Women, what Games do you want to play?

[ThatOtherGirl]

I am going to say what I personally want that I feel is not happening or not happening enough because the industry is hung up on appealing to masculinity. I do not think these are strictly women only issues though, I know for a fact that numbers 4, 5, and 6 especially appeal to a not insignificant amount of men. And 8 should appeal to all sorts of people, though it certainly wouldn't be a game for everyone.

1. As many have said, generally speaking games that men want to play women also like to play. Sometimes we want them without the stuff that specifically panders to men, like boob plate.

2. Female leads are good, as are good secondary female characters.

3. Games in which the male character options and female character options overlap heavily. Let me put my men a dress and my women in a tux please.

4. Games about moms. Recently we have seen a surge in dad games, which is awesome. Let's get some mom games going too. AND NO, Other M is not a mom game. It is a shit game that says "mom" a lot.

5. Games that could and should exist but do not because they are stereo typically feminine and "common knowledge" is that feminine things don't sell to gamers. For example, why is there no high quality dress up game on the market? This is one that isn't even limited to women, I personally know two men who would love such a game. We actually all buy shitty games just because they let you put the main female character in all sorts of interesting clothes. My wife buys Soul Calibur games exclusively for the character creator. She doesn't even do the fighting except to unlock more clothes and the like.

6. More homosexuality, more gender non conformance.

7. A greater emphasis on actual romance in romance sub plots. I want to see an RPG hero get the girl not because he saved her or because he happens to be the only male in her age range who ever spends time with her, but because they charmed each others pants off (figuratively.) Show me them actually falling in love. Seriously, I don't think I have ever seen an RPG hero actually go to the effort of planning out a romantic date and dinner. Except for Snow from FFXIII, which makes him the best RPG boyfriend ever. Shame it got Sarah turned into a crystal though.

8. Games that are sexy. Especially with sexy men. Like the male equivalent of bikini armor. I also want this particular game to have woman bikini armor too. Sexy times for everyone! Seriously, Fire Emblem where everyone is as over the top sexualized as Camilla. Like, The Almighty Aardvark linked these image over in the penises vs boobs thread:

Spoiler: NSFW

Gimme that level of over the top sexualization. For EVERYONE. Though the package on number 3 is a little excessive. Tone that back just a bit. Everything else about him is great though. I'm not even really into men very much, but damn he is just fun to look at. Actually, I take that back. Leave the package in for anyone who's into that.

Put some thought into the character designs, it should be about more than just showing skin. And make it have some variety! I want hourglass figures, petite women, bishie guys and bears. And everything in between. Give us some attractive thick people for once. At least one guy who wears heels, a corset, and heavy makeup. At least one woman who is absolutely ripped. Neither of those characters should be treated as a joke like they always are. I wanna see a hot topless guy on a Pegasus. Alternate costumes so the sexy can be customized. And legs, both sexes. Legs for days.

And at least double up on all the character classes so no one character is vital to have in your party so people can customize their sexy merc army better.

I would play the shit out of that.

 

[Nimcha]

Uhm, I am really enjoying playing Destiny at the moment?

To be honest I seem to generally enjoy games that get a decent amount of hate on 'the internet'. Like Destiny, Mass Effect 3 (I liked the ending), the Dragon Age games and stuff like that. I don't know whether that has anything to do with me being a woman or not. But I don't think I qualify as a 'gamer' anymore.

 

[axlryder]

Link doesn't have much of character anyways apart from (being) honest

....

honest?

I dunno about all that.

as to the OP, my older sister enjoys old school games and old school JRPGs, but she often really just wanted a female lead or at least a strong central female character. I remember she was so convinced that Zero from megaman was a girl when we were kids (because ponytail and orb boobs), she NEEDED him to be a girl. I knew otherwise, and argued with her for a bit, but when I saw how passionate she was I just let her believe it because I felt bad for her, and that's when I realized there was weird gender disparity in video games. So I imagine a world where characters like zero are female is the ideal sort of game she'd want to play.

 

[ManutheBloodedge]

4. Games about moms. Recently we have seen a surge in dad games, which is awesome. Let's get some mom games going too. AND NO, Other M is not a mom game. It is a shit game that says "mom" a lot.

Yes, here we have an angle that should be used a lot more in storytelling. I can think of some lone dads in videogames, but not a lot of moms with significance, especially single mothers. I can only think of two, C.Viper from Street Fighter IV and Mizuki in Ninja Gaiden 3, and I play a lot of videogames. (Coincidentally, both are secret agents, both are awesome and both are from japanese games)

6. More homosexuality, more gender non conformance.

7. A greater emphasis on actual romance in romance sub plots. I want to see an RPG hero get the girl not because he saved her or because he happens to be the only male in her age range who ever spends time with her, but because they charmed each others pants off (figuratively.) Show me them actually falling in love. Seriously, I don't think I have ever seen an RPG hero actually go to the effort of planning out a romantic date and dinner. Except for Snow from FFXIII, which makes him the best RPG boyfriend ever. Shame it got Sarah turned into a crystal though.

