Comments on: “Women on the Wii”

By: Hotchkiss

Hotchkiss — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 04:01:48 +0000

This isn’t really that different from marketing men’s underwear to women, something that has been going on for years now.

By: BrainFromArous

BrainFromArous — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 21:37:13 +0000

Well, Sharon, don’t the teh stupdi marketing jerks keep you away.

And you’re right, the earliest days of video gaming were co-ed. This seems to be an ever-less-remembered part of our collective digital history, but it’s true.

By: Sharon

Sharon — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 21:06:56 +0000

Being middle-aged and feamale, I’m almost certainly fated (statistically) not to be a gamer. But I attribute a lot of this to the focus on marketing to males, the violence in the most popular games - much of it directed at females, especially in the “street” games. I’d actually consider buying a system. We had Ataris and Nintendo in my household at the dawn of gaming - and I bought them, paid for them and installed them myself. I was really very good at the “antique” games that were out at the time. There is no male in my household at this time, but I do wind up playing online games. Nobody will ever get me to buy anything that they market almost exclusively to men. If and when that changes, there will be a system in my home.

By: BrainFromArous

BrainFromArous — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 19:39:16 +0000

You have to take your arms up, otherwise the wireless controller doesn’t work.

Comedy!

By: Bonnie

Bonnie — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 17:14:09 +0000

Should we ignore this and enjoy the Wii, or take arms against it?
Heck, enjoy your Wii. I know I’m enjoying mine :). My point, at least, isn’t to stop people from buying the system, just to make them more aware of the gender politics around it’s marketing.

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 05:38:55 +0000

It depresses me to see an of condescendsion in the launch. It almost diminishes the respect one has for nintendo and videogaming on the whole. Should we ignore this and enjoy the Wii, or take arms against it?

By: Devon

Devon — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 01:16:47 +0000

Yeah, it certainly depends on the company. ArenaNet has a fairly solid number of women there, Zipper, a dismal number.

By: Bonnie

Bonnie — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 20:15:13 +0000

I found it interesting last week how many women there were working at Ubisoft/EA Montreal/A2M. Granted, they were in the minority, but they were definitely there.

By: Devon

Devon — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 06:13:11 +0000

Can I just say that for me personally I find it difficult to separate myself from the stereotypes. I’ve started working in the game industry and I can’t help but stare at any women I find, because they are so few and far between. I actually have been tempted to just ask them about what it is like for them, but it seems almost to reinforce that whole concept if I buy into them being such a minute section of the gaming world. I also must say I agree with Adam in the sense that while certainly a fan of large breasts, I really don’t need to see them in every freaking game. I find it degrading to my intelligence for the game makers to assume that the only females I want to see are ridiculous super-hotties. I happen to like smart girls thank you very much, and they needn’t be really really ridiculously good-looking. Although thats good too. A wider selection of female images in games would be a huge step in the right direction.

By: Bonnie

Bonnie — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 16:33:39 +0000

It’s very true. But if you think people are unwilling to break down female stereotypes, they’re even more reluctant about male. Playing Sims 2 with pride would be a start ;).