Finally, a Game for Girls!

[runnernda]

I seriously can't stop laughing. At least it will give stay-at-home-mums something to do in their spare time.

Most of the stay-at-home moms I know don't HAVE any spare time. Taking care of young kids is basically a full-time job, along with all the other things "homemakers" are supposed to do.

OT: Ow. Ow, my brain. To whom is the game supposed to appeal? Maybe younger girls, but if their parents have any sense they won't let them buy it. The messages this game conveys are terrible. And I can't see any girls my age buying it. I'm a girl, and I can't stand shopping for clothes, and I think I'd rather boil myself in oil than change my hairstyle and color every week. Jeans, a t-shirt and ponytail and I'm good.

I GUESS if the girls are playing it just for fun and don't take it as a model for real life, it's okay. Also...WITCH? WHAT?

 

[JesterRaiin]

Why in the world do people still make games like this?
What possible effect to you think this game could have?

I work at an elementary school. Kids, more precisely little girls, are playing such games.
I don't think that for normal kids there's any impact at all - exactly like with any other kind of games.

 

[Mallefunction]

Because people assume that ALL video games are violent with no characters or story beyond killing and us girls DON'T like violence (Because that isn't girly and pink) and can't handle blood and gore.

Despite the fact that women actually go see more horror movies then men on average. XD

 

[Nomanslander]

OH COME ON! Does every girl game have to be about playing dress up, putting on make up, and going shopping? That's to say every guy game is about war and violen........ce.....??

...

Ok, I'm done now....-_-

 

[LittleBlondeGoth]

I spent most of my time reading that article hoping it was a spoof game. You know, Photoshopped screenshots, ha ha ha, let's all have a laugh at the games market stereotypes, ha ha. Now I just feel the need to facepalm. Extensively.

Being serious for a moment, I can see two sides to this.

It's a fairly undisputable fact that the main demographic of video games is the male of the species. For whatever reasons, a lot of girls just aren't interested in gaming. Perhaps they see it as boring or nerdy. Perhaps they see it as a boys thing. Perhaps they'd rather drool over Brad Pitt and apply lipstick, I don't know. Consequently, I can see that games such as this could be an attempt to reach out to the young girls who aren't buying games, and trying to entice them with something that they may be interested in. I've seen adverts for a lot of these, generally for Nintendo consoles and handhelds. I don't have access to their figures, but maybe it's working for them.

But for me personally... Well it annoys the bejeesus out of me, frankly. I don't want games to try and appeal to me as a girl. I want them to appeal to me as a gamer. I want them to create a story that will engage me; characters I will care about; a world I can lose myself in. Or, in the case of stuff like Pacman, something that's just fun to play. Here's a newsflash: girls can like blowing shit up too. We don't neccessarily need games plastered in pink, ponies or Barbie for it to be interesting.

I could witter on about the reinforcement of stereotypes shown here. About how great it is to change your hair or buy clothes. Or how you're only complete if you have a boyfriend (who appears to give you an allowance?!). The whole weight thing. But I can't be bothered. I've also grown up with too many girls who completely and wholeheartedly subscribed to these ideals, and to be honest I don't have a lot of time for it. There was a reason I sat in the computer labs at lunch coding RM Basic programs instead of sitting round talking about New Kids On The Block and eyeshadow.

 

[Beryl77]

This actually made me laugh. The whole game looks like it's made as a parody but it seems like the developers are serious about this, which makes it funny and sad at the same time.
But the worst thing is, I actually know some girls who would like a game like this but they won't find out that it exists.
So, asside from people who'd play just for the lulz, I don't think that there are enough stupid people who'd like to play this game seriously. So, I assume that the people who developed this, have no idea how the world looks like today or it's all just a joke, a funny one actually.
Hmm, I'm a straight boy but damn, a carwasher boyfriend who'd give me 50 bucks a day, sounds really tempting to me.

 

[b3nn3tt]

What possible effect to you think this game could have?

I don't think that for normal kids there's any impact at all - exactly like with any other kind of games.

Quoted because this actually raises a very good point. If we want to argue that violent games are fine because people can tell the difference between game and reality, then we also have to accept that the same rules apply for this game. It can't go both ways.

