Video Games and the Female Audience

Retr0gamer

Imagine Babies and other shovelware crap being aimed at girls is actually doing more damage than good to the industry. Sure ubisoft is going to make a quick buck off of selling a piece of crap that cost nothing to make to an young ignorant girl but that poor quality piece of software is going to colour that girls preception of what games are all about. She is going to think that all games are shallow and **** like the piece of shovelware she got and won't dabble anymore in gaming. In the long run it would be much more beneficial to be marketing a well produced and fun game to girls that will get them interested in gaming. If you make a gamer out of her chances are you will make a gamer out of her for life and in the long run sell more than 1 cheaply produced piece of shovelware. It will be much more profitable than a quick sale and you almost double your market. It's short sightedness on the part of pbulishers like Ubisoft. At least Nintendo are doing it right. There's a whole heap of females loving New Super Mario Bros and Mario Kart and other proper games that have been introduced to gaming through nintendogs.

L31mr0d

Retr0gamer wrote: »

She is going to think that all games are shallow and **** like the piece of shovelware she got and won't dabble anymore in gaming.

Eh... you'd have to be pretty dumb for that sentence to be true. I don't know anyone stupid enough to judge an entire medium by 1 or even a few bad examples of it.

For example:
Have I heard rubbish music? Yes! i.e. chumbawamba
Do I still listen to music? Yes

Have I watched rubbish movies? Yes! i.e. Screamers: The Hunting
Do I still watch movies? Yes

Have I played rubbish games as a kid? Yes! i.e. Greendog
Do I still play games? You get my point.

Retr0gamer

I bet your first game was a total classic though like Mario or Sonic not some shovelware piece of ****. You knew how good gaming could be so stuck with it. People aren't as exposed to games as music or film. People can go through life having never played a game but unless you are living in a cave you are constantly being bombarded with film and music throughout life. So yes, a crappy piece of DS shovelware could be a girls first and last encounter with the medium and it's certainly not going to help them become a gamer.

Burning Eclipse

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I bet your first game was a total classic though like Mario or Sonic not some shovelware piece of ****. You knew how good gaming could be so stuck with it. People aren't as exposed to games as music or film. People can go through life having never played a game but unless you are living in a cave you are constantly being bombarded with film and music throughout life. So yes, a crappy piece of DS shovelware could be a girls first and last encounter with the medium and it's certainly not going to help them become a gamer.

Disagree with you Retr0. We know those games are ****e because we have a barometer against which to judge them. If you've never experienced a game (by definition you haven't if something is your 'first game') then it's more about playing a game for the first time than how good is this game. And as Johnny_Ultimate pointed out, people can play some amount of crap as kids. We probably all did. Of course, the age is also a factor, we all become more discerning the older we get. A five year old playing bunnyz isn't gonna think it's shovelware!

L31mr0d

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I bet your first game was a total classic though like Mario or Sonic not some shovelware piece of ****.

I didn't get a Sega until late in the game, and never even played on a NES or SNES as a kid. tbh, I probably played a load of rubbish first but I just don't have any memory of it, because... well... it was rubbish. I used to play a load of those free game floppies for the C64 over in my friends house, most of them I can't even remember now because they where so boring.

Main reason I remember Greendog is because it ruined an entire weekend for me. I usually was allowed to rent 1 game per weekend, and I made the mistake of getting Greendog. First game I can ever remember bringing back the same day I rented it.

But, even still. Games that we thought where awesome as kids, kids nowadays would bawk at. I know I tried getting my young nephew to play Sonic and he quit out of boredom after an hour, he said it was like a game from his phone or on a website.

The supposed "shovelware" you think is so horrid might well be the games this generation tells their children about with fond nostalgic memories.

Retr0gamer

Even as a kid I could tell when I was having fun and when I wasn't. I played a lot of crap but I knew it was crap. I really doubt young people will be telling the next generation about games like bunnyz and holding them up as classics. I still think a bad experience can put anybody off an entertainment medium.

L31mr0d I think your nephew was probably just put off my Sonics graphics. We have all been guilty of playing absolute tripe when we were younger because the graphics were good and we saw how people chose tripe like Tekken over the much superior Street Fighter Alpha during the PS1 era just because it wasn't in 3D. Sonic is still a great game and I wouldn't take one kids opinion as a reason to question it. To quote the simpsons 'You kids don't know what you want, thats why you're still kids, becasue your stupid'.

Both your arguments still don't disprove my point though that it's much more beneficial to get someone hooked on gaming with a great game like super mario bros. than it is to do the same with a bad game experience. Even with younger girls that don't know any better a piece of shovelware is just a distraction and not likely to get them hooked. They'll spend their money on other toys rather than something that turned out to be just a silly distraction. The reason super mario bros. caught on so well in the 8-bit era wasn't that it was a silly distraction. It was totally compelling and had kids both male and femal playing the crap out of it.

Burning Eclipse

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Both your arguments still don't disprove my point though that it's much more beneficial to get someone hooked on gaming with a great game like super mario bros. than it is to do the same with a bad game experience.

I didn't set out to disprove that, nobody would. Of course it's better to get them hooked on a good game.

