Getting right to the question this week: Should Girl Gamers really be treated so differently?
Via Game|Life I saw this Gamestop display that seemed to really get their tights in a knot, and I began to wonder, how bad of an idea is this really? Certainly placing it right at the door to the store is a bad sign, saving the girls from the depths of scum and villainy that are the back wall of game stores. Then I figure, this really could help a (young) girl find the games that are being marketed toward her anyway. Are we stopping them from finding any other games that they might like? Plus the fact that Nintendogs is completely lacking from this display, maybe because there’s no pink in it.
Then again, like me, you might be thinking, “That’s not that bad…”
Then there’s the green ribbon at the top of the display, with a young girl proudly quoted:
“I’ll show the boys what the girls can do!”
Yea, that’s just great. You show those boys! Some other things to consider are if images like this discourage non-gamer girls to get into it, or if it will actually bring more girls in. Was this designed specifcally to save the girls the pain of going through the rest of the store, or looking through all the other games to find the pink ones we all know they really want to buy?
I believe that it says to young girls “Everything you’d want to play is right here. Do not look any further. No, you wouldn’t enjoy anything else. Wear a dress.” It’s caught up in a lot of the old gender ideas, where girl’s toys were only dolls, ponies, and dress-up things. The truth is that there are many other games that are fun for everyone.
I think it’s almost unfair to segregate those specific games from everything else. I mean, why shouldn’t they have a chance to say “I want to play Halo instead”?
This looks to me like prime shelf space, which in many stores is a premium option for manufacturers, not something cooked up by management or bored clerks. Perhaps Nintendo thought better of putting their lot in with the bratz titles?
Trust me, I have pages more to say on this, but don’t believe in extended commments. I hate the reinforcement of outdated gender roles. both of them. be it teaching females to parade (makeup, I am talking about you), or teaching boys to “be tough” and to “shut up and drive on,” Neither are healthy attitudes.
Game, you have beaten me again to the punch, this time it was close, perhaps next time you will not be so lucky
It seems like it is more likely a children’s display.
If you go into a wal-mart or whatever, the glowing pink aura is the beacon for the girls’ toys section. One aisle over are the robots and swords. Now, assume a mature individual is looking for entertainment, are they going to bother with the toys section? Probably not, they will go to board games or dvds or whatever. The fact that there is a pink display doesn’t necessarily mean that those are the only “girl games” in the entire store and a mature individual would realize that.
It’s a bit over the top to start putting meaning into a children’s display. Women are finding liberation in many different ways. To suggest that just because there is a pink display for young girls that this is a sort of chains is ridiculous. The presence of the display doesn’t stop the girls from looking around the store, the parent could suggest that they look for other games before choosing something from that rack.
Over the top? Really? I think that kids’ displays are exactly where we need to be watching, because that’s when most of learning and development happen. People who are mature, as you point out, can make a better decision.
I don’t have a problem with the presence of pink, or that there is a display that says “Games for Girls” but I strongly feel the selection there could be a lot better.
Game-
Are you suggesting that companies ignore proven marketing strategies and that things be marketed on a gender-neutral basis? That rubs me the wrong way. Like it or not, we have gender roles, we are progressing towards a foggier line, but call me crazy, I think girls actually ENJOY playing dress up and shopping for clothes and boys ENJOY hitting each other with swords and playing ‘war.’ Sure, sometimes the girls in my neighborhood would join in, but at the end of the day they were more interested in getting me to play Barbie.
Basically: If that display draws girls into game shops, and they play games, I tend to think they will gravitate towards what genuinely intersts them, even if they are originally roped in with promises of pretty pink bows and puppies.
This easily could slide into a feminist argument, and people will chime in that feminist studies are dumb, but this is the sort of thing that makes the meat of it.
I’ll try to be concise as possible, since obviously this is a huge field. I don’t agree that this sort of display is a “proven market strategy”, it’s just one that we’ve had. Top-selling games to female gamers are such things as The Sims, World of Warcraft, Everquest, the Final Fantasy series, Tetris, DDR, Guitar Hero, and Bejeweled. Obviously these aren’t all kids games, but I think we can take something from that list. If those sorts of games aren’t available for younger gamers, they ought to make some! Not be reinforcing that the “Bratz” are the only thing they can be entertained by.
I believe that the boy/girl toy divide is shrinking and it should. I believe the kind of products put upon each gender is a creation of society, and not something inherent in their biology. Boys and girls should have the opportunity to choose and not be programmed to accept certain preferences in behavior.
But of course, that’s all my opinion, and I expect some of you to disagree.
Here’s one quick source related to some of these ideas: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3615278.stm
And I have plenty more on request.
In the vein of sources and research, let’s also not forget that we aren’t talking about a miniscule minority of gamers here, in fact the ESA’s research inidicates that 38% of gamers are female, and it is definitely an increasing percentage.
http://www.theesa.com/facts/gamer_data.php
I listened to a really fascinating piece on NPR about a transgender (woman to man) person. He said that when he first got the testosterone injections his whole personality began to change. I’ll see if I can find the link and put it up here. What this says is that some personality is determined by biology, it isn’t a social construct. The nature vs nurture debate has shown that a middle ground is more appropriate. Now, you say that the toys we put in their hands is a creation of social pressures but it’s hard to make war with a barbie. Aggressive actions are more in tune with the biological nature of a male so they are going to gravitate towards the more aggressive toys (swords, guns, man-eating robots, Kung-fu grip, etc). Certainly there is a large degree of reinforcement of this in our society, but don’t lay the blame entirely on the companies.
