The Gary Gygax Debate Part Two: Games for "Girls"

"Gaming in general is a male thing. It isn't that gaming is designed to exclude women. Everybody who's tried to design a game to interest a large female audience has failed. And I think that has to do with the different thinking processes of men and women." Gary Gygax

So I thought I'd return today to talk again about this quote from Gary Gygax about us wimmin gamers.  I want to focus specifically on the idea that games designed for a female audience have failed. 

Take the worst stereotypes about women that exist in Western culture. For adult women, these are probably best encapsulated by Sex and the City - we love shoes, fashion, shopping, and worry primarily about our relationships with men. Unfortunately, when someone puts a game with these stereotypes front and centre, this is what people call a game designed for women. Most of the women I know are a lot more nuanced than this. 


The other commonality in games supposedly designed for women is they usually do not involve violence or adventure. This is, I suppose, because women are more nuturing and caring than men and more focused on relationships. Now, i have seen some women and feminists buy into this idea that women are somehow a gentler, peace-loving sex. I won't say there is nothing at all to this, but the idea that the only women in the world love rom-coms and Harlequin really isn't representative. Most women I know enjoy action movies. And most gamer womyn I know like to shoot things up. 


So I would postulate that the reason why games designed for women have failed is that they haven't really targeted women - they've targeted some imaginary woman made up of stereotypes about women. If game companies become serious about making games for women, they should look instead to the books that women read, esp. us geeky wimmin.


Real games for women would, in my opinion, involve:
(1) female characters that are protagonists (preferably as a first choice)
(2) women in the game should be strong without being emotionless, not have crazy comic-book artist proportions and have distinct goals, motivations and complexity
(3) the game camera should not regularly focus on breasts and asses - this dehumanizes women
(4) women in the game should be recognized for their skills and choices, not for how they look


I have yet to see a game company using that manifesto to develop a game for women.


When I think about games that have come close to being truly for women, I think of the Mass Effect series, The Sims. What do you think of?