I simply disagreed with this statement:

Retr0gamer wrote:

So yes, a crappy piece of DS shovelware could be a girls first and last encounter with the medium and it's certainly not going to help them become a gamer.

And stated as such, because one bad experience does not equate to ruining gaming for a person!

Retr0gamer

But a crappy first experience can ruin it for some one especially if the entertainment medium is falsely seen as not being for girls. Music and film are for eveyone. Games are seen as a mainly male hobby and a girl not enjoying her first game isn't going to have her mind changed and will further cement this belief.

Gummy Panda

okay.. we all agree Ubisoft are shovelware peddlers that aim **** at the female market because they don't full understand it or think long term.

So have discussed that in other mediums there will also be content thats aimed at one particular gender e.g. Sex in the City

So I present Style Boutique (Style Savvy in US) by Nintendo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vs9L3CoTNdk

is this a proper game aimed at the female market or just another misguided shovelware attempt?

Maguined

I disagree with the ideas put forward with this article a lot, they speak a lot about the gamer "community" and "industry" and then tries to inject a moral direction should be changed direction to cater for more women orientated marketing/games. This is a pointless concept to put forth, the community and industry are not responsible for pushing moral concepts, they create a product and the consumer purchases this product, if the games industry are hurting their sales figures by their excessively sexualised marketing schemes then let them, its their loss in sales and if another company markets their products more in line with perceived female tastes and scoops that segment of the market then fine more cash for them.

Just like any other consumer market the consumer themselves will determine its moral stances on what they find acceptable or not and the industry will try to match these to increase its sales and profit. The industry does not owe the community anything and the reverse is also true so if companies want to pump out the same big tits and chainmail bikini marketing campaigns then let them, if there are people out there willing to buy these games then they should have the freedom to do so, I did not buy Soul Calibur 4 because Ivy is costumes as some crazy improportionate dominatrix but because I liked the gameplay and I certainly was not put off buying Street Fighter 4 due to all the male characters rippling manflesh on display.

spookymuffin

The thing about the "Imagine" series of games and them being marketed to a female audience is that in my mind those kind of games are for children (male and female). When I was young (about 7 or 8) I played the first Petz games and I had a fun time playing them, but I cannot fathom anyone over 12 playing one without their brain melting and coming out their ears.
So, in all honesty, the fact that they are marketed to anyone with a vagina regardless of age offends me greatly. It just smacks of implying that teen and adult females are too stupid to play the same things as their male counterparts.

When it comes to the sexualisation of characters in games I'd like to throw in my two cents. I'm a woman that finds both men and women attractive and I like to have all manner of sexy men and sexy women cavorting across the screen in the games that I play; but sexy does not equal improbable anatomy and/or a lack of clothing. And playing a game that features a walking pair of breasts female character whose character design serves no purpose but titilation has pissed me off enough to stop me from playing a game.

Example: Soul Caliber IV is one of my favourite fighting games but I have a major problem with Ivy (and Taki to a lesser extent). It depends on my mood when I'm playing, if I go up against Ivy sometimes I just laugh at her ridiculous mammaries bouncing all over the gaf (restrained precariously by some string :pac:) but other times it will actually piss me off to the extent that I turn the game off and play something else.

Good examples of female characters that manage to be sexy without being sex objects are hard to come by, but the first that comes to mind is Lightning from FFXIII. I think that she is incredibly attractive for a pixel person and part of what makes her attractive to me is that she comes across as an actual character rather than just eye-candy.

This goes in the opposite direction as well. My other half (Gothpunk btw ) wants me to play Gears of War co-op with him (mostly because there aren't really many good co-op games out there that we both like), but I just can't. The character designs repulse me. Would it have been "too gay" to have made them look like humans rather than gorillas? Or, god forbid, actually make them attractive? I know, I know, the game isn't aimed at women (as if that makes a ****ing difference) but would a game that was aimed at women have an ugly (or even plain) female protagonist? I don't think so.

There seems to be an attitude in a lot of media (not just games) that if you make something aimed at men that women will still use it anyway but if you make something that is aimed at women then women are the only people who will buy it.
A little off topic but it makes me think about the anime of Card Captor Sakura which was brought to the west as CardCaptors. The show has a female protagonist who uses her powers to capture magical cards, she has a female friend and a male friend (later romantic interest) that support her and both have equally important roles. In the westernised version they changed it so that the male friend was given an equal role to the heroine because they were "worried that boys wouldn't watch a show with a female hero". Yet I never see any concern that girls wont buy into anything that only has a male protagonist, why is that I wonder? :rolleyes:
Because I can tell you that I am sick of having to play as male characters in a lot of games because they didn't even bother to give a female alternative, or because the female alternative that they give is obviously there for males to fap over on their second play through.

I am a big Monster Hunter fan and have clocked a good 200+ hours on Freedom 2 and Freedom Unite. I don't really play it online because I don't feel welcome: many times I have seen men claim that MH is too "hardcore" for women to play or that anyone who plays with a female character is actually a man (no girls on the internet and all that jazz!). Yeah, maybe I should just suck it up but at the end of the day games are supposed to be fun not about being made feel unwelcome and uncomfortable just because of my gender, or even worse when they perv all over you for the same reason. That is not how I would prefer to spend my free time.

Silverfish

I agree with the majority of your post, spookymuffin.

