Games Need to Widen Appeal at BBC

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At BBC, an article has been posted about the need to widen the appeal of games if they are to become mainstream. Most notably, they need to start appealing to women as well as men. Here's a snip:

A walk around the show floor at E3 illustrates the issue. There is a preponderance of action or fighting games which are aimed squarely at men in their 20s and early 30s.

There are also the obligatory "booth babes", as companies jostle for the attention of attendees.

"Our own industry, mainly through our marketing practices, reinforces the stereotype that most gamers are men," said Mr Lowenstein.

Read the whole thing at BBC.

[ May 19, 2005, 23:30: Message edited by: Taluntain ]

 

Devil's Advocate question: Why do games need to become more mainstream anyway? Don't kids already spend too much time playing them?

 

Women do like and play games but from what I've seen/heard they like strategy over brute force. This is a general statement so there are exceptions.

 

Girls give up very easily if they have to spend some time figuring out the mechanics of a game before really playing it. That little game "Minesweeper" that ships with Windows - I know of atleast two girls who said they didn't like it coz they couldn't understand it

And if you are going to talk strategy: how many females are amongst us here on SP? Or playing games like AoE? Or even the Sims?
The Sims is the computerised version of the doll-house. And yet after a few days the girls showed no interest in it. Leads me to conclude that they just dont get involved in games like we do.

 

Without being too sexist about it, I think it is obvious to anybody that computer games appeal more to men than women. There is probably some biochemical reason for that. My wife has, on occasion become deeply engrossed in a game of Civilization once started, but she would rarely bother to sit down and start a game. If she had some spare time, she would spend it watching TV.

 

The only PC game my girlfriend has played is The Sims. She's an avid Tripple-Pop (mobile phone game)gamer though.

 

Given a choice, I'd rather play a good p-n-p game of D&D over any cRPG. The electronic versions are a poor substitute for real roleplaying, and you completely lose the social interaction of meeting with your fellow gamers.

I've played plenty of computer games, mostly self-taught - am I the exception or has Shrikant simply made an erroneous conclusion from too small a sample? I'll agree with Nakia, though, that I'm far more interested in strategy and problem-solving that hack, slash, and bash.

 

It may come as a shock to some of the guys here but women are not men. We still have a double standard which means that women probably don't have as much time to play games. They're busy with life. How many of you guys would want your GF to beat you at your favorite game? Be honest.

Shrikant, I never played with dolls when I was little.

I did play a few of the early Sims games but I have to live Real Life why would I want to play it?

On the other hand the more real the characters seem the better I like the game. I like puzzles and riddles and interaction. A good story line is important to me too.

I played Minesweeper quite a bit years ago.