8. Games that are sexy. Especially with sexy men. Like the male equivalent of bikini armor. I also want this particular game to have woman bikini armor too. Sexy times for everyone! Seriously, Fire Emblem where everyone is as over the top sexualized as Camilla. Like, The Almighty Aardvark linked these image over in the penises vs boobs thread:

Spoiler: NSFW

Gimme that level of over the top sexualization. For EVERYONE. Though the package on number 3 is a little excessive. Tone that back just a bit. Everything else about him is great though. I'm not even really into men very much, but damn he is just fun to look at. Actually, I take that back. Leave the package in for anyone who's into that.

Put some thought into the character designs, it should be about more than just showing skin. And make it have some variety! I want hourglass figures, petite women, bishie guys and bears. And everything in between. Give us some attractive thick people for once. At least one guy who wears heels, a corset, and heavy makeup. At least one woman who is absolutely ripped. Neither of those characters should be treated as a joke like they always are. I wanna see a hot topless guy on a Pegasus. Alternate costumes so the sexy can be customized. And legs, both sexes. Legs for days.

And at least double up on all the character classes so no one character is vital to have in your party so people can customize their sexy merc army better.

I would play the shit out of that.

Spoiler: What I have to say about that

 

[NPC009]

4. Games about moms. Recently we have seen a surge in dad games, which is awesome. Let's get some mom games going too. AND NO, Other M is not a mom game. It is a shit game that says "mom" a lot.

Yes, here we have an angle that should be used a lot more in storytelling. I can think of some lone dads in videogames, but not a lot of moms with significance, especially single mothers. I can only think of two, C.Viper from Street Fighter IV and Mizuki in Ninja Gaiden 3, and I play a lot of videogames. (Coincidentally, both are secret agents, both are awesome and both are from japanese games)

When I look at stuff like Moribito and Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, I wonder why there aren't any games like that. Aside from the difference in gender of the main characters, they follow similar patterns to the 'dad games'. Heck, they predate some of the popular ones by several years.

Actual moms in games, though... Gosh, they really are rare. First one that comes to mind is Selan from Lufia II. She is one of the main character, and she and the protagonist get married at the end of the first act. She ends up having to leave her baby at home to go save the world.

Miranda from Grandia III was pretty cool. Refuses to let her dumbass son go on an adventure, but ends up joining him when he won't listen. The party finds a hot guy with a boat and said hot guy joins the party for a bit. Then she and hot guy decide to start a trip of their own and travel the seven seas. Good for her.

Last Odyssey's main character and his wife are actually grandparents (and the grandkids join the party), but they don't look like it thanks to immortality.

Eh, who else.... Eh, I'm drawing blanks. Most moms are dead, unimportant or both.

 

[ManutheBloodedge]

4. Games about moms. Recently we have seen a surge in dad games, which is awesome. Let's get some mom games going too. AND NO, Other M is not a mom game. It is a shit game that says "mom" a lot.

Yes, here we have an angle that should be used a lot more in storytelling. I can think of some lone dads in videogames, but not a lot of moms with significance, especially single mothers. I can only think of two, C.Viper from Street Fighter IV and Mizuki in Ninja Gaiden 3, and I play a lot of videogames. (Coincidentally, both are secret agents, both are awesome and both are from japanese games)

When I look at stuff like Moribito and Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, I wonder why there aren't any games like that. Aside from the difference in gender of the main characters, they follow similar patterns to the 'dad games'. Heck, they predate some of the popular ones by several years.

Actual moms in games, though... Gosh, they really are rare. First one that comes to mind is Selan from Lufia II. She is one of the main character, and she and the protagonist get married at the end of the first act. She ends up having to leave her baby at home to go save the world.

Miranda from Grandia III was pretty cool. Refuses to let her dumbass son go on an adventure, but ends up joining him when he won't listen. The party finds a hot guy with a boat and said hot guy joins the party for a bit. Then she and hot guy decide to start a trip of their own and travel the seven seas. Good for her.

Last Odyssey's main character and his wife are actually grandparents (and the grandkids join the party), but they don't look like it thanks to immortality.

Eh, who else.... Eh, I'm drawing blanks. Most moms are dead, unimportant or both.

Oh man, I could be kicking myself for leaving out the ladies in FE:Awakening. Especially if your female Avater marries Chrom (which leads to the best story in the game IMO), the relationship with Lucina is great. But I found the other support conversations between mother and child also very interesting, with different approaches to motherhood and all that time travel malarchy.

EDIT: Best mothers in gaming is also threadworthy, now that I am thinking about it.

