What a girl wants, A Guide for Female Gamers

One of our authors wrote this entry back an January six months ago, but apparently the article has hit a nerve with some of our readers. The '5 Commandments of what a female wants from games' is definitely opinionated, however maybe she needed 10 to get her point entirely across. We have included our own opinion above the column, and as she's a big time WoW fan, we felt her dialogue was exactly what most gamers would relate to.

[SpaceSquirrel]

Pretty good list. The depiction of women in game needs to be better.

[GammaTru]

Laura Croft?

Anyway, I'm a 'girl gamer' (not a title I particularly identify with) and mostly play single player games or just play with my mates, most of whom are male anyway. I'm not a FPS player really, so I haven't encountered much asshattery. Maybe I'm just lucky? I've certainly never been given any free stuff in MMO's on account of having boobs, which is a damn shame :( I love free stuff >_>

It's a good article and I agree with the points raised. I would love to see more stronger female characters. i'm not bothered by violence/sex in games if it's done well either, I really enjoyed the romantic subplots of Mass Effect 1/2 for instance as they focussed a lot on character relationships. I would love to see more of that!

I do somewhat disagree with Lara Croft being a bad role model though. Yeah, she's been groomed as eye-candy, but discounting the recent remake, she's strong, tough and in control of her life. Even Bayonetta, who seems to raise more eyebrows amongst male gamers than female gamers, is a great gaming character as she is also tough, skilled and owns her own sexuality.

Characters are getting better, although yes, I would love to see more female main characters too.

[LightofDarkness]

I agree, Bayonetta's sexuality was almost a weapon in that game, which was an interesting take. She was certainly strong-willed and independent and never shown to be overly emotional or in need of some masculine rescuing (as women in games tend to be).

Samus Aran is still the most awesome lady in gaming, though (not counting Other M, because screw that game).

[gameguidedog]

I concur on the Tomb Raider front. That series is kind of the staple of my gaming, and i'm a guy. Isn't so much that it's a female lead, albeit she gets nicer looking each release, it's more the spelunking and exploring I can't really find in other games. Uncharted tries, but it's more action than going into pyramids and caves and exploring. All that said, I know the story is taken with a grain of salt for most guys, but i'm a guy, not a gal, and like playing as a gal in games if she's strong or has the better buffs for a group, so i'd say it's a sexual orientation argument less about the characters and more about how the people who play them when they are guy playing a gal and i'm sure the other way around in terms of communication via MMO that can irk some folks. If's a single story mode, godspeed to everyone and in closing, this conv has got me wanting to grab a copy of Bayonetta since I let the mixed reviews get to me. The gameplay footage looked awesome and i'd love to destroy some gi-hugic creatures with a kickass heroine. That's my 2 cents. :) If you are curious what's being said on our side of the pond you can see the sillyness here: http://videogames.gameguide...

[Kee]

Everyone has different tastes... But this list just sounds like things everyone wants more of in a game.

[Hicken]

Yeah, I pretty much see the same thing. I'm not quite getting why this is labeled as something for female gamers.

On that note, why does it seem like every other week, women are asking for special recognition in gaming?

[FCOLitsjustagame]

Amazing isnt it...that gamers are gamers. Though it shouldnt be amazing I mean we all expect female sports fans to actually want their team to win so why wouldn't we expect female gamers to want good games.

As a female gamer (who likes all types of games FPS especially) I thought the list was fine but I don't actually need to have strong leading female character. I am perfectly fine with the lead male characters in most games. But when a game does have a female character it annoys the hell out of me when they sterotype them.

Generally its the small things in an otherwise decent representation that annoys me. In Mass Effect 1 I didn't like Ashley as a person (because she was a bit racist) but what really annoyed me in the representation was her initial powerder pink striped armor. Seriously, stuff like THAT annoys me. It is what I am petty about. Otherwise I don't get too worked up about stuff and I don't really see what the problem with Laura Croft was...sure she was over the top on the tight shorts and the boobs but in the few games (and one movie) I have played/seen in the series they don't see to portray her as any sort of ditz. Though really long pants with pockets would be better logical suit for climbing around in bug ridden jungles and caves. Though not all games have the male character in practical attire either so whatcanyoudo....

[Peekayboo]

If you want to say how a game is made make it yourself but don't tell everyone eles what to do and cry about it. If you believe in your idea go for it

[CrescentFang]

I'm not sure how people are going to take this, but here goes...
A lot of Japanese games get bashed for treating women in a different way. But here's the problem, women are viewed a little different in different countries and there's no way to stop that. If you ever decide to argue about how women are treated in a game just take into consideration what country it's from and the intended audience.
(ex. Catherine was made for the Japanese audience) I'm pretty sure sometimes the audience for a game is not for the country it was made in... but I don't know much about other countries who are into game developing...

[Pikajew]

Where is Cooking Mama?

[StifflerK]

0_o

if Gok Wai and Mr Ed had a baby, it'd be that girl in the main pic........ nasty.

[bacrec1]

I like females

[JerryMatters]

Heh, so do I, just not the one in the picture.