Silicon Sisters Say Game Industry Still Doesn't Understand Women

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Silicon Sisters Say Game Industry Still Doesn't Understand Women


The founders of Silicon Sisters Interactive [http://www.siliconsisters.ca/] say the videogame industry has perfected the art of making games for guys but still doesn't understand what women want.

Life is good if you're a male gamer. You can shoot things and blow stuff up and drive around and punch people until you're blue in the face and you'll still never run short of videogames to play. But the situation is different if you're a girl gamer, according to Silicon Sisters CEO Brenda Bailey Gershkovitch, because the industry still hasn't figured out how to give you what you really want.

"What we've seen is a fairly superficial offering where, in the absence of truly understanding what women want in terms of game mechanics and connection, what we're getting is a female wrapper around a game that's really designed for men," she told GamesIndustry [http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2011-08-22-the-great-divide-interview?page=1]. "But while that works to some degree it's not going to, in my estimation, really build the gaming community, and really contribute to that aspirational goal of finding out what it is that women connect with when they game."

The Vancouver-based Silicon Sisters was founded in July 2010, following six months of research into the ways women "game differently" than men. "There are an enormous number of academic studies that cover tiny slices of female play in all kinds of different ways," explained Silicon Sisters COO Kirsten Forbes. "We complied all of that together and saw certain trends emerge."

"It took 30 years to really perfect the three things that males seem to really love, which are shooting, and driving, and sports," Forbes said. "And those are absolutely kick-ass games now, and you really have to sit back and go, 'What is the equivalent for girls? And please God, don't let it take us 30 years to get to as high a quality level as that.'"

Women have evolved to deal in "subtleties," Forbes said, and so the female equivalent of the visceral thrill men feel when they shoot something will likewise be more subtle. "I use persuasion as an example. That's something women are incredibly good at: persuading people with our words and our thoughts and our bodies... and how do you translate something like that into a mechanic?" she said. "If that's something that we're good at and gives us a visceral sense of satisfaction, then how do we turn it into gameplay?"

Silicon Sisters' first game, an iPhone released entitled School 26 [http://www.school26.ca/], is a game of "empathy, strategy and relationship building" aimed at girls aged 12 to 16. The studio also has at least one game aimed at older players in pre-production.


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Something Amyss

Aswyng and Amyss
Dec 3, 2008
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Sounds like it's every bit as stereotypical as the "superficial" alternative.

Though I'd say the main reason the game industry doesn't understand women is it doesn't have to. They see teenage boys as their bread and butter.
 

lacktheknack

Je suis joined jewels.
Jan 19, 2009
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If they're complaining that people don't understand what women want, welcome to the general opinion of 99% of guys, period.
 

Alon Shechter

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Apr 8, 2010
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"It took 30 years to really perfect the three things that males seem to really love, which are shooting, and driving, and sports"
Yeah, well, it took a single game called the Sims to perfect everything a woman would ever want in a video game?
See what I did there? It's called stereotyping. It's not nice.
 

MisterShine

Him Diamond
Mar 9, 2010
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But we have Cooking Mama! How do we not know what they want?!

I am a terrible, terrible human being for that joke. Absolutely terrible. Please ban me from these forums. I do not deserve mercy
 

Genixma

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Sep 22, 2009
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"what we're getting is a female wrapper around a game that's really designed for men,"

It's the video game industry not a catering company. Just play the games and enjoy them, if you don't like the hamburger on your plate were not making you a sirloin steak.
 

Jack and Calumon

Digimon are cool.
Dec 29, 2008
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Isn't that a little sexist? Quite a few people I know who are girl gamers are happy with what they have. My girlfriend is delighted to go around and blast peoples faces off in GTA, pleased to go off and mess with the prefects in Bully, and she's over the moon when she shoots people's heads off in Fallout. She's not a fan of "subtleties," she wants things plain and obvious in front of her, and she wants fun. To see that "This is what women want" seems sexist. Honestly that game looks like it wouldn't suit any girl gamer I know.

I'll stick with getting my GF the shooting and driving I know she enjoys.

Calumon: So why won't you give me the cream puffs you know I enjoy?

Jack: Because if I gave you presents instead of my GF I'd be broke all the time!
 

IceStar100

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Jan 5, 2009
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Aw crap here we go again.

Oh I know what they want. MORE BARBI HORSE ADVENTURE!!

Jack and Calumon said:
I'll stick with getting my GF the shooting and driving I know she enjoys.

