The reason that the majority of gamers are male is simple:

Games let you do things you can't do everyday.
Most guys (don't kill me for using "most") like guns and violence, especially if noone dies, this dosen't happen everyday.

Girls like other stuff... don't know what (avoiding flame) but girly stuff either dosen't make good games or could be done without a game.

As for there being few female charecters in games (excluding MMO's) i think it's becausce guys are programmed not to hurt girls (well, most of them) and blowing them into tiny pieces is probably feels a bit wrong for most of us.

Wittle girl.
It creeps me out when anyone asks for pictures. It's hard to explain why exactly you shouldn't ask a fifteen-year-old girl this. You would have though it would be fairly obvious.

jim_doki:
then the answer is tolerence. be nice to all gamers!

Well I suppose you migh allow me to ry to piss off a girl gamer once in while ,just to get my kicks, right?

mshcherbatskaya:

I don't think the key is to make more dating sims, I think the key is to make more Beyond Good and Evils, more Prince of Persias (I've heard several women mention in conversation that they liked that game), and more Bioshocks--I noticed a number of people mentioned hooking friends and family on Bioshock, which is rather violent, yes?--and more Mario Karts. (Though I can't play Mario games of any sort because Mario looks like a wee, cartoon Ron Jeremy, which I find irrationally irritating, but I'm rather strange. We know this.)

You got all the right games and you don't think Mario is cute. Can I join your harem? Internet lesbianism makes everything spicier.
P.S. Let's replace Mario Kart with good old Wipeout.

ayoama:

mshcherbatskaya:

I don't think the key is to make more dating sims, I think the key is to make more Beyond Good and Evils, more Prince of Persias (I've heard several women mention in conversation that they liked that game), and more Bioshocks--I noticed a number of people mentioned hooking friends and family on Bioshock, which is rather violent, yes?--and more Mario Karts. (Though I can't play Mario games of any sort because Mario looks like a wee, cartoon Ron Jeremy, which I find irrationally irritating, but I'm rather strange. We know this.)

You got all the right games and you don't think Mario is cute. Can I join your harem? Internet lesbianism makes everything spicier.
P.S. Let's replace Mario Kart with good old Wipeout.

BACK OFF! She's mine.

Crap_haT:

ayoama:

mshcherbatskaya:

I don't think the key is to make more dating sims, I think the key is to make more Beyond Good and Evils, more Prince of Persias (I've heard several women mention in conversation that they liked that game), and more Bioshocks--I noticed a number of people mentioned hooking friends and family on Bioshock, which is rather violent, yes?--and more Mario Karts. (Though I can't play Mario games of any sort because Mario looks like a wee, cartoon Ron Jeremy, which I find irrationally irritating, but I'm rather strange. We know this.)

You got all the right games and you don't think Mario is cute. Can I join your harem? Internet lesbianism makes everything spicier.
P.S. Let's replace Mario Kart with good old Wipeout.

BACK OFF! She's mine.

Well, seeing as everyone else is doing it I guess I'll do the same: Mshcherbatskaya, marry ME!
You're all that matters to me, you're my my everything, you're my light in the dark, my inspiration, my (I'm staring to ramble now but I think you get the point.) ;-)

P.S. your balls must feel really big. Wait a minute...(scratches head)...

Saskwach:

I could never imagine getting any of my family members hooked on Bioshock. My dad sees violence on screen and whinges about Hollywood and their obsession with sex, drugs and rock n roll (or something), I tried to get my sister into BG+E but she gave up on the hovercraft battle (I think this might be a problem spot for those who aren't interested in skill gaming), my brother is a gamer but shootan games are beyond him, and my mum smiles and nods respectfully when I get all superlative about Bioshock's plot. The violence would get to her too.

It's interesting that it's your dad exhibiting stereotypically feminine aversion to violence. I think the number of MEN who don't game because of the excessive violence is underestimated.

