quote:Oh come on, don''t tell me you didn''t know that women have a much longer memory spam than us males? Can you remember the date you and your gf first met? I''ll bet she does.
Females are much much better at remembering things that don''t matter. However, try to find one who knows the entire dialogue of all the Star Wars movies!
Hmm. Well, I played Magic before I had a boyfriend that did. I also had 2 other female friends and my sister that played Magic. None of us play any more, though, mostly because we were sickened by how the game was being marketed (that whole common, uncommon, rare scheme was idiotic in the first place - a deck should be one of every card in the set and some land) and because new cards weren''t coming out fast enough.
As for women remembering things better than guys... well, I doubt women actually have better memories. My guess is that women preferentially pay attention to certain types of info (stories and anything with emotional significance) and men preferentially pay attention to different types of info (factoids, soundbites, visual images) and naturally everyone remembers best what they paid the most attention to in the first place.
As for women chatting and playing pretend - I don''t currently have the free time to mud or play a MMORPG, but I always enjoyed a good elaborate game of pretend. IMO props are essential to a good game of cooperative pretend: some pretty toy animals or dolls or whatever to anchor your canception of the character to, and some handy props to be the foozles, money, tools, and luxuries (a sparkly shooter marble, a doll-sized necklace, some sticks, scraps of fabric...) oh and don''t forget some blocks or yarn to outline various buildings and territories. When I''m just imagining fiction by myself I don''t need props, but when you''re pretending cooperatively with someone else they''re very helpful for keeping track of everything. Of the girls I have watched play pretend, all of them preferred to control multiple characters and organize them into some kind of social structure (family, ruler and court, guild, army division, crew of a ship) and make them interact primarily with each other and only secondarily with other players'' characters. You can all plug that fact into your theories of mmorpg design. Guys that I observed usually preferred to control one hero-character and possibly a sidekick, only picking up control of an npc or badguy when necessary. Now, of the boys I observed, they were all 12 and under, so this may change with age, I''m not sure.
I want to help design a "sandpark" MMO. Optional interactive story with quests and deeply characterized NPCs, plus sandbox elements like player-craftable housing and lots of other crafting. If you are starting a design of this type, please PM me. I also love pet-breeding games.
I''m a guy and I have an equal share of all the stated male and female characteristics. I grew up with my mother, sister and grandmother, so I have no problem seeing things from the "other side". In this respect I get irritated when I''m stereotyped as the typical male, and it also confounds me as to what other peoples great mystery between the sexes is. I think too much time is spent trying to figure the other out as a seperate entity, rather than finding the shared qualities which are inherent in both.
Stereotypes are way to common in games, including RPGs. People spend too much time moaning and groaning about how they don''t understand the other gender. I find it just as easy to talk to girls and guys, it is not a gender thing, its an understanding of specific people, and of emotions.
One experience with a guy or a girl( or even two or three experiences) does not mean every guy or girl is like that. To target a specific gender is ridiculous because each person, whether guy or girl, is unique. Stereotypes in games do not target a gender, they more so omit the other.
My favorite games( to play and to code ) are RPGs, I know guys that wouldn''t touch them with a 10'' pole and I know girls that could die for them. When I program games I try to make a story that relates to common emotions. And if anyone wants to tell me that only guys get mad or violent, and only girls cry and get sad, then they don''t know many people and certainly not themself.
Do games like Zork, Leisure Suit Larry, and King''s Quest count as RPGs? I''ve known a few women to sit down and play these. They''re style''s not like a lot of RPGs we see these days.
For games in general, I''ve noticed that if you''re at a party and there''s a group of people playing Nintendo or something, women get right ticked if you try to skip their turn.
quote:Original post by sunandshadow Hmm. Well, I played Magic before I had a boyfriend that did. I also had 2 other female friends and my sister that played Magic. None of us play any more, though, mostly because we were sickened by how the game was being marketed (that whole common, uncommon, rare scheme was idiotic in the first place - a deck should be one of every card in the set and some land) and because new cards weren''t coming out fast enough.
Funny: I quit because new cards came out too fast. Surely if the marketing side of things sickened you, then the release of extra cards should have sickened you more, since a large part of the motivation for doing so was to make older cards obsolete and force you to buy more. I would have preferred expansions to have been less common, and for games to be won or lost on skill, not on how many of the latest expansion you bought.
The games that I have seen draw the most appeal from the female populace have been MMRPGs, but also the older SNES games like ChronoTrigger, EarthBound, RoboTrek, Final Fantasy III, etc. RPGs have lost a certain "feel" that was present in these older titles, and I think that if a game were to capture that once again, it would do well. Just my opinion...
my $.02.. the other night, during the movie previews before LOTR, I saw a commercial for that new MMORPG game.. errr.. umm... Everquest whatever number it is.
The girl behind me in the seat in the theatre said, ''nope''. Also tho I think it was due to showing pis$ ass blatantly poor polygons on a big screen, and they weren''t moving smoothly kinda choppy like either the frame rate didn''t agree or they were trying to do a slo-motion on it... don''t do it! Don''t we pay for the movies already? Why put in those dam @$!$@#$ commercials you get brainwashed with on tv everyday?!? @#$@ commercialism everywhere! aaahhhhhhh!!!
anyway that''s my ranting and raving for a week. I know it didn''t make sense but I don''t care.
l8a
I'll give you a beating like Rodney King who deserved it!=====================================Any and all ideas, theories, and text c2004,c2009 BrainDead Software. All Rights Reserved.
The big problem that I see with most RPGs is that there isn''t enough to do.
Sure, you go kill and stomp and help some king or other make the universe a place that''s safe for little babies to grow up in, but is that enough for anyone, let alone the female gamers? Not for me, that''s why I usually just finish the game and put it away. I usually don''t even buy the game, I borrow it from a friend.
Make me a game where I can influence any number of things, from who is king to how wonderful the world is for the little girl down the street who likes the boy next door and not only will I be happy, but I think that women would like the game a lot more.
Give us not only more game, but more things that we can do in the game and I think that everyone, not just men or women, but everyone would be happier.