Calumon: So why won't you give me the cream puffs you know I enjoy?
I'll get you all the cream puff you can eat. What calumon adorable. If I get him on myside I'll never have troble with women again. Do something stupid Calumon does something cute and she forget I did something stupid.
 

kouriichi

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Sep 5, 2010
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This seems HORRIBLY sexiest.
Even i wouldnt go here.
Their experience is that they made a game for 12-16 yearold girls, so they know exactly what women want?

Forgive me for thinking that Rockband was meant for all genders, you know, with both my mom and my wife playing it regularly? ((My mom is a beast on vocals. 5 Gold stars almost every song on expert))

I think theyre tackling this beast the wrong way. Never take the bull by the horns, because its stronger then you, and can still gore you. Sweet the front legs out and it crashes upon itself!

Instead of making games aimed towards women, make games more excess-able to them. ((Im not saying women cant game. My wife could trash most people at CoD.)) Most women aren't hardcore gamers, and dont want to be. Theyre casual. Maybe add a casual mode to more games that will allow them to play, without having to be "MLG LEGIT PRO MAKE EVERY ROUND COUNT".

Like with Dead Space. Even on easy, alot of women are going to have trouble playing it. ((Not because women are more easily scared then men, but because they arent used to these types of games))
Its got constant pop scares, requires you be constantly aware of your surroundings, and you always have to be spot on with your shots, or your gunna be necro-chow. ((Now with 40% more gibs))

Im not saying make games easier, but make them more accessible. You dont run before you walk, and you dont command an entire force of Space Marines before you even know how to build them.
 

orangeban

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Nov 27, 2009
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Whoopie! Massive generalisations about males and females! Characterizing of men as simple beasts who like farting and shit, while portraying women as above such things! Go sexism! Go!
 

Seventh Actuality

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Apr 23, 2010
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The core mechanics of video games appeal to all people, period. That's just how the experiences they deliver - catharsis, excitement, immersion - work. They're universal, and saying women can't appreciate that puts you on a level with Duke fucking Nukem as far as I'm concerned. I agree that this industry badly needs to improve its variety and equality when it comes to women, but everything this group say in the article seems geared around the most vacuous kinds of gender stereotyping. The actual problems with gender this industry has (which only the really defensive can claim it doesn't) are almost entirely around what this group dismiss as "wrappings".

Take one of the good games that exists now and change the "superficial wrappings" to appeal more to both genders equally, and I guarantee you'll have a better, deeper game playable by anyone than if you try to build games around bollocks like "women are all about subtlety and relationships".
 

Kaymish

The Morally Bankrupt Weasel
Sep 10, 2008
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hey i am perfectly happy with shooting goons and driving fast card in games and i take great glee blasting geth ambushes even if they are embarrassing to get into what with the flashlight heads and all
this person sounds like a pompous fool who is pulling [out of her arse] what might sound like common sense to the layman but is just another pack of lies as per usual
 

Xersues

DRM-free or give me death!
Dec 11, 2009
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Uhh, I know plenty of women that love those types of games exactly how they are presented.

I also know men that think those games are crap. Shooting, driving, and sports are not enough to make a good game. I don't play Madden, I don't play Modern Warfare, but I thought Grand Turismo was pretty badass.

So... This just in, maybe gender stereotypes are dangerous lines that don't need to be played? Seriously, what the hell does a women friendly or men friendly game look like? You really think you can guess what my tastes are or I can without extensive prior knowledge of your psyche on a personal level.

Lots of women like games of different types. Are we trying to say that games in general aren't friendly towards women?

Perhaps the issue lies deeper in cultural or pressure differences into what the collective conscious of women and men are supposed to like.

What the hell is going on!? Is this is the god damn twilight zone.

Go ahead and tell us what the hell a gamer likes. Male or Female, if you can find a sincere deep trend that shows empirical data to make the "perfect game" I'm pretty sure Activision and EA will hunt you down and bleed you out of the answer.

Ubisoft will just slowly wait in the corner to attack after one of them is left standing. Too bad Valve has rigged the building. Wait... What were we talking about again?
 

SuperSuperSuperGuy

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Jun 19, 2010
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When I read "empathy, strategy and relationship building" I thought a bit about Persona 3 and 4 because forming and building upon relationships is a big part of those two games, as well as strategy being a major part of battle. Those games can be HARD.

I think Silicon Sisters is generalizing a bit. Shooting, driving and sports are actually three things that I really don't favour. Then again, I've never really been a very masculine guy. In addition, I know a girl who loves nothing more than blowing the heads off of zombies in her video games. I'm pretty sure there's really nothing subtle about that.
 

Gethsemani_v1legacy

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Oct 1, 2009
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It is good to see that even women can be trapped in traditional gender roles and the reinforcement of stereotypes... But not really.