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Science says: Men's brains get more 'reward' from gaming
Developers and executives that are struggling to develop games that appeal to women now have a new excuse to fall back on if and when they fail. According to a study by Stanford University's Alan Reiss, men are hard wired to feel more "rewarded" playing games than women.The study, which looked at 11 men and 11 women, asked participants to play a simple territorial point-and-click game while hooked up to an fMRI machine. The men in the study showed much great activity in the brain's "mesocorticolimbic center," which is associated with reward and addiction.Interestingly, the amount of activity for men went up as they did better at the game, while the amount of activity for women stayed roughly constant, regardless of achievement. "The females 'got' the game... they appeared motivated to succeed at the game," Reiss said. "The males were just a lot more motivated to succeed." Yeah, yeah ... tell it to the Frag Dolls.
All the World's a Stage: If looks could kill
All the World's a Stage is a column for inquisitive minds, playing with roles every Sunday evening. The media usually portrays WoW as a "boy's game." That's not to say girls don't play too, of course -- just that the game is basically about qualities such as aggressiveness and violence, and our culture expects males to be interested in that sort of thing. Whether such a designation is true or not, the "masculine equals violent" stereotype is very pervasive, and it is natural for many male players to begin the game with a powerful and intimidating character in mind. The player may imagine that his avatar is warm and kind-hearted inside, but outwardly, his character looks as though he could rip out your throat with a flick of his pinky finger.But there are many men out there who don't like such exaggerated manliness in their characters, just as there are many women who don't want their character to look like a dainty barbie doll. Being a person isn't just about just one gender attribute, after all. Indeed, female characters in WoW can achieve a full range of human attributes in their appearance; they can look friendly and intelligent, yet lightning quick and deadly at the same time. However, the appearance of male characters is often so filled to the brim with "strength and honor" that there's not much room left for any other human quality.
Women in Games: Pinckard, Tory talk about industry, Jade Raymond
Continuing in her series on women working in the games industry (it began with her interview with Morgan Webb), MTV's Tracey John talks to Game Girl Advance creator Jane Pinckard and Assassin's Creed developer Elspeth Tory on their experiences, as well as addressing the controversy surrounding AC designer Jade Raymond. Their verdict on the industry is that it still has a lot of maturation to do, especially when it comes to the working environment. Both Pinckard and Tory share their own anecdotes that would be amusing if not a discouraging testament to how male-dominated the industry continues to be. In discussing Raymond, a designer whose intelligence and skills have been largely questioned because of her looks (we've read many comments that accuse her of merely being a "pretty figurehead" for the game), both decreed the issue frustrating. "She is genetically, accidentally blessed with a combination of smarts and ambition and looks that our culture happens to find attractive, and that's not her fault," said Pinckard.Read - Game Girl Advance's Jane Pinckard Talks Lara Croft, Male vs. Female GamersRead - 'Assassin's Creed''s Elspeth Tory on Jade Raymond and Entering the Boys' Club
Morgan Webb talks gaming's double standards
As the start of a week-long series on women in the game industry, MTV Multiplayer has a revealing Q&A with Morgan Webb, the curvier half of the hosting duo behind G4's X-Play. While the interview covers a lot of topics, perhaps the most persistent running theme is Webb's ambivalence about her status as a successful, visible female game journalist.On the one hand, Webb says, "it used to really bother me that men ... would assume that I don't really know what I'm talking about or would know less than a man on the topic." On the other hand, though, Webb acknowledges "I wouldn't be where I am if I were a man, to be honest. I wouldn't be on the show. I wouldn't be writing columns for FHM. I wouldn't be considered just like a rare and interesting... specimen or whatever, if I weren't a woman. So I am where I am because I'm a woman and that's just the way it is."While Webb is a big booster for the game industry, she says she doesn't necessarily see herself as a spokesperson for 'girl gaming.' "I don't think the world will necessarily be a better place if I get lots of young woman to play video games," she said. "If a woman wants to play video games, more power to her ... but I have a lot of girlfriends who couldn't care less about video games ... and I don't think their lives are missing anything for that."The lengthy full interview is packed with more of Webb's thoughts on forum trolls, posing for Maxim and the effects of being both one of gaming's most prominent women and a minor TV celebrity. Take a few minutes and give it a read.