This goes in the opposite direction as well. My other half (Gothpunk btw ) wants me to play Gears of War co-op with him (mostly because there aren't really many good co-op games out there that we both like), but I just can't. The character designs repulse me. Would it have been "too gay" to have made them look like humans rather than gorillas? Or, god forbid, actually make them attractive? I know, I know, the game isn't aimed at women (as if that makes a ****ing difference) but would a game that was aimed at women have an ugly (or even plain) female protagonist? I don't think so.

These were amazing games. I loved Gow and Gow2. To be honest, I don't care about the male characters in games. The overexaggerated female anatomy in a lot of games can be a complete slap in the face sometimes, but male characters can be like that too. Just men don't buy into that as much, and don't feel affronted by it.
I think in part the reasoning behind that is men can just play games and not be based on how they look, or get perved at, or get requests for pics, but as any girl who has played games and mention it, how you look becomes a factor fast, and stays that way.
But my point is, ah go on, give Gears a go.

spookymuffin

Yeah, it's true that people always put a focus on a woman's looks even when it's not relevant to the situation (if she's a politician for example) and when men in the same position are not expected to be attractive.

Silverfish wrote: »

But my point is, ah go on, give Gears a go.

I'll probably be bored enough one night to give it a shot, I know that they are supposed to be good games once you look past the character designs and "manly" dialogue.

Maguined

spookymuffin wrote: »

A little off topic but it makes me think about the anime of Card Captor Sakura which was brought to the west as CardCaptors. The show has a female protagonist who uses her powers to capture magical cards, she has a female friend and a male friend (later romantic interest) that support her and both have equally important roles. In the westernised version they changed it so that the male friend was given an equal role to the heroine because they were "worried that boys wouldn't watch a show with a female hero". Yet I never see any concern that girls wont buy into anything that only has a male protagonist, why is that I wonder? :rolleyes:

It depends on what the show is being marketed on one gender or both, shows that want both genders to watch try to appeal to both genders, E.R. i feel is a good example, i find this show appeals to both sexes equally as the characters are given equal importance and no gender is clearly more dominant to the other. Sex and the city was a show completely marketed for one gender and so all the protagonists were females, would the show have been as successful if whats her face big nose was a male character? i would not think so and so if the tv execs want to try and make this cartoon appeal to both genders rather than just exclusively female they wanted to up the importance of the male characters in the show.

spookymuffin wrote: »

Because I can tell you that I am sick of having to play as male characters in a lot of games because they didn't even bother to give a female alternative, or because the female alternative that they give is obviously there for males to fap over on their second play through.

Depends on the game in my opinion, if they don't offer a choice of character selection that it shouldn't be an issue as the developers just want to focus on one character, i definitely think its an issue when they do give a selection and the female is the laziest piece of copy and paste character design, you generally get this a lot in role playing games, i always laughed at how stupid it looked when you can have your male fighter character wearing huge plate male so chunky he could hardly walk in it, open up the inventory and swap it to the female character and all of a sudden its the slinkiest little metal straps offering less protection to her flesh than a shadow would.

spookymuffin

Maguined wrote: »

Sex and the city was a show completely marketed for one gender and so all the protagonists were females, would the show have been as successful if whats her face big nose was a male character?

I absolutely hate Sex and the City because it is incredibly sexist and patronising to both genders. In my original post I had meant to rant on about how having a lot of sex does not make a strong female character but I got lazy
While I would agree that Sarah Jessica Parker ended up looking quite mad I think it would be important to think about how she is portrayed in the show. The story makes it quite clear that we are supposed to think that she is fashionable and sexy or at least that is what all of those "sophisticated New Yorkers" on screen with her seem to think.

Depends on the game in my opinion, if they don't offer a choice of character selection that it shouldn't be an issue as the developers just want to focus on one character

I would agree with you in some cases. I recently played through Uncharted 2 and I wasn't looking for the option to play as Girl!Drake because his character was too much a part of the story.
I'm thinking more of games like the original Fable where you had to be male or the Pokemon games before Crystal. Games where your gender is more of an model swap than anything else.

i always laughed at how stupid it looked when you can have your male fighter character wearing huge plate male so chunky he could hardly walk in it, open up the inventory and swap it to the female character and all of a sudden its the slinkiest little metal straps offering less protection to her flesh than a shadow would.

Ah yes, Steel Bikini Syndrome. Monster Hunter is guilty of this and it is one of the few things about the games that really bug me.
Funnily enough I was playing FFXII the other day and was laughing at the skimpy clothing that both sexes wore (often onto the battle field). Exposed mid-sections and swords are probably not a good mix.

Gummy Panda

spookymuffin wrote: »

Funnily enough I was playing FFXII the other day and was laughing at the skimpy clothing that both sexes wore (often onto the battle field). Exposed mid-sections and swords are probably not a good mix.

Final Fantasy is made for girls though..

spookymuffin

Gummy Panda wrote: »

Final Fantasy is made for girls though..

Pfft. That means nothing. I wasn't talking about what gender the game was made for, I was talking about the improbability of their armour.

L31mr0d

spookymuffin wrote: »

So, in all honesty, the fact that they are marketed to anyone with a vagina regardless of age offends me greatly. It just smacks of implying that teen and adult females are too stupid to play the same things as their male counterparts.

