Comments on: Editorial: There’s No Room For Sexist Views In The Video Game Industry

By: William

William — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 20:45:50 +0000

Marketing is usually based on the majority which is a bit of a problem sometimes, but a good business decision. I do think the industry has grown to the point where the majority may not need to be the primary marketing group each time though. We’re already seeing some games marketed towards females and I think that will continue to grow. Gaming is really big enough now to where the minority is still an extremely large group of people.

By: Ron Whitaker

Ron Whitaker — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 20:14:34 +0000

@Kareem: “How is that even remotely sexist? It’s true. Face it ladies, most of your peers play some kind of MMO or some other game. I’ve run into more girls online there than in all my gaming. Yes, more women play games today than they do yesterday, but they are often cocentrated in certain genres.”

Have you played online recently? Women are playing everything these days. Not just casual games or MMO’s, but games that run the gamut from FPS to RTS to RPG. In fact, many of the the female gamers are riding near the top of leaderboards in many games.

The problem is, as I said before, that marketing decisions are made based on the majority, not the totality. Until marketing attitudes change, these issues will persist.

By: William

William — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 19:46:39 +0000

I think Halo is definitely a game that many would consider hard-core and there are plenty of female Halo players.. and plenty of female Halo players that are better than I am.

By: Adam

Adam — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 18:22:15 +0000

I would have to disagree with many of the paternophile gaming marketers, seeing as I still get my ass handed to me by a girl I play Halo with on a regular basis.

By: Norbit

Norbit — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 16:29:44 +0000

“Women don’t really play anything but The Sims”

Thats such a dumb thing to say. What about Nintendogs?

By: Kareem

Kareem — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 16:21:45 +0000

How is that even remotely sexist? It’s true. Face it ladies, most of your peers play some kind of MMO or some other game. I’ve run into more girls online there than in all my gaming. Yes, more women play games today than they do yesterday, but they are often cocentrated in certain genres.

By: Fenris

Fenris — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 16:17:06 +0000

Actually, just as owning a tennis racket and playing every now and then does not make you a ‘player’ (in this case tennis), having a PC (no doubt mainly owned for reasons other than gaming) and playing a few games on it does not make you a gamer (regardless of your sex). I know plenty of people who own consoles, rest assured that these people are not gamers either. ‘Gamer’ is a special title reserved for those who have devoted themselves to this hobby, investing of themselves and time. They love games, they love to play them and they love to talk about them. That is a gamer.

Additionally, we all know stats are complete BS, so 40% or 35% unlikely. Where did the sample data come from, how was it gathered, was it skewed, how was it tested for validity?

By: Ron Whitaker

Ron Whitaker — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 15:39:01 +0000

This is an unfortunate reality that I think is tied into the perception of gaming and gamers as a whole. Traditionally, the gaming market has been dominated by males, and only recently have female gamers swollen their ranks to the point they are at today.

However, as much as we may want it to change, there’s a reason it doesn’t. Marketing. Developers, publishers, and PR firms know that targeting ads at male gamers yields results, and those results are measured with dollar signs. Sure, there’s money to made by targeting a female demographic, but the benefits of male-targeted advertising far outweigh the costs.

Whether female gamers like it or not, their ranks have been swollen by the casual gaming housewife. I know that there are tons of hardcore gaming females out there. In fact there are several all-female gaming clans that can give any guys a run for their money. It’s not about that.

At the end of the day, it’s about someone in marketing reading a spreadsheet and making a decision based on a bottom line. Until that changes, you’ll see this same problem persist.