THQ: "Girls don't have time for games"

Wish someone would tell my GF that so far Its cost me for every sims expansion there is as well as guild wars and every guild wars expansion now shes looking forward to guild wars 2.

Nail on head, at least for my gf and for most girls I know. Yeah, my gf doesn't mind playing halo every now and again, but she usually has better things to do, including being bored.

Originally Posted by Ryu_ookami
Wish someone would tell my GF that so far Its cost me for every sims expansion there is as well as guild wars and every guild wars expansion now shes looking forward to guild wars 2.

LOL i know what you mean!
every sims 2 expansion pack and the game plus world of Warcraft, the expansions and the subscription ive had to pay for

my gf only plays WoW and the CSI games but she doesnt want to play games as often as i would so this article is right i believe. she'd rather watch something on tv or watch a film like harry potter that we have seen many times before

My gf would rather knit than play computer games, when she gets bored with that she might even get as far as solitaire.

My girlfriend, I've discovered, likes only a certain type of competition. She doesn't like deathmatch or anything that is directly competitive. She does like co-op and working together.

Strangely though, what she likes most of all, is when a game is indirectly competitive - where you can work together, but can monitor scores and boast if you want. That's why she loves Serious Sam and Trackmania. You can play alone or with someone else, but you're not explicitly trying to beat them all the time. It's more about progress than scores.

Of course, that might be a defense mechanism. If I win score-wise in Serious Sam then she says it's just co-op and scores don't matter. If she wins, then it's because she's better than me. Go figure.

I think women are also motivated by different things - some women are also less aggressive than men, so tend to be turned of by "men's games" which, let's face it, involve running round killing things. The problem is that the only other alternative tends to be the saccharin-sweet "girly games" that seem to be targeted at 8-year olds who like ponies and kittens and fairies...

My wife prefers cerebral games, of which not many exist, and she often gets frustrated with the controls (a console controller is not the most intuitive thing to start using).

But it is a bit of a sweeping statement to say that girls don't like games - as Joe's GF shows, there are women that like games, just as there are men who don't like games (shocking, I know, but apparently they exist)

If only a had a gf to try out this theory?

Originally Posted by freedom810
If only a had a gf to try out this theory?

OFT >.>

Originally Posted by freedom810
If only a had a gf to try out this theory?

Try it with your left hand instead...

Originally Posted by CardJoe
My girlfriend, I've discovered, likes only a certain type of competition. She doesn't like deathmatch or anything that is directly competitive. She does like co-op and working together.

Strangely though, what she likes most of all, is when a game is indirectly competitive - where you can work together, but can monitor scores and boast if you want. That's why she loves Serious Sam and Trackmania. You can play alone or with someone else, but you're not explicitly trying to beat them all the time. It's more about progress than scores.

Of course, that might be a defense mechanism. If I win score-wise in Serious Sam then she says it's just co-op and scores don't matter. If she wins, then it's because she's better than me. Go figure.

Funnilly enough, my girlfriend is pretty the opposite. She's not nearly as much of a gamer as Joe's girlfriend is (who kicks his ass at many an occasion), but when she does, she's fiercly competetive, and loves nothing more than beating me in a games of Worms, Peggle or Sonic 2. But then again, she's fiercly competetive at everything we do, so it's unsurprising she's like that with games. Where as Joe's girlfriend has learned not to be competetive after witnesseing Joe's wrath and suffering one too many Dutch Ovens as a result.

My gf gets bored of games really quickly. She will be all excited to play and a week later not want to have anything to do with it. Sims 2 is the only one she still plays. She has all of the GW games and I think she may have put in 30hrs total (as opposed to my 1000hrs, yeah I got bored of it too). She played WoW for about 2 months and I seriously thought she was addicted, then she just stopped.

I can't figure her out. I would not try and lump girls into a category though. I have known a few female gamers that play just as much, if not more than I do.

I'm told I spend too much time gaming, yet she can/will spend all day playing Lumines on my PSP

Girls digg puzzle games.

Mine plays or has played The Sims, Guitar Hero 2&3, as well as downloadable games for her PS3 like PixelJunk: Monsters, Super Rub'a'Dub, Ecochrome, etc. She's also looking forward to Elefunk. In regards to the title statement, had he said "Girls don't have time for hardcore games" I would probably agree with him.

How many games have been specifically targeted for girls?

Being trained as an academic (though failing :D) it makes me take anyone who makes big statements without any supporting evidence with a massive pinch of salt. If he's referring to maslow's hierarchy of needs and insinuating that women have a lesser need to have fun then maybe it's going back to the patriachal assumptions that women are good for three things, subconsciously. However, if he's arguing that women like to let their hair down just as much as guys but games aren't seen as compelling I could agree because games are targetted at men pretty much.

But look at the success of the sims, almost all my female friends have played on it and at times to much greater lengths than my male friends.

