The I'm Bored Thread

"Simburian;c-17259129" wrote:
Considering that the 13 year old girl target was the aim from the start as famously reported here. I'm surprised that older Simmers didn't leave them to it but they still appear to be here! :) If it doesn't bore the 13 year olds yet, who are we to criticise. It wasn't meant for us was it?

(Pokemon can be downright dangerous for children from what I read in the newspapers, leading them to some very strange places. :o ) At least Sims 4 doesn't lead to an actual nude beach or brothel.

That's all from Pokemon GO, the mobile spin-off. They have had a lot of problems with that one because of decisions the developer, Niantic, made about how pokemon spawn. The main handheld and console games are about as safe as a Ming vase wrapped 45 feet thick in high-grade bubble wrap. The biggest risk they've taken in years is not having the National Dex in Gen8...

"Felicity;c-17259187" wrote:
In the 1990s, game devs realized with Mario that there is a huge market that they were ignoring -- teenage girls. The problem is that they didn't talk to teenage girls so many games were made by men who thought they knew what teenage girls would like, leading to a bunch of garbage games that no one wanted. Which had devs then saying, yet again, that teenage girls didn't like video games.

One thing I think all devs miss is that girls and women play video games. We have always played video games. You don't need to have games aimed at us (as that aim often just misses) but instead just make good video games that include us. A sims that appeals to everyone will just be a better game than one that attempts to go after a very narrow market.

Sims did not start out as a game aimed at girls. I think devs realized that girls did like the game so decided to focus content for teenage girls, which isn't a bad thing until they decided that's the only audience they're focusing on. I know a lot of men and teenage boys who play the Sims, though fewer play Sims 4. A lot of older women play, and I'm in that category. Sims has a massive audience, and making the best game possible as far as life simulation goes -- all aspects of life, not just a small part -- makes for a richer gaming experience. And everyone -- including teenage girls -- likes rich gaming experiences.

Edit: Can you imagine if Nintendo realized that girls like Mario, and made fundamental changes to the structure of the game based on, "well, girls should like this!" rather than just sticking with the formula that made everyone like it? It would have ended up fading away.

This is post nails EXACTLY why games deliberately aimed at young girls are always so bland. Most people running game companies and making games are grown men who had mostly male social circles during their elementary through high school years (because our society doesn't encourage kids to play in mixed-gender groups nearly as much as we should), have been taught since before they could talk that girls = soft and fragile and squeamish, and who never have had an honest conversation with a woman about her tastes and opinions where they actually listened to a single word out of her mouth because society tells men that women are this homogeneous group of oversensitive, braindead carebears who don't like anything cool and if you've heard one woman talk, you've heard 'em all. So, when making games for girls, what do they do? They rely on the old stereotypes that have been drilled into their heads since they were infants instead of actually talking and listening to their target audience, and they end up making shovelware trash as a result. And let's not even get into how even female game developers can easily fall into the same hole because they themselves have internalized the very same stereotypes, even though they know them to be biased generalizations based on their own personal experiences, because they've been hammered with them so much themselves that they just rely on them without even thinking, just like the guys.

Something about that quote from Drake also really unsettled me. Drake said, "...but we can’t always talk to teenage girls, so we talk to the people who talk to them." So, they're not actually forming focus groups of teenaged girls from diverse backgrounds and with varying personalities and tastes to talk to about what they want and don't want, like and don't like, in video games...they're mainly getting second-hand accounts from adults who "talk to" teen girls--so, therapist, school counselors, parents, etc.--whose accounts no doubt are colored by their own biases, preconceptions, and misconceptions about both teens in general, girls in general, and teen girls in particular, therefore making those accounts much less reliable than ACTUALLY HAVING A CONVERSATION WITH THE GIRLS AND LISTENING TO WHAT THEY HAVE TO SAY!! Oh, no, with girls, second-hand sources who CLAIM to know what's going on in our dizzy little fluff heads are more than good enough!!

Would they say that about the dudes who play GTA? "Well, we can't always talk to teen boys and young men, so we talk to the people who talk to them." No. They get their info direct from their target demographic, period. No second-hand accounts from teachers or therapists or parents or wives/mothers/sisters/girlfriends/homegirls. No. But somehow they think they can get away with that with girls. Like girls and women aren't important enough to actually be asked for our first-hand input!! That's how we ended up with those crappy Barbie games where Barbie was useless and helpless and died in, like, one hit, and controlled like absolute garbage. It's almost like they think female players don't want a game, just a slightly interactive screensaver. It's freaking insulting.