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Four attractive women stand in tight formation, identikit t-shirts and jeans, pouting, hands on hips. In the background, the distant echo of gunfire, a blood-curdling scream of a dying soldier. High definition screens are alive with the sound of empty shells and explosions. The baying journalists flock, hanging on every word, irrationally agreeing with every sound that escapes from those full, voluptuous lips.
The Frag Dolls are enjoying themselves. Employed by computer game maker Ubisoft to promote their products to a female audience, Voodoo, Jam, Sarin and Kitt are classic teenage gamer fantasy. They are promoting a new computer game, Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter, and, much to the delight of the game journalists in attendance, they are fantastic at it.
Since the first computer game over thirty years ago, there has been little to pique the interest of women. Considering this is the same industry that burned Lara Croft’s gravity-defying breasts into the retinas of millions of teenage boys, it’s perhaps not surprising. But then the game industry hasn’t had to try. Now that’s changed.
All the men in the world who are going to buy games already do, or are at least thinking about it. Profits are down, even at the biggest companies, like Electronic Arts, who are responsible for the Harry Potter series of games. So to keep raking in the cash game companies have had to rethink their strategy. They are turning to women.
“Financially it’s the time to grow the market,” says Aleks Krotoski, die-hard female gamer, academic and author of the white paper Chicks and Joysticks. “Technological innovations have opened the door for potential in terms of the types of products women would enjoy, and there’s a belief that women can and will play computer games, so why not tap into that market?“
Easier said than done. From pink Game Boys to Barbie Fashion Designer, game makers have scratched their heads and shuffled their feet uncomfortably when selling to women.
“They stereotype them as 14-year-old girls who all love pink,” Krotoski explains. “Now, I don’t like pink. I had Barbie’s when I was twelve. As a grown woman these products don’t speak to me. They don’t speak to me in the same way an iPod does.“
And the Frag Dolls, living proof that gaming and lip gloss can co-exist, are for some women yet another reason why the industry is such a turn off.
“I’m reserving judgment,” says Robin McShaffry, female co-founder of the game industry recruiter Mary-Margaret.com. “There is the ‘look at these pretty women’ issue. But they are also serious gamers. As often as men are going to look at those women and go wow, some younger women may also look at them as examples of women who game.”
As the Frag Dolls pout, the game industry continues to struggle. Most game designers simply cannot understand why blood, guts, dragons and spells do not appeal to a female audience. This comes down to a timeless gender dispute – a woman sighing at boys and their toys.
“Women are very busy,” says McShaffry. “When they do take the free time to play a game, they want it to serve some purpose. Maybe they’re playing Soduku, and they feel like they’re making themselves smarter, like playing Tetris. Sitting and playing a brainless game for hours on end is not something a lot of women have time for.“
What is and what isn’t a waste of time is the biggest point of contention. A game-loving twenty-something male will happily spend four hours collecting 500 coins and consider it a job well done. Most women will find it pointless.
Then there’s barrier to entry. Joypads can be imposing, and complicated input commands often appear to require dexterity of digit even Houdini would be proud of. For those who have grown up with a silver controller in their mouth, this is second nature.
“All I really have to do is get to the next room,” says Krotoski, “kill that bad guy; if I don’t kill the bad guy then I die, and I don’t have the time or the patience. I don’t like games that slap you on the back of the hand and say, “no sorry you’re not good enough.” I have enough going on in my life. I can go elsewhere and be told I’m rubbish.“
The answer? Gender-neutral games all non-game players would be interested in – like Sony’s EyeToy, which puts the player on the screen via a miniature camera, and SingStar, a karaoke simulation that rewards players for pitch and tone.
Marketing has also evolved, moving away from the many specialist game magazines to women’s lifestyle. “I binge read Heat when I go to my friend’s house,” says Krotoski, “and I was shocked when I saw SingStar advertised. That was the first time I ever saw anything like that.“
One title proving popular with female players is Second Life, an online world where thousands of players interact with each other while living out their virtual existence. Your ‘avatar’, or digital representation of your self, can do anything, from building a home to hosting a digital exhibition of your real life art.
Robin Harper, senior vice president of community and support at Linden Lab, the company behind Second Life, believes communication and a lack of restriction is why 40 per cent of the game’s players are female. “There are no pre-set constraints,” she says. “It’s all about opportunity. So anyone, whether they’re female or male, can come into SL and define their own opportunity.”
In their pursuit of the female pound, game companies will be hoping to convince thousands of women that a couple of hours in a virtual world or some vocal stretching on the microphone is miles more fun than a hot bath and a fascinating book. A new dawn for chicks and joysticks? “Women are more interested in good games,” says McShaffry. “And women are less interested in crap.”
