Women do love games. The market share before the toy stores made it a choice of who to cater to were about even. Women made some of the best games early on, and the female gamer demographic never went away, it just got shoved to the side for fanservice.
There are plenty of games for women, and im not saying this dismissively. It depends what these women like. They just aren’t hardcore soulslikes. Most women arent into that. They prefer casual or social games they can fit onto their existing life, like candy crush or farmville.
I’m a woman gamer, most of my ladyfriends are gamers. I definitely play a different subset of games than most of them, but there’s no real lack…
We even have big franchise games that are aimed toward women like horizon. I fucking loved those games, and we need more like that! They made me better at shooters in general, a genre I have never been good at or spent time with due in part to how male-focused it was.
They just aren’t hardcore soulslikes. Most women arent into that. They prefer casual or social games they can fit onto their existing life, like candy crush or farmville.
I think this is a symptom of how women are ostracised/marketed to in the gaming sphere rather than an actual predisposition. The split of women and men (and everyone in between) in my life who enjoy more action oriented games, vs cozy games, vs strategy games, vs etc, is pretty much even, but the women (and non women who were Arab) had a harder time getting to the point where they felt they were “allowed” to try the games that are typically heavily marketed toward men, and typically associated with men.
I can speak to it from the opposite side as well, having grown up assigned male, I spent a great deal of time feeling like I wasn’t allowed to play, or should feel shame for enjoying, cozy games, farming games, games with a more “typically feminine” aesthetic. And that shame came from other gamers, and from the wider conversation around games by media and marketing. But I do like cozy games and farming games! (And I’m a woman, but that discovery came later xP)
What I can agree with, which I think is slightly buried in the subtext of your comment, is that it’s far more socially accepted for a man to base his life around games. For (some) women who enjoy soulslikes, they might play for shorter times, or less frequently, as lapsing on other facets of life or responsibilities is more heavily frowned upon (by wider society) in women. But (many) men can happily spend 3, 4, 5, 8 hours a day playing video games without all that much judgement (which is fine! I don’t think people should be judged for doing what they enjoy as long as it doesn’t cause harm - the same “social leniency” is simply not offered to women).
Well said! I think it’s a matter of identity too. My mom plays bejeweled and Farmville, and used to play SNES. She didn’t like 64, but played Myst and Riven and lots of PC games.
But if you ask her if she’s a gamer she’ll say no without hesitation.
I think “gamer” has been pretty tainted and is mostly used pejoratively nowadays. I play a lot of games but do not want to be associated with capital G Gamers and all the toxicity
Women do love games. The market share before the toy stores made it a choice of who to cater to were about even. Women made some of the best games early on, and the female gamer demographic never went away, it just got shoved to the side for fanservice.
There are plenty of games for women, and im not saying this dismissively. It depends what these women like. They just aren’t hardcore soulslikes. Most women arent into that. They prefer casual or social games they can fit onto their existing life, like candy crush or farmville.
I’m a woman gamer, most of my ladyfriends are gamers. I definitely play a different subset of games than most of them, but there’s no real lack…
We even have big franchise games that are aimed toward women like horizon. I fucking loved those games, and we need more like that! They made me better at shooters in general, a genre I have never been good at or spent time with due in part to how male-focused it was.
I think this is a symptom of how women are ostracised/marketed to in the gaming sphere rather than an actual predisposition. The split of women and men (and everyone in between) in my life who enjoy more action oriented games, vs cozy games, vs strategy games, vs etc, is pretty much even, but the women (and non women who were Arab) had a harder time getting to the point where they felt they were “allowed” to try the games that are typically heavily marketed toward men, and typically associated with men.
I can speak to it from the opposite side as well, having grown up assigned male, I spent a great deal of time feeling like I wasn’t allowed to play, or should feel shame for enjoying, cozy games, farming games, games with a more “typically feminine” aesthetic. And that shame came from other gamers, and from the wider conversation around games by media and marketing. But I do like cozy games and farming games! (And I’m a woman, but that discovery came later xP)
What I can agree with, which I think is slightly buried in the subtext of your comment, is that it’s far more socially accepted for a man to base his life around games. For (some) women who enjoy soulslikes, they might play for shorter times, or less frequently, as lapsing on other facets of life or responsibilities is more heavily frowned upon (by wider society) in women. But (many) men can happily spend 3, 4, 5, 8 hours a day playing video games without all that much judgement (which is fine! I don’t think people should be judged for doing what they enjoy as long as it doesn’t cause harm - the same “social leniency” is simply not offered to women).
what even is this take
A woman I work with only plays one game: Call of Duty.
Cool, I’m glad she’s into it.
Why is this being treated a a refutation to my personal opinion?
It isn’t.
Then why does it matter?
It was another example about the variety of games that women play, intended to be positive but you seem to think it was somehow negative.
Sorry for agreeing with your point that women have made and played a wide variety of games.
Well said! I think it’s a matter of identity too. My mom plays bejeweled and Farmville, and used to play SNES. She didn’t like 64, but played Myst and Riven and lots of PC games.
But if you ask her if she’s a gamer she’ll say no without hesitation.
I think “gamer” has been pretty tainted and is mostly used pejoratively nowadays. I play a lot of games but do not want to be associated with capital G Gamers and all the toxicity