Gamertell

In the January 2009 issue of Delta’s Sky magazine - you know, that thing you end up reading because it’s in the seat pocket in front of you because you’ve seen everything in the SkyMall Catalog already - there is an article that attempts to educate the the uncomfortable masses about thwarted female gamers who are becoming game developers.

The article, titled “Crossing the (Gender) Divide” [sic], focuses on formerly frustrated gamer Vanessa Paugh who decided to create her own Quake levels. She found several of the game’s levels so gorgeous that she wanted to stop and look around but instead had to take the time to kill everyone in sight before she could partake in virtual flower smelling.

From the article, Paugh is quoted as saying, “I think a lot of women find those games just boring. The game mechanism is not that interesting and they have a hard time getting motivated. Boys just like shooting. Girls don’t get an inherent thrill out of shooting unless there’s another reason.”

The article also goes on to point out that causal games have a “solid female audience” with only PopCap’s PR person, Garth Chouteau, making the astute observation, “Everyone likes to play games,” and, “If you make games that are not, by default, excluding certain audiences, you will attract those audiences.”

The article notes a few companies that are trying to make games that are more female friendly, allowing more avatar development and focusing on mini games.

While I applaud the effort to make games that appeal to all audiences, I’m getting a bit tired of these “girls play games, too” articles. As Chouteau simply said, everyone is a gamer. It’s time for non-game media to deal with it and move on.

It’s a matter matching games with the gamers (and vice versa) and using overt stereotypes is really not the way to go. And, no, not every “hard-core” gamer requires that a game have guns and explosions in it. The article does make mention of “conducted research about gaming with boys and girls ages 6–12” but, with a gloss over like that, it’s likely a small, purely anecdotal survey and not true research (and is hardly relevant to older gamers).

Even worse, the article ends with:

If you can’t always call them games, though, and if they’re played by both girls and women, and if they aren’t quite hard-core but aren’t just casual, then what do you call this genre of play?

“I like ‘chick click,’” says Plaugh.

Really!? Is labeling games for women “chick click” a step forward or backward for the very thing you are trying to accomplish? Does the accompanying flowery illustration with a gun (held by a hand with a long, manicured and painted nail) aimed at bunnies and ladies prancing in flowy white dresses with a running total of flowers in the lower corner the best represent women gamers?

Not surprisingly, as the article’s author credit at the end testifies, “Dallas-based writer Sophia Dembling says her gaming skills begin and end with online Scrabble.”

Here are scans of the cover and second page.

Read [Delta Sky Magazine]