Character gender was important to me from the beginning, so I have a selection of gender for new players, and a rndom name generation system for NPCs that has both male and female variants for all races.

It still seems that "good gameplay" is the winner here. Which is good, because what else is there?

mentioned be4:
1. good gameplay
2. custom characters
3. color schemes (pink, purple)

some more:
1. pickup and play. The game should be easily learned and not make use of millions of buttons and lightningfast reflexes.
2. real interactivity. I think we will see wemen start gaming in large numbers as in the future handheld units may make use of mobile broadband allowing for simple interactivity. a game like animal crossing given real interactivity would bring droves of wemen into gaming. (based on belief that wemen need more social interaction)
3. game length. games that attract wemen need to have a game length that allows them to pickup put down and resume later at any point. I would suggest levelbased gameplay avg'ing 15 mins/lv. Most wemen I know don't play RPG's even though it makes sense that they should be more likely to be attracted to the rich storylines. The reason for this is because most of these games don't have periods inbetween storylines that give the player the feeling that they can pickup here later. Wemen dont want a game that requires them to dedicate large chunks of their life to finishing it. Essentialy when men feel like they need to do a to get to b to get to c they get a kick from determination. I think wemen are generally putoff by it. the pattern needs to be you do a to accomplish a, then if you want to do b you can but u can do c if its more appealing to you. (VERY longwinded)
4. Loading times. GET RID OF THEM.
5. optional collectible items. this is the other big factor of MMO's besides interactivity that I believe is pulling in wemen so rapidly.

these are suggestions made by me. I am a man, but the wemen seem to play games with these traits from what I see.

I can think of only one market segment: girlfriends and wives of the typically male wargame enthusiasts. What kind of game would the average young woman like to play with (or against) her SO? What casually witnessed game features could impress her enough to be picked up? I don't think there are good answers other than making a good game.
I'd rather stick to a traditional campaign wargame style and make it "gender inclusive", as JBourrie suggests, for example by avoiding useless sexist and immature elements.
If the game is about Mr/Ms Ambition conquering the world, anything that dilutes the ruthless attitude of deliberate aggression (battles) and deceptive manipulation (diplomatic interaction) just makes the game less effective and less fun.

"What do women want in a game?" the answer to that question is simply FUN.

I stopped by EBgames on my way home, and actually felt kind of odd when I noticed I was the ONLY GUY IN THE STORE. (kind of like how I felt in Stats this morning,... after noticing the only other guy in the class had a rainbow on his shirt and the lines "I want to be a man's man").

The person running the cash was a woman, 4 girls I'm guessing would have been in elementary, two or 3 teens, 4 university students, and 2 women who I would say were over 30.

What sort of games were they buying? (I usually watch what games people buy/ask for/look at anyway) the the two older ones were just browsing, guessing they were there with the younger girls. The university students, one was buying a used Xbox and Halo, one looking at a copy of the Sims2, one a copy of Anno 1701, the last looking at PS2 games. Didn't notice what the teens were really looking at, the girls were playing New Super Mario Bros I think, (or whatever it was loaded on the DS display)


So, designing a wargame 'for women' isn't any different than designing a war game for mature males. Make the game fun, and keep the characters sensible. I don't play games to look at the girls, I play games to have fun, and pixelized poorly animated girls that bounce far too much and wear far too little clothes for what they're doing isn't fun.

Armour, for a man or woman, is meant to PROTECT the wearer. A steel bikini is NOT armour and a warrior isn't going to wear it. Don't put it in any game.


As for the amazon warriors and having a part of it as trading men. Why wouldn't a guy play it? Provided we're not talking about trading men and then watching them strip and dance in game, and they're just a special type a resource, what difference does it make? I've played games where they had slaves and serfs. How is this overly different?

So, to summarize:

Good game-play
Women in key roles
Pink/purple units ;)
No half-naked women warriors

Quote:

Original post by ID Merlin So, to summarize: Good game-play Women in key roles Pink/purple units ;) No half-naked women warriors

and non musclebound males.

hmm... sounds like a final fantasy game

Quote:

Original post by yapposai Quote: Original post by ID Merlin So, to summarize: Good game-play Women in key roles Pink/purple units ;) No half-naked women warriors and non musclebound males. hmm... sounds like a final fantasy game

Rework that list to:

Good game-play.
Realistic characters and in game art.


See, very short, and guess what, it gets attention from both women AND men! Avoid the over done stereotypes of the sexes in game. Men aren't all super heroes, and women have more to their body than their chests.

Mmmm... I think this isn't really answering the question though. So men like games that appeal to their base instincts, while women like fun games? How about answering the same equivilants in women as men? what are womens' base instincts? maybe your marketting decides it DOES want to pander to the lowest common denominator of women. Not every game can be genuinely fun and original. That doesn't sell as well. :>

* I removed the LCD female targetted game concept and put it later in the post so it wouldn't turn too many people off right away. ;) *

I'm sure there are tamer uses for this. After all, while most games do involve physical violence, it's seldom overly graphic and frightening. I'm sure you could do less aggressive games targetted towards females, while still climbing social ladders and making a home. how about a game where you experiment with different activities, discovering what your character likes to do (not just what you the player likes to do. this would be role playing) and building a sense of self, and then a life of activities built around that self-image? :> (and that's not just a female-targetted game. I could probably do with a game like that)

oh... I see in the topic review while I'm writing this (I did read it, but didn't fully digest it all) that battle is only one part of gameplay. there are plenty of games where you manage a group of people, where there is combat once in a while. I played a game like that recently. it had the option of avoiding one or another type of gameplay, so you could it just combat or just town-raising. although I think that makes it somewhat unrealistic. perhaps if combat is just automatic, with the cost being averaged out in lives.


A Wargame that appeals to the LCD of women? Make the battle non-physical, and instead be wars of social engineering. ;> since it has to be the LCD of social engineering, this would consist of using weapons such as gossip, image/appearance, coercion, acting emotional, getting emotions reactions from others, manipulating others to do things... :> I suspect this is the "blood and guts" of the female world.
also, collect items. gotta pad the nest with nick-nacks. that's probably where the OCD collecting in games draws in so many females. they would serve purposes such as image (huge closet of shoes, art that makes you look smart, and/or rich, and/or caring), and financial (cashing in gifts from guys "courting"/dating you/sugar-daddies)...

How about the Grand Theft Auto of the female world: "B****, My Man Ain't Your Baby's Daddy" (Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back) Too far? We'll wait until it's a normal genre before we put out the stuff that pushes the envelope. :> It's not like they don't do this kind of thing on the male end of the LCD. plenty of games where you play gangsters.

Quote:

Original post by Talroth women have more to their body than their chests.

Not the last time I looked. [wink]




I kid! I kid!




[looksaround]




I'm actually a leg man. [grin]

Looks like you've got alot of stereotypes to work through. Read up on some psychology and find out what people want in games and don't try and cater a game specifically to any particular group. The fun thing is that the most basic aspects of "fun" are mostly universal.

Look at movies that both men and women enjoy. Look at men and women that aren't the stereotyped sort of macho guy and girly girl, disregard most of the stuff you learn from mass media and society, and ignore how everyone tells you they are.

Browse wikipedia for some time, rent some books from the library, and then come to the conclusion that you can't really design a game any other way than you personally can design it.

Oh, but here's an idea: find a woman somewhere around, and ask her opinion on the subject.