[Ian Jones]

Hey, the topic of the moment for me is a university project to design and produce a gender equitable computer game. In the interest of research I really need to find out what games women like. So, if you are reading this and you are a female please offer your opinions and suggestions.


Which existing games do you like to play?

What aspects make them enjoyable for you, and why?

What aspects do you not enjoy, and why?

Which genre's of gaming do you enjoy, and why?

Do you like sci-fi or fantasy, or both?

Do you like futuristic, historical or present day contexts?


Please offer any additional opinion or discussion if you wish. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thx in advance.

[tayete]

Women don't come to this place. Enayla and Socar Myles migrated long time ago. Only pathetic lonely men still keep coming here (as myself)
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http://tayete.blogspot.com

[Ian Jones]

oh well... it was worth a try. Opinions are welcome from anyone!

[Awetopsy]

Women like The Sims

[Giant Hamster]

All the girls I know like Quake 3 and UT.

[Kitamard]

All the women you know might be men... because the women I know play Dance Dance whateverlution
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Beaumont 'from the beautiful mountain' origin French

[Giant Hamster]

The only person I know that plays Dance Dance Revolution is Garrett. He's gay. He also plays The Sims and Diablo 2 with his boyfriend, Mike.

[Giant Hamster]

OHYEAH!!!!!!!!! WOO!!

[tayete]

Who gave you permission to post pics of my baby, Hamster?

Asia Carrera (the famous porn-star) is well-known for being a hardcore UT player.
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http://tayete.blogspot.com

[Mari]

Which existing games do you like to play?
Let's see... I'm basically a NERD. =) I liked things like um, Heroes of Might and Magic (I played 2 and 3) and Age of Empires 2, that sort of stuff, and the Command and Conquer series has always been nice, but these bore me pretty quickly nowadays. Sometimes I play them because I feel like it... These days it's mostly fighting games (I'm crazy about Martial arts and Japanese culture from a century back), like Dead or Alive, Ninja Gaiden, Soul Calibur, Tenchu: The Wrath of Heaven, Final Fantasy X, but I liked Halo too though, and uh, I really like Ragnarok online.

What aspects make them enjoyable for you, and why?
Well, I'm really an art/pretty freak, so I like nice graphics. They don't have to be excellent because even I used to play NES games when I was really tiny. Other than graphics... I HAVE to be able to kick butt. If I can kick butt nicely, it doesn't even matter how big the story is, as long as there is one. With my imagination I can always think of more story if there's not much of it. Even small stories can be good, after all. To be honest, I'm pretty violent and sometimes sadistic when it comes to gaming, so I don't mind blood and screams of pain either. =)

What aspects do you not enjoy, and why?
... I hate it when there's no kick ass female around ANYWHERE. I think us girls are not represented very well. There are few games where the female characters really kick ass. It would be fun if a female character would have to save a MAN some day. Instead of the guy always having to save the girl. There's enough women who aren't afraid to get blood on their hands in real life, I have no doubt about that, so please... stop making us females the frilly girls with high pitched voices that have to be saved or can only do magic all the time. Oh - and do something about the gigantic racks too. While C and D cups are fine because it makes the art nicer, but larger than that gets fairly unnatural. Take Tecmo for instance. I love them but they went very much overboard with Rachel from Ninja Gaiden. Even straight girls can get distracted by that...

Which genre's of gaming do you enjoy, and why?
Like I said, fighter games - I usually prefer martial arts and swords over the shooters, although really good shooters tend to make me happy very easily too. Since I'm such an ancient Japanese culture freak - especially ninja, samurai, that kind of stuff - I like games in that genre a lot. I don't mind if they have a modern aspect in them like Ninja Gaiden either. Hell, actually that's the perfect setting. Old blends in with new, so to speak. And it's Japanese-ish. Yay!

Do you like sci-fi or fantasy, or both?
Mostly both these days. I've always been a LITTLE more of a fantasy freak in general, but if the game is good, sci-fi rocks just as much.

Do you like futuristic, historical or present day contexts?
As in the above, I like historical or present most but if the game is good, futuristic is just fine with me. I tend not to be distracted by genres too much. If I think "That's a cool game!" the genre could kiss my b*** for all I care. =) I'm openminded!



I hope these answers made sense and didn't scare you off for good. I also hope they weren't too long but I tried to be of help and then I can get really detailed, I suppose. Or say things twice. =)

[Mari]

Oh, and a major PS to all the previous posters here:

TAKE THAT. Women so do come to this place and our numbers are far larger than you can imagine! Also in gaming, by the way.

Women gamers can be put in two different classes, if you can put them in classes at all.