The vehicle battles in BG+E are my least favorite parts of the game. I don't know if the difficulty curve starts to high and you never get enough practice to feel good at it, or if it's just not very well executed altoghter. I think it kind of demonstrates my point that women are much less tolerant of flawed gameplay, which is counter to the stereotype that women like plot above all. It's true that it's easier to lure women in with plot, because it's culturally OK for women to like things with involved plots, but if you want to keep a woman playing your game, you'd better make sure your first few levels are polished to a shine, because women will not, in my opinion, battle through crap combat for the sake of pride. My reaction to crap combat is to be more or less insulted--"How dare you waste my time like I've got nothing better to do!" This is probably true of non-gamer guys.

I suspect that, when a non-gamer says, "This game is dumb!" and walks away, never to play again, if you were to look closely, you'd find that they gave up in a section of the game that is not intuitive, or not well executed, or has a sudden spike in difficulty level. These three things can all be considered game design flaws. In the end, what may separate gamers from non-gamers is a simple willingness to put up with a certain amount of mediocrity.

ayoama:

mshcherbatskaya:

I don't think the key is to make more dating sims, I think the key is to make more Beyond Good and Evils, more Prince of Persias (I've heard several women mention in conversation that they liked that game), and more Bioshocks--I noticed a number of people mentioned hooking friends and family on Bioshock, which is rather violent, yes?--and more Mario Karts. (Though I can't play Mario games of any sort because Mario looks like a wee, cartoon Ron Jeremy, which I find irrationally irritating, but I'm rather strange. We know this.)

You got all the right games and you don't think Mario is cute. Can I join your harem? Internet lesbianism makes everything spicier.
P.S. Let's replace Mario Kart with good old Wipeout.

OK, so who have we got here: Crap-haT, jim-doki, Smiles, and ayoama. (EDIT: and tooktook) So we can go harem or we can go mini-tournament. I'm fine either way. And I think the guys might agree with the whole Internet lesbianism thing. If we went tournament, since there is an odd number of (odd) players, a couple people would have bye rounds. Or would that be bi rounds...

The games in the list are ones that I remember multiple people saying were games that their girlfriends/sisters/friends/parents liked. I think if you go back through the threads, the games that the non-gamers eventually converted to are standard-bearers in their genre. This is true of "girly" games like The Sims. A Sims-type game that wasn't very good would not have a female player base, no matter how sweetly domestic it was. The Sims is not successful with women because it's girly, it's successful because it's good.

roo18:
Wittle girl.
It creeps me out when anyone asks for pictures. It's hard to explain why exactly you shouldn't ask a fifteen-year-old girl this. You would have though it would be fairly obvious.

Fifteen or not, its so superficial. f they are stupid enough to ask that kinda question I hope they never know the touch of a woman and die that way. Any girl willing to sell themselves out to guys like that deserve the pain that is in store for them when that guy treats them like trash and walks out on them. Seriously, girls today have fallen so far and let guys lower their worth to objects. And yes, Guys are dirty bastards but they should have enough self control to respect females enough to keep it to themselves.

Can you guess my sex? and Yes, This is an issue that pisses me off. Too often I see women deserve better but have let themselves believe the lies this world tells them.

ARG!!! :P

<Male> for those who are slow... :>

it is wierd in games when i am in a party whith a girl, most of the time in the irst few minutes of the game some one will make fun of her voice then find out she is a girl and apoligize for about a minute.

Male. And it would be weird to ask anyone for pictures.

conquerworm:

roo18:
Wittle girl.
It creeps me out when anyone asks for pictures. It's hard to explain why exactly you shouldn't ask a fifteen-year-old girl this. You would have though it would be fairly obvious.

Fifteen or not, its so superficial. f they are stupid enough to ask that kinda question I hope they never know the touch of a woman and die that way. Any girl willing to sell themselves out to guys like that deserve the pain that is in store for them when that guy treats them like trash and walks out on them. Seriously, girls today have fallen so far and let guys lower their worth to objects. And yes, Guys are dirty bastards but they should have enough self control to respect females enough to keep it to themselves.

Can you guess my sex? and Yes, This is an issue that pisses me off. Too often I see women deserve better but have let themselves believe the lies this world tells them.

