A 14-year-old girl had to email the COO of Electronic Arts to get them to wake up to the fact that girls play video games. People have been trying to find a solution to the "problem" of girls playing the same video games that boys do, but only a select few companies have covered any real ground in this area. So here's my solution to the whole thing. I have a fiancée who plays games with me. I know it must be tough to be married to a guy who has played more video games than everyone else on the entire block combined, but somehow she puts up with it long enough to actually enjoy some of the games we play together. It’s because of this that I can speak with some experience on one matter in particular. Girls are severely underrepresented in video games. Yes, it’s true, video games are one of the last bastions of “boys clubs” and I’m sure there are plenty of guys who would prefer to keep it that way. However, I can tell you from personal experience that when guys see a girl who can kick their butts seven ways from Sunday in a game like Halo or Call of Duty, it’s met with more “Oooooooh”s than “Ewwwww”s. So why is it that a little 14 year old girl has to write to the COO of Electronic Arts just to make it so that girl gamers can make female versions of themselves in NHL 12? Why is it that in this day and age there are still far too few games that are friendly to both genders? And before we go on, let me take a moment to absolutely lambaste the gaming companies that make P.O.S. games like Mary Kate and Ashley’s Sweet Sixteen or Cooking Mama. Those aren’t games, they’re abominations. That would be like giving a guy “Truck Driver: The Video Game” or “Carpenter’s Dilemma” or something awful. It would be absolutely trashed in the ratings. I’m talking about games with depth, with story, with heart. I’m talking about games that someone has taken the time to actually piece together a tale of epic proportions. Games that have a strong female lead or at least allow the player to pick a strong female character. And you know what, these games have already been made. Take a look at Mirror’s Edge. It’s a puzzle-based game with a female lead that doesn’t need to show off her “assets” to get attention. Faye is a butt-kicking machine! So what, she happens to be female, it hardly ever matters. Sexuality was not an issue in that game and it shouldn’t have been. Want more examples? Take a look at almost every game Bethesda has published. Fallout 3 and Oblivion both allow the player to choose whatever gender they want and the game is tailored around that choice (and many more). The female characters are never hypersexualized. It all fits with the rest of the environment. Or look at Wet. The game wasn’t great, but sexuality was not an issue in it. Why? Because the fact that the main character was an attractive female didn’t matter. She was an attractive female but she didn’t flaunt that or use that to her advantage. It was just another attribute.
Girls don’t need new games, they need stronger role models. They need to know that they have other excellent qualities aside from their bodies. They need to know that being smart, athletic, and strong are good things. We need more games that emphasize these attributes.
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7/31/2013 06:07:30 pm
A girl from US wrote a letter to the CEO of Electronic Arts recently which told him that girls too play video games. Actually most of the games manufacturing company’s targets are boys. They design it according to the attitude of boys. But there are some games having the central character a woman. Mirror Edge, Lara Croft the Tomb Raider is some examples. In my opinion game companies should design games by keeping boys and girls in mind.
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The Legendary Carmine
Andrew Clayton (a.k.a. The Legendary Carmine) is SSG's Executive Editor. He toils at the stone to make sure this site brings its readers valuable content on a daily basis. Like what we do? Want to see more? Donate to the site using the button below!
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