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A little something from my inbox:
A new issue of The Daedalus Project is now available at:
http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/
Also, several new surveys are available for current MMORPG players. You can participate at: http://www.nickyee.com/mmorpg/
In particular, if you are a role-player or a female gamer, please consider taking part in the more open-ended surveys in this phase that explore the experiences of these two groups of players.
One of the questions you can answer:
Some people believe that boys and girls like different kinds of play and thus different kinds of video games. What do you think? Are we missing "games for women" in the market? And if so, what might those games look like?
I don't think women want to play different games, but I think women want to play games differently. For instance, let's look at WoW from a "hunter/gatherer" perspective.
Some parts of WoW are set up for hunting-- find something, kill it, take its stuff. Other parts are set up for gathering-- mine, harvest, pick plants, and craft things out of them. In our studies of different cultures, we know that hunting has traditionally been reserved for men, especially large group hunting. Gathering, on the other hand, is very social and something that is usually done by women, accompanied by children. Which of the two is more rewarded by the game? Why, hunting! It has nothing to do with cooperation-- if you get five people together and go kill something, you can get many more rewards than the same five people if they spend an equivalent amount of time gathering, training skills, and crafting something.
"Games for women" should mean "games that don't devalue the things that women might prefer to do." Now, it may seem silly to divide an online game into men's and women's fun-- after all, female characters in-game aren't any slower or weaker than male characters! On the other hand, in real life, women gamers are several years older, on the average, than men gamers. Someone in their late 20's is more likely to have young children in the home, housework, and a full-time job, thus less time to game in a concentrated manner (i.e. the grouping/raiding that is much more heavily rewarded).
Making a game that appeals to both boys and girls (or both men and women) should be as simple as making a game that appeals to all kinds of people-- if you put in two ways of doing something (i.e. hunting/crafting) make one as rewarding as the other. If you put in two ways of representing yourself (i.e. male and female avatars) make one as appealing as the other-- don't make them ALL appealing to one sort of player.
A new issue of The Daedalus Project is now available at:
http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/
Also, several new surveys are available for current MMORPG players. You can participate at: http://www.nickyee.com/mmorpg/
In particular, if you are a role-player or a female gamer, please consider taking part in the more open-ended surveys in this phase that explore the experiences of these two groups of players.
One of the questions you can answer:
Some people believe that boys and girls like different kinds of play and thus different kinds of video games. What do you think? Are we missing "games for women" in the market? And if so, what might those games look like?
I don't think women want to play different games, but I think women want to play games differently. For instance, let's look at WoW from a "hunter/gatherer" perspective.
Some parts of WoW are set up for hunting-- find something, kill it, take its stuff. Other parts are set up for gathering-- mine, harvest, pick plants, and craft things out of them. In our studies of different cultures, we know that hunting has traditionally been reserved for men, especially large group hunting. Gathering, on the other hand, is very social and something that is usually done by women, accompanied by children. Which of the two is more rewarded by the game? Why, hunting! It has nothing to do with cooperation-- if you get five people together and go kill something, you can get many more rewards than the same five people if they spend an equivalent amount of time gathering, training skills, and crafting something.
"Games for women" should mean "games that don't devalue the things that women might prefer to do." Now, it may seem silly to divide an online game into men's and women's fun-- after all, female characters in-game aren't any slower or weaker than male characters! On the other hand, in real life, women gamers are several years older, on the average, than men gamers. Someone in their late 20's is more likely to have young children in the home, housework, and a full-time job, thus less time to game in a concentrated manner (i.e. the grouping/raiding that is much more heavily rewarded).
Making a game that appeals to both boys and girls (or both men and women) should be as simple as making a game that appeals to all kinds of people-- if you put in two ways of doing something (i.e. hunting/crafting) make one as rewarding as the other. If you put in two ways of representing yourself (i.e. male and female avatars) make one as appealing as the other-- don't make them ALL appealing to one sort of player.
