“But what if the player is female?” Gender Inclusive Game Design Sheri Graner Ray GenCon Indianapolis, IN August 2006

Sheri Graner Ray  Computer game designer since 1990  Worked with such companies as Origin/EA, Her Interactive, SOE, Cartoon Network, and others  Recipient of 2005 IGDA's Game Developer's Choice Award  Author of “Gender Inclusive Game Design: Expanding the Market”  Co-founder and Exec. Chair of Women In Games International

Pink Poison a brief history of the girls’ game movement in the U.S.

1995

“Why should we make games for girls?”

1996

“How do we make games for girls?”

1997

March 1999 Big Pink Buys Purple Moon Oct 2001 Mattel Sells Interactive Division

“See? We told you girls don’t play computer games!”

Why did this happen?  A lot of bad assumptions were made regarding girls and games

Bad Assumption #5  Girls love Barbie TM ! We'll make all our girls' games just like Barbie TM!

Bad Assumption #4  Girls would love our game if they played 'em! We just need to trick 'em into playing them!

Bad Assumption #3  Girls hate violence. We'll make non- violent versions of our game!

Bad Assumption #2  Girls love cute cuddly things! We'll make games about that!

Bad Assumption #1  If we make a girls' game, we'll make a fortune because all the girls will play it!

The Dark Side  By stating “Girls don't like ______ type of game” we are blaming the GIRLS for not playing because they are GIRLS.  By making it the “girls' fault” that they don't play computer games, designers have let themselves off the hook for making any changes to what they are doing.  Believing that there is one “silver bullet” game that all girls will play, is a little like believing there is one game that all Japanese people will play.

Broadening your audience

DISCLAIMER #1  In this talk I'm going to discuss developing games for an audience that is expected to contain females, but are not targeted directly FOR females.

DISCLAIMER #2  When I say a particular trait is a “male” or “female”, I mean the population that expresses that trait is made up predominantly of that gender. However, it is by no means exclusive to that gender.

DISCLAIMER #3  I am speaking in broad population generalities. It is highly likely that you will know someone who does not fall within these descriptions. If you are female and and in the audience today, that person will likely be YOU!

Broadening the audience  Decide if you are making a title for a diverse audience or a specific audience  Identify a market you wish to include in your target audience

 We can remove barriers from our titles today that prevent women from accessing them. What can we do?

Just a few areas where barriers exist  Learning styles  Character Representation  Conflict Resolution  Reward and punishment

Gender Differences in Learning Styles MalesFemales Risk-takers Explorative Want to know how it works first Modeling/Imitative Most of the tutorials in today’s games are designed to appeal to an explorative learning style.

Solution  Design tutorials that use imitative models as well as explorative models  Look at educational software for examples

Character Representation  Game art  Marketing materials  Illustrations  Box/book covers  Game avatars  Miniatures

We need a hero!

 Because they represent “heroes”, male and female characters will often exhibit exaggerated physical signals of youth strength, and fertility/virility

Youth, Strength and Fertility/Virility Males  Large Shoulders  Slim waists  Slim hips  Large, muscled legs  Long, thick hair Females  Large breasts, placed high on the chest  Slim waists  Round derrières  Long, thick hair

 Very often female characters display exaggerated physical signals of sexual receptivity.

Sexual receptivity  Red, full lips  Heavy lidded eyes  Heavy breathing (usually indicated by a slightly open mouth)  Erect nipples These signals are the same for the human male body as they are for the female body.

Solution  Build attractive, heroic female figures that are not hyper-sexualized.  Use female athletes as body models.  Focus group test your art with female players.

Conflict Resolution  Males and females deal with conflict situations in very different ways.

Conflict Resolution Differences Males  Prefer a confrontational, “head to head” situation  Prefer a binary “win/lose” resolution  Prefer direct competition  Will attempt to dominate the group to enforce their rule set Females  Prefer indirect competition  Prefer to use negotiation, compromise and manipulation  Prefer emotional resolution  Will build consensus

Solutions  Consider providing for indirect competitive models  Include emotional resolution as well as “win/lose” resolution.

Response to Error  Males and females will choose to impose different responses to error upon their fellow players

Response to Error Males  Prefer to impose punishment for error Females  Prefer to impose forgiveness for error Forgiveness for error encourages play. Punishment for error tests tolerance.

Solution  Design your victory/loss conditions so that error on the players part does not lead to irretrievable loss of progress.

Where to start:  Adjust tutorials to allow for modeling learning styles  Make female avatars attractive, but not hyper-sexual  Consider alternative conflict resolution models  Use alternative error response models

“But what if the player is female?” Sheri Graner Ray GenCon Indianapolis August, 2005