OT: Well, I certainly won't be playing it, but then I seriously doubt that it's aimed at me anyway. It looks pretty bad, but if that's what people want to play then I say go for it, each to their own and all that.

 

[AngryMongoose]

I don't want to answer those questions because the answers would scare me.

- Lift weights
- Get a tan
- Drink beer
- Watch Football
- Beat up some geeks
- Urinate in a public place.

Build a shed.
Make suggestive comments at female passers by.
Urinate in public places.
Punch the wall in a display of manly aggression.

And tomorrow I plan on flexing and showing off both my gun collections.

 

[albinoterrorist]

I'm shocked more of you male escapists aren't completely offended by the boyfriend part tbh.

Frankly, it's just too amusing.
It's like seeing an obnoxiously vulgar and insulting effigy of something you deeply care about being torched in front of your eyes, only to realise as you get closer that it's fundamentally so badly built and plain wrong from misinformation that you can't help but laugh as you watch it collapse down on it's creators, crushing them utterly.

At least, that's how I see it.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

What possible effect to you think this game could have?

I don't think that for normal kids there's any impact at all - exactly like with any other kind of games.

Quoted because this actually raises a very good point. If we want to argue that violent games are fine because people can tell the difference between game and reality, then we also have to accept that the same rules apply for this game. It can't go both ways.

OT: Well, I certainly won't be playing it, but then I seriously doubt that it's aimed at me anyway. It looks pretty bad, but if that's what people want to play then I say go for it, each to their own and all that.

I'm not sure this seems a different sort of offensive. Like you wouldn't have a game that featured racism (outside of a period scenario) so why this blatant sexism? The boyfriend part is sexism against males if anything. It's awful.

 

[Jonluw]

Oh.
I was all ready to make snide comments, but then I saw you were being sarcastic.
Damn.
Nothing to do here then.

Wow.
Just wow.

 

[Richardplex]

I glossed over it (I'm at work, can't really go in-depth right now) and I demand equality! We need a game for boys!

Some of the objectives would include:

- Lift weights
- Get a tan
- Drink beer
- Watch Football
- Beat up some geeks
- Urinate in a public place

And much, much more!

Because that's just as accurate to what "guys" do as a collective (because you can generalize an entire gender to have same interests, right?) as this 'game for girls'.

Use Old Spice body wash and watch My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic would also be there as well of course. Wait...

 

[b3nn3tt]

What possible effect to you think this game could have?

I don't think that for normal kids there's any impact at all - exactly like with any other kind of games.

Quoted because this actually raises a very good point. If we want to argue that violent games are fine because people can tell the difference between game and reality, then we also have to accept that the same rules apply for this game. It can't go both ways.

OT: Well, I certainly won't be playing it, but then I seriously doubt that it's aimed at me anyway. It looks pretty bad, but if that's what people want to play then I say go for it, each to their own and all that.

I'm not sure this seems a different sort of offensive. Like you wouldn't have a game that featured racism (outside of a period scenario) so why this blatant sexism? The boyfriend part is sexism against males if anything. It's awful.

I'll agree with you that it look absolutely terrible, and I'd say sexist towards both men and women. But I think that makes it a bad game, I don't think it necessarily means that players are going to take messages from it and carry them over into real life.

 

[albinoterrorist]

Quoted because this actually raises a very good point. If we want to argue that violent games are fine because people can tell the difference between game and reality, then we also have to accept that the same rules apply for this game. It can't go both ways.

Ah - but most games featuring violence (at least COD or other shooters, probably not fighting games ala Tekken) will not fall into the hands of most kids until they're 10-12.
Still children, by every definition, but with some kernels of maturity beginning to form.

Whereas this game, by contrast, seems to be aiming for a much younger audience (it's probably aiming for 10-13, rather than the 16+ or 18+ of shooters), which, logic dictates, means that it'l be far more likely fall into the hands of people even younger than that (as shooters do) - possibly even as young as 6 or 7 years old.
They stand far less chance of differentiating, as they're much younger and more vulnerable.
They're much more likely to take ideas from it to heart and, due to it beginning at a younger age, will have longer for such ideas to ferment, if they aren't corrected.

It's much more likely for someone to be negatively indoctrinated playing this than any shooter.

