Gender Inclusive Game Design: Expanding the Market

Summary

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?"

摘要

今天的女性和女孩比以往更懂科技，研究顯示她們目前佔網絡用戶的52％和休閒線上遊戲玩家的70％。那麼，為什麼遊戲行業仍然主要針對年齡在13至25歲的男性生產電腦遊戲呢？

這種狹窄的焦點不僅極大地限制了遊戲開發者的潛在總收入，而且他們也失去了更大的視野。遊戲行業目前的增長速度超過了目標市場。為了保持行業的強大和增長，遊戲開發者必須開始考慮擴大他們的市場，這意味著設計適合女性觀眾的遊戲。

成功的娛樂行業之所以能夠持續增長數十年，是因為他們考慮到了觀眾的多樣性。如今的暢銷產品，無論是電影、音樂還是書籍，往往是那些直接吸引多個市場部門的元素，同時對其他人來說也沒有太多的門檻。通過了解與性別相關的問題和障礙，遊戲行業可以從類似的增長策略中受益。

《性別包容的遊戲設計：擴大市場》探討了幫助設計師和開發者理解性別在解決衝突時的真實差異，以及他們的娛樂標準和反應。它還探討了獎勵系統、遊戲玩法偏好和角色選擇標準的差異，以及這些問題如何應用於遊戲設計，無論是什麼類型的遊戲。通過了解這些差異，設計師可以將這些知識應用於構成當代電腦遊戲行業的傳統類型，並開始開拓未來的市場。也許開發者真正需要問自己的問題是，“如果玩家是女性，那該怎麼辦？”