[casual_games] Re: Games for women made by women?

[k f]

Does that mean that a game of Table soccer, played with pool balls, that can 
be controlled by a simple intuitive movement of the mouse will appeal to 
women? That would make my team a very happy bunch of people. Considering 
that we thought Soccer and Pool are essentially male oriented games. :-) 
Thanks for the feedback Adam!


>From: Adam Martin <adam at mindcandydesign.com>
>Reply-To: IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List <casual_games at igda.org>
>To: IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List <casual_games at igda.org>
>Subject: Re: [casual_games] Re: Games for women made by women?
>Date: Fri, 09 Jun 2006 11:07:51 +0100
>
>k f wrote:
>
>>I think the problem definition is a bit skewed. We shouldn't be asking 
>>"What games do women like?"
>>but instead "What are the games that women DON'T like?",and that should 
>>answer the first question.
>>Let me start with my conribution to this elusive question:
>>1) Women do not like games with acts of mindless violence.
>>2) ....
>
>As a gross generalization, IME women do not like games that require 
>intimate familiarity and/or years of mild practice in order to interact, 
>control, or interpret them.
>
>i.e. (picked deliberately from FPS's - these are the *actual* reasons women 
>I've talked to have consistently cited for not playing them; note that 
>"violence" doesn't normally show up)
>
>  - if you need to be aware of (even if not yet good at) techniques such as 
>strafe-circling
>  - if you need to fit your fingers into the near-physically painful 
>configuration of WASD
>  - if you need to know controller conventions, such as mouse-wheel cyles 
>through usable items
>  - ...or have some prior experience with them (because to people who only 
>ever user LMB and occasionally RMB, targetting a crosshair whilst 
>simultaneously flicking the wheel two clicks and holding down RMB is like 
>rubbing your belly and patting your head - practically anyone can do it, 
>but most people have trouble doing it for the first time)
>  - if a PC game is really best played using a gamepad or joystick
>
>Most of the women I know who can be tempted into playing games at all soon 
>find one or more to play in a very hardcore, addicted way. My understanding 
>is that women are not innately non-hardcore games players, they're just 
>unable, or believe themselves to be unable, to play many of the games that 
>are currently around.
>
>Finally...
>
>http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20051129/phillips_01.shtml
>
>Glancing through that article after writing this email, I noticed that one 
>of her comments is, indeed:
>
>"I've personally tried and abandoned any number of games because I can't be 
>bothered to master the interface, and I'm by no means alone."
>
>But thats not so surprising, since Andrea's one of the women I've spoken to 
>a lot about gaming, and played games with a lot, so my opinions above have 
>already been shaped by her experiences :).
>
>Adam
>
>--
>Adam Martin
>CTO, Mind Candy Ltd
>
>tel: 0207 501 1904 - fax: 0207 501 1919
>www.perplexcity.com - www.mindcandydesign.com
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