ARG!!! :P

<Male> for those who are slow... :>

whoa there buddy i think yo just need to relaxe and stop watching MTV and you will relise that now a days most men respect woman they way they should and that it is only a minority of men who( however loud they may be) do not represent te rest of mankind so just relase and enjoy life

mshcherbatskaya:

ayoama:

mshcherbatskaya:

I don't think the key is to make more dating sims, I think the key is to make more Beyond Good and Evils, more Prince of Persias (I've heard several women mention in conversation that they liked that game), and more Bioshocks--I noticed a number of people mentioned hooking friends and family on Bioshock, which is rather violent, yes?--and more Mario Karts. (Though I can't play Mario games of any sort because Mario looks like a wee, cartoon Ron Jeremy, which I find irrationally irritating, but I'm rather strange. We know this.)

You got all the right games and you don't think Mario is cute. Can I join your harem? Internet lesbianism makes everything spicier.
P.S. Let's replace Mario Kart with good old Wipeout.

OK, so who have we got here: Crap-haT, jim-doki, Smiles, and ayoama. (EDIT: and tooktook) So we can go harem or we can go mini-tournament. I'm fine either way. And I think the guys might agree with the whole Internet lesbianism thing. If we went tournament, since there is an odd number of (odd) players, a couple people would have bye rounds. Or would that be bi rounds...

The games in the list are ones that I remember multiple people saying were games that their girlfriends/sisters/friends/parents liked. I think if you go back through the threads, the games that the non-gamers eventually converted to are standard-bearers in their genre. This is true of "girly" games like The Sims. A Sims-type game that wasn't very good would not have a female player base, no matter how sweetly domestic it was. The Sims is not successful with women because it's girly, it's successful because it's good.

i want expecting anything like that to happen on this thread but what the hell go nuts its a free country after all

I was born intersex and am offended for not having been included in this poll.

I'm a guy. But I must say, I too was offended at the lack of a hermaphrodite (or eunuch) option.

I am male. And just to add this in. Around where I live girls are hooked fairly easily into gaming with Final Fantasy X and slow difficulty expansion into differnt genres after that. Strangely its fairly easy to do in my town.

Then again we are a small town so it could just be the sheer boredem that drags local girls into gaming.

gnaw:
I was born intersex and am offended for not having been included in this poll.

Cool! Gender variance is the new black.

We should have a boys vs girls tournament on something

mshcherbatskaya:
A Sims-type game that wasn't very good would not have a female player base, no matter how sweetly domestic it was. The Sims is not successful with women because it's girly, it's successful because it's good.

I wholeheartedly agree. That would explain for example my little infatuation with Devil May Cry 3, which is full of awfully corny testosterone powered elements but has a gameplay I find truly addictive.
That said, probably games like Beyond Good and Evil, which feature simple and intuitive gameplays, a little bit of variety and generally likeable characters and scenarios are the best ones to try when introducing someone to videogames. I feel a less boisterous tone could be a bonus: unfortunately videogames tend to be a bit extreme in their design nowadays, which is not a fault per se (Tarantino's style could be deemed excessive, but that's part of its charm) but makes it difficult for someone who's not into games to begin feeling at ease. Taking into account cultural influences, I think this applies especially to women.

You left no option for androgynous space man.

Not as many girls as I thought there would be thus far (only 9.7%).

