spoiler

That's....unfortunate. LOL. I had to erase one of my female characters because after starting the game, I realized she had like no chin, and her hair was far brighter orange than I thought. The character creator does need better lighting; things that look okay in CC can turn out looking terrifying in the actual game.

 

As to the ratio of male/female characters between casual/non-casual players, how would one even go about figuring that? As far as DA is concerned, what makes one a casual player versus a more hardcore player? It doesn't even seem like a game to me that would really appeal to what I would consider especially casual (like generally only playing facebook type games) players.

[ManOfSteel]

Not sure why people thought that there would be less female inquisitors, DA isn't mass effect, there always has been much more female gamers with dragon age, a high fantasy game more appealing to them than a semi fps to be honest. 

Otherwise known as a third person shooter.

 

I love these statistics though. I'm interested to see if they'll release information regarding race and class. I'm most interested to see how popular/unpopular the Qunari are.

[CuriousArtemis]

I'd say that 30% is unusually high and not representative of the gender mix of the audiences of other big name game releases. I highly doubt 30% of the audiences of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Assassin's Creed: Unity, Destiny, watch_dogs, Shadow of Mordor, or Dark Souls 2 is female. Bioware's focus on storytelling (and romance) rather than on 360 no scoping noobs or butchering orcs is probably why they have an unusual audience mix. Now that does not mean for a second that devs should not consider female gamers as a viable audience (they absolutely should), rather it indicates that there are types of games that can be made that will appeal to a female audience, but that those games are fairly different to those that will typically appeal to the young adult male audience and that there isn't much overlap between the two.

In short, it seems that in order to get women to play a game (in any significant numbers), you need to offer them an interesting story, as the mechanical aspects of gameplay alone are unlikely to draw them in and keep them engaged; whereas males tend to care far less for story and can happily do through the same gameplay motions near endlessly without ever caring why they are doing them (the competition against other players tends to be what drives them rather than any story reasons). Designing a game that will appeal to both audiences is thus very difficult, but it's one that Mass Effect is perhaps the best example of, combining the action shooting gameplay beloved of young males, and the deep storytelling and romance elements which female gamers seem drawn to. That said, I think there are developers that are seeking to find that female audience that is out there, but they are still trying to figure out exactly what sort of game it is that they need to make for women, whereas with males they have a very clear idea of what sorts of game designs will work.

 

I disagree with your assessment to some degree. I don't think we can make a statement like:

 

 

 

In short, it seems that in order to get women to play a game (in any significant numbers), you need to offer them an interesting story, as the mechanical aspects of gameplay alone are unlikely to draw them in and keep them engaged; whereas males tend to care far less for story and can happily do through the same gameplay motions near endlessly without ever caring why they are doing them (the competition against other players tends to be what drives them rather than any story reasons).

 

Mainly because I think that kind of thinking is based mostly on preconceived (but not scientifically proven) notions of gender and male/female physiology. It's the idea that women "naturally" like certain things and men "naturally" like certain other things. The only thing I can agree with is that the two genders can be (and are) "programmed" by society (nurture rather than nature) to like certain things. 

 

But I also think we're ignoring the fact that in BioWare games, you can play as a female character. In Shadows of Mordor, it was advertised that you must play as a set male character. For this reason, and this reason alone, I did not buy the game. So there are many, many factors that go into why women as a whole are buying some titles more than others. It's really hard to make assumptions about such a massive group of people; two persons could share the same gender but have little else in common, yet we assume they play video games for the same reason? I really don't think so.

[AresKeith]

Two million dragons slain.

 

Not bad.

 

PETA is protesting

[llandwynwyn]

which means there's been barely an increase in the proportions, interesting

Not really, 32% female characters created doesn't mean 32% female players.

[Ryzaki]

gotta make my mouth slightly less wide and chine slightly wider, been bugging me

My character's eyes are a smidge smaller than they should be

[Oswin]

So Xbone is the biggest Sausage Fest then? 

I'm on PS4. If you were to tally up all the times I've gone through CC then it would seem like I have a megatonne of FemQuizzies and only a handful of Males. I just kept making abominations to my gender, and then gave up playing them. I've completed the game twice with male characters and once, very quickly with a female. 

I tend to connect better with male characters when they are voiced. Also, Dorian is a thing that exists.

 

So yeah, female player over here. Mostly playing with male inquisitors. Have 100% completion (First Platinum trophy of 2015. Woohooo!) as well. Oh, and the dragon I hated fighting most was Vinsomer. Everyone else was a breeze. But for some reason she kept kicking my ass. Screw you, Vinsomer.

[BlueElf2]

Not really, 32% female characters created doesn't mean 32% female players.