AskMen's Top 10 Hottest Women in Tech
AskMen, IGN's online magazine for the XY chromosomatic, recently compiled a list of the ten most alluring tech-savvy ladies. Unsurprisingly, six of the ten women are current or former employees of G4TV, including Cheat's Kristen Holt (pictured above) and X-Play's Morgan Webb. PSP-licker-turned-journalist Jessica Chobot also ranks at number three.As a number of comments on the article have pointed out, there's a few noteworthy names missing from the list. Where is Jade Raymond, Assassin's Creed's delightful producer; or Layla Kayleigh, G4's pint-sized British news correspondent? Oooh, what about Old Grandma Hardcore, that saucy, foul-mouthed minx? We'd like to see just how "hardcore" she really is, if you know what we mean.
Men more likely to steal, lie about casual games
A Reuters report yesterday took an interesting angle on the conclusions of the Casual Games Association's recently released 2007 study. While others commented on the casual space's size and growth, Reuters decided to focus on how men are lying, stealing bastards when it comes to casual games. According to the CGA report, while men are just as likely as women to play casual games, the fairer sex is much more likely to pay for these games (women make up 74% of paying players). What accounts for the difference? According to Retuers, men are "more determined to find a free version or try to thwart anti-piracy protections on games." Or, y'know, they could be playing the copies their wives bought. We hope that's it, because finding a crack for a $20 game of Peggle is just sad.But that's not all -- the Reuters report also reveals that men are more likely to hide their secret casual gaming shame. "The hardcore gamer who is playing 'Halo' with his buddies isn't going to brag that he just beat the next level of 'Zuma'." CGA Managing Director Jessica Tams told Reuters. And if they won't cop to playing Zuma, what are the chances they'll admit to an undying love for Flower Shop: Big City Break? Not large.Well it's time for the healing to begin. Men, use the comment thread below to come out of the casual gaming closet and announce to the world your proclivity for matching gems and dashing between diners. We won't judge you ... much.
Voice-chat and women who play WoW
My wife, as I've stated several times, is an excellent player, one of the best hunters I've ever run with and has created in me a healthy respect for women who game. When we were both raiding, the biggest problem we had was that if she ever spoke in a raid, there was always someone who would hit on her until it was explained that she was engaged to and then married to the tank, and he would have no compunction about letting the mob come over and eat said person until such time as the supposedly funny come-ons stopped.Fast forward a year to this post on wow_ladies and poster amalana asks if the new voice chat feature is giving other women who play the same kinds of experiences she mentions: running a PuG and the other players hitting on her as soon as they realize she's a woman. To be honest, I expected this. In my experience, WoW has the same ratio of jerks to decent folks as regular life, but something like John Gabriel's Theory always seems to come into effect and there's always someone in a PuG who feels comfortable making racist jokes or blindly hitting on someone based just on ten seconds of voice chat. Have your experiences with the new voice chat feature been positive, or are you being subjected to crude commentary and unwelcome advances?
