[UbuntuWomen] What makes a video game "female friendly"?

[Kathryn]

I've been addicted to a number of computer games over the years, ranging
from Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri to James Bond first-person shooters and,
more recently, Battle for Wesnoth (open source!).  I'm not easily offended
by gender stereotypes in computer games... I've always joked that
busty/lusty female characters merely reflect the un-realised fantasies of
the people who code, design (even play) the games themselves. :p

However, I do tend to favour female protagonists if they are available (and
not just a cop-out alternative to the male version/s).  For example, in
Alpha Centauri I usually played the nature-loving Dierdre Sky or the Spartan
war-monger Santiago.  The former character since I'm a bit of a 'greenie'
and the latter when I was in the mood for a digital blood-bath.  The gender
balance was pretty good in that game - 3 women (only one of them
overly girly) to choose from versus 4 men.

I agree with Lucy's comments.  It should be relatively simple to create
equality within a computer game - offer engaging and believable characters
of both sexes, with matching levels of skill (even if the skills aren't
identical across the sexes).   In Wesnoth it's a bit annoying that the lead
characters are - in the games I've played - all male, and the same applies
to the generic minions (cavalry, archers, footpads etc).

Good luck with the game... how far along is it, conceptually?

Kathryn









On 28/02/2008, Lucy <lucybridges at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 27/02/2008, Thierry <psyping at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >  We are trying to make this this game as enjoyable as possible for both
> >  genders. Which means we are working hard to make sure there's nothing
> >  offensive for female players. We also try hard not to include any
> content
> >  that is specific to one gender.
>
> Hi Thierry,
>
> Thats a very difficult question to answer and I hope you get lots of
> replies ;)
>
> Just to start the debate, my personal opinion is that you should try
> to ensure that the female characters avoid any obvious stereotypes -
> not just in clothing but in roles and skill sets too. Try to make sure
> they have the same skills as the male characters (no better either!).
> Also try to ensure there are equal numbers and varieties of female
> characters as male.
>
> If you're asking what sort of games appeal to women, then that's a
> much harder question to answer and depends very much on the
> individual. Personally I'm not much of a gamer, so I'm probably not
> the best to answer, but I'm pretty sure that women are interested in
> just as wide a variety of games as men.
>
> Finally, do you have any women helping with the development? If not,
> maybe some women here would be interested joining your team? That way
> you can guarantee at least some women will be interested in the game
> ;)
>
> Lucy
>
> --
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> ubuntu-women at lists.ubuntu.com
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>



-- 
Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about
(Oscar Wilde)
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