4 Girls Only (3 Viewers)

[malkin86]

<snip>despite certain companies and games displaying women like that, there *are* fairly mainstream games around which are much more moderate (Moreso now than previously).

Thanks for that - it's hard to find what you want when you're not sure what you're looking for, either.

<snip>
The others may or may not be of interest depending on how into Adventure gaming you are. They're fairly widely respected titles within that genre, though that genre happens to be somewhere towards the bottom of the gaming heap these days (Which I think is a huge shame). All games with great storylines and progression to get you involved, but I guess it depends on why you play in the first place. If you're after instant gratification and minimal thinking then they may not be your cup of tea. The www.justadventure.com site linked above should have reviews on all the others I mentioned if you're interested in checking any of them out

Well, as I'm only a casual gamer (if anyone could call me that, seeing as I *am* only casual... ) I must admit that I am looking for more instant gratification and minimal thinking... I do enjoy lengthier things when I have the patience, though. I *love* the slightly lengthier Docking Station, but then, I'm a biology student, so artificial life is interesting... and it's not just a blah virtual petri dish either, so it's a bit more fun than others that are around. It's extremely extensible, too. (<3's C12DS...) Also, back OT, the developers reckon that it's fairly gender-neutral, which is something they are quite pleased with.

BB seems to be more into the firstperson shootemups too, but I'm sure he knows someone we can borrow one of those games off for a while. Maybe after exams, or summink.

I just mean that I'm not sure that anyone making fighting games is really thinking of ways to get girls into fighting games by creating moderate female characters. Generally speaking, I think this genre specifically is geared fairly heavily at the young teen male audience, and I'd think in a lot of cases they simple decide that it's far easier to increase the size of a character's breasts or remove some clothing in order to make another horde of teen guys buy it than it is to add a female character and try to get female gamers in that way.

Of course that doesn't mean that I don't think girls can enjoy fighting games (I know many who do), or that they shouldn't be catered for, but I just don't think that's often the way it goes.

Edit: Holy crap that's quite a long response, sorry

I know, that's kinda sad isn't it - that that's the way it goes. And it wouldn't take too much effort to make it a bit more friendly, either - just a couple of more moderate girls amongst the glamour pusses would be a step in the right direction.

I'm not half bad at fighting games myself - although my style has raised some eyebrows, including my BB's Christian friend asking me 'if there's anything you need to talk about...' just cos I kept giving his character the old one-two until its' lifeforce was gone.

Hey - maybe someone could make a patch - instead of taking the clothes *off* the main female characters, putting more clothes *on*... I guess that's why we need women in games programming?

 

[pinkelephant]

Of course they're designed for men to look at - take Tomb Raider III for example: who the hell wears that getup in Antarctica?!

With Lara Croft, they designed her to be popular, yes.

Hehehe.

But anyways, I play heaps of computer, and I am in love with my X-Box, which incidentally does not have overly copious amounts of "girly" games...

Personally I like adventure games, but action ones are good too.

I'm loving Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind at the moment, does anyone else like this? I know its a bit old, but its still good, and goes forever.

 

[ogmzergrush]

Morrowind is excellent, very much looking forward to Oblivion when they release it

ahhh, games. I agree with the comments so far regarding females in the industry. It's hard to picture female designers and developers making something which alienates a female audience.

 

[pinkelephant]

Really? That's my dream job.

I was intending to actually follow that dream, until my mum shot me down.

I believe her words, after she laughed, were along the lines of:

"Don't be stupid, there are already lots of people in gaming, and nobody will hire you..."

I love my mum... so down to earth. Very down...

 

[anita_wax]

Really? That's my dream job.

I was intending to actually follow that dream, until my mum shot me down.

I believe her words, after she laughed, were along the lines of:

"Don't be stupid, there are already lots of people in gaming, and nobody will hire you..."

I love my mum... so down to earth. Very down...

no theres actually a big demand. the it industry is rapidly growing until it slows down will be when it goes down. go to london there are dying for people with good rates...
mums friends son works for 4 months in london, spends the rest of the year going around the world...