Why do you imagine men don't become offended at games marketed for men?

Are the developers saying I'm too stupid to play the same things as females?

spookymuffin

L31mr0d wrote: »

Why do you imagine men don't become offended at games marketed for men?

Are the developers saying I'm too stupid to play the same things as females?

Are you deliberately twisting my words or have you just missed the point?
I said that those games, in my mind, are more suited for small children rather than teens or adults.
They are not marketed towards teen or adult men but they are marketed to teen and adult women. The implication is that teen and adult women will settle for something that is considered simple enough for children to play, as if women and children are on the same intellectual level while men are above that. That is what offends me.
If it were the other way around I would be fighting in the men's corner.

I never said that men might not be offended by the games that are marketed for them.

Gummy Panda

spookymuffin wrote: »

Pfft. That means nothing. I wasn't talking about what gender the game was made for, I was talking about the improbability of their armour.

Sorry when you said both sexes, I thought you meant that the steel bikini wasn't just limited to the female characters like in male orientated games and this was a redeeming feature. In fact, this was clear marketing by Square Enix to target the teenagers who hang around Shibuya and dye their hair brown

Now I'm off to play Angelique Trois...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBRaCecpjyE

spookymuffin

Gummy Panda wrote: »

Sorry when you said both sexes, I thought you meant that the steel bikini wasn't just limited to the female characters like in male orientated games and this was a redeeming feature.

Silly armour is silly regardless of who wears it, unless the character is invincible or something!

Now I'm off to play Angelique Trois...:D

Cannot... unsee... the chins on those men.

Jesus.

Maguined

spookymuffin wrote: »

I would agree with you in some cases. I recently played through Uncharted 2 and I wasn't looking for the option to play as Girl!Drake because his character was too much a part of the story.
I'm thinking more of games like the original Fable where you had to be male or the Pokemon games before Crystal. Games where your gender is more of an model swap than anything else.

Yeah for most games i would agree if a simple model swap could be done then it would be nice to have that in there though the first fable game i kind of see where the developers came from sticking to one gender. Firstly there is the resources, for most games one model is all you need but with rpg's like Fable you have all the different models for the different gear and they have to resize as your character increases their stats etc so it added more demands, also Fable was notorious for promising more than it could deliver and Molyneux ended up cutting out a lot of it just to make the deadlines and reused a lot of it for Fable 2. Also from the theme and story idea Fable was based on those myths and legends we all grew up on, young man encounters hardships and endures trials and normally finds some magic weapon to overcome the enemy. History is filled with these legends and myths and many of them real however as these are normally tales of violent revenge they always tend to be stories of males, the only one of a female that i can think of offhand is Bouddica.

johnny_ultimate

I wrote an essay on this for college last year, and got some interesting reactions from female gamers about the whole situation (including some boardsies, names changed!). Have pasted the essay below - since it's an academic assignment, it is mostly complete bull****, and the focus is mainly on this stupid ad, but might be worth skimming through as I think a lot of the respondents make interesting points (apologies for the length):

INTRODUCTION:
David Gauntlet (2002) writes that “today’s advertising wants to look modern, and does not want to alienate any possible target audience, so it does not often include the glaring stereotypes we have seen in the past” (p81). However, advertisements concerning the traditionally male dominated area of technology are often slow to reflect this view.

This essay will examine the representations and myths of femininity in modern technology advertisements by focusing on the 2007 Nintendo DS ‘Great Games for Girls’ campaign (Appendix 1). A combination of feminist, semiotic and digital game & technology theory will be used to address this question. As well as this, a focus group of five females aged between seventeen and twenty was held to examine audience reaction to the advertisement. It was felt that this age group was the target audience being addressed by the commercial, and hence would be able to provide numerous opinions on the representations of femininity present in the advertisement.

The feelings of four female gamers aged between twenty and forty were also addressed through e-mail interviews (Appendix 2). This age group was chosen to collect reflections from the wider female gaming community. Their opinions concerning the advertisement’s representations of gender and gaming are also examined throughout the essay. It is hoped that the examination of two different age groups will also illustrate how interpretation of advertisements can vary between different audiences.

CONTENT AND SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS:
The Nintendo DS ‘Great Games for Girls’ cinema and television advertisement feature a young, blonde woman playing games on a pink DS console over the course of one day, while taking part in a number of everyday activities e.g. getting a hair cut, on a bus, in a coffee shop. In terms of misé-en-scene, the girl or the game / console itself is always centre of the frame, with other people relegated to the background or the edges of the frame (e.g. we never see the male hairdresser’s face in its entirety). The audience’s attention is drawn towards the girl’s central presence and positioning throughout. The ad concludes with the voiceover “Great games for girls, from the makers of Nintendogs”. The extended advertisement is one minute long, with a number of shorter versions focusing on particular games.

