Is this the future of gaming for women?

Fashion, clothes and make-up. No guns. No cars

Words: Matt Cundy on March 8, 2010

6 Comments

The camera focuses on a pair of high heels stomping up and down on a Wii Balance Board. Voice over man says: "This could be the future of gaming for women". We are not sure what that means. What? Walking on the spot in impractical footwear? Have a look at the Reuters video (which features a special guest endorsement from Beyoncé 'put a ring on it' Knowles) and see if you can make sense of it.

We know a lot of female gamers, but we don’t know any that play Style Savvy or are planning on pre-ordering Project Runway anytime soon. Maybe you do. Who are they? What are they like? What are their favourite online shooters? We're curious to find out.

Platforms:

Wii, DS

Topics:

girls are gamers too

6 comments

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MonkeyMagician - March 9, 2010 9:11 a.m.

Every woman I know that plays games would likely vomit over this insult of a game, let alone the implication that it's what women want from gaming. Plus the video was awful, could the guy doing the voice over sound any more bored and disjointed?
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Kirol - March 9, 2010 1:34 a.m.

I agree with all of you, though the problem lies not only with games but with the media in general. If you look at advertising, negative gender roles and stereotypes are reinforced through semiotics and constant bombardment of visual keys though the visual language in which they are portrayed. For example, sticking a 'sexy woman' on something to gain sales is a negative stereotype upon women, saying that 'you have to look like this / act like this to be attractive to men', while on the flipside it is saying to men 'this is what you want, you sad perverted single-minded fool'. It happens all the time, and is intended to stir into our 'base desires' and such. It's all lies at the end of the day, as each person is an individual. Girl gamers have the stereotype of wanting to play games to do with what their gender stereotypes say they 'should' want to play. Until the industry (and we, the public) recognises that these metaphysical walls can be smashed, (praise to portal here for non-sexualised and non-gender-specific gameplay) I'm afraid we're stuck with the compromise of gender-specifically aimed games. Things are changing slowly with the rise of androgyny and gender equality, and we may just see in our lifetimes a true shift into games truly for everyone, but the same can be said for books, movies, TV shows, and all other forms of media. If the companies don't target their main demographic, they fail. Simple as that. As such, they simply have to test the water before making a massive leap into something; it's for their own safety. Hold tight, girl gamers, things are changing.
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ichigoame - March 8, 2010 4:26 p.m.

jaysus, that looks uncomfortable,well its either breaking our feet on those monstorous things or breaking our nails on the controllers... -.-'
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Lilikka - March 8, 2010 3:08 p.m.

I agree with n00b. For years, adult gamers were seen as pimple-faced basement dwellers, so it will take time before female adult gamers are seen as more than just interested in "girly" things.
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rocketminx - March 8, 2010 3:05 p.m.

Wow this makes me really angry. When will women just be accepted into the games industry without providing stupid games for us such as this. My girly non-gaming friends would even be interested in video games even if it did involve fashion so why would the rest of us want a game like this?!
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n00b - March 8, 2010 3 p.m.

sad well it took a while before the stereotypical image of a gamer started to break down. so i guess its gona take a while before the stereotypical image of a girl gamer breaks down
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