Gender - FIMS Faculty Sites

The Gaming Industry:
According to Interactive Digital Software Association
surveys, the video and computer game industry was
the fastest growing segment of all entertainment
industries in 1998.
Household penetration of "next generation" game
consoles has grown from six million in 1996 to an
estimated 25-30 million in U.S. homes in 1998.
In the past many more males have played computer
games than females but this gap has been slowly
changing. Currently approximately 43% of PC gamers
and 35% console gamers are women.
Developers:
The USA, Japan, and the UK are the main centers of digital
game software production with substantial numbers of
people employed both directly and indirectly.
In the USA the Entertainment Software Association (ESA)
estimates that almost 30,000 people are employed in digital
game development and publishing, with a further 195,000
indirect jobs in the information, trade and transportation
sectors Kerr (79).
Most development companies are male dominated, to an
even greater extent than the wider ICT Industry Kerr (92).
The IGDA found that the number of women employed in the
game development industry is thought to be dramatically
low, between 5 and 15 percent
GAMING IN POPULAR
CULTURE:
Gaming remains a realm of popular culture dominated by male
players ages 13-25.
Games are targeted at young males that as a result attract,
primarily if not exclusively, relatively young males K&K (210).
1990’s – start of female
owned and largely female
staffed companies like Purple
Moon, HerInteractive, Girl
Games and Girltech which
sought to design games
specifically for the female
market K&K (211).
Mattel’s Barbie Fashion
Designer (1996)
Attempts to make games for girls consisted of having female
protagonists and nonviolent content, but have not been
generally successful.
The success of Barbie Fashion designer is attributed to the
construction of gameplay activities which were based
around the ‘preferences’ of young girls. This personorientated ‘pretend’ play is based on real life models and
roles and associated with qualities of nurturance (the power
of the Barbie franchise) K&K (211).
Barbie Fashion
designer sold
more than
500,000 copies
in its first two
months.
Purple Moon: Rocket
Series (1997)
Purple Moons Games and website tried to move beyond
the long-standing stereotypes about girls and their
interests.
Driven by an agenda to understand teenage girl culture,
Purple Moon employed both quantitative and qualitative
research methods to inform their design principles and
product development.
Purple Moon’s, Rockets New
School (1997) and related titles
based on the life of a girl in the
same age as the 8-12 bracket,
allowed girls to play through
Rocket, and be in control of her
attitude, and change everything
that would happen in the game.
THE GENDER BLIND
COMPUTER INDUSTRY:
In general game contents, marketing of
games, gaming publications, and gaming
website are created largely by males and
target male consumers.
Electronic Art’s (EA) research found that
40% of teenage girls played video games
versus 90% of teenage boys and most girls
lost interest in games within a year.
The Sims - have proven that there is a
market for women gamers.
Mostly played by girls with 70% of it’s
player’s women under 25.
Could be one of the reasons why it is
the world’s most successful games, with
more than 40 million copies sold.
How can the video game industry
improve to better target the female
demographic?
What types of games should be produced
to appeal to women?
It’s simple! female gamers want
more choices. They want:
• Better female characters, and more of them
• More gender neutral games
• A reduction in sexist game contents
• Marketing that acknowledges that women gamers exist
• Games targeted specifically towards older adolescent
girls and adult women, not just preadolescent girls
• Gaming websites and publications that don’t bombard
them with image after image of scantily clothed women
• Online gaming atmospheres that are free of gender
harassment
• Increased female presence in technical fields and the
gaming industry
www.womangamers.com
The Construction of Gender
identity in Games:
To design games intended to
appeal to girls has often been
understood as designing games
that reinforce gender stereotypes
K&K (212).
When Gansmo et al. (2003)
interviewed a number of game
development companies it found
that masculine fantasies
dominated designs, and that
traditional female stereotypes were
often used in game designs built
around social relations, romance,
emotions, and role playing Kerr
(97).
Market research:
Traditional market research tells publishers that their core market
is male, ranging from 13-25 years of age Kerr (98).
Most publishers avoid risk by targeting this demographic.
Companies that develop games for girls often portray a
stereotypical ideal of a woman.
The Sims takes this approach although it is accessible to both
genders.
MARKETING:
Marketing strategy is for hardcore male gamers rather than
casual gamers.
Game industry magazines contain images of women, cars,
funs and male discussions.
This hegemonic heterosexual masculinity can be traced
back to the origin of games in male dominated
laboratories.
The recent female characters that
have been included in games keep
with the traditional gender stereotypes.
Booth Babes dress to represent
female characters of the game
industry. With their lack of clothing the
status of the industry declines and it is
becoming difficult of these gaming
companies to be taken seriously.
[Madeline Akrich] found that may designers base
assumptions about users on their own tastes and
interests, a process which she calls the ‘I-Methodology’
Kerr (6)
Gansmo et al. (2003) interviewed a number of
development companies and found that masculine
fantasies dominated design discussions.
Kerr (97)
What is wrong with an attractive woman in a tube top and a
miniskirt blasting away zombies with various firearms?
Absolutely nothing. ‘Gravija’, Gamefaqs.com
Even if there are signs that the dominance of male avatars is
changing and that there are fewer submissive female characters
in games, there are still many games whose themes could be
described as masculine. Kerr (111)
Tim Schafer [Psychonauts], like many game developers, believes
that games should be ‘wish fulfillment,’ i.e., you should be playing
the character you wish you were, not the one you are.