This ad contains a number of signs and social codes (Barthes 1984, Fiske 1990, Hall 1997). There are a number of signifiers present: the most obvious include the girl, the pink Nintendo DS, the hairdresser, the shopping bags / café and the games themselves. At a connotative level, the signified meaning of these signs will depend on the interpretant’s own discourses. For example, in Western society, the colour pink regularly connotes femininity (O’Barr 2006). Hence, the girl in the ad is being represented as distinctly female through the use of feminine signs such as the pink DS, and also activities such as getting her hair done, or going shopping. Jhally (1987) writes that “these displays, or rituals of gender behaviour, help the interpretation of social reality, they are guides to perception” (p134). Together, these signs create a myth and signifying code of femininity (Barthes 1984, Fiske 1990, Hall 1997).

Not all the signs in the advertisement are related to femininity. A number of signifiers which are regularly read by Western discourses as everyday activities – such as waiting for a bus – are also represented in the advertisement. The advertisement is implying that these games can be played anywhere, anytime – perhaps trying to challenge the common myth of computer games as a predominantly home based hobby (Kerr 2006). As participant Alex pointed out during the focus group “It’s portable. It’s like a CD-player compared to an I-Pod. The fact that you can bring it everywhere is appealing”. This suggests that the advertisement is aimed towards females who play games less regularly (or “casual” gamers, as the gamer respondents noted), and who do not want to spend their home leisure time playing games; hence challenging the common myth and representation of the home-based gamer.

FEMINIST ANALYSIS:
Much feminist theory is based on the concept that gender is a social construction, created by dominant discourses (Jhally 1987, Morris 2005). The same theorists write that males were once the dominant force within society, which created a patriarchal discourse which influenced many distinct representations of women, creating an unequal society. Advertising is one of the forces that reinforced these representations, and many argue it still does today.

David Gauntlet (2002 citing Butler 1990) points out that “by creating a binary ‘women versus men’ opposition, feminists were confirming the notion of women as a unique species” (p137). The ‘Games for Girls’ campaign reinforces this. The ideology presented by the ad is that female gamers are a distinct group from male gamers, and they need to be marketed appropriately. However, the main feminist drive was for equality despite an acknowledgment of biological difference (Gauntlet 2002). The DS advertisement does not provide an equal message. There is no parallel ‘Games for Boys’ campaign running. As 31 year-old gamer interviewee Veronica claimed, “There's enough segregation without Nintendo taking this angle… ads like this set females in gaming back a few years, not forward”. Twenty year-old respondent Abbie pointed out that many female gamers would find it insulting, “as it is impossible to differentiate between male and female gamers”. However, she acknowledged that the ad may appeal to more “casual” gamers, based on her experiences working in a game store.

The advertisement could be read as conforming to recent challenges and alterations to traditional feminist thought. These loose movements have been referred to as new, post, and power feminism (Gauntlet 2002, Whelehan 2000). Although difficult to define, Ging (2007) points out that these movements involve claims that equality has been achieved; a realignment of cultural standpoints that acknowledges a basic sameness between genders, but also accepts that there are social and biological differences between males and females. Greer (2000) and Whelehan (2000) write of ‘Girl Power’, the movement begun by the Spice Girls and followed by many other cultural examples. It was a standpoint that emphasises the importance of the personal rather than the political, embracing traditional ‘femininity’ willingly. Indeed, both the focus group participants and the gamers thought that this advertisement would be shown during television programmes often aimed towards a ‘post-feminist’ audience; programmes mentioned included Sex & the City and Desperate Housewives.

The term ‘girl’ is also significant, and it is a central focus of the DS advertisement. Whelehan (2000) writes of the “pre-pubescent connotations of the girlie” (p51), and a purposeful reversion to childhood to escape the difficulties of modern adult life. The term ‘girl’ is one that implies youth and innocence in society. Greer (2000) mentions that many feminists felt the word emphasised inferiority, while others subverted and reclaimed the word for their own needs. The ‘girl’ in the DS ad is shown acting childlike and ‘girlie’ on numerous occasions: whether she is “just meeting the animal friends” or baby-talking to her virtual Nintendog. Such acts are distinctly ‘new’ feminist: they acknowledge the femininity and ‘girliness’ of this character, and the advertisers emphasise this.

The childish appearance of the girl in the ad was picked up on by the focus group participants. Alex thought that the advertisement might be shown during a children’s television programme, saying “I know [the girl’s] around twenty-five, but [Nintendogs] was a real kid’s kind of game”. While three members of the group agreed that she appeared to be a childish character, Olivia pointed out that she thought the character was portrayed as more adult, as she was engaging in activities such as commuting and shopping. Three of the gamer respondents also picked up on the childishness of the central character, calling the character and her chosen games “babyish” and “cutesy”, with Veronica pointing out that the games presented suggested the ad was aimed towards “the ‘younger gamer’ end of the market (with the exception of Zelda)”.

The phrase “Great Games for Girls” at the end of the advertisement was also noted during the focus group. Again, the reaction was mixed. Amy argued that it was condescending, because “they are very simple games, aren’t that challenging”. However, Olivia was less critical, as she felt that the rest of the ad focused on the fact that “she is a girl, she is doing girly stuff”, and ‘Games for Girls’ simply summarised the focus and themes of the advertisement.

