posted
Oh, and do you have any idea how much hatrack time I've logged while watching Bill play games. It can be fun, depending on the game, and how much attention it's taking.
Civ 3 was actually really fun to play together, him playing and me flipping through the documentation to keep up with our options and trying to keep track of all our international affairs.
Posts: 3956 | Registered: Jun 2001
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I don't have the link, but I was reading an article by someone (Yee I think) who was doing his doctorate on MMORGs. He spent a lot of time studying who played MMORGs and what type of characters different age groups, professions, genders, et cetera played. It was a fascinating article. One of his conclusions I remember is that girls " tend " to like conversation and character interaction more then guys. Guilds with girls tended to socialize more while guilds with guys tended to "camp" more and do quests together.
It was very well done and he had all the standard disclaimers that some guys socialized and some girls camped, but there was a pattern of how different genders play MMORGs.
I was reminded of a conversation I had with my mom.
Me: Boys and girls aren't THAT different. How they act is programmed by how they are raised. If you give a boy a doll, he will play with it.
Mom: Of course boys and girls will play with dolls. Give a boy a doll and he will make it fly and fight. Give a girl a doll and she will mother it and treat it as a friend. The difference is "how" they play, not whether they will play with dolls.
Posts: 1034 | Registered: Mar 2004
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I don't know, I try getting girls to look at some games, and generally they don't like them. I have no idea why. I mean, I would say that TONS of girls liked the LOTR movies, but most don't like the games. Posts: 4229 | Registered: Dec 2002
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I suck at Mario Brothers. I kept falling into the pit and getting killed by strooms. I didn't get good at games until FF7. But I think I was good at tanks and airplanes when I was a kid.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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I did manage to get my wife interested in Civ 3, which was the first strategy game I'd been able to do this with. She preferred not to encounter other civilizations, enjoying the development of cities, advancing on the tech tree, and exploring the world.
In her second or third game, she ended up right next to the Zulus. I expected her to get frustrated with their extremely aggressive method of play, and probably quit. Much to my surprise, after a few Zulu incursions she lost patience with them, and exterminated them branch and root. It was lots of fun to watch. Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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I think I look for plot in games as well, although not always.
Dungeon Keeper was a game I really enjoyed, although I guess there is a bit of exploration in that as well.
I enjoy building games, although strangely I like the Caesar games more than the Civ games. I forget the name of the one I did play exclusively, but I've tried Cultures and Settlers IV to little avail now.
I like the idea of RPG's, but I guess the D&D style quests just don't quite interest me, and shooting things just isn't my style.
I love Infocom games and witty text-style games.
I also play Popcap games for sheer brainless fun, but only when really bored.
I think the biggest thing is that I don't want to have a large time investment into a game, so something with hour or so short missions that build to a larger goal sound good for me. I NEVER play games to their completion regardless of whether or not I like them and once I cannot figure something out or find something tedious, I stop playing.
Just some thoughts from a not-quite-gamer type who still looks for games. Posts: 1777 | Registered: Jan 2003
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I don't think the Sims has an ending. It just keeps going. I mean, I'm sure once you build up all thier abilities, make them the top of every field, and romance them to every member of the opposite sex in the neighborhood before making them jump into a pool without a ladder, then you can stop playing.
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Games I've liked are Sim City, Sims, Myst, Return to Zork, Zork Nemesis, Diablo, Warcraft, Starcraft, Age of Empires, and old games like Duke Nukem, Cosmo, and of course all those addicting card games.
The game I'm really into right now is Neverwinter Nights (a lot like Everquest).
I guess I'm kind of a gaming tomboy. And I liked games like Myst, where you have to solve puzzles. But I mostly like games like NWN and Diablo where you have a character that runs around and beats stuff up. But it does get to the point where it's all the same and I get tired of it.
(edit: sarcasticmuppet, I think it can be beaten. At least that's what I heard.) *returns to Neverwinter Nights*
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I once got so far that every day there would be this little popup talking about the Making of the Sims. But I think that was just after a certain number of days in the game (100? 500? I'd hate to think I played it for 1000 days).
Posts: 4089 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I'd like a game that was just fun - exploration, colonization, using resources, but not war where you have to waste so much time battling. I enjoy Civ 3 on the easy levels where I can influence other countries with my culture.
