A random opinion post, a comment the begged to be shared
I got... something and decided to do a Yahoo search for "geek mom". Mostly because it occurs to me that moms who play games for fun- and not just to spend time with their sons are pretty rare. And sometimes that gets to me. I can have friends who are female and Christian, even moms, but games? General Geekiness? I can't seem to find 'em. But they've got to be on the Internet!!!
This led me to this blog entry: http://jilltxt.net It deals with the video game industry and games/marketing for women. This is my comment:
"It seems to me that game companies (and sometimes marketers) reach gaming WOMEN the best when they are willing to try anything. Gaming girls can be caught up in a franchise (Animal Crossing, Harvest Moon, maybe even Pokemon) or a character's face (Nancy Drew, Mary-Kate and Ashley, etc.), but women... we (as more casual gamers) seem to want something more "outside the box".
Example: The Sega Dreamcast. Sega is willing to do anything to succeed so that they will stay in the console manufacturing market, and what do they try?? Everything. Most of the music games that people are loving so much now (Guitar Hero, perhaps even DDR) have ancestors on the Dreamcast (Samba de Amigo, Space Channel 5). And those are games I would recommend to other women, or to men who wanted something their girlfriends/wives could play too. The Dreamcast also gave us the uber-unique Typing of the Dead, where those typing classes became good for shooting zombies- and was just absurd enough to work.
Only Nintendo has been willing to leave the box enough to attempt to reach non-stereotypical gamers the way Sega did in their twilight years. They have kept prices low, attempted new designs for controllers and consoles, and fought to do things in a way that entertains the whole family*. And go figure, they are considered a third wheel in the conflict between Microsoft and Sony. Microsoft advances things in the direction of computers, and Sony (so I'm told about this year's E3) is left trying to ape everyone at once.
This is not to say that gaming women won't play more stereotypical games- I make great cannon fodder in a game of multiplayer Halo, and enjoy it. I enjoy RPGs when I have the time, and watch my husband play regularly- much better than Desperate Housewives for entertainment! In fact, I do wish that there were more cooperative games we could play together.
I used to work in a game store within a mall. I've seen it in action- the girlfriend is following along behind the boyfriend who is looking for something in particular. She's rather tense, but bored at the same time- she looks at her watch as her eyes start to glaze over. The store is rather utilitarian- bland walls, hanging pictures, weird looking action figures, slightly blaring demo units... and cases after cases after boxes of things she does not understand. There are no clothes here, no books to browse, and it's not made to make her comfortable. It's either bland or bright, no in between, no coziness, and all she wants is out- preferably to the card store next door. At least there's stuffed animals there. She is only there to let her boyfriend satisfy his little itch and get something that is only going to compete with her... on the way to the next store she wants to visit.
Either that, or little short pregnant me was going up to African-American guys a foot taller than I and having to tell them we were out of the Dukes of Hazzard game. I kid you not. I'm still scratching my head over it.
*Which has been a goal of Nintendo all along, seeing as the (8-bit) Nintendo Entertainment System was called the “Famicom” or “Family Computer” in Japan. So it’s not a cliche for them." (end of comment)
Have fun with this, y'all.
This led me to this blog entry: http://jilltxt.net It deals with the video game industry and games/marketing for women. This is my comment:
"It seems to me that game companies (and sometimes marketers) reach gaming WOMEN the best when they are willing to try anything. Gaming girls can be caught up in a franchise (Animal Crossing, Harvest Moon, maybe even Pokemon) or a character's face (Nancy Drew, Mary-Kate and Ashley, etc.), but women... we (as more casual gamers) seem to want something more "outside the box".
Example: The Sega Dreamcast. Sega is willing to do anything to succeed so that they will stay in the console manufacturing market, and what do they try?? Everything. Most of the music games that people are loving so much now (Guitar Hero, perhaps even DDR) have ancestors on the Dreamcast (Samba de Amigo, Space Channel 5). And those are games I would recommend to other women, or to men who wanted something their girlfriends/wives could play too. The Dreamcast also gave us the uber-unique Typing of the Dead, where those typing classes became good for shooting zombies- and was just absurd enough to work.
Only Nintendo has been willing to leave the box enough to attempt to reach non-stereotypical gamers the way Sega did in their twilight years. They have kept prices low, attempted new designs for controllers and consoles, and fought to do things in a way that entertains the whole family*. And go figure, they are considered a third wheel in the conflict between Microsoft and Sony. Microsoft advances things in the direction of computers, and Sony (so I'm told about this year's E3) is left trying to ape everyone at once.
This is not to say that gaming women won't play more stereotypical games- I make great cannon fodder in a game of multiplayer Halo, and enjoy it. I enjoy RPGs when I have the time, and watch my husband play regularly- much better than Desperate Housewives for entertainment! In fact, I do wish that there were more cooperative games we could play together.
I used to work in a game store within a mall. I've seen it in action- the girlfriend is following along behind the boyfriend who is looking for something in particular. She's rather tense, but bored at the same time- she looks at her watch as her eyes start to glaze over. The store is rather utilitarian- bland walls, hanging pictures, weird looking action figures, slightly blaring demo units... and cases after cases after boxes of things she does not understand. There are no clothes here, no books to browse, and it's not made to make her comfortable. It's either bland or bright, no in between, no coziness, and all she wants is out- preferably to the card store next door. At least there's stuffed animals there. She is only there to let her boyfriend satisfy his little itch and get something that is only going to compete with her... on the way to the next store she wants to visit.
Either that, or little short pregnant me was going up to African-American guys a foot taller than I and having to tell them we were out of the Dukes of Hazzard game. I kid you not. I'm still scratching my head over it.
*Which has been a goal of Nintendo all along, seeing as the (8-bit) Nintendo Entertainment System was called the “Famicom” or “Family Computer” in Japan. So it’s not a cliche for them." (end of comment)
Have fun with this, y'all.