1) The person that we could refer to as a preppy girl or just a girl that only comes to a computer to do her homework. She occasionally games and will play games like Worms or the Sims. If they ever use a console, it'll be their boyfriend's or their little brother's.

2) The girls that are nerds, like me. Well, if you can call them nerds. They like any kind of game that fits their personality, and if that happens to be Quake or the Sims, they don't care, as long as they can play. These are the girls that buy consoles and actually do game a lot. Many of my friends are like this, because I just don't like other girls when they don't game.



I suck so much. Please don't take this post too seriously. =) But it does happen.

[Ian Jones]

Hey Mari, thanks for your reply! Your responses are very interesting and useful for my research. I'll definitely keep an open mind, your two categories are also insightful. Thx again!

[Mari]

Haha you're welcome! Glad SOMEONE around here appreciates girl gamers!
A friend of mine on deviantART was ranting about how guys are still surprised when they hear about a girl playing the games we play... We got so mad at that, and then one guy ended up calling us harsh. =) Bwahahah. I am amused~!!

[Mari]

[The Insane Lemur]

damn hamster... that biotch would have no problem staying afloat if she was ever stranded in the middle of the sea

[stacy]

Cripes!!!

Well, ask a female simple questions, and see what you get!

And she's Dutch too. They're on the quite side. Imagine the massive landslide of verbage in an American female's response.

If you have 10 cents worth of discernment it should be crystal clear to you, just from the structure of her response, that the perfect game for females is one where the main character talks everyone to death!!!

[The Electric Monk]

I don't know if this is what you're looking for but I asked my girlfriend these questions and here's what she had to say:

Which existing games do you like to play?
Civilization 3, Final Fantasy, old RPGs, American McGee's Alice and early Tomb Raider games, those would be my favorites.

What aspects make them enjoyable for you, and why?
Customizability (sp?). Being able to select different characters and being able to select different weapons and ways to the end according to the player's likes and dislikes.
Strong three dimensional characters that develop and innovative plot.
Choice, basically.

What aspects do you not enjoy, and why?
Sexism. Where all the girls are wearing bikinis and are all over the main character who is kind of buff.
Games that lack plot are completely unplayable in my opinion.
Lack of challenge. Lack of variety. Boring endings.

Which genre's of gaming do you enjoy, and why?
Historical strategy, because it's so flexible and fuels my imagination.
RPGs, not sure exactly why. I guess because it's living out a fantasy.
I'm not sure what the genre is called, but Maxis's games. Because they are so customizable and you can really be creative and do whatever you want with it.
Adventure puzzle games, because they're fun and challenging.
The occasional horror game because it's exciting.
Also, any game that has some level of education, because learning is more fun that way.
I really, really appreciate games you have to be educated to understand (like Final Fantasy's references to ancient mythology and Alice's obvious references to literature).

Do you like sci-fi or fantasy, or both?
I prefer fantasy, but sci-fi can be fun as long as it's original (the problem is it's usually not, people seem to do the same things over and over with sci-fi). How many fucking Star Wars games do you need?

Do you like futuristic, historical or present day contexts?
All of them, I like variety. I would really enjoy it if someone made a decent time machine game.


She also says "hi" and "thank you thank you thank you," she thinks someone really needs to do something about appealing to the other 51% of the population in games.

EDIT: She would also like to add "Could you please have the women put some clothes on (or at least have the men running around naked, too)?"
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Gee, I sure like TV. And wearing pants.

[Ian Jones]

ah.. thought this thread had died already. Thx for the effort The Electric Monk, and a big thanks to your girlfriend... I've a got a couple more ideas now.

[Rat]

Hmm, let's see... (wow, I chose a good time to actually come back here...)

Which existing games do you like to play?
Hmm... well, I like a lot of the old arcade games no one's ever heard of, and from time to time I'll break out the Tomb Raider series... I like Heroes of Might and Magic VI, too, but I don't have it. Same goes for Eternal Darkness and Zelda.

What aspects make them enjoyable for you, and why?
It's different for every game. Mostly I just like playing a character who isn't me... being able to blow things up is fun, too.

What aspects do you not enjoy, and why?
I don't like that a lot of games are focussed around just killing things to gain points or whatever. A game needs to have some sort of storyline and/or strategy...

Which genre's of gaming do you enjoy, and why?
Well, a good game is a good game, no matter what, but I do prefer things that leave a nice window for imagination. Fantasy and the like are good for that...

Do you like sci-fi or fantasy, or both?
Both... as I said, a good game is a good game.

Do you like futuristic, historical or present day contexts?
A mix of the three is good... if I had to choose, though, I'd say I prefer futuristic.
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~Gio

afterglow

[Ian Jones]

Hi Rat, thank you for your response. I am really pleased with the ideas so far.