What games do women play?

[IndomitableSam]

Female, 29.

Skyrim
Rune Factory Frontier and Tides of Destiny
Minecraft (lots and lots)
Deus Ex: HR
Fallout: New Vegas
Final Fantasy IX
Mass Effect (all 3)
Dragon Age (Origins, Awakenings and 2... not really, I only played 2 once.)
Civ 5
Harvest Moon (various)
Red Dead Redemption
FF Tactics
Star Ocean (A couple different ones)

... ... Lots more? Those are most of what I've played in the last year or so. I can't remember what's all in my Steam library. I replay games every few years, too. I haven't bought many games in a long time, though, as money is tight.

Games I'm most looking forward to that are coming out soon?

The Last of Us
Folk Tale (Steam Greenlight)
FFXIV: A Realm Reborn
Elder Scrolls Online (This and FFXIV... I don't know which I'll play or if I'll play either, am just excited)
State of Decay (want on PC now... stupid Xbox exclusive first...)

And again, lots more. But I'm at work and can't look through my game shelves or bookmarks.

 

[go-10]

I'm not a girl but my girlfriend is, does that count?
anyways she plays

1. Pokemon - she's obsessed with them, her DA page is chuck full of them and her HF page just has a bunch of poke girl pics saved, she's kinda obseesed with Touko and Mei, but she seems to hate then new X/Y girl :/

2. Team Ninja games, mostly Dead or Alive but also plays Ninja Gaiden every now and then, and I don't know how or why but she seems to burn through DOAX in the first couple of days

3. Nintendo first party games, she grew up with them. Same as me so I'm the same in this regard

4. Street Fighter, Blazblue, King of Fighter, etc. basically fighting games. She likes to play any fighting game that has either cute (Noel, Elliot, Blanka) or over the top sexy characters (Hayabusa/Hayate, Makoto, Mai) she gets drawn in by them and eventually falls in love with the game itself, she's clocked in over 700 hours into Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 because of Dante at first... or I dunno maybe she really does like Doom, X-23, and Fire Brand

 

[aba1]

That's a bit like saying to a women who likes cars, what cars do you drive. Chances are it's going to be the ones men drive for the same reasons. It's not so much the gender that makes the difference, it's the personality and preferences.

Glad somebody said it. This whole conversation had me scratching my head.

 

[sharinganblossom25]

Female, age 20

The three games I've played are Assassin's Creed III, Kingdom Hearts and Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life.

I really have to be interested in the plot of a game. For me, the plot of a game has to be like the plots of many other things like movies and books. It has to be fairly chronological, compelling and emotional. A game with too many timeskips back and forth is annoying. A game has to keep moving and be exciting enough for me to continue playing. And, probably most important, a game has to have an emotional story. Again, like any plots from movies and books, I have to be connected to the emotional parts of the game (that's a big reason why Kingdom Hearts is up there).

So, yeah.

 

[generals3]

I'd suggest the OP to look up some papers/studies on this. Forums are extremely biased samples and thus useless both qualitatively and quantitatively. I've read in a study (forgot the name) that women generally cared less for competitiveness and more for the social aspect of a game than men (there were other factors but i forgot them). While these types of studies won't let you know which games they play precisely it will help you get a better picture of what they generally prefer and are thus more likely to play.

 

[runnerbelow]

My sister plays every game that I play. I play games of every genre. I dare say she plays more games than I do. She plays World Of Warcraft the most though. She's only a couple years younger than me too.

when I asked her, she said three games played most recently are WOW, 7th Saga, and LoZ Majora's Mask.

For her to enjoy a game she said she likes immersion, having plenty of sidequests, multiple options for gameplay variation. For her, story is optional, but if there is no story, the game better be long, or difficult.

 

[Antishadow68]

Me? I like skyrim, world of Warcraft, and minecraft. I'm detail oriented so i love games without limits and were i can customize down to the fine details.

 

[lunam-kardas]

I would assume they play the same games as guys, depending on their personal preference.