There is a reason that gender roles exist, one should have the freedom to move as one wants, but you also can’t deny the biological tendencies of each gender.
To actually try to answer the “inquisition”:
TheMainEvent had a pretty good outlook, the pink games may draw in the younger girls and then as they mature they will probably still lean towards the social games but away from the purely pink games.
What I meant was “over the top” was your statement ““Everything you’d want to play is right here. Do not look any further. No, you wouldn’t enjoy anything else. Wear a dress.”. Then again, I’m a horrible human being who thinks women are beautiful in dresses and likes long hair.
Whoever said that Kung-fu grip is aggressive? I mean come on, it helps him grip stuff. Like cliffs. So he doesn’t fall off. See, Joe’s just looking out for his own safety. Nothing aggressive about that.
This is touchy stuff, to be sure. Go too far with the biologically based gender roles, and you might upset all those women who send their children to daycare so that they can focus on their careers. However, go too far with the pink-toy-isle/”at the end of the day they were more interested in getting me to play Barbie” line of thought, and you might upset those girls who were never into Barbie at all. Girls/Women are many things, and have many traits that can be applied to a large percentage of the female population, but generalize in either directon and you’re going to be wrong. Period. (This is true with pretty much any group, of course.) The problem I have here, I think, is one of genre – we have RTS, RPG, FPS, Puzzle, etc, etc…and girl games.
In the end, gamers will be gamers, whether they have one x or two, and find within the non-“girl”-game genres games that appeal to them, regardless of whether they were introduced to gaming via Mario or Bratz. On the other hand, a crappy game is a crappy game – I recently have been playing Super Princess Peach for the DS, which is fun, but highly mediocre, and that’s a real shame – the fact that Peach can do super-awesome-girly power things does not make up for poor level design.
Lots of issues and unresolved thoughts, I know – sorry!
I don’t mind upsetting woman that get touchy about not using Barbie because they probably are butch anyway.
FLAME ON!!
I think the display is trying to say to young girls “video games are not just for boys!”, and encourages competition: “I’ll show the boys what the girls can do!” (as much as I hate that quote.)
I don’t like how it separates the games as being special and just 4 grrls. It should refer to video games in general, not the ones with Barbie, or ponies, or Bratz. But it probably would attract little girls to the display. Or parents who misguidedly think their girls wouldn’t be happy with Zelda or Mario. I also think it should be further in the store, not right next to the door.
Girls who are 12 and up probably wouldn’t give it a second look, it’s clearly aimed at kids. I don’t like the display, personally.
I can make war with Barbie all I want! I’m a man, after all 🙂
Yes, it’s exactly my point that in nature vs. nurture it tends to be somewhere in the middle according to most modern studies. (Most of the data we get about this is from twins that don’t live together, which is rare, but helpful when it happens.) However, the “boys like aggression, girls like dressing up” is more a product of nurture than nature. Women and men process data differently, but to the extent that the various industries want you to think they do is more based on “common sense” which doesn’t tend to hold up to scientific scrutiny.
Don’t get your panties in a bunch because they left out the word “some,” probably because it is implied.
Gender roles are a part of life. Guess what? There isn’t anything wrong with that! Just because something is gendered towards girls does not make it inferior, or the sole option for a particular gender. Nor does being gendered imply inequality, particularly towards women.
So you lefties should just relax. If it is that big of a deal to you, rebel by having some male kids and brain washing them to enjoy games like Barbie’s F***ing Fun-House, or whatever girl game you want to make them suffer through. Contrariwise, you can have a daughter and convince her that all the games she might have liked are the evil spawn of a male driven society. That will certainly screw her head on straight!
Jeez…. ridiculous.
Scott,
I may be a lefty, but my panties are not in a bunch because I don’t wear panties despite what Fox News may say about us.
My simplest response is to say that yes, gender roles are part of life, but I don’t believe that display really is filling a gender role. I think the majority of games girls buy and play are not Barbie F***ing Fun House or Bratz Go To The Mall To Shop For Their Date With Chip, and so I think it’s a disservice to prominently display something like that says “Games 4 Girls” and goes on to promote crappy games. If the goal is to sell to girls, give them a variety and some quality games instead of falling into these “traditional” traps that don’t represent the reality.
But I will take your advice about my kids and force my boys to play with Barbie and have my girls play with nothing. That’s what women’s studies classes tell you to do, and I don’t question them!
I like games with puppies too!!!!!
“So you lefties should just relax.”
And conservatives never complain about anything? 😛
I’m handless, stop being insensitive about my condition. I type with my nose!
Let me change the subject.
How bout that Iraq? Oh wait, crap, let’s try another one.
How bout them stem cells?
…
How bout that abortion?!?
I’m not doing well.
How bout them gender oriented marketing assholes?
I don’t want toooo walk around in circles walk around in circles…
Here’s another opinion from the net, followed by some assholes commenting:
http://therighttrigger.blogspot.com/2006/11/girl-gamers.html
Ding 20! Woot!
(sorry)