I think its very hard to generalise about 'girl gamers'. The girls that I have known outside of the magical realm of the internet who are/were in to games (and openly admitted it) are fiercely individual and resist catagorisation. For the sake of study here are a few examples of female friends of mine that play games:
C is a Wii gamer, if a controller has too many buttons (or is a mouse and keyboard) she dismisses the unintuitive design. C is also one of the few people I know who uses the exercise features of the Wii console (and I have never seen anyone quite so good at Wii-Sports' Bowling, ever). C also has no sympathy for the established Nintendo brands (such as the fat plumber or the egg laying dinosaur) and only cares for the gameplay. When asked about the new release of Mario-Kart her response was "what the hell is Mario-Kart?" (to many of us who grew up with MK and MK64, such a gap in an Nintendo-user's knowledge seems incredulous - but true).
R loves shoot-em-ups and action games. I am not sure why, when pressed on the matter R doesn't give a clear answer (I suppose R shares whatever personality element that draws a pacifist hippie type such as myself into games where I am asked to reduce my foe to chunks of bloody gore). R, who like myself prefers a mouse and keyboard interface (but then her parents never bought her or her little bro a console while they were younger), is also the least open about her forays into the gaming world, living a double-life where the subject of games is only mentioned in the company of other gamer and entirely kept away from certain social circles.
B is an RPG gamer, who 'cut' her proverbial 'gaming teeth' on the Baldur's Gate series and other RPGs (from what I think of as the golden age of RPG gaming - before the MMO's) before eventually getting hooked on WoW to the detriment of her social life. After throwing off the shackles of MMO addiction B returned to the non-gaming world by going off to university. It is worth noting that C, R and B are all undergraduate students between the ages of 19 and 22. None of them own a copy of Sims2 though I am assured that B had the original game.

I am not passing any kind of judgement, just trying to demonstrate the different approaches to gaming that I have seen from girls I know and how none have conformed to any particular stereotype about 'gamers' or 'girl gamers'. In terms of social expectations I am fairly sure that it is easier to be a male gamer than female...but then, generally speaking, it is harder to find a girl (beyond this forum) that 'understands' gaming. For example, I have never been able to use my former status as a Top 5 European ranked clan-member on Jedi Knight Academy as a chat-up line.

Male right here!!

I seem to forget a good deal of things lately...but I still remember that I'm male.

Don't we have the girl gamers discussion every month or so here? Seems like it anyway..well whatever. The biggest wealth of experience I've had with them was with my sister when we were younger. Any game that we could play together (Super Mario Brothers 3, anyone?) we had to play cooperatively. If I even started to get too competitive or aggressive, she shortly stopped playing. She just wasn't interested in being hyper-aggressive for a video game. She also liked calling on my help for sections she was having a hard time with in single player games, as well. Sometimes, she just flat out asked me to get through a section that was giving her trouble. Ironic, since those were pretty much the only times we ever didn't openly hate each other...

Perhaps girls just don't get hyper-competitive about video games like guys do. In several tournaments I've seen in my college days, the number of girls that entered was very miniscule. And since many games come off that way nowadays (the multitude of kill-each-other FPS's comes to mind), it may be resulting in a general lack of interest from the female front. I know this isn't not the tried-and-true law of game players or girls, but it seems to be the case in my experience.

@ mshcherbatskaya: Ha ha, I'd say having your own harem means your life isn't fail...at least completely...I think I just dug myself into a hole.

Alternatively, I could have argued how my life was also full of fail...but then we'd be playing the one-up game on the worse scenario. And no one wins at those.

Necrohydra:
I seem to forget a good deal of things lately...but I still remember that I'm male.

...If I even started to get too competitive or aggressive, she shortly stopped playing. She just wasn't interested in being hyper-aggressive for a video game. She also liked calling on my help for sections she was having a hard time with in single player games, as well. ...Perhaps girls just don't get hyper-competitive about video games like guys do.

Although it's generally dangerous to make generalizations (ha!) this is my experience as well. I think it's why many women have no patience with game flaws--they don't have the competitive drive to "beat" the game. This is probably true of large numbers of non-gamer guys as well.

@ mshcherbatskaya: Ha ha, I'd say having your own harem means your life isn't fail...at least completely...I think I just dug myself into a hole. Alternatively, I could have argued how my life was also full of fail...but then we'd be playing the one-up game on the worse scenario. And no one wins at those.

My online life has all the success that my real life does not. Now that my real life is taking an upswing, it will be interesting to see if the volume of fail is actually reduced or just displaced, in wich case i mite start typeing like this lol.

redstar alpha:

whoa there buddy i think yo just need to relaxe and stop watching MTV and you will relise that now a days most men respect woman they way they should and that it is only a minority of men who( however loud they may be) do not represent te rest of mankind so just relase and enjoy life

Heheh, I don't have TV, so no MTV. That opinion is from personal experience and what I see at clubs and bars. You would be surprised at what respect for oneself or others has degraded to when you compare it to a moral base.

mshcherbatskaya:

Necrohydra:
I seem to forget a good deal of things lately...but I still remember that I'm male.