I enjoyed Myst and its brothers.
I don't like shooters, because I'm severely un-hand-eye-coordinated.
The Sims was fun but it got boring when you had to manage their jobs and life. I just wanted my Sim to get it on with someone, but it took too long.
I guess I want a fun game that I can put away when I'm done and start a new one the next time I have 2 hours to spend. Most games take so long they are addictive, and your family gets mad because you haven't cleaned house or got dinner on the table.
Posts: 3141 | Registered: Apr 2000
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D'oh! How could I forget Lemmings! That game rocked! And Worms Armageddon, The coolest game ever! Unfortunately it's on a broken computer, and I haven't been able to play it for a while. Posts: 4174 | Registered: Sep 2003
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I don't know if I"m exactly what you would call a typical girl, but I play MMORPGS (FFXI currently, I used to play Everquest) some first person shooters if I'm playing on a LAN, and real time strategy games like Command and Conquer. I play the Sims on occasion but I get bored with it after playing a couple days.
Posts: 262 | Registered: May 2004
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I remember one of my friends liked to torture his Sims. He would do things like remove all the windows and doors from their houses, then steadily decrease the size of whatever room they were in and see what happened. As I recall he had a lot of Sims die.
Another friend of mine spent several weeks trying to get two female Sims (who were roommates) to become lesbians. I don't think it ever worked out, though.
Posts: 4534 | Registered: Jan 2003
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I enjoy games that are more about thinking than reflexes and coordination. I played Halo once, and I sort of liked it, but I don't think I would ever be good at it.
My favorite games are the puzzle-type games. I remember playing The Lost Mind of Dr. Brain when I was younger and enjoying it very much. Ak, were you referring to a game called The Incredible Machine? I love that game. So games that require lots of thinking and not a lot of being able to manipulate a mouse well are good.
I also enjoy real-time top-down strategy games (I tried Civ2 and Alpha Centauri but for some reason turn-based strategy just didn't work for me). My current favorites are Age of Empires II and Starcraft. I intend to try Warcraft3 if I have the time.
Recently I've been trying RPGs. Actually, Geoff, weren't you the one who recommended A Tale in the Desert? Anyhow, I've been playing that for awhile. I like that game because its about building rather than fighting. I also just started playing Knights of the Old Republic, and I'm completely addicted. I enjoy games with good stories, and this one has a very good plot. I just hit a HUGE plot twist (not going to say what because I don't want to spoil it--those of you who played the game should know what I'm talking about). It was brilliant.
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sax, your friend clearly wasn't trying hard enough. The mayor of my first town spent too much time at work, so his wife struck up a lesbian affair with the local hussy Posts: 1907 | Registered: Feb 2000
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I'd tell him that, Geoff, except that I think he might throw himself back into the game with the same vigor he did the first time. Back then he only had to worry about failing classes.
Posts: 4534 | Registered: Jan 2003
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quote: The mayor of my first town spent too much time at work, so his wife struck up a lesbian affair with the local hussy
This definitely sounds like a feature that some males would find compelling and most females would not.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I noticed it was nigh impossible to make two men kiss but it was nigh impossible to keep the women off each other. Maybe my cousin just had the lesbian version and didn't tell me.
Posts: 3243 | Registered: Apr 2002
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quote: I remember one of my friends liked to torture his Sims. He would do things like remove all the windows and doors from their houses, then steadily decrease the size of whatever room they were in and see what happened. As I recall he had a lot of Sims die.
That's when it's the most fun! Lock them in a box with nothing but a servo. Posts: 4174 | Registered: Sep 2003
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quote: If you aren't a gamer, what about games turns you off?
Boredom. Computer games- in fact, many games- bore me. I can only play games to the point where I am doing well, yet I do not like to spend so much time at them so I can play them on the "hard" level. Simcity and The Sims, both games I played at one point, went this way.
Other than that I always feel like I'm wasting my time playing computer games. I like to feel like I'm actually doing something. For some reason, reading etc., feels more useful.
posted
I like games that involve puzzle solving, have a plot, and are set in really cool fantasy worlds. I like lots of atmosphere, relatively complicated plots, and a well-developed story that can go in many directions.
Beyond Time was really annoying because the puzzles were often not logically related to/integrated into the structure of the game proper. (Also, if I'm in a Tibetan monastery, I want to be able to explore the place, rather than being confined to two or three rooms.)
