I can honestly say that this has been one of the enigmas of the gaming industry. Perhaps it didn’t matter as much then when the gaming industry was relatively small and directed towards a specific market base. However, the cost of developing a videogame today has gone up almost dramatically and it is only logical to adopt many of the economic principles. The gaming industry is only tapping into half of its potential because girls don’t play videogames. Everyone can see this and there have been many attempts to assimilate girls and gaming.
Some videogames are ridiculously crude in their attempts to assimilate. Girls like ponies so make a videogame about horses. Girls like puppies so simulate a dog care videogame. Girls like to shop so make a videogame about clothes. Girls like pink so color all videogames pink. These videogames attempted to cater to a specific audience, girls, and pushed out the boys. It didn’t take long to realize that in attempting to assimilate girls these videogames alienated boys and should the videogame crash, like they all do, it turned into a complete failure for no one else would ever consider playing them.
Some companies are getting wise to the fact and hire females to help develop videogames that may appeal more to girls instead of going with clichés. It’s a logical way to approach the situation and it has bear some fruit. However, there hasn’t been a videogame that has united the sexes on a groundbreaking level. The problem is very clear but lost amongst the shroud of conformity and genres that prevail in today’s videogame design. Please let us, the new generation, design videogames!
It is common knowledge that girls do play videogames but what are they? Girls tend to play more casual games like Tetris, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Brain Academy, Dance Dance Revolution, and Guitar Hero. The common link between these can be defined as CASUAL videogames. This doesn’t mean girls only enjoy casual videogames. Boys play the same videogames. I am positive that Harmonix Music Systems didn’t have girls in mind when they developed Guitar Hero. The real reason girls are more likely to play these casual videogames is overlooked. It’s real simple actually. Casual videogames are GENDER NEUTRAL. An example is dolls are for girls, trucks are for boys, but balls are for everyone. Casual videogames can be enjoyed by both sexes and perhaps even aliens. These videogames tap into a part of the brain that isn’t stimulated by others such as Grand Theft Auto or Nintendogs. I do not know which neurotransmitters are activated and relayed but I can feel different parts of the brain being stimulated when playing Dance Dance Revolution compared to something like SOCOM. Science cannot read the language of the brain either by the way. Perhaps one day but not today.
What videogames do appeal to girls? Any socialite can tell you the difference between men and women. It’s not men are from Mars and women are from Venus by the way. I am certain it has to do with hormone levels and science agrees, but again science cannot read the language of brain. For now everyone just takes Prozac and men can take Viagra. What is undeniable is that men and women process thought differently though. Here’s the trick: perhaps game designers need not know the human mind like a neurologist; don’t need to understand it from the inside out, just work from the outside in. Here’s a sexist statement that holds true more often than not: men are logical and women are emotional. Men make better providers and women better caretakers. It’s no secret that women are better at understanding emotions and men are better at sports. The secret is evolution. Cavemen must learn to find practical means to survive and hunt while cavewomen must learn how to effectively care for the family and manage the group. Here’s an example perhaps more modern. Women are more apprehensive about approaching attractive guys. Men are more willing to approach a hot babe. Why, because women are more likely to be in physical danger than men and must analyze the situation on more than just a logical level. Is he friendly? Is he not creepy? Is he social? The list goes on. Men just read hot or not. It’s usually men who are responsible for crimes such as rape and murder. Just watch CNN. You won’t find many cases in which the roles are reversed. The point is this, for videogames to be able to connect to girls beyond a casual level they must be more subjective than objective.
The major flaw with this disconnect to girls is rooted in the level by level and mission by mission layout of videogames. It’s easier to manage and at the same time it serves as a great structure. Examples are videogames like SOCOM in which a player has a specific agenda he has to accomplish such as a rendezvous or skirmish. These are objective. The problem arises when the agenda behind the videogame is to accomplish a goal and fight the big boss. This separates the player from the moment because he’s looking and planning ahead. Contrary to SOCOM is Monster Rancher. It has players inserting different CDs to generate unique monsters which than are raised by the players and develop distinct characteristics whether they are personalities, abilities, or stats. These are subjective. The players aren’t focused on the steps to get ahead but on what led up to now. It’s not forward logic, its backward logic, which is more meaningful to the heart because it’s much more painful to lose something than joyful to gain another.
Ever wonder why women like love stories? Men do too, but certainly not to that extent. The answer is because love stories connect to our emotions and as the love stories change and grow our emotions follow suit every step of the way. It’s like a rollercoaster ride. We feel the pain and joy, sadness and happiness. What makes love stories even more emotional? Read a Jane Austen book. Read Cosmopolitan and go “emo”. Read my words. Emotions are strongest when they are constantly being evoked. How are they constantly being evoked? There is a barrier that you’re constantly trying to peg down and or up. Isn’t the chase the most fun part of romance?
Here’s my proposal.
Game designers have done to death solving puzzles, riding fast cars, beating people up, using guns --- tsk tsk (shakes head) at Halo 3. Now everyone will blame videogames for shooting sprees not that Grand Theft Auto hasn’t done it already. Isn’t it about time we lay down our arms? Let’s do a videogame about the most universal truth: men and women belong together; a love story.
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