 

[JagermanXcell]

I'm not one of these females you speak of but luckily a friend of mine (17 yrs old) who is one of these decided she'd like to make an input, also she is a sweet heart so i'll be quoting her:

-Persona 4: "Whats there to talk about? Its a JRPG that I regret not playing. It has the most likable and original characters, simple story but heavily engaging, fun gameplay, and if you're not playing it right now you're lame."

-Bioshock Infinite: "I'm normally not a fan of FPS games but I just can't get enough of Elizabeth, she reminds me so much of Rapunzel from Tangled, and the deep story with all the subtext. Its scary subtext but its stuff you don't see a lot of games talk about, I've seen more movies do it then games. And if it weren't for the vigors and skylines and colorful setting ect. ect. this game would have been so boring!"

-League of Legends: "Community is blegh, especially when you're playing with strangers. Playing with friends though, strategizing and fighting our way to victory, thats a whole other story. I love coop and really loooooove this game!"

"If a game has good gameplay and flows well that it keeps me happy for hours and hours and hours I'll play it. If I feel sad when I have to stop then the game definitely did its job! I really enjoy when a game has a good story behind it, and in my experience I actually prefer when the story is better then the gameplay. That sounds weird and I really do enjoy good gameplay, but I get this kick when a game makes me want to revisit the world just so I can see what obstacle I/the characters must conquer to continue my adventure! I know thats sound cheesy, but its a joy see and feel the struggles through narrative and gameplay. I grew up playing The Legend of Zelda so I guess you can say the adventure side of me is showing!"

Last thing she said is she hopes this helps in your project and "Good Luck!"
Same goes for me, hope this helps friend.

 

[00slash00]

im a trans woman. although i would certainly consider myself a woman, i also had mostly male influences growing up so take from that what you will.

i play mostly rpgs and have a soft spot for point and click adventure games. really anything with a good story. lately ive been on a big mmorpg kick (which makes no sense considering they typically dont have a good story, and i typically avoid multiplayer in games). badurs gate, metal gear solid 3 and demons souls are probably my favorite games.

 

[fearyuno]

I'm 14 years old and female.
Games I've played recently:
1. Assassin's Creed 3
2. Bioshock: Infinite
3. Borderlands 2

I'm kind of intimidated because all other gamers here are pretty older than me. Well, here goes.
My first gaming experience was when I was maybe around 5 or 6 when I used to play a lot of Tekken and a lot of other fighting games with my neighbor on her PS2 and my brother introduced me to Runescape (i'm kind of ashamed of this one XD i feel like no one cool plays this and it's a loser game), Age of Empires, Age of Mythology, the first Sims, and Red Alert (I continued to play this until Red Alert 3). Well, now, to be honest, I really like games with a great story and strong characters. Puzzle (like Catherine :3) and strategy games are my forte too. I'm not really adverse to meaningless, casual, random games but I just appreciate a good story. I'm also really into indie horror games like Misao, Mad Father and The Witch's House and games like The Sims 3 and Sim City. I don't mind some killing and shooting either. Adventure games give me a kick, and I've really wanted to get my hands on Tomb Raider. I also play DOTA, Starcraft, Skyrim, Portal, Halo, and some Minecraft (though I suck).
All in all, I play most of the games my brother plays and the games my best guy friend suggests me (I got so mad when he started rubbing Bioshock: Infinite right in my face since he got it earlier than me when he didn't even finish AC III claiming that it wasn't worth his time anymore, the wiener). So I can say, through my own experiences, that females can pretty much play what most guys play if they were really into it.

 

[Zeldias]

That's a bit like saying to a women who likes cars, what cars do you drive. Chances are it's going to be the ones men drive for the same reasons. It's not so much the gender that makes the difference, it's the personality and preferences.

Yeah, but you know, they're WOMEN! FEMALES! Them liking things that men do and for the same reasons? Next you'll tell me that cats and dogs cohabitate. You'll tell me that it's no longer socially acceptable for a upstanding gentleman to discipline his wife with a rod as large as his thumb!