Study: Women's spatial abilities increase with video games
Research done at the University of Toronto found women who played video games reduced the inherent difference between the sexes when it comes to spatial skills. Spacial skills are things like reading a map, driving a car and putting stuff together. Researcher Jing Feng says their original experiment showed that "women do not do as well on spatial tasks"; however, their second experiment found that video games improved both sexes when it came to spatial skills, and that women caught up to men in tests -- five months later the experiments yielded the same result.There's no real explanation why there would be such a dramatic change after only 10 hours of video game playing or why it would last for months. One could complain about how it's ridiculous that this research is done and yada, yada, yada. But, if having the important women in our life play some video games hardwires them to read a map better, we'll take it -- we hate pulling over and asking for directions.[Via GamePolitics]
All the World's a Stage: It's not just about sexy butts
All the World's a Stage is a weekly column by David Bowers, investigating the explorative performance art of roleplaying in the World of Warcraft.Roleplaying the opposite sex happens. It is alluring to some, and repulsive to others -- a lot of people do it, while a lot of other people very openly proclaim (as if they know these things) that anyone who does this weird, manipulative, deceitful, and so on.People also tend to come up with various excuses for why they play a character of the opposite sex, as if they need to justify themselves according to their own gender's traditional expectations. Some men say, "if I'm going to have to stare at a characters butt for hours while I play, I'd rather it be a hot and sexy butt," while some women say, "I get all kinds of unwanted attention if I play a girl, and the only way I can get away from it is to play a boy." All that may be true in some cases, but it's hardly the whole story behind opposite-gender roleplaying.First of all, let me just say it here and now: you have every right to create whatever character you want, particularly in an actual roleplaying environment, and particularly if you intend to be faithful to the character you're creating.
Poll: More men play women than women play men
Perhaps brought on by the news that a Chinese MMO wants to reveal gender bending gamers, Cary posted a pretty interesting poll over on the WoW LJ, asking readers what their gender is and what sex they play as on their main character. The general consensus seems to be that most people play as their own gender, but overwhelmingly, more women play as their own gender than men. The poll itself seems a little off to me, as it's really pointless to compare the percentages given, but by crunching the numbers a bit (and please remember how bad at math I am), I get that 40% of men who answered play the game as women, while only 11% of women who answered play the game as men. Here's more data on this, that we've covered before.Very interesting. We've touched on the reasons for gender bending in game a few times before, and there are all kinds of reasons why people play as characters of the opposite sex, from staring at an attractive behind to garnering more money and attention (or less attention) from other players, to roleplaying a character.But really, none of that matters too much-- it's just a game, and for whatever reason, people are welcome to play it as they please. A better question might be how you refer to the gender of other players. I've gotten in trouble a few times here by referring to players on the forums (including CMs, way back when I started) as one gender when it turns out they're actually another, so eventually I just decided to call it how I see it: if someone plays a female character I call them "her," and a male character gets called "him." For people playing a different gender, sure, it might come off a little strange. But it comes with the territory, I guess, of pretending to be someone else for a while.
Leipzig, booth babes, video, nudity, NSFW
The picture above is about to get NSFW in one frame ... in just one frame it goes from normal marketing cosplay to borderline furry pron. GameTrailers put together a Girls Gone Wild-esque segment of all the Leipzig booth babe fit for video (which we have placed after the break). We joke, the video is very tastefully done, as tasteful as one can get editing together flesh shots meant to titillate. On some level it's great culture context, for our puritan American eyes, public displays of boobies burns us they do.Leipzig obviously takes a different approach to displays of the female form than E3. Although it was a moot point this year, the last "real" E3 had a ban on booth babes. We re-emphasize that the video after the break is not safe for work, don't come crying to us if your boss catches you -- although, for all we know, he might be into furries.
Study says social games make people more social
Our good friends at Joystiq reported on a study earlier from Nottingham Trent University (it's in England) about MMO gamers and their social behaviors. And supposedly-- are you sitting for this one?-- massively multiplayer online games actually help people meet others and make friends. Go figure!They surveyed 1,000 gamers (which is not a huge sample, actually), and found that almost half had actually met another player in real life, and one in ten developed "physical relationships" with someone they'd met in a game. 40% of people discussed sensitive issues with online friends rather than real-life ones, and 30% of players were attracted to another player. 80% of players also played not only with online friends, but with real-life friends and family as well. And according to the study, women were more likely to both be attracted to other players, and to eventually date them, and while women play for "therapeutic refreshment," men play for "curiosity, astonishment, and interest."50% of respondents said World of Warcraft was their game of choice, so while the study was actually about MMO players, it's not a stretch to say it's just about WoW players (and pretty hardcore players, too-- average play time per week was 22.85 hours!). Like I said, 1,000 people is a pretty small sample, but apparently a journal approved it-- the study will be published in CyberPsychology and Behavior.
