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Hi guys,
My team are entering the dare to be digital competition next year, and we have an innovative concept which we have been working on for a month now.
However, there are still a lot of gaps to be filled in.Our target demographic is 16-20yr old girls.
Clearly, if the industry is going to reach any kind of critical mass, there is a need to produce more games with the content and play patterns that appeal to girls.
So this question is aimed at all the girls on the board:
what type of gameplay or content do you find appealing ?
Basically, anything that you find enjoyable in games that you have played, what they were lacking etc
Any opinions would be appreciated.
Cheers
Paul
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Omega, your up……
Seriously though, I would guess that the main interests of 16-20 yr old girls are
1. Fashion
2. Music
3. Celebrities(Which can be linked in wtih the above two)Thats just my guess, and if its correct then I will find that a most disturbing revelation…… :confused:
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from what i hear and read, people don’t know what they want or like, untill they are actually playing it. that was one of the problem the Sims had, all the focus groups did not like the idea of it, but of course once they played it…..
personally i think the greatest games are the ones that don’t play how you think they would, the ones that suprise u.
as a starting point i would work out what girls don’t like about games (the reason they don’t play) and keep away from those points.
and btw girls don’t like “Barbie goes shopping” games.
good luck with your project, i personally would like to see more girls/women in games. i there are too many “gun” games……and as one of the talkers at awakenning said (can remember who) “can u come up with a idea for a game were don’t die”
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Yeah you see our project has some dying in it. I really cant say anything about it yet, but we are trying to create a game that girls would have an interest in playing.
We are developing the title from ground up with girls in mind, yet also adding SOME elements that are appealling to the broader market. This way we can find a happy medium.
Then again, we could take out the killing , and focus on our USP’s and work on them instead.
With that being said, this is the point of this topic. Im trying to get to some girls perspectives on the matter. From what ive read, it seems as if girls are against killing altogther and are more interested in solving puzzles by themselves or cooperatively, creating emotional bonds with characters and getting into a deep plot.
I think the main reason that woman dont play as much as men, is down to the marketing. I mean, has there ever been a advertisement for a game in a girls magazine? (not that id know, but its what ive been told! I swear) Obviously there are many, many factors.
Im not looking fo the answer(if you have it though, il take it) but im just looking at it in a broad sense.
This is aimed at the girls on the board. If you could make a game, what would it be, and how would it play?
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Unless you are blessed with Damo’s girlfriend, I find that ‘they’ (cause they are a weird group) generally tend to like the following:
>>Pikmin (emotional attachment to your CUTE little helpers)
>>Animal Crossing (Do I need to explain this? Its a communication game)
>>Easy 3D platformers (Lots of lives, safe jumps, cute characters)
>>Cute games (sorry for generalising)
>>Tetris and puzzle games (which we all like)
And from my non experience:
>>Singstar (board cross gender appeal there)
>>Donkey KongaSorry for the ‘duuuh’ lesson
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Also I know fitch (One of our 2 active women members) likes the Myst series of games – a non-stressful ‘safe’ type of game.
And one of my EX’s loved point and click adventures (Grim Fandango, Full Throttle).
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Omega, your up……
1. Fashion
2. Music
3. Celebrities(Which can be linked in wtih the above two)[/quote:74cb0b7520]
Oh thanks Noopti, much appreciated. But in general I agree with your attempt to understand what drives a Females “ohh I’m excited about this” way of thinking. But to be honest we’ve more chance of wining the lottery than EVER understanding how a Girl/Women thinks… sigh
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Yep… Myst does it for me :D
i’m enjoying Fable and Sudeki too ..
not really into driving/competitve stuff ..
although Halo2 has me hooked because it’s beautiful to look at and the music is cool.. i’m just crap at aiming and firing at the right time LOL
although 16 to 20 isn’t anywhere near my age range :D more like mid 30’s
when i was that age i was hooked on Sonic the Hedgehog and Pinball on my mega drive
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I’m here to please Omega….. ;)
Some good points by KyotoKid there, “communication” seems to be a big thing with games that girls like.
You could end up spending a LOT of time figuring out what a game needs to be appealing to the female mass market.Alternatively you could just go for something like:
“Brigid Jones Diary: The Game”or
“Princess Diaries: The Game” (I know Xero would buy this one)
Jesting aside, women like these type of movies or “chick-flicks”, maybe a bit or research into these movies might give you some ideas of what women find entertaining. Not that women only find these types of films entertaining……..thats not what I’m trying to say……..I mean……er……..Its just tha…….