I'm currently playing Myst:Exile, which I had to painfully stop cold turkey so I could finish my coursework for the semester.
Other favorites, in no special order: the entire Myst series, Lighthouse (though the anti-technology message got irritating after a while, the world was COOL), the Infocom Zork games and Trinity, Star Trek: Borg (mostly because of the hilarious sarcasm of Q, who serves as a "companion" to the player), and the old Space Quest games (especially the one where you're crawling through the cave maze and suddenly a squid appears for no apparent reason and devours you, which is a hoot).
Posts: 1512 | Registered: A Long Time Ago!
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The Sims bored me silly. Took....too....long...
I'm a bit impatient.
I suck at KOTOR but it's my first shot at an RPG, so I'll keep trying for a bit longer. I just get..impatient.
HALO is great fun. I love FPS games. mmmm. shooting.
I've got MVP baseball 2004 and love it because I love baseball. Also, need for speed underground is great. Mmmm. racing.
GTA:VC kept my interest for awhile since it's like being in an episode of COPS. But then I hit a wall and can't kill that damn pizza delivery guy.
SSX3 is also a great game, but I think that's also in part because I love snowboarding.
I have an old school nintendo with tetris (LOVE tetris), tiger heli, super mario bros, track and field, duck hunt, kung fu, and teenage mutant ninja turtles. I used to spend hours playing ninja turtles. I beat top gun as a kid.
For computer games I love Worms World Party. Just makes me laugh. I beat Caesar II and III and Starcraft. Loved played those head to head.
So, I do love video games, but most of the time I would rather be playing outside.
Posts: 14745 | Registered: Dec 1999
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I played one of them and loved it. My husband ordered some old games, King's Quest 5(which was the one I had played, dang it all) and a couple of others. (Torin, I think?) Anyway, it was a bummer, because I could not get them to play on our new dumb nonMacintosh computer, which is apparently too FANCY for old games.(you have to change the screen colors, and it just doesn;t run well.)
Ironic, since I finally have a fast computer which can't play the 6MB games which used to eat up all the hard drive space.
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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I like MMORPGs the best due to the cooperative nature of them. Though I just had to do a quest in Lineage II that involved delivery someone some succubus panties. I screamed when I got to that part that "No wonder more women don't play these games!"
Tetris type games are fun if I don't have a lot of time.
I also like games like simcity/civilization/rollercoaster tycoon becuase I like building things.
I like RTSes for the same reason, but I always end up enjoying the building up part and neglecting the "going to war" part which makes me a weaker player than I should be. If you ever play me in Rise of Nations with the Diplomacy option, be my friend or kill me first because I WILL "out-boom" you. (or at least I would when I played the game every day.)
posted
Wow. Being a somewhat hard-core gamer girl, the first few posts on this thread kind of offended me. I mean, there's a lot of repressed sort of misogynistic comments going on here.
In particular this one:
quote: I picture women enjoying something along the lines of Everquest where they get to roam around a virtual world trying to get guys to buy them drinks and looking for killer deals on designer lip gloss.
Although I think Frisco may have been joking.
As for girls playing games, it all depends on their personal interests. I'll play pretty much any game, but a game has to be well-made for me to continue playing it. For me, I want to be able to care about the characters in the game. It is always good when it's even a little bit story-driven. My favorite types of games are RPG, Action-Adventure, Strategy, Fighters, Shooters, anything as long as it has a good story. Genres I stay away from are usually Sports, (not interested) SOME FPS's, Racing games and Wrestling titles or any other ridiculously licensed out and repetetive types of games. Also, licenses sometimes turn players off, if only because it's so hard to find a good licensed game, since the platformer genre's been done to death with those things. Platformers are usually hit-and-miss for me. Newtypes like Jak and Daxter are good, and Mario games and some other Nintendo games can hold my interest, but sometimes it just don't work.
But truthfully, I can play nearly any type of game if it's good. As I believe Fugu already said, women do play a fair amount of games already.
To answer your question, though I didn't really appreciate the way it was asked, I'll generalize and say that you can attract women gamers by not pandering to the lowest common denominator, and by caring about the stories/characters you're animating and designing. Thanks for asking, though. And thanks for listening.