Lifetime: Games for women
There are moments you just couldn't make up the story if you tried -- this is one of those times. Lifetime network, television for women, and RealNetworks (yup, they're still around) are joining up to make downloadable games for women. The first game will be Sally's Salon and releases July 25. The game has players "direct Sally through a virtual beauty salon by performing and customizing beauty services and hiring employees." Kind of sounds like Diner Dash and Cake Mania, but minus the entrepreneurial feminist ideals.The game will be promoted online and on Lifetime's television network between reruns of Unsolved Mysteries and Golden Girls (oh Rose, you still bring a smile to our face). Apparently Lifetime and RealNetworks have been collaborating since 2004 and the games section of Lifetime's website is its most popular with million of games played on topics such as "makeovers, prom dresses and cleaning." Ah yes, Lifetime casual games, doing its part to show women their place in the 21st century.
Mobiles blamed for cyberbullying, dubbed 'offensive weapons'
As if the UK didn't have enough gadget-related mischievousness going on, here's another liter of fuel for the perpetual fire. NASUWT -- that's the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers for those out of the loop -- is suggesting that mobile phones be classified as "potentially offensive weapons" and banned from school premises, all because a select few students found it necessary to use their handset to engage in "cyberbullying." Apparently, some students have used the camera function in their phones to snap pictures of their instructor, only to then post said images on "rating websites that can damage teachers' self esteem and careers." Sheesh, first iPods, now mobiles -- what are kids to do? Study?[Image courtesy of Textually]
An open letter against a dysphemism
Elizabeth's post about getting the word "gay" out of the game got tons of feedback from you all (some comments more intelligent than others), and now a poster on WoW Ladies has another language sensitivity that I agree with. The word "rape" is used by some players in game for all kinds of things, and most of the time it's used without thought to what the word really means.Personally I don't use it (not because I have a specific abhorrence of the word, although the act itself is pretty abhorrent), but every once in a while you'll hear things like "boy, our guild raped Hakkar last night," or "stupid elite Son of Arugal just came out of nowhere and raped me." The word for this kind of usage is actually "dysphemism," the opposite of euphemism, in which you specifically use a harsh word in the place of a more polite one.And that's the problem-- just like "gay," it's not polite to use, not least of all because you may hardly know the person that reads it or their situation. In some cases, the word can be downright offensive. Fortunately, I don't know anyone (that I know of) who's experienced real-life rape or abuse, but especially in an MMO situation, there's no reason to use the harsher word, especially if, as Elizabeth said about "gay," it costs you respect (and possibly your account).As the WoW Ladies contributor says, "realize there are a lot of women in guild, as well as a lot of married members and members with children. Realize that 1 in 6 women are raped in the US. Realize that each person in the guild is either female themselves, and/or has multiple loved ones and friends that are female. Realize that rape is a deeply traumatic experience, for the victim and their loved ones." Even if you're joking, or even if you didn't mean it that way, it's just not worth saying.