...If I even started to get too competitive or aggressive, she shortly stopped playing. She just wasn't interested in being hyper-aggressive for a video game. She also liked calling on my help for sections she was having a hard time with in single player games, as well. ...Perhaps girls just don't get hyper-competitive about video games like guys do.

Although it's generally dangerous to make generalizations (ha!) this is my experience as well. I think it's why many women have no patience with game flaws--they don't have the competitive drive to "beat" the game. This is probably true of large numbers of non-gamer guys as well.

Yeah, I didn't mean to generalize; just stating my own opinion and findings on the matter. I found it rather odd that while my sister wasn't so competitive at games, she was pretty competitive with sports and other outdoor activities. I would say that people pick and choose the hobbies they wish to be serious about; everything else goes on the backburner. Given that, if a person doesn't really get hooked in by gaming during their first play experience, it's unlikely they will ever become a serious gamer.

My online life has all the success that my real life does not. Now that my real life is taking an upswing, it will be interesting to see if the volume of fail is actually reduced or just displaced, in wich case i mite start typeing like this lol.

So, you're proposing that failure obeys the same laws as energy - it's neither created nor destroyed, it simply changes form? Interesting...

And thanks for making my eyes bleed; as if staring at black and blue all day didn't do that for me.

...Female. >_>

jim_doki:
THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!!!!!!

*ahem*
see, I like the idea of great games being made more, games that are so good they trancend gender. I've always liked that idea. I just think it's time for a game directly targeted at "the ladies" that doesn't suck. This is really showing my ignorance, but what WOULD get a girl interested in gaming? I've seen that cute and good controls work, (god bless you super monkey ball), but is there a single concept, like say blowing stuff up, that appeals to ladies?

No, just like with games that appeal to guys, there's no one magical genre or game type that appeals to females. We all have different tastes.

Personally, my thoughts on the subject are usually as follows: Make good games. Make fun games. You will find your audience. Back in the 80's for example, nobody cared about demographics, and lots of games had universal appeal.

I picked up gaming from my mother. Her younger sisters (my aunts) also played. I knew other girls who played. Nobody made a big deal out of it. They were just making games, not focusing on girl games and boy games, just games. And that's how it should be.

mshcherbatskaya - you seem familiar, are you on a few LJ gaming comms?

roo18:
Wittle girl.
It creeps me out when anyone asks for pictures. It's hard to explain why exactly you shouldn't ask a fifteen-year-old girl this. You would have though it would be fairly obvious.

I'm a 23-year old ladything, and it creeps me out too. The Internet is one big boiling pot of social failure, and I like to get to know people a little better before they can see what I look like. And if I ask you for a picture first and you send me your penis, you're never hearing from me again, and probably hearing quite soon from local law enforcement.

Anyway, most of the trouble with typecasting girl gamers is putting the girl before the gamer. I don't figure my crippling RPG addiction as a result of my sex so much as my shiny-eyed love of immersion storytelling, although I do get a bit jumpy when the atmosphere gets too intense (fuck you silent hill!). I don't play FPS', though that's due more to getting motion-sick at the first-person perspective in general. Hell, I only got through Morrowind in third person, and even then I had to go lay down every now and then to stop the world from dancing.

I'm male and as far as I know I have always been one.

Female and old enough to be your mom.

Anarien:
mshcherbatskaya - you seem familiar, are you on a few LJ gaming comms?

I do have an LJ, but I'm not currently involved in any gaming comms. This screen name is relatively new for me. I wrote a bit of fanfiction recently and posted it to an archive, but that's pretty much it, I think.

XRodent:
Female and old enough to be your mom.

Hahahaha! I just realized yesterday that I bought my current TV in 1992, which means I own a TV that is older than a great many of the people on this board.

Im a very competitive gamer! I dont give up even when i come to those stupidly hard to beat bosses, or those crazy nonsensical puzzles, maybe Im a little too determined to beat things on my own...Im generally very competitive in life too... I like being the best...