Women and games. Key points

The main characteristic of a gaming product is the audience reach, the bigger it is, the greater the potential to get high profits. For a long time, the gaming audience was men, but time is ticking and now the gaze of game developers is aimed at a promising female audience.

In this article I will talk about my observations and studies of female psychology in relation to games, key points will be highlighted and some prejudices will be refuted.

Result

During the game, the participant performs the activity. He is motivated to get the result. It would seem simple, but the result for women and men are two completely different things.
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Men are attracted to the process of achieving results, and women are attracted to the final result of their activities.

Why this is so - a rhetorical question. The fact remains. In games, men are interested in the process of achieving the goal: killing a couple of thousand monsters, long diplomatic negotiations, the construction of megacities, etc. And the more complex and intensive the process of achievement, the greater the motivation. In women, on the contrary - the process goes into the background, they see a goal in front of them. Hence the important gaming conclusion:

In games designed for a female audience, there should be a clear definition of goals. The player must clearly see and be aware of the ultimate goal of their results.


My research just confirmed it. Without designation of the final goal, interest in the game disappears after the woman becomes acquainted with the world of the game. A woman will not aimlessly explore the game world, because she is not interested.

The goal is conveniently served in the initial video or during the brieff. But I will note right away, the goal must be clear, otherwise a woman may not understand her.

I will dispel another misconception that a woman will not play the game, where there are many repetitive actions (killing a couple of thousand monsters, long diplomatic negotiations, the construction of megacities, etc.). This is absolutely not true. If the ultimate goal is designated and in the process of its achievement it is constantly reminded of it, then these “tedious” actions will be perceived positively. A woman can quietly monotonously kill a couple of thousand monsters with a smile on her face if she constantly sees her final goal.

Particular attention should be paid to the obstacles - women hate them.
If a woman who kills thousands of monsters on her way for the sake of a “great” goal suddenly kills one of the monsters and needs to start from the beginning, then this is regarded as impossibility to achieve the goal. And there is no way to reach the goal - there is no game.

When I first encountered this, I was also surprised. The girls played until the first loss, then interest in the game fell sharply. What to do? You can certainly make a win-win game, but then its meaning is lost. The answer is simple and complex at the same time:

For a female audience, gaming obstacles should look like part of the path to a goal, and not something that interrupts that path.

To implement this in many cases is difficult.

A look at the game world

The reason for the differences between men and women on this point is not exactly known. It is believed that it lies in the basic differences in the structure of vision. But the reason is not so important, but what is important is that:

Glance men summarizes the game world, and women details. The man immediately sees the tools for playing activities, and the woman sees the game background, the atmosphere.

It is interesting for women to view the game world (do not explore, see paragraph above). They highlight the details, evaluate the proportions, the coloring of objects, artistic beauty, and absolutely do not see the game menu interface ...

Yes, women do not immediately notice the game menu. When I encountered this, I was shocked. The girls with whom I conducted a study of game interfaces, did not pay attention to the menu. As a result, after the review of the game world ended, they did not know what to do ... Epic fail. In men, I have never encountered such a problem. Hence the first conclusion:

It is necessary at the beginning of the game to talk about the main points of the game menu and interface.

I note a few points:

• Select the menu and interface elements - it does not mean to tell about them. Does not roll. Women do not even see bright, flashing elements.
• If the entire game menu comes down to 1-2 buttons, this rule can be neglected. Understand.
• It is convenient to use the initial tutorial videos or animations, where each menu item is focused in turn with an explanation.
• Do not forget about a specific goal (see paragraph above). The “aimless” menu item for the female eye is not visible.

Moving further along the paragraph. Should pay attention to the details of the game world.

For women, the threshold of involvement in the game world is much higher than for men. That is, for women is very important detailed game world, with its own atmosphere.