‘RevAnthony’, Destructoid.com
If we so much as let one female rise through the ranks of the
industry we could start a revolution that would make all our
games cuddly and Sims-like. Aaron McKenna, TG Daily
- enjoy “‘fantasy-adventure’ games and ‘spatial’ games”
- favour “indirect competition and team play” Kerr (113)
- “prefer [games] that afford the player some degree of
‘freedom’” Kerr (114)
- enjoy “the power they [feel] when they [succeed]”
Kerr (116)
Rather than having a superhero, girls want characters they
can relate to - who are as real as their best friends. Karen
Gould, Purple Moon
When female players were discussed [during the game
design planning stage], a very traditional feminine
‘stereotype’ was evoked, which translated into game designs
built around social relationships, romance, emotions and
role-playing. Kerr (97)
The I-Methodology… is a strategy that is increasingly being
challenged by the requirement to move beyond hardcore gamers and
exploit new market demographics, like women and older gamers, and
to move beyond one’s home market. Kerr (97)
The games [by Purple Moon] target girls 8 to 12 - a segment of the
software market that wasn't really considered or addressed until last
year, when Mattel's surprise smash CD-ROM, Barbie Fashion
Designer, sold more than 500,000 copies during the holiday season.
Jennifer Eno, Wired News
Ray found that in general junior high school girls did not like fighting
games. However, further discussions revealed that what the girls
disliked was fighting against the same opponents over and over again,
not fighting per se. Kerr (113)
Two structurally identical games were offered to groups
divided along gender lines and…
“Boys performed much the same in each version but the
performance of girls was greatly increased in the gender
neutral version, an outcome that suggests the potential
significance of contextual background.” K&K (74)
“The user plays an important part in [developing] uses for
innovations which their designers never envisaged.” Kerr (12)
…or in this case, misuses…
“Wright and Briedenbach found that players often engaged in
‘trash talk’ or ‘the utterance of violent/obscene words that are
sexist and homophobic in the extreme, and on rare occasions
racist’ whilst playing… online.” Kerr (126)
PC Gaming:
“God, it's unbelievable how can a girl gamer can stand initial
A/S/L-like requests turning rapidly into gender-based swearing
if she chooses not to answer them.” ‘Marky7474’, a male
poster on Destructoid.com
Console Gaming:
“When [my girlfriend] tried to play online… as soon as they heard
her voice it was like she got accosted by 900 people, and so she
just stopped talking online altogether… it was terrible. We
basically had to turn her mic off and turn the sound off to even
play the game.” Derek Daniels, a designer of the popular God of
War series
“A number of studies have found that female gamers are ‘contextually
restricted’ and tend to play games at home rather than in public game
spaces.” Kerr (126)
Early studies of the Internet asserted that ‘trying on’ or
‘performing’ alternative identities [were] one of the key pleasures.
Similarly, some studies of digital games note that they offer
people a chance to perform alternative or socially prohibited
identities and fantasies, or indeed to hide one’s own. Kerr (116)
Videogames not only allow players to escape the every day
and explore fantastic new spaces, but also to assume new
identities which emancipate individuals from classifications
such as gender, race, or socioeconomic class.
“The irony is just how many male players cross dress online.
I am betting that many of them wouldn't be caught dead in a
dress in real life. Gaming breaks down and challenges many
roles that people play in the real world.”
‘Geekwoman’, Twitch Guru
“Ed [Fries] talks about making players feel free, which he
says, ‘is what videogames are all about’.” Smartbomb (26)
“People live alternative lives in these worlds. They become
their characters.” Ed Fries, quoted in Smartbomb (26)
“Bishounen is a Japanese term literally meaning ‘beautiful boy’… [and] is very popular
among girls in Japan. Reasons for this social phenomenon may include the unique male
and female social relationships found within the genre. Some have theorized that bishounen
provides a non-traditional outlet for gender relations. Moreover, it breaks down stereotypes
surrounding [effeminate] characters.” Wikipedia
“The idea that video games are ‘boys toys’ is clearly a myth.
What does this mean? This means that women are a huge
buying force in the gaming / online entertainment industryeven though they are not being adequately taken into
account by the industry.” An excerpt from the mission
statement of Womengamers.com
“The industry production culture is still dominated by males
and heterosexual masculine fantasies, and the industry itself
is at best ambivalent about the fact.” Kerr (101)
“[Gansmo] discovered a prevailing attitude that if females did
not like to play existing games, then that wasn’t the
developer’s problem.” Kerr (97)
All About ‘Bishies’
¾http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishounen
All Women Gamers, Please Stand
¾http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5407490.stm
Game Industry’s 100 Most Influential Women
¾http://www.nextgen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3783
&Itemid=2
Purple Moon Finally Rises
¾http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,6986,00.html
Sex and the Archetypical Female Gamer
¾http://www.twitchguru.com/2005/09/09/sex_and_the_arche
typical_female_gamer/
Ten Ambiguously Gay Game Characters
¾http://www.games.net/features/100321_1.shtml
The Top 10 Most Significant Video Game Fan Service
Females
¾http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/top10/680.html
The Top Non-Slutty Female Characters in Video Games
¾http://gnomeslair.blogspot.com/2006/04/top-non-sluttyfemale-characters-in.html
Top Ten Babes in Games
¾http://archive.gamespy.com/top10/may03/gamebabes/
What Do You Wanna Be When You Boot Up?
¾http://www.destructoid.com/wish-fulfillment
WomenGamers.com
¾http://www.womengamers.com/
Writing a ‘Girls In Gaming’ Article
¾http://www.richardcobbett.co.uk/codex/journalism/article/writi
ng_a_girls_in_games_article/
All videos from Gametrailers.com or Youtube.com