 

[Zantos]

...see what it takes for the unpenised to make it today.

This is my favourite thing since the "reproductive organs on the inside instead of the outside" line from Stargate.

Honestly, I thought we were getting somewhere with gender equality.

 

[chiggerwood]

I glossed over it (I'm at work, can't really go in-depth right now) and I demand equality! We need a game for boys!

Some of the objectives would include:

- Lift weights
- Get a tan
- Drink beer
- Watch Football
- Beat up some geeks
- Urinate in a public place

And much, much more!

Because that's just as accurate to what "guys" do as a collective (because you can generalize an entire gender to have same interests, right?) as this 'game for girls'.

Masturbate, don't forget masturbate, because you know that's what takes up like 35% of our day.

OT: Is their a mini game where you have to try to parallel park, fail, but get of the car anyway, so you're not late for a manicure or something? I would never say that this is the dumbest thing I've ever heard of, but it's at least in the top 20. Also if you listen really close you can hear women's study majors all over the world screaming at the top of their lungs out of pure rage.

 

[someonehairy-ish]

AGHHHH

ITS A MONSTER WITH STARING EYES AND NO NIPPLES
KILL IT WITH FIRE!

Kinda wondering why they didn't just give it some underwear instead of having a weird completely smooth crotch'd thing. But whatever...
My sister likes Ratchet and Clank and Fable and COD, I guess she must be a man after all :/

 

[DaMullet]

This makes me want to vomit. Its so purile.

Young girls may be attracted to dress up sims but this is NOT the message we want to be giving them.

As far as I can tell these are the two main 'issues' of the game

- How you look
- How much money your boyfriend makes (I don't even..)

Just horrible.

You got an extra barf bag, I think I need one too.

This is wrong on so many levels.

....

*vomits*

 

[b3nn3tt]

Quoted because this actually raises a very good point. If we want to argue that violent games are fine because people can tell the difference between game and reality, then we also have to accept that the same rules apply for this game. It can't go both ways.

Ah - but most games featuring violence (at least COD or other shooters, probably not fighting games ala Tekken) will not fall into the hands of most kids until they're 10-12.
Still children, by every definition, but with some kernels of maturity beginning to form.

Whereas this game, by contrast, seems to be aiming for a much younger audience (it's probably aiming for 10-13, rather than the 16+ or 18+ of shooters), which, logic dictates, means that it'l be far more likely fall into the hands of people even younger than that (as shooters do) - possibly even as young as 6 or 7 years old.
They stand far less chance of differentiating, as they're much younger and more vulnerable.
They're much more likely to take ideas from it to heart and, due to it beginning at a younger age, will have longer for such ideas to ferment, if they aren't corrected.

It's much more likely for someone to be negatively indoctrinated playing this than any shooter.

I think six to seven might be a bit far, but I could agree with you on ten, maybe a year or two under. I can also believe that some children of the same age will be playing violent games. So if we're going to argue that games are that age can have an adverse effect on children, then we should be seeing more children with problems than we do.

To be honest, I think there are much worse things out there than this game to influence young children. A large percentage of young girls in the UK cite Jordan (a glamour model, to use a generous term) as a role model, despite the fact that she has no real talents and is famous only for being famous. I'll agree that this game seems to be professing the same kind of 'talents' that Jordan is known for, but I think having a real life role model is more influential.

 

[2xDouble]

So...
The way a woman comes of age is not through personal self-discovery, but by changing her hairstyle.
Men are interchangeable commodities like game properties, ranked by current job and how much money they give you, and wanting to know more about him means you should replace him.
Success means: being thin, owning a shop that effectively sells nothing and requires no maintainence other than sprucing up the decor, and going to the hair salon.

Great...

Thankfully, most women I know would rather play The Sims.

I glossed over it (I'm at work, can't really go in-depth right now) and I demand equality! We need a game for boys!

Some of the objectives would include:

- Lift weights
- Get a tan
- Drink beer
- Watch Football
- Beat up some geeks
- Urinate in a public place

And much, much more!

Because that's just as accurate to what "guys" do as a collective (because you can generalize an entire gender to have same interests, right?) as this 'game for girls'.

Got that already [http://www.collegehumor.com/video/6306200/the-jersey-shore-rpg].