 

[ThatOtherGirl]

Miranda from Grandia III was pretty cool. Refuses to let her dumbass son go on an adventure, but ends up joining him when he won't listen. The party finds a hot guy with a boat and said hot guy joins the party for a bit. Then she and hot guy decide to start a trip of their own and travel the seven seas. Good for her.

You are one of the only other people I have ever seen mention Miranda. I loved her! She was so awesome! Fantastic mom, best character in the game. The game was a lot worse as soon as she left it.

Oh man, I could be kicking myself for leaving out the ladies in FE:Awakening. Especially if your female Avater marries Chrom (which leads to the best story in the game IMO), the relationship with Lucina is great. But I found the other support conversations between mother and child also very interesting, with different approaches to motherhood and all that time travel malarchy.

EDIT: Best mothers in gaming is also threadworthy, now that I am thinking about it.

While moms in gaming are awesome when they happen and they are definitely worth talking about, I was talking more in a thematic sense. Like in the Last of Us, Joel is not Ellie's dad, but the game is about dad things. Love that shit. It is not strictly necessary for a mom game to be about a mom and child as long as it is about mom things. Though that is certainly the most straight forward way to do it.

(This is also why I felt the need to clarify that I do not consider Other M a mom game.)

 

[NPC009]

Miranda from Grandia III was pretty cool. Refuses to let her dumbass son go on an adventure, but ends up joining him when he won't listen. The party finds a hot guy with a boat and said hot guy joins the party for a bit. Then she and hot guy decide to start a trip of their own and travel the seven seas. Good for her.

You are one of the only other people I have ever seen mention Miranda. I loved her! She was so awesome! Fantastic mom, best character in the game. The game was a lot worse as soon as she left it.

Not surprising, Miranda was the most original idea within that game, and that might not be doing her justice, as it was kind of a paint-by-numbers JRPG adventure story. And... that's also why she had to leave. The game was about whatshisface and his coming of age story (magical girlfriend included), and you can't have one of those with a mom hanging around. Especially if said mom is a cool and competent Hot Mom who snags herself a new boyfriend during their travels. I do applaud the game for giving her such a good ending. Most other games would have just killed her off so she could serve as a motivator for the teenaged protagonist (moms are tough? moms are bloody pancakes on the pavement!).

 

[ManutheBloodedge]

While moms in gaming are awesome when they happen and they are definitely worth talking about, I was talking more in a thematic sense. Like in the Last of Us, Joel is not Ellie's dad, but the game is about dad things. Love that shit. It is not strictly necessary for a mom game to be about a mom and child as long as it is about mom things. Though that is certainly the most straight forward way to do it.

(This is also why I felt the need to clarify that I do not consider Other M a mom game.)

But how would you differentiate between a mom themed game and one about parenthood in general? I never played the last of us, so I have no idea how gender-specific the relationship between the two main characters is, but how would the mentioned dad things differ in a game about mom things? Are motherhood and parenthood (or fatherhood I guess) thematically different or are/would they be differently presented?

The relationship between Bayonetta and Cereza is the only motherhood theme in a game I can think of at the moment.

 

[B-Cell_v1legacy]

I dont think women play games that much at all. they may be a fan of some games but theres market is on male gamers. Female gamers are mostly fans of JRPGs.

 

[CritialGaming]

Would I be a dick if I think the only acceptable answer here should be "Good Games".

Why should there be any reason to distinguish what games women want to play? I'm sure there are girls who play everything, FPS, RPG, Puzzle, RTS, Platformers, MMO...So shouldn't the overall answer simple be "good games" just like everyone else?

 

[NPC009]

While moms in gaming are awesome when they happen and they are definitely worth talking about, I was talking more in a thematic sense. Like in the Last of Us, Joel is not Ellie's dad, but the game is about dad things. Love that shit. It is not strictly necessary for a mom game to be about a mom and child as long as it is about mom things. Though that is certainly the most straight forward way to do it.

(This is also why I felt the need to clarify that I do not consider Other M a mom game.)

But how would you differentiate between a mom themed game and one about parenthood in general? I never played the last of us, so I have no idea how gender-specific the relationship between the two main characters is, but how would the mentioned dad things differ in a game about mom things? Are motherhood and parenthood (or fatherhood I guess) thematically different or are/would they be differently presented?

Depends on the approach you take. Setting too. Society often expects (very) different things from mothers than they do from fathers. There are biological differences as well.

Imagine this: humanity is approaching the end. Here and there, there are just a handful of people left. Many haven't seen another person in years. One day, one of these individuals finds a baby.

If this person happens to be a woman who is breastfeading a child of her own (or was recently breastfeeding one), the baby has a good chance of survival. As long as the mother can find enough food for herself, she can keep both children fed. It will take a toll on her body, but there's a chance all three will live. If this is her story, it will focus on day to day survival. If her story does not go well, she may have to make a difficult decision. If she dies, both infants will die too. Will she let one or both children die to improve her own chances of survival?