This one's for the ladies
As far as "powerful storylines" and "strong well-written characters" go, there haven't been many releases on the DS that we could direct you to. Hotel Dusk works well as an interactive mystery novel, and you could always download the Dubliners eBook -- shout-outs to Moonshell and the Moon Books Project -- but where do you go from there?Independent studio nDreams is convinced that is has a tale in need of telling and is looking to break into the casual gaming business with Venus Redemption, an episodic adventure targeted at 30-plus-year-old female gamers. The planned immersive title will be plotted out by film and new media writer Kate Pullinger and graphic novelist Gordon Rennie. Catering to its casual audience, nDreams promises that the game will be "extremely easy to play, requiring only the ability to move and left-click a mouse."Expect to hear more about Venus Redemption this July 5th when nDreams demonstrates the PC/Wii/DS game to potential publishers and distributors.[Via Joystiq]
nDreams reveals casual episodic game aimed at women
Casual game studio nDreams announced today that another announcement is on its way July 5 to reveal its new game, Venus Redemption. The casual adventure game aimed at women will have episodic content authored by Kate Pullinger to create "powerful storylines, deep characters, emotion-based interactive conversations and exciting adventure gameplay."With the increase of female gamers in the casual games field, it's no surprise developers are attempting to tap the new market. But is gender targeting necessary? A good game is a good game and will be enjoyed by men and women alike. Hopefully nDreams won't drench this game in "female themes" and alienate countless potential players.[Via GameDaily]
WoW Ladies community, mods come out from hiding
The WoW_Ladies livejournal group is one of my very favorite WoW communities, so I was disappointed to see last week that their latest posts were closed to everyone but members of the community. They'd been dealing with an expanding audience lately (brought on partly by attention from WoW Insider), and apparently there were a few issues arising among the membership.But the community has started posting again (bringing about this completely awesome crochet Draenei), and the mods (formerly pretty unknown-- I've been watching them for a while, and I had no idea who was in charge over there), have made a very public statement about the future of WoW_Ladies. In addition to taking a more high-profile position, they have said that the recent closing was not their choice, but rather either a glitch, or the work of someone not a mod. And they've landed on a great compromise: all posts will be public by default, with an option for each poster to lock them to the community only. They've also made the very great choice of leaving the community open to men-- some men with significant others, they say, "like seeing the women here post - it helps them identify with their partners and helps them get ideas on how to join." Personally, I completely appreciate a place where a woman's perspective on the game gets placed front and center, rather then consigned to a minority, as in many other games media outlets.The other good news is that they're working on a brand new layout for the community, so it seems like things are jumping over there. We're glad to see they made it through the drama, and are back as one of the most intelligent and interesting groups in the WoW community.
DS Daily: Casual games
The above is a photo from EA's Sharon Knight's opening keynote at the Women in Games conference, and it nearly comes complete with an implied question: do women love their PCs, their Wiis, their DS Lites and Phats, and their phones? Lately, the industry seems keen on making sure we know that women just love casual games, and when one combines that fact and the above slide, we can't help but wonder ... are the DS and the Wii branded with the idea that they're filled with nothing but casual games?Certainly most of us have run into that attitude among the various fanboy communities; here, especially, we're frequently hit by that particular brand of troll what seems determined to convince everyone that the PSP is the only real handheld for anyone over the age of 12, and sales figures be damned. But forget all that -- overall, do you feel that most of the games on the DS casually-oriented? It's a handheld, after all, and part of the idea of a handheld is that it is casual. But does the DS go beyond that? Should it? After all, it's not just women who are playing casual games ....
Casual gaming girl power; overall boys rule console market
Solid information is starting to trickle in about what actually comprises the gamer demographic. Companies are starting to ask who is actually playing their games instead of just assuming it's 16-year-old Timmy Smith living in some square state with his mom and dad, sibling, dog and house with a white picket fence -- and yes, that's who marketing companies still think they're pandering to. According to the ESA 70 percent of gamers are over 18 and 62 percent are male; however, a study commissioned by PopCap Games found that 76 percent of casual gamers are female.The demographics have been shifting dramatically as the Atari generation, who grew up with video games, has children and begins raising a more gaming friendly generation. The console market continues to be 58 percent male, but all things considered, that isn't too large of a gap. Most cross demographic hits like The Sims and World of Warcraft are found on the PC and many people casually game when they're at work anyway. Maybe the answer is as simple as when the husband and wife are at home, wife doesn't want to sit and watch husband play Gears of War so she goes to the PC and games whether that be a casual game or, um, non casual. The demographic information is still nebulous at the moment, but at least we're starting to get a real picture of demographics in the industry.