I was thinking this, too. I know more than one lady has made a male character to do romances not available as a female: Dorian and Cass. There have probably also been men who did the reverse to do romances not available to male characters. I don't think the ratio of male/female characters created is necessarily the most accurate indicator of the ratio of actual player genders.

[Darkly Tranquil]

I disagree with your assessment to some degree. I don't think we can make a statement like:

Mainly because I think that kind of thinking is based mostly on preconceived (but not scientifically proven) notions of gender and male/female physiology. It's the idea that women "naturally" like certain things and men "naturally" like certain other things. The only thing I can agree with is that the two genders can be (and are) "programmed" by society (nurture rather than nature) to like certain things.

I'm not for a moment suggesting it as any kind of absolute, there are undoubtedly exceptions to both gender stereotypes I presented; heck, I used to be on a WoW raid team where 4/10 members were female, but I also know that's atypical. My observations were more of an "on average" over the wide swathe of gamers than any kind of absolute statement, based on my 30 years of on and offline gaming and my involvement in various gaming communities.

[CuriousArtemis]

I was thinking this, too. I know more than one lady has made a male character to do romances not available as a female: Dorian and Cass. There have probably also been men who did the reverse to do romances not available to male characters. I don't think the ratio of male/female characters created is necessarily the most accurate indicator of the ratio of actual player genders.

 

I'm female and just prefer playing as a male. I'm female in real life and it's often a drag, so I just love jumping into a male body. I do sometimes create female characters, but rarely.

 

The beauty of an RPG and all that

[Panda]

That's....unfortunate. LOL. I had to erase one of my female characters because after starting the game, I realized she had like no chin, and her hair was far brighter orange than I thought. The character creator does need better lighting; things that look okay in CC can turn out looking terrifying in the actual game.

 

As to the ratio of male/female characters between casual/non-casual players, how would one even go about figuring that? As far as DA is concerned, what makes one a casual player versus a more hardcore player? It doesn't even seem like a game to me that would really appeal to what I would consider especially casual (like generally only playing facebook type games) players.

 

There isn't any clear definition of casual vs non-casual players though. For myself gamer/player is someone who is into games, who consideres games as their hobby and I don't count those who only play mobile games or flash games on computer (in gamesites like games on adultswim etc.). But to me all players of DA aren't casual cause DA isn't casual game ^^;

 

Also if someone only plays DAI but plays it over 10 times are they casual players?

[Abelas Forever!]

I'd say that 30% is unusually high and not representative of the gender mix of the audiences of other big name game releases. I highly doubt 30% of the audiences of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Assassin's Creed: Unity, Destiny, watch_dogs, Shadow of Mordor, or Dark Souls 2 is female. Bioware's focus on storytelling (and romance) rather than on 360 no scoping noobs or butchering orcs is probably why they have an unusual audience mix. Now that does not mean for a second that devs should not consider female gamers as a viable audience (they absolutely should), rather it indicates that there are types of games that can be made that will appeal to a female audience, but that those games are fairly different to those that will typically appeal to the young adult male audience and that there isn't much overlap between the two.

In short, it seems that in order to get women to play a game (in any significant numbers), you need to offer them an interesting story, as the mechanical aspects of gameplay alone are unlikely to draw them in and keep them engaged; whereas males tend to care far less for story and can happily do through the same gameplay motions near endlessly without ever caring why they are doing them (the competition against other players tends to be what drives them rather than any story reasons). Designing a game that will appeal to both audiences is thus very difficult, but it's one that Mass Effect is perhaps the best example of, combining the action shooting gameplay beloved of young males, and the deep storytelling and romance elements which female gamers seem drawn to. That said, I think there are developers that are seeking to find that female audience that is out there, but they are still trying to figure out exactly what sort of game it is that they need to make for women, whereas with males they have a very clear idea of what sorts of game designs will work.

I think not all of those 30% are women and not all of those 70% are men playing the game. So you really can't know how many women and how many men play the game. But It makes me happy that so many people have chosen to play female characters because I like to play female characters and I tend to worry if not many people like to play them because if people aren't interested in certain kind of content then there is a risk that it's cut out.

 

I agree that women are different kind of of group than men what comes to playing games. I believe that there are studies that show that women like to play more RPGs than shooters for example. I think Dragon Age and Mass Effect series are those kind of game that propably interest a lot of women because there is a good story, you can create your own character and you can create your own story and of course there are romances I think one reason why there aren't that many female gamers is that playing games is more the thing for men and it doesn't help that games are marketed to male audiences. So you could easily get the impression that DA series is just another game with male PC where you just kill people. But how can you market games to women while not scaring the men off? I really don't know.