Heh, nah, that goes both ways- but I know alot of girls who love to play video games when they come over, I wish there was more though..
Okay- Anyone play Bushido Blade 2... it's this extremely awesome playstation 1 game with crappy graphics that you get use to, but it's set up like Mortal Kombat, one vs. one but in a bit of a 3d-ish enviroment, and you only have 6 different weapons to choose from and about 20 characters to mix and match with the weapons, and the greatest thing about it, is it's one hit kills. So, basically whoever lands the first good hit wins, and you can rematch super quick-- but I just love it when I play someone and they don't move before I throw my katana into their gut and they die a second after the round started... Anyone know of a game that might compare?
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I have Bushido Blade, and I love it. :3 It's just so much fun to run through the bamboo grove, cutting the bamboo and your enemies down. Posts: 4816 | Registered: Apr 2003
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My mother refused to buy us any Nintendo or Sega or anything of the sort when we were growing up. I never managed to get past a second-hand Atari set. Anything requiring a controller with more than three buttons is asking too much of me.
As for computer games, I like the puzzle-solving kinds best, like The Incredible Machine. I loved that game to pieces. Still have it somewhere, actually. What an awesome game.
The only role-playing-type games I ever got into were the ones that had some sort of puzzle-solving element to them. Like the older Quest for Glory games, or this one I still have somewhere called "Rage of Mages." I'm not into the shooter-types, and those ones where you can have multiple perspectives often are too confusing.
Excuse me, I'm going to go play my Joust-clone for a while...
Posts: 2849 | Registered: Feb 2002
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Ryuko, I really hope my initial post wasn't one of the ones that offended you. I tried very hard to make it clear that I was drawing from what I knew of people's actual behavior — ie, most women are less likely than men to develop a strong interest in video games, and tend to congregate within a few genres when they do. My questions were designed to find out what it is about most video games that turns this particular group of women off, and what might be done to cater to what they actually enjoy doing.
Posts: 1907 | Registered: Feb 2000
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I never got into Myst. I played it for a while, but I got bored pretty quickly. I never really saw the point of it, I guess.
Posts: 9057 | Registered: Nov 2000
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Yah.. about Myst.. i'm all for the puzzles in games and things like that, great fun and all.. but when the AI interaction is so low, no NPCs hardly anywhere- it drives me absolutely nuts- I want someone to care that i'm roaming around in places I probably shouldn't, I want things to attack me and stuff inbetween the puzzles every now and then.. but when the only thing that seems to be alive is plants, dear god.. y'know?
posted
I like all the Spyro games, though my dexterity sucks, so there are some things I make my husband do for me. I was first sucked into video games by my husband and Mario 64. Loved that game, but again, there were some things I couldn't do.
I like Dynomite. Insaniquarium over at popcap is great. Qbees is a hoot. I like the Sims, but they are a bit boring. I love Rollercoaster Tycoon and if I weren't so cheap, I'd probably get the Mall and Zoo ones, too.
Currently, I totally hooked on Harvest Moon Friends of Mineral Town. I've been playing it about 8-10 hours a day since it came out. Man, I'm pathetic. I loved Neverwinter. I don't like pointless violence or stupid things. If it's cute or has a point, I like it. I like goals. Like in Rollercoaster Tycoon. There was a goal. In Harvest Moon, there is a goal. And by goal, I don't mean a stupid goal, like winning the game. I like it when there are different things to do, different levels, different goals that aren't about death and destruction. There has to be some logic, point, fun to make it interesting. Having to figure something out is more fun that trying to get my fingers to do what they need to do to be the fastest, or whatever. I'd rather they made more games that depended on brains rather than dexterity. That's one of the things I love about Harvest Moon. There's absolutely no dexterity involved. I can deal with that.
So, a non-bloody goal, and less finger dexterity works for me. Basing the game on something interesting or intelligence is a bonus. Posts: 9871 | Registered: Aug 2001
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Oh, I also love Golf, (but not Tiger Woods' golf) but that's just because I can't play it in real life. (I play HotShots, all versions, and SwingAway. I'm still mad they scrapped the second version of SwingAway.)
Posts: 9871 | Registered: Aug 2001
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I'm gonna post in here for Vána 'cause I don't think she'd do it herself.