David Gauntlet (2002) argues that advertisers have been slower to change than other media forms, and still portray many stereotypes and traditional representations of gender – such as a far higher percentage of young and attractive women than older males or females. The word ‘stereotype’ was mentioned a number of times during the focus group. As Amy mentioned, the activities of the girl such as “getting her hair done, going shopping” are stereotypes of femininity, and that not all girls enjoyed “fluffy toy” games. All of the gamers agreed that stereotypes were present. IT analyst Sarah pointed out “it's a complete stereotype. Women only want to play games with animals or pretend houses [?] Rubbish”. All the respondents felt other female gamers would disapprove or be insulted by the representations in the advertisement, although they also admitted that some females may be able to relate to the ad. As Steph mentioned, the main representation of the female character is “neutral enough so it won't offend anyone, someone people might be able to relate to”.

A significant sign in the ad is the pink Nintendo DS that the central character is using. It could be argued that marketing the DS in this way is reminiscent of consumer electronics’ marketing in the 1950s and 60s, when products such as radios were sold in pink to try and appeal to a female market (Sparke 1995). Many theorists write that pink is a highly coded colour that represents and reinforces a dominant social code of femininity (Cassell and Jenkins 1998, O’Barr 2006, Sparke 1995). Cassell and Jenkins (1998), however, argue that market research has shown that many females prefer “products shipped in pink or purple boxes” (p19), and that many game developers acknowledge that if female gamers want their products in pink, they will meet the demand. They write that many feminists would be opposed to this view, feeling that companies should not segment the market by using traditional ‘feminine’ signifiers; they reinforce dominant social codes and discourses by limiting alternate representations of femininity (Cassell and Jenkins 1998, Jhally 1987, Morris 2005).

The pink DS was one of the most contentious points of the audience research. All of the focus group participants agreed that the pink was a significant element of the advertisement, although there was little agreement on whether it was a positive or negative sign. Some of them felt that the pink was very appealing, and Lisa concluded that she wanted to swap her white DS for a pink one after watching the advertisement. Amy was far more critical pointing out that “I think its sexist. I wouldn’t buy it. It’s ridiculous! Not all girls like frilly pink things”. Alex pointed out that the ad somewhat limits the market by using pink, and it would appeal to more people (herself included) if the DS had have been portrayed in numerous colours (citing a recent laptop ad which focused on the ability to change the colour of the computer).

Three of the gamers were very critical of the pink. Veronica wrote:

It reeks of 'here's the DS for the boys, in a standard black/white..... oh and here's a pink one for you girls. You girls like pink, right?'. Seems to me Nintendo don't know their target market very well.

Abbie admitted “I had [a pink] one but realised that it wasn't very nice and switched for a black model”. On the other hand, respondent Steph mentioned that she currently owns a pink DS “as I preferred the look over the standard black (which I had) or white”, although she was thinking of changing again to a red-black model. The other respondents, however, seemed to agree with Alex that alternate colours (such as the standard white / grey) would be more appealing, and that the pink reinforces dominant, stereotypical myths. As respondent Veronica reflected “when we say we're gamers, people will automatically picture us chatting to our pink DS on the bus”.

The more positive responses seem to support theories that pink-coloured technology does indeed appeal to many females, but the negative responses reinforce the feminist call for diversity in representations of femininity. The idea of colour as a social code was also emphasised when the participants claimed that a similar ‘Games for Boys’ campaign would likely feature “shooting and stuff, football, and blue!”. This suggests that advertisers can use colour and other signifiers to represent and emphasise traditional gender differences, backing up Jhally’s (1987) view that “the representations of advertising are part of the context within which we understand gender” (p136). It could be argued that such representations reinforce stereotypes, accepted gender norms and society’s wider perceptions of gender (Lee 2004, O’Barr 2006). The focus group responses seem to suggest that many females do associate signifiers such as hair-dressing and the colour pink with femininity, and can also predict representations of masculinity based on previous social / inter-textual knowledge.

GENDER AND TECHNOLOGY:
A recent study by the ESA (2008) found that 38% of digital game players are female, while “women age 18 or older represent a significantly greater portion of the game-playing population (30%) than boys age 17 or younger (23%)”. Such figures strongly challenge traditional views and stereotypes that video-gaming is a male dominated activity. Many game developers were slow to realise this. Indeed, in 1994 a Nintendo spokesman claimed that “Boys are the market… as girls get into that core group, we will look for ways to meet their needs” (Cassell and Jenkins 1998 citing Carroll 1994). The DS ad provides a distinct evolution from this point of view.

The segmentation of this advertisement on a gender basis complements a view that technology is a male dominated arena. Ray (2004) writes that boys are socialized to experiment and be entertained by computers, whereas girls are mainly prompted to use educational and productivity software (e.g. typing programmes) instead. Williams (2006) argues that many games are sold with an assumption that it will be played by males, as men are socialised from a young age to take an active interest in technology, also pointing out that game creation itself is dominated by males. Hence, ‘girl games’ are often created by males with little knowledge of their target market. However, Cassell and Jenkins (1998) and Ray (2004) emphasise that companies such as Purple Moon, and individuals such as King’s Quest developer Roberta Williams were examples of women producing female-orientated and more gender neutral games.