It's true that men from hunter gatherer times have this strange 'goal achievement' thing - I can't emember it now but I'll explain briefly. You see a target, achieve it, you get a nice bit of endorphins (the same stuff MDMA tries to emulate I think lol) and it can be habit forming. The more you kill especially in a competitive game the more of a 'buzz' you get as your brain is pumping you full of happy chemicals telling you you're good. And lets face it, how many of us guys don't feel like the ****ing king when we get 80 kills and 4 deaths on a CSS game for example?

Whilst this is present in women too it has been shown to be less dominating hence why in other behaviour they will often do less 'thrill seeking' activity because they don't need those chemical highs. I don't know exactly how women work, I just study a bit of human behaviour especially consumer behaviour :p I think you do need to market games differently but I don't like the idea that 'girls dont play games because they're too busy'. Everyone plays games!

One word: Portal.

She gets bored with Half-Life 2, she'll poke Command and Conquer for a while but her favorite games so far are:
Portal
World Of Warcraft
[Any Other MMO]
Final Fantasy 7
[Any Puzzle Game]
Warcraft 3
Command And Conquer (Any)
Starcraft

Oh and Ookami.
Mostly cause of the Japanese culture thing.

Originally Posted by Bauul
She's not nearly as much of a gamer as Joe's girlfriend is (who kicks his ass at many an occasion)

QFT

;)

I'd have more time for games if I could control myself. Halo-3, Half-Life2 and Assassins Creed have had me up 'till the early hours cos I just can't put the controller down. I NEED to get the this bit cracked. But then there's another part to get through. It shouldn't take long so I do that too. Then the next bit. AND the bit after. And the bit after that... And then I wake up hours later, controller on lap, dribble down chin, and my 360 whirring on power save.
So considering I have to go to school and teach kids for a living, I generally opt out of more serious gaming through the week!

But I agree that most girls, including myself, are less inclined towards games that are violent just for the sake of violence. However, if a gravity gun, circular saw blade, and a bunch of terrifying zombies are involved, LET ME AT 'EM!!!

My pet theory is that in general guys are far more comptetive than girls - and most games are very, very competitive, either against the computer or against other players. Girls just aren't as entertained or motivated by that as guys are, so they'll pick a less competitive game, or only play it for a little while, or do something else entirely. I don't think making games attractive to women is a lost cause - games just need to be expanded beyond the 'must conquer!' mentality. Who knows, some men might even enjoy it too.

(Disclaimer: As with all sweeping generalizations, there are exceptions. I'm fully aware of that. Please don't beat me with that chainsaw.)

I got my GF addicted to Peggle (I swear it ruins more lives than heroin). But she's more into MSN than gaming really.

Originally Posted by Flibblebot
Try it with your left hand instead...

but i have an ergo mouse, it only works with my right hand:?

Originally Posted by malteser
QFT;)

would you be joe's girlfriend?

Originally Posted by EmJay
...games just need to be expanded beyond the 'must conquer!' mentality.

There is *nothing* beyond 'must conquer'! Pfft!

Who knows, some men might even enjoy it too.

..when hell freezes over...


Give me blood.

or give me a sim where I can pretend that I am great footballer/golfer/pilot/driver/etc.

My GF just plays the sims and nothing more.

I have tried to make her play half life, but she cant quite get the hang of it.

Though I do agree that girls don't seem to have time for these things, they seem to always be doing something. Not to mention they take 5 times as long to get ready to go out, or in the morning, or for bed. I think if they just hurried the hell up they would have time to play more games :p

Originally Posted by Flibblebot
I think women are also motivated by different things - some women are also less aggressive than men, so tend to be turned of by "men's games" which, let's face it, involve running round killing things. The problem is that the only other alternative tends to be the saccharin-sweet "girly games" that seem to be targeted at 8-year olds who like ponies and kittens and fairies...

My wife prefers cerebral games, of which not many exist, and she often gets frustrated with the controls (a console controller is not the most intuitive thing to start using).

IAWTC - my wife doesn't like the hack&slash games that are my game of choice when just chilling. However, she iis more than willing to play co-operatively and after a recent LAN at our house asked me to teach her to play C&C:General Zero Hour (Which was the game we thrashed at that lan) so she could join in next time.

PB

Originally Posted by supertoad

would you be joe's girlfriend?

Indeed she is. :o

Originally Posted by Ragdoll84
And then I wake up hours later, controller on lap, dribble down chin, and my 360 whirring on power save.

LOL, I actually snorted my tea at that bit. When will you learn to swallow properly Maddy?

Originally Posted by Bauul
When will you learn to swallow properly Maddy?

:|

Sorry, I couldn't help it!

My sister plays call of duty obsesivly at the highest levels of competative play. It's not as amazing as made out to have a female gamer in the house, PMT+Download induced latancy is a bad combernation.

Surely we can see the proof of this in that there wasn't a single post from an actual *female* until 20 posts in! and even then, she's still on her own. Otherwise it's just a long list if 'My gf/sister plays...'

Unless of course they're all too busy gaming to read & post on bit-tech... :P