*Puts shovel down*
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As Ivan said, I’ve a girlfirend who’s into games.
She’s basically into anything that Nintendo make. Why, because they make quality, finished games. No violence, no shooting ( although she does like goldeneye but apparently isn’t that good at it ). Caring for things seems to be a plus ( animal crossing, sims, pikmin )BUT!!!!!
If you’re going to try get into Dare, you are going to be judged on several criteria. Amongst them are, creativity, team composition and marketability. IF you are trying to sell a game that you want ot market towards 16-20 year old girls, well, suffice it to say your market share is in the minority. Yes, the marketing is a problem, but that doesn’t suddenly change when yuo say, this is a great game for girls. Seriously, think about this long and hard before going with it. You WILL lose the marketability vote, but may gain a unique vote, but i really do think it is risky.
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Jesting aside, women like these type of movies or “chick-flicks”, maybe a bit or research into these movies might give you some ideas of what women find entertaining. [/quote:b54a3e756f]
I think looking into the common theme in “chick-flicks” and maybe combining it with some good action, strong female role-models (not eye-candy like lara) AND an element of caring for somthing and you might be onto a winner.
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My god that was quite a sensible post I made while under the influence of alcohol!
I really don’t think its that hard though. All you really need ( in my non-female opinion ) is good game-play in a non-violent setting. Girls are probably more attentive to the game-play and as such less forgiving with bugs. Solid game-play in a non-male dominated setting without scantily-clad females. Is there really that much more to it?
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Just wanted to include my bit as a girl gamer. Some of us do prefer killing and action. At the minute I’m really enjoying Half Life 2. One of my favourite series of games is Mortal Kombat simply because of the gore of a well executed fatality. Same goes for Burnout, I love the destruction a double takedown can cause.
I always read in magazines girls complaining about the lack of Games For Females, my opinion was always that any game out there was as much for me as any boy.On a side note, I’ve often heard females complaining they can’t get into the industry due to it being male dominated. All I can say is that I was one of two girls in a group of twenty and I had no problems. Any time I was at any conferences (Awakenings 04) or any meetings, being a female was never a problem. I was always treated as equal.
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Ian,
At the moment we have a team of 4,
all of which are men.
However, we are looking for a female to fill the remaining place.Ideally we would like to have a sound designer on the team as sound will play a big part in our game. Obviously we can be leniant and if we got any interest from a girl who is interested or skilled in modeling then we could bend, just so we could have a girls perspective an input on the team. It would also be a welcoming and healthy change from the norm as our class is 100% male!
But basically we are looking for any girl who has an interest in games, is skilled in one or more area of games design and is willing to go to scotland next summer with a great bunch of hard workin buyos’! But seriously, do get in touch if you are are interested. Pm me if you want to find out about the project, it is an unusual idea, so youve been warned!
Atlernatively, email me @ paui@iolfree.ie
Cheers guys
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Remember women really like those Sky Interactive games too
Alot of whcih are made by the super cute Denki Company of Dundee:
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However, we are looking for a female to fill the remaining place.
Ideally we would like to have a sound designer on the team as sound will play a big part in our game.[/quote:1e731acc11]
Sounds like someone we know….. ;)
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My god that was quite a sensible post I made while under the influence of alcohol!
I really don’t think its that hard though. All you really need ( in my non-female opinion ) is good game-play in a non-violent setting. Girls are probably more attentive to the game-play and as such less forgiving with bugs. Solid game-play in a non-male dominated setting without scantily-clad females. Is there really that much more to it? [/quote:ef21203295]
PUI – Posting Under the Influence eh? :D
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Sounds like someone we know….. ;) [/quote:2f2821f756]
i was thinking exactly the same thing ;)
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PUI – Posting Under the Influence eh?[/quote:79db703764]
Christmas party…what can i say…. -
Sounds like someone we know…..[/quote:37be76e9c0]
Who would that be?! Would that be you Fitch?! Im not to well up with the times, but i assume thats you then?! Would you be legible? You either have to be a student or out of college only one year and not yet working..
ah christmas parties…
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Hey Claire,
I just got your mail and i sent you a reply. :)
Cheers
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Sounds like someone we know….. ;) [/quote:5de28b096f]
Is that another dig at me?
Humph!
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i was thinking exactly the same thing ;) [/quote:05a81d366f]
Christ! another one, their crawling outta the woodwork!
