Gender Inclusive Game Design: Expanding The Market (ADVANCES IN COMPUTER GRAPHICS AND GAME DEVELOPMENT SERIES) 1st Edition

by Sheri Graner Ray (Author)

17 ratings

ISBN-13: 978-1584502395

ISBN-10: 1584502398

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Women and girls of today are more tech savvy than ever before and research shows that they currently make up over 52% of Internet users and 70% of casual online gamers. Why then, is the game industry still producing computer games that primarily target males ages 13-25? With this tight focus, game developers are not only sharply limiting their possible total income, but they are losing sight of the bigger picture. The games industry is currently growing faster than the target market. To keep the industry strong and growing, game developers must start looking at expanding their market, which means designing titles that are accessible to the female audience. Successful entertainment industries have sustained growth for decades because they have considered the diversity of their audiences. Today's blockbuster products, be it movies, recordings or books, are most often the ones with elements that directly appeal to many market sectors, while containing very few barriers to access for others. By understanding the issues and barriers connected to gender, the game industry can benefit from a similar growth strategy. Gender Inclusive Game Design: Expanding the Market addresses issues that help designers and developers understand the real differences between how the genders approach and resolve conflicts, and what their entertainment criteria and responses are. It also explores the differences in reward systems, game play preferences, and avatar selection criteria, and how these issues all apply to game design, regardless of genre. By understanding these differences, designers can apply this knowledge to the traditional genres that make up the contemporary computer game industry and begin tapping the future market. Perhaps the real question developers need to be asking themselves is, "but what if the player is female?"

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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Sheri Graner Ray has been in the computer industry for over ten years and founded a game development company dedicated to designing games for girls, Sirenia Software, Inc. She was also the Director of Product Development for Her Interactive, Inc., and was a designer/writer for Origin Systems, Inc. She is a frequent speaker at the Game Developer Conference and is the co-chair for the Women in Game Development committee of the International Game Developers Association. Sheri is currently a Senior Designer for Sony Online Entertainment.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cengage Learning; 1st edition (September 30, 2003)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 350 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1584502398
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1584502395
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.05 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9.25 x 1 x 6.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,927,652 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #815 in Computer & Video Game Design
- #2,146 in Game Programming
- #2,419 in Computer Graphics

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Crunchy One

Female gamer and designer here

Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2006

I have spent quite some time in the industry, designing games - as well as playing them. During my time in the industry, most of the women I worked with were in HR; very few were in game development.

Which made arguing my point with the men I worked with rather challenging, since the ratio of men to women at work was so much greater, and I was frequently told, "women just don't play games." Which I knew to be patently false, as there were and still are several online forums and sites run by women gamers. There just weren't that MANY of them at the time, so no one was interested in giving a player a choice in gender.

Times have changed, and many games offer up male and female characters, so it's rather easy for a woman to play a decent, strong, female character. I believe that there are more female gamers today than there were, say, 10 years ago. Perhaps that is because the younger female generation is getting turned onto computers instead of make up, clothes and popularity contests like they were in my generation. Then again, perhaps I'm just reflecting upon my own personal experience here.

I'm not sure I believe the 70% ratio (women to men) where "causal online gamers" are concerned. I am still quite a gamer, and do not experience that ratio in any of the MMOGs that I play. I feel that the number is more like maybe 15% F/M, as that is what I've experienced over the years - I'm being generous here, too. (Does that percentage include Pop Cap games, perhaps? Online card games? If so, that's a completely different beast.)

All in all, I do feel it is important for there to be games that allow both genders to play strong characters of both sexes. There are girls out there who game, and they deserve to have games available that allow them to create and play what may very well become a strong role model for them - as for many of us, our characters are simply an extension of ourselves.

6 people found this helpful

Helpful

Charles Lentz

I never thought of it that way before....

Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2005

I'll admit it...I'm a game design student who likes to read and is therefore obviously partial to books related to the video game industry. I have an ever-growing library of texts on many different areas within the context of games. Books on the history of Nintendo, books about breaking into the industry, books about good design techniques etc... I do research online, read industry news, and overall try to read up on what people who are already in the industry have to say about it.

Having said that, I also take the things I read with a grain of salt. You can't believe everything that you read; as the saying goes. However, I do feel that the best way to expand your own thinking is to be open-minded to what other people are saying. And it is with that open mind that I read Sheri Ray's book.

I must say, that there were plenty of times while reading where I thought to myself, `wow, I never saw it that way before.' For me, these are enjoyable discoveries. I like to stumble upon little things that affect the way I look at things. Sheri did a wonderful job of capturing my attention, and providing me with little discoveries about why men and women are attracted to games. I enjoyed her examples and would love to see other authors go in this direction.

After reading her book, I look at games in a different manner now. I pick out the visual stimulus, the inclusion of puzzle elements, and whether targets are moving in an uncluttered field or not. Looking at them now, the games I play have seamlessly included elements that make me enjoy them more.

The things that Sheri points out are nice to have in the back of your mind when thinking about games. Even though many of us will never have a concept that gets made into a game, we might be working on a title that someone else has envisioned and help it move towards capturing a larger market.

I recommend this book as an eye opener for those of us stuck in our own thoughts about what makes a good game good. While it is not possible to appeal to every market with one game, if we'd like to design a game to appeal to more females, then reading Sheri's book and doing other related research can definitely move us in the right direction.

10 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Tom

Important read, but very flawed

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 18, 2012

Verified Purchase

This is an important contribution to the debate on how to make games that appeal to a wider demographic. For that reason purely, if you're interested in this topic, or that of why womens' engagement with video games tends to be different to that of men, you should read this.

However, Graner-Ray's analysis is fatally flawed - it fails to take into account gender roles, identities and what society expects of men and women. Statements such as 'most women prefer non-zero sum conflict' just don't ring true. Have you ever seen 2 or more women competing for a man or for the last desirable item in a sale?! No different to men.

The basic message of the book is that 'pinkyfying games' doesn't work. This is true. But the subsequent message that it conveys is that women are almost genetically predisposed towards certain mechanics within games. Whilst she is making these assumptions based on observations that she and others have made, her analysis is incomplete.

For those interested in this topic, I would suggest you also read 'From Barbie to Mortal Kombat' and, even more so, 'Beyond Barbie and Mortal Kombat'. Both are collections of papers/essays from a conference on the topic of women as games players (cf. women WORKING in the games industry - a separate but linked topic). One from 1998, the other from 2008.

2 people found this helpful

R. Cunningham

Resourcefull

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 2, 2009

Verified Purchase

I am currently studying the issue of Gender Representation in Games Design for a university project and this book has been an excellent source of information. Sheri Graner Ray explores the historical contexts of gender diverse games, explaining some of the early issues companies (Such as Her Interactive and Purple Moon) faced when trying to enter the industry. She also goes on to explain the social and psychological behaviours of women when it comes to using computers and gaming, and how these behaviours differ from men. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the critical study of games, including gender representation.

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Gender Inclusive Game Design: Expanding The Market (ADVANCES IN COMPUTER GRAPHICS AND GAME DEVELOPMENT SERIES) 1st Edition

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