My dear wife is definitely attracted toward standard "girl" games. She likes puzzles, logic puzzles, adventure games. She loves the Harvest Moon games, and is currently addicted to a web-based game called Neopets.
She also loves playing DOAX: Extreme Beach Volleyball, and liked playing Doom when it first came out.
She's also more likely to enjoy a Nintendo made game than one for the PS2. She really enjoys Super Monkey Ball, Mario 64, Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, and I think that she'd get a kick out of the Zelda games if she game 'em a spin. She also is inclined toward Nintendo games, because there are a lot of games for the Cube that are multiplayer games.
Posts: 753 | Registered: Mar 2001
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I just thought of a modern game that really, really had me hooked.... the Oddworld game on the Xbox. I couldn't tear myself away from the screen. It was just the right combination of platformer-type-gaming, humor, puzzle-solving, and story to keep me interested. And it was pretty pleasing to the eye, to boot. Posts: 2220 | Registered: Jun 1999
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posted
I think we like things that really allow us to think and maybe have strategy.
I hate first-person shooters.
However, I like to play some war games like Civ and Age of Empires, because there is more to it than just killing the enemy -- it is the care and creation of a nation.
And I like Sims, to a point. And I play some RPG's.
So I guess as a female, I like something with a big more substance that a shooter, and something that allows me to "become" the character, and that character has lots of options, like creation of a community or a nation, etc.
Farmgirl
edit: oh yeah, and I love puzzles. And I liked Myst because it was like one big puzzle
posted
Someone at my company — I think it may have been the head of our QA department, but I don't remember — said that he'd asked a lot of women over the years what we should do to make our games appealing to them.
The most common answer: "Make them fun."
Posts: 1907 | Registered: Feb 2000
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I'm thinking about buying City of Heroes...
Oh, and does anybody know if I can get Fury3 back to put on this computer? I miss that game so very much.
Posts: 9057 | Registered: Nov 2000
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First off, yes, I am a girl. And here are my top five gaming picks:
# 1 on my list has to be Halo. I guess I'm just a violent sort of girl, but I really love this game. Especially the multiplayer...awesome! # 2 is Marathon (and its sequels Durandal and Infinity). For those of you who don't know, this game is an old FPS made by the same guys who made Halo. The graphics are old and ugly by today's standards, but this game has a fascinating storyline. # 3 is Myth: The Fallen Lords (and Myth II: Soulblighter). These are medieval strategy games, oldies but goodies. # 4 is Starcraft (and the expansions set Brood Wars). I really like this game (I like the strategy game genre in general...yay, wasn't that a nice alliterative sentence?) # 5 is Diablo (and Diablo II) Just an all-around fun game.
The above games are by no means all the games I play, just a few of my all-time favorites. I like brainfood games (like chess) but I prefer to play them live rather than with a computer. It's just more fun that way. There are also some *really* old games that I enjoy playing. Take "The Humans" for example...haven't heard of it? I'm not surprised. I tend to enjoy racing games as well.
I'm probably not the typical female gamer though.
The types of games I do not like are horror games (they're just not my thing - I like horror movies, but not horror games) and Sims. I simply detest the Sims. Oh yes, and sports games...I just don't like them. Wrestling, football...yech.
posted
I wonder if you could make a game where you can nurture a being of some sort - kind of like raising it, and having it interact with a rich world. Black and White was like that, and I loved that game. Unfortunately, my computers are too slow to be able to play it well.
But what if you could take a baby and raise it to be a warrior or shaman or whatever, and basically be its mom? You could give it certain "genetic" characteristics, but then the game would be to provide the "nurture" for the growing individual. You'd encourage the child into certain areas and away from others.
You could play at being a good mother, or an abusive one, or a neglectful one. It might be really fun to intentionally raise a pyromaniac, for instance. Or to help a bad kid turn around.
You could create your "nature" part based on horoscopes or something, to give the babies somewhere to start (i.e. Tauruses are stubborn, Virgos are perfectionistic) and then have a wide variety of actions available to the parents. You could have some sort of storyline. I think the parents should have to have some way of making and spending income. Parents with higher incomes would have access to museums and zoos, but low-income families wouldn't have the same opportunities to enrich their child's life.
I think I could really get into a game like this...
Posts: 3141 | Registered: Apr 2000
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