A number of studies have examined female preferences in digital games. Kerr (2006 citing Wright et al. 2001) writes that only sports games showed a noticeable gender preference (i.e. boys over girls) in studies. Ray (2004 citing Turkle 1988) argues that females want technology that promotes communication, interaction and an artistic nature, whereas boys prefer to ‘dominate’ the machine. Hartmann and Klimmt (2006 citing Gibb et al. 1983) mention that male players are more interested in competition and ‘winning’, whereas female gamers are more motivated by ‘achievement’ based gameplay such as ‘levelling up’ their character in RPGs. The games featured in this advertisement seem to reflect these studies. In the games Nintendogs and Animal Crossing: Wild World it is impossible to ‘win’: the games are instead based on interaction with the game characters, and small, optional ‘goals’. In Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, the emphasis is on achieving and gaining new items by finishing tasks. Donkey Kong: Jungle Climber and Mario Party DS are about ‘winning’: however, they are games designed to be played in short bursts, or with other people. The advertisers are clearly trying to appeal to female gamers who prefer more social and communication-based experiences.

In the focus group, however, none of the participants were enticed by the more social games. Two of the girls in the group recognised the more complex and traditional Zelda series. The game itself is a lengthy action-adventure game, and they felt this was more appealing than the more simplistic games portrayed in the campaign. Indeed, Amy was somewhat insulted by the presence of the simplistic games, arguing that “I think it’s ridiculous they don’t have games like Final Fantasy, or something like that. You can’t just say girls are going to like games like [the ones in the ad]”. Gamer Steph, however, felt the games presented were well chosen: “they're not games designed specifically for women or men… they appeal to both… they have at least stuck to a decent selection of games”. However, she also hoped that in future campaigns the type of games will be expanded to get more women/girls interested in other genres too… instead of trying to push women into only buying certain types of games… Girls/women should be encouraged to play ANY games they want.

Overall, however, the gamer responses suggested that females have more varied taste – they listed everything from competitive online shooter Battlefield 2 to survival horror Resident Evil 2 to cartoon platformers such as Ratchett & Clank amongst their favourite games. Few of the games in the ad were mentioned as favourites, with the exception of home console Mario and Zelda games. Hence, these findings imply that the advertisement does not fully reflect wider female gaming preferences, contrasting with other theories and research.

CONCLUSION:
The theorists and the audience research findings suggest that many stereotypes of traditional femininity are presented in the in the Nintendo DS ‘Games for Girls’ advertisement. It portrays girls as enjoying more ‘simplistic’ and ‘childish’ games, while also emphasising a feminine preference for pink. It conforms to many examples of feminist and gender & technology theory. However, it is clear that the advertisement does appeal to many females. As the focus group suggested, many girls would be attracted to a pink coloured DS, while others would be opposed to such a “sexist” stereotype. The older female gamers all felt it was a regressive ad that featured inaccurate representations of female gaming preferences, concluding that the advertisement was orientated towards more “casual” female gamers.

The responses provided by the gamers and younger non-gamers suggest that the advertisement may appeal to younger females who do not play video games regularly. The gamers were unwilling to fully accept the gender representations in the advertisement. Two of the non-gamers felt the same way, although the other participants were more accepting of some of the gender representations. None of the focus group members admitted to liking the ad, however, when questioned.

It could be strongly argued (in particular using feminist theory) that technology advertisements such as this reinforce dominant myths and representations of femininity, and negatively stereotype women’s use of technology. However, it must also be pointed out that they reflect the tastes and preferences of certain parts of the female gaming market. They clearly do not speak for all ‘girls’, but the ads reflect many elements of post-feminist thought. The favourable and negative responses that arose in the audience research suggest that it is a polarising advertising campaign. It is an advertisement that attempts to represent the complex relationship between gender and technology; representations that could be interpreted in many different ways depending on the discourses of the viewer.

Maguined

So basically Nintendo are doing what they should be doing in their marketing? The casual female gamer likes these adds as they have a pink DS and advertise causal games females will like, which is the segment of the market Nintendo are trying to grab with their games for girls campaign while the non casual more hardcore female gamer dont need adds expressly for them as they just hear about games through the regular media us male gamers use to hear about games.

Gummy Panda

So pink is good or bad?

It reeks of 'here's the DS for the boys, in a standard black/white..... oh and here's a pink one for you girls. You girls like pink, right?'. Seems to me Nintendo don't know their target market very well.

from working in consumer electronics (non-gaming), I think Nintendo know their target market very well. It was
making casual gaming accessable to a group who might not consider it.

Making a product pink or lilac is one of the easiest ways to show that market you are targetting them. Believe me, you can sell a lot if products (especially at Xmas) if they are available in pink.

From what I gather from the (well written) essay is that the focus group was made up of woman who already label themselves gamers. Isn't this group already targetted by traditional designs and game genres?

Will we have 50+ gamers complaining when the DSi LL advertisements begin here (they've started in Japan) showing old age pensioners playing brain train and some crossword game rather then final fantasy, zelda or another traditional core game?

L31mr0d

spookymuffin wrote: »

The implication is that teen and adult women will settle for something that is considered simple enough for children to play, as if women and children are on the same intellectual level while men are above that. That is what offends me.

I simply don't see this being the case. The games might have a low rating but that's purely due to the content being suitable for all ages. GoW could be completed by a 5 year old, but what separates it is the content.

Can you give me an example of marketing for a game that expressly claims the game is for young children and adult women. I, frankly, have never seen such a thing. But I'd be happy to be proved wrong if you can give me an example of a game that offends you.

johnny_ultimate

Gummy Panda wrote: »

So pink is good or bad?