Next you'll be telling me they can drive. Or that marketing and focus-testing almost certainly has an incredibly significant impact on what consoles women are more likely buy or games they're more likely to own.

To be on-topic, my ex-fiancee' loved Civilization, because she liked using the Russians to take over the planet "because Russians are fucking bad ass," she muttered as she destroyed India with a nuke. Also Warcraft, because she had a lot of fun with the Druid's jack-of-all-trades thing (damn did she love that capture the flag BG). There was other stuff, too, but it was a pretty wild assortment.

My current girlfriend likes SF 3rd Strike because "it's not all simple and weird-looking like SF4" and it has her favorite incarnation of Chun Li (although the lack of Bison bugs her). Also Skyrim, Fable 3...She was into Left 4 Dead 2, but assholes online kinda put her off. She has ME3 but has yet to finish it because she hates that she can't romance Vega. We're gonna be playing Monaco tomorrow and maybe Neverwinter when that comes out, but she didn't take to GW2, so I'm not sure that MMOs are for her in general.

 

[TheGamerElite33]

They play casual games like barbie and girly JRPGs like Final fantasy and tales of vesperia.

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

Videogames.

Thread over. Done. Dusted. Don't ask this question again.

 

[Hafnium]

I'll answer as best I can for my girlfriend, just to give you some more to work with.

The most recent games she has played have been Skyrim, Scribblenauts and... well it's been a while but probably Sims 3. She wanted to install my copy of Black & White 2 recently, but the drive couldn't read it.

The common element that I think is most important, apart from fun obviously, is FREEDOM.

 

[Olivia Zaheyal]

Everything in the horror genre. Since I was ten, I've been grappling to get a copy of every horror classic, from Resident Evil to Rule of Rose. FPS and RPG games are secondary, but I still have a substantial collection of both old and recent titles. To be honest, most of my female friends have similar tastes; it's just a matter of us being in the demographic of "people who play video games". If you want results from a large sample of women who aren't all confirmed players or gamer-girlfriends, you probably shouldn't ask this question on The Escapist.

What three games have you played and enjoyed lately?

1) Bioshock Infinite
2) Hotline Miami
3) Thief Gold

I just love games that are, well, good. If they're engaging, visually nice, and thought-provoking, I'm hooked.

 

[Xisin]

1)Well, I'm 26 and female. I'm also broke, so my last 3 games I've played have been either free or out of a bin.

So:
Minecraft
League of Legends
Prince of Persia Box Set

Started on Skyward sword as well. Skyrm is coming after that, and hopefully I can borrow Bioshock Infinite from my roommate after that.

In my experience, there isn't much difference between what men and women like game wise. Least around my age. My mother and grandmother both own a Wii because they like the bowling, the yoga, and things like that.

2) I honestly don't think I can answer your second question. It's just very open ended. I'm always looking for smooth controls and great level/game design. I want the music to be memorable and it needs to enhance the game. I don't want to ever fight with the camera. Bugs are annoying and gaming breaking ones are unacceptable(Frankly any bug is really off putting.)

If I had to say just one thing it would be - I'm looking for a game that makes me feel like I've never had enough. Something that I want to come back to even after I've finished. I like all genres, so listing just one thing that would do that would be impossible.

 

[Saelune]

My mom likes Gauntlet, Zelda, and Starcraft mainly...

 

[Timberwolf0924]

I asked some girls around me what their fav games are

Girl Friend
Pokemon
Zelda
Mario

Ex-GF
L4D
Skyrim
Minecraft

Best Female Friend
RE4
Bioshock (all of them)
Kingdom Hearts

Friends Ex-Gf
Wow
Minecraft
Runescape

 

[keniakittykat]

I'm female ^^

the last three games I played were:
Rayman origins, Bioshock, and most recently a Pokemon fire red hack called 'lightning yellow'

What I mostly look for in a game is fun. Characters and story is important too, but I just want a game to be fun and engaging.