If this person happens to be a man, his story will be of a race against time. A newborn needs milk or a proper substitute. If he can't find proper food fast, the baby is dead.

 

[Dragonbums]

Games that everyone else is already playing.

Things that are a plus are a relatively diverse cast and being able to choose playing as a women.

I'm gonna just leave it at that because everytime a thread pops up on here asking what X demographic wants, it ends up being hijacked by the dominant Y demographic saying how we are wrong because [insert anecdote here about their gf/friend/spouse liking Z game, blah, blah, etc.]

 

[DementedSheep]

Have woman in prominent roles that actually have intrinsic worth rather than the useless victim, girlfriend and whore and that means during events of the game, not "oh she's totality a proficient marksman (implications of favouritisms from the leader being a father figure to her aside)...now go save her from begin raped again". Actually let them look the part rather than paying service to their role as the players whore first. Don't have the angle cameras perving on them, don't have random girls flirting with the player with no option to tell them to fuck off, stop finding an excuse for the player to wind up in a strip club and don't make it painfully obvious when giving us a choice of gender that it was intended for you to pick a guy or that female options was aimed more at guys who wanted to stare at a woman's ass. It's not the gameplay and it's not rocket science.

 

[Something Amyss]

Would I be a dick if I think the only acceptable answer here should be "Good Games".

What, you've never intentionally played a bad game?

 

[lynnstormfury]

Women are... 1/2 the world. There are women gamers of all kinds, just like male gamers. They don't really make "games for women" amny more than they make "games for men"

That being said, I am a lot less likely to play games where I am required to wear headphones to interact with people, unless I can make sure only my friends are part of that group, because the chances that some 12 year old kid is gonna start saying terrible things to me is a lot higher.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Anyone play Legend of Dragoon? Opinions on Rose? She's my fav female char ever. Her whole journey was beyond epic. Japanese games often are in that middle ground of having BOTH great strong leads and a ton of clearly pandering stuff, often simultaneously ala Senran Kagura.

 

[B-Cell_v1legacy]

Women are... 1/2 the world. There are women gamers of all kinds, just like male gamers. They don't really make "games for women" amny more than they make "games for men"

That being said, I am a lot less likely to play games where I am required to wear headphones to interact with people, unless I can make sure only my friends are part of that group, because the chances that some 12 year old kid is gonna start saying terrible things to me is a lot higher.

My friend, girls do play games but majority of video game market is towards males. especially when it comes to FPS, stealth, WRPG etc

 

[Gali]

I enjoy pretty much any good (hardcore) game of the following genres: cRPG, JRPG, RTS, Arena Shooter and Grand Strategy. For example, my favorites of those genres are: Planescape Torment, FF IV, Starcraft BroodWar, Halo CE and TW: Rome I. My current online games are Halo 5 and Starcraft II LotV. I also played WoW from Vanilla to early Cataclysm ("semi hardcore" PvE/Raids) and I am building a retro games collection with their respective consoles (though only SNES and upwards, I am not interested in the really old stuff).

I happen to be female yes, but first and foremost I see myself as a person who is just a hardcore gamer. Never had any issues with my fellow male gamers in the communities I engaged with (e. g. Starcraft/eSports, Halo/MLG/Xbox Live, WoW) and the conventions/events I went to (e. g. Dreamhack).

I also don't give a crap about the sexism issue. Imo it is overblown and I don't think videogames have so much influence as some people think and I don't care about the gender of a games protagonist. Besides, I do enjoy me some DoA (and similar titles) for shits and giggles BECAUSE it is so unrealistic and offensive to some people. Furthermore I would not call myself a feminist, at least when it comes to so called First World countries (inb4 internalized misogyny). I don't care that developers are mostly male. I play what appeals to me and what doesn't... well who cares, let someone else enjoy it.

What I miss from the "male centric" (duh duh duuuuh) gaming industry are good, hardcore games of said genres since modern iterations feel dumbed down to me or there aren't just that many games of these genres coming out these days (see RTS). Yes there are a few kickstarters, but still, I want more.

Guess my point of view is pretty much useless for some people. I just want to play challenging, competitive games with amazing stories (varies if the game is singleplayer or multiplayer centric). Gender politics preachers take the fun out of the medium for me tbh so I stopped listening after a while and just enjoy myself. I feel like they always find a way to call something problematic, even when the intention was to appeal to them.

Edit: If some people would have more fun with more female protagonists etc., good for them and they can and should be able to voice that opinion. I don't see the appeal in that because I enjoy videogames how they already are very, very much but to each their own. Just leave the "old" stuff and the people that enjoy it alone from discrimination, hate, censorship and the like and strive for new, original games instead. That's how a medium really evolves.