From what I gather from the (well written) essay is that the focus group was made up of woman who already label themselves gamers. Isn't this group already targetted by traditional designs and game genres?

Actually most of the focus groupers were non-gamers (some had played games, but wouldn't be considered hobbyist), while the interviewees were. I don't think there was really any conclusive results (was only a tiny sample) but the general impression I got was that most of them thought it was condescending. Some of them did find elements of the advertisement appealing (indeed, the pink DS proved popular with a few) but none of them 'liked' it overall. The ad is certainly going to hit a certain group, but my main reason for picking the ad to study (it was for an advertising module, but like a few essays I just swayed the topic towards gaming :pac:) were the games presented. The ad presents itself as 'Games for girls', and then goes onto define this as certain types of games - from Nintendogs to (interestingly) Zelda. Also, the situations the actress is shown in are interesting too. I personally feel it does come across as stereotypically girly, and there games chosen are the more innocent and playful ones, shall we say. Again, I think it is more complicated than being simply 'right or wrong' though and I posted the essay because I felt the quotes from a relatively varied, though small, sample illustrate how it is quite a sensitive, difficult situation to read.

Kiith

spookymuffin wrote: »

but sexy does not equal improbable anatomy and/or a lack of clothing. And playing a game that features a walking pair of breasts female character whose character design serves no purpose but titilation has pissed me off enough to stop me from playing a game.

This is, imo, one of the main problems with how games are viewed by people these days. Is it so hard to portray women without giving them back-pain sized breasts in a ridiculous outfit? It just seems like an immature way of trying to keep the mostly male oriented gamers interested. I would strugle to name more then 5-10 well written/designed women in games, that havent resorted to soft-core porn.

The only ones that come to mind off the top of my head are: Alex (HL2), April (The Longest Journey), Jaheria (Baldur's Gate 2), Terra (FF6), Claire (Res. Evil)....eh, im struggling here (there are more, but its early). Yet if you asked me to list the 'other' type of females, i could probably list quite a few, and google would help me find the rest pretty easily.

Not knowing any female gamers, i cant really comment too much though. Although that in itself is a comment i suppose.

L31mr0d

Kiith wrote: »

It just seems like an immature way of trying to keep the mostly male oriented gamers interested.

Do you find it immature that most males in games are muscle bound jocks?

They are using archetypes for both sexes, which is nothing new. I fully expect action movies to have muscle bound lead males with curvaceous lead females. The alphas, aesthetically, of either sex.

It is puerile, but it has its market. Like action movies and blockbusters.

johnny_ultimate

Kiith wrote: »

The only ones that come to mind off the top of my head are: Alex (HL2), April (The Longest Journey), Jaheria (Baldur's Gate 2), Terra (FF6), Claire (Res. Evil)....eh, im struggling here (there are more, but its early). Yet if you asked me to list the 'other' type of females, i could probably list quite a few, and google would help me find the rest pretty easily.

Not knowing any female gamers, i cant really comment too much though. Although that in itself is a comment i suppose.

In general, I'd say Western developers are actually slightly better at developing strong female characters - I'd add the likes of Zoe from Dreamfall (The Longest Journey seems to be a good series for well developed characters in general), Jade from Beyond Good & Evil and both Chloe & Elena from Uncharted (two extremely strong-willed and independent love interests, which makes a change!). Most of the more deplorable examples of hypersexualisation I can think of are from Japanese developers - the likes of DoA: Extreme Volleyball (does this game exist for anything other than breast physics? I don't know of anyone who has ever been calling out for a volleyball sim!) or Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 (sixaxis controlled breasts?). I'm a hetrosexual male, but that kind of stuff completely puts me off a series, and any implications that I should like it just because I'm male are offensive! (I should point out that many Japanese developers have developed and written wonderful female characters - the likes of Final Fantasy series, Megaten series and others).

L31mr0d wrote: »

Do you find it immature that most males in games are muscle bound jocks?

They are using archetypes for both sexes, which is nothing new. I fully expect action movies to have muscle bound lead males with curvaceous lead females. The alphas, aesthetically, of either sex.

It is puerile, but it has its market. Like action movies and blockbusters.

It is nothing new, and it does indeed have its market. But I think the point is that it doesn't have to be this way. It is society that has created these gender roles and archetypes, and society could change it. But many people don't even think about it, just accept it as the "way things are". I for one would love to see more action movies with well-developed, everyday heroes rather than the invincible type. Taking Uncharted as an example, what appeals most to me is the fantastic Nathan Drake, who unlike say Marcus Fenix, comes across as a fragile hero - hell, at the very start of the sequel, you are

hanging off a cliff with a horrific bullet wound

. I prefer that to a heavily armoured, foul-mouthed space marine (although Drake will still throw in the odd one liner!). And yes I do find the muscular hero an unfortunate trope of gaming.

I just don't believe that gender representations have to be exaggerated stereotypes. And unfortunately there are many people out there who wouldn't think about it at all (I would in fact say a group of enthusiast gamers debating online isn't representative of the wider community!). The truth is, a lot of media perpetuates stereotypical images, and games to a large degree do as well.