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Who would that be?! Would that be you Fitch?! Im not to well up with the times, but i assume thats you then?! Would you be legible? You either have to be a student or out of college only one year and not yet working..
ah christmas parties… [/quote:33c68d4eeb]
*triple post*
Quick, ban him.I think they mean me Paul, although I will be rather embarrassed if they do not, as it obviously looks bad on my behalf…..
*Omegas Scuttles off into the corner…again*
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I think they mean me Paul, although I will be rather embarrassed if they do not, as it obviously looks bad on my behalf…..[/quote:fd89445273]
It seems to be getting to you anyway since it looks as if your having trouble sleeping! Posting at 4.56am?? Thats a record i think! :) -
Christ! another one, their crawling outta the woodwork! [/quote:354edac7a2]
don’t tell me you didn’t already know LOL
i’ve been here and around for ages :D
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It seems to be getting to you anyway since it looks as if your having trouble sleeping! Posting at 4.56am?? Thats a record i think! :) [/quote:67a45dfcd9]
Final Fantasy XI man, gets the better of me. Oh, and I apologize Fitch. Noopti likes to have a go at me now and then, I presumed this was another effort. ^^
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I’d have to say, be extremely cautious about targeting a market you are not part of. Most of the time when people create something with a completely different, even abstractly conceived, audience in mind, it ends badly. In fact, the result usually makes up the bulk of mainstream entertainment (part of the reason why I hate this practice so much).
The problem with it is that when you create what you think people want, your thoughts are only based only on various different pieces of discrete information. You fail to have a deeper, more intuitive understanding of what you are trying to acheive and so the result is usually robotic, cliched tripe that’s blatently trying to be something it’s not.
I’ve always believed that you should always create what at least a part of you wants to create. That way, your energy is more focused in creating something you’re interested in, you’re less concerned with whether the market will like something or not because you are the market and your general enthusiasm and fun in making it will show in the end.
In conclusion, “this will be cool”, is a lot better then “the people who will be buying our product should enjoy this”.
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Hi!
I think girls are interested in playing good, interesting, enjoyable, engaging games, as are all game-players. I don’t speak for all girls when I say this but personally I am not at all interested in shoot-em-ups, madly violent games, first-person shooters, war games etc for a number of reasons. Firstly the area doesn’t interest me, especially when so many games look so realistic. I just don’t want to go blow someone’s head off! Another reason is that these games seem to be more of a test of hand-eye coordination rather than “thinking games”- they’re not what I’m looking for in terms of gameplay. Another reason many of the currently-popular games don’t appeal to me is that they are obviously aimed at teenage boys, with male protagonists I can’t identify with and females as bikini-clad sex-objects.
I used to play a wider variety of games but now the games I focus on and most enjoy are resource managment/sim-type games such as The Sims, Sim City, Monopoly Tycoon, Capitalism, ThemePark, Zoo Tycoon, Tropico etc. None of these games are about things typically considered to interest girls. I don’t exactly count city-planning as one of my hobbies and yet SimCity is probably my all-time favourite game.
Personally I think there are too many games of the one kind on the market (i.e. action/first-person shooter type) and game developers should try to create innovative, exciting, mould-breaking games with focus on good gameplay as opposed to cutting-edge 3d graphics instead of just one clone after another. Such games would be successful if they were any good, meaning that people (including girls!!) would buy them.
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Holy Crap! Another girl!!! ;)
Some good points there SimElaine. As a matter of fact I like “Sim” games also, but for another reason. For example I recently played The Sims 2 but rather than try to make lots of legit money and raise a family, I became a crime boss and had my twins(who I was hoping would take over the “Family Busines”) taken away by social services. I then got bored with my old wife and had an affair with the maid, who also had a kid by me. We all live in the same house…..kind of like a messed up brady bunch.
But I think that The Sims is a perfect example of a game that girls love.
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As I said before – involving caring for something – sim games require you to care about your creatures/towns/businesses. Looking after them to make them bette.
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I focus on and most enjoy are resource managment/sim-type games such as The Sims, Sim City, Monopoly Tycoon, Capitalism, ThemePark, Zoo Tycoon, Tropico etc.
[/quote:63afd299a1]Hi SimElaine , check out ‘Zeus: Master of Olympus’ as well – its a fun life sucking city management sim (If you havent played it already….bit similar to other impressions games Caesar, Emperor, Pharoah)
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