[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD-Dev Digest, Vol 27, Issue 8

[Amanda Walker]

On Aug 19, 2005, at 8:04 PM, Adam Miller wrote:

> Female gamers are the same profile as new gamers and that is where
> the real problem lies: It is hard for new gamers to get into these
> modern games and stick around.

There are multiple factors at work here.

There are "new gamer" factors; gaming has its own vocabulary and
skills, just like any activity.

There are "boy's club" factors: the same types of male social
groupings formed around tinkering with cars in the 70s,
skateboarding in the 80s, and gaming in the 90s.  Look at any
"gaming PC" in a store, and it's full of flaming skull fan grills,
neon lights, big chrome doodads, etc.  Now, these aren't
specifically male-oriented, but they're clearly aimed at the Young
Testosterone Market :-).  One reason the Sims stands out on a gaming
shelf, for example, is that the package doesn't have big burly guys
with 6 foot long guns and busty blondes gazing at them adoringly.

There are gaming cultural factors.  Despite many women players, some
very visible (anyone remember PMS in Quake?), gaming culture,
especially the achievement/scorekeeping play styles, is very much
male dominance play.  This is less so in MMOs than in FPSs, but it's
still a factor--hence the preponderance of insults like "you're such
a *girl*" or "that's so gay" when anything that isn't gogogogo
combat happens.  These didn't start in gaming, of course, but
they've found a home there.

None of these things prevent women gamers from having plenty of fun,
but they do form a cultural barrier to "gaming curiousity".


Amanda Walker
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