 

[malkin86]

pinkelephant, I'd suggest that you write an email to every uni you're interested in going to saying 'Hi, I'm a female year 12 student who is interested in a career in computer/console game development. My mother is concerned that the industry won't have any jobs for me. What is your opinion/advice?' If you write it in an intelligent manner, then I'm sure they'd be thrilled to give you statistics and so on about the general health of the games industry.

http://www.dir.unsw.edu.au/cgi-dir/org_entry.pl?organisation=89 - UNSW
http://www.cs.usyd.edu.au/future_students/undergrad/contacts.shtml - Sydney
http://www.informatics.uow.edu.au/students/enquirycentre/ - Wollongong


I know for sure that UNSW has a 'Women in Computing' club, and they have, among other events, 'build your own computer' days. The UNSW Comp Sci and Engineering faculty also runs a Primary Girls Workshop, which attempts to break down some of the stereotypes about computing and engineering being unfeminine and unfun things to do. By all accounts, it's a great day, but the website which "promotes" it is an absolute shocker - reads like an internal document.

 

[ogmzergrush]

Reading some discussion about female gaming this morning (Thanks slashdot, you make studying so much easier :/), I came across this. They basically review female characters within games and talk about what they did like, didn't like, etc. Pretty interesting to read, and it reminded me of this thread so I thought I'd share. I haven't explored the rest of the site yet but I'd imagine there's a fair bit of relevant reading kicking about on there

 

[pinkelephant]

Thanks for your help, I think I will pursue my dream after all.

I just won't tell my mum...

I checked out that site, ogmzergrush, and its ok. I dunno who wrote the reviews, but some of them sound like they were written by some middle-aged mother of 15-year-old boys.

Honestly I don't think that Lara Croft, for example, has been marketed at just 15-year-old boys, she was marketed at females too. I think their idea was to make a character which "men wanted, and women wanted to be".

The character list is pretty extensive though. I hope that person didn't give up their day job to review each and every character

Anyway, I didn't think that the game-creating industry was that crowded, either.

 

[anti]

ah yeah i did read that post before when i was doing some research on female gamers (i was bored..)

there's also a bunch of girls who go around playing games for a living. funnily enough they all look like models. they're meant to be advertising something (some xbox game?) for girls, and they're not bad.. i forget what they're called though, something grrly.

 

[LMF^^]

Yeah, most female gamerz (good onez) are pretty good lookin, at least from what I've seen in the CS dayz and on the internet.

 

[Danoz The Great]

I don't play PC games

 

[Collin]

I don't play PC games

Why did you post then? .. post whore.

 

[pinkelephant]

I don't play PC games

What do you play then?

Yeah, most female gamerz (good onez) are pretty good lookin, at least from what I've seen in the CS dayz and on the internet.

Hehehe, thats because the ugly ones stay holed up at home, playing over the net with aliases, and fake photos, or just by themselves...

 

[05er]

Why did you post then? .. post whore.

I think she's implying she's good

 

[pinkelephant]

I think she's implying she's good

Why would you be good if you don't play PC games, huh? I'm confuzzled...

 

[LMF^^]

Hehehe, thats because the ugly ones stay holed up at home, playing over the net with aliases, and fake photos, or just by themselves...

Which type are you? Ugly or the good lookin onez...?

 

[malkin86]

Why would you be good if you don't play PC games, huh? I'm confuzzled...

It's cos you've got 'better things to do' than play video games (like helping out around the place, studying, socialising IRL, etc.), and that might be construed as being more virtuous than playing video games.

That is also an assumption about gamers - that they're lazy in other aspects of their lives. For a male, this can be seen as semi-normal, for a phase in their adolescence. For a female, this same behaviour is generally seen as very very bad, and even unnatural.

 

[pinkelephant]

Which type are you? Ugly or the good lookin onez...?

Hehe, I'd like to classify myself in with the good looking, but its all in opinion... I'm definitely not hideous.

It's cos you've got 'better things to do' than play video games (like helping out around the place, studying, socialising IRL, etc.), and that might be construed as being more virtuous than playing video games.

That is also an assumption about gamers - that they're lazy in other aspects of their lives. For a male, this can be seen as semi-normal, for a phase in their adolescence. For a female, this same behaviour is generally seen as very very bad, and even unnatural.

Ahh. Well I spend equal amounts of time gaming and socialising, so I got no problems. Why is it that we have these stereotypes which say it's unnatural for females to game? That's kinda stupid. I don't wanna be classified as a freak-of-nature just coz I like games...

 

[LMF^^]

Hehe, I'd like to classify myself in with the good looking, but its all in opinion... I'm definitely not hideous.

LoL

Gamin chickz are pretty rare, so usually a lot of guyz would be interested in em. I wished I knew mo.

 

[pinkelephant]

LoL

Gamin chickz are pretty rare, so usually a lot of guyz would be interested in em. I wished I knew mo.

lol. I spose it could be true... Maybe I should flaunt the fact that I play games more? hehehe