“but what if the player is female?” gender inclusive game design sheri graner ray gencon...
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“But what if the player is female?”
Gender Inclusive Game Design
Sheri Graner RayGenConIndianapolis, INAugust 2006
Sheri Graner RayComputer game designer since 1990Worked with such companies as
Origin/EA, Her Interactive, SOE, Cartoon Network, and others
Recipient of 2005 IGDA's Game Developer's Choice Award
Author of “Gender Inclusive Game Design: Expanding the Market”
Co-founder and Exec. Chair of Women In Games International
Pink Poison
a brief history of the girls’ game movement in the U.S.
1995
“Why should we make games for girls?”
1996
“How do we make games for girls?”
1997
1997-1999
March 1999
Big Pink Buys Purple Moon
Oct 2001
Mattel Sells Interactive Division
“See? We told you girls don’t play computer games!”
Why did this happen?
A lot of bad assumptions were made regarding girls and games
Bad Assumption #5
Girls love BarbieTM! We'll make all our girls' games just like BarbieTM!
Bad Assumption #4
Girls would love our game if they played 'em! We just need to trick 'em into playing them!
Bad Assumption #3
Girls hate violence. We'll make non-violent versions of our game!
Bad Assumption #2
Girls love cute cuddly things! We'll make games about that!
Bad Assumption #1
If we make a girls' game, we'll make a fortune because all the girls will play it!
The Dark Side By stating “Girls don't like ______ type of
game” we are blaming the GIRLS for not playing because they are GIRLS.
By making it the “girls' fault” that they don't play computer games, designers have let themselves off the hook for making any changes to what they are doing.
Believing that there is one “silver bullet” game that all girls will play, is a little like believing there is one game that all Japanese people will play.
Broadening your audience
DISCLAIMER #1
In this talk I'm going to discuss developing games for an audience that is expected to contain females, but are not targeted directly FOR females.
DISCLAIMER #2
When I say a particular trait is a “male” or “female”, I mean the population that expresses that trait is made up predominantly of that gender. However, it is by no means exclusive to that gender.
DISCLAIMER #3
I am speaking in broad population generalities. It is highly likely that you will know someone who does not fall within these descriptions. If you are female and and in the audience today, that person will likely be YOU!
Broadening the audience
Decide if you are making a title for a diverse audience or a specific audience
Identify a market you wish to include in your target audience
We can remove barriers from our titles today that prevent women from accessing them.
What can we do?
Just a few areas where barriers exist
Learning stylesCharacter RepresentationConflict ResolutionReward and punishment
Gender Differences in Learning Styles
Males Females
•Risk-takers•Explorative
•Want to know how it works first •Modeling/Imitative
Most of the tutorials in today’s games are designed to appeal to an explorative learning style.
SolutionDesign tutorials that use imitative
models as well as explorative modelsLook at educational software for
examples
Character RepresentationGame artMarketing materials IllustrationsBox/book coversGame avatarsMiniatures
We need a hero!
Because they represent “heroes”, male and female characters will often exhibit exaggerated physical signals of youth strength, and fertility/virility
Youth, Strength and Fertility/Virility
Males Large Shoulders Slim waists Slim hips Large, muscled legs Long, thick hair
Females Large breasts,
placed high on the chest
Slim waists Round derrières Long, thick hair
Very often female characters display exaggerated physical signals of sexual receptivity.
Sexual receptivity Red, full lips Heavy lidded eyes Heavy breathing (usually indicated by a
slightly open mouth) Erect nipples
These signals are the same for the human male body as they are for the female body.
SolutionBuild attractive, heroic female figures
that are not hyper-sexualized.Use female athletes as body models.Focus group test your art with female
players.
Conflict ResolutionMales and females deal with conflict
situations in very different ways.
Conflict Resolution DifferencesMales
Prefer a confrontational, “head to head” situation
Prefer a binary “win/lose” resolution
Prefer direct competition
Will attempt to dominate the group to enforce their rule set
Females Prefer indirect
competition Prefer to use
negotiation, compromise and manipulation
Prefer emotional resolution
Will build consensus
SolutionsConsider providing for indirect
competitive models Include emotional resolution as well as
“win/lose” resolution.
Response to Error
Males and females will choose to impose different responses to error upon their fellow players
Response to Error
Males Prefer to impose
punishment for error
Females Prefer to impose
forgiveness for error
Forgiveness for error encourages play.Punishment for error tests tolerance.
Solution
Design your victory/loss conditions so that error on the players part does not lead to irretrievable loss of progress
.
Where to start:Adjust tutorials to allow for modeling
learning stylesMake female avatars attractive, but not
hyper-sexualConsider alternative conflict resolution
modelsUse alternative error response models
“But what if the player is female?”
Sheri Graner Ray GenConIndianapolis August, 2005