This is much more difficult. The process of creating a detailed game world with an atmosphere is very complex and requires considerable resources. I will cite the following remarks:

• Women have a more pronounced artistic taste - they immediately notice disproportions in objects, irregular composition and poorly chosen color gamut. Although women can not properly express the reasons why they do not like this world, but they still will not like it. It is desirable that the paintings of the game world viewed a professional artist.
• The color taste of women is different from the taste of men. If the majority (approximately 80%) of men prefer “strict” (classical) color combinations, the majority of women (about 60%) prefer bright or motley colors.
• It is necessary to give an opportunity to consider the game world.

With this paragraph everything. Moving on.

The main character

Here we can observe a lot of preconceptions, such as: that only women as main characters are interesting for a female audience, that the main character should be perfectly beautiful, etc. In most cases, this only hinders the correct understanding of what a hero for women should be. I will not go around for a long time around, and immediately mark the results of my research:

For the female audience it is important that the main character be positive and not cause artistic disgust.

This statement is confirmed by my research. In addition, it is based on the previous paragraphs. What does this statement mean?

Women by their very nature do not like to play negative roles. They are extremely disliked, that they would be considered bad. No matter what a woman does, what matters is how she is thought about (more precisely, how she thinks, how she is thought about). Here the key is the goal (see the first paragraph). If the goal in the eyes of a woman is positive, then all means are good. A woman can safely "kill a couple of thousand monsters" if she kills for the good of good in the form of a specific positive goal. Of course, this “great” goal she must feel throughout the gameplay.

Now we recall the second paragraph. For women, the main character is part of the game world and it should be artistically combined with their ideas about the game world.

If the main character causes an artistic disgust or rejection in a woman, then this is the end of the game. Remember the game menu? In this case, the woman simply will not notice the hero.

It is also said that for the greater immersion in the game world the main character should preferably be a woman, but not necessarily. So we can consolidate the interest of the woman also with the association of ourselves with the main character. The main character should not be dazzlingly beautiful.

I will cite the main mistakes associated with the characters that scare the female audience:

• Negative hero.
• A hero without a goal.
• The hero, clearly stand out from the game world (He must be part of it).
• Ugly hero, without aesthetic beauty.
• The heroine, like a prostitute.

Advice on a simple paragraph - show sketches of the main characters to women.

Thinking

This is the most difficult paragraph. It is no secret that men will never fully understand women's logic. In this paragraph we will only try to get closer to this understanding.

Perhaps, while reading the article, you got the impression that it is necessary to make simple and colorful games for women, where everything is explained and shown. They say that women are stupid and, accordingly, require simple approaches to them. But this is absolutely not the case. Women are not stupid at all, and even in many situations they are much smarter and more skilled than men. What's the matter? But the point is differences of thinking.

Women have more developed artistic thinking.

This does not mean that all other types of thinking in women are not developed. Just women are suitable for all tasks from the creation of a situation to solve them. I.e:

Women seek to create a situation in which the problem is solved, and not to perform actions aimed at solving this problem.

Difficult? .. But they are such women. Let's look at the consequences of this.

• Women adore logical constructions. Create, manage with deep interconnections of objects - they adore it.
• Women love to create something artistically expressive, even aimlessly.
• Women hate monotonous activity if they do not see the goal.

These moments are difficult to take into account, since they strongly influence the game mechanics. But nowhere to go if you want to get at the disposal of a female audience.

Ideal game for female audience

Let's sum up. What should be in the game:

• A clear goal of the player's game activity;
• Expressive art world;
• A positive protagonist who artistically fits into the game world;
• The ability to create game situations to solve tasks.

What you should pay attention to:

• Game obstacles must be part of the player’s progress towards the goal;
• It is necessary to highlight the game interface and explain its purpose.

The ideal game for a female audience should revolve around the concepts of the goal of the game activity, the artistry of the game world, the positive protagonist and creative approaches to game mechanics.

Partially these moments can compensate each other. I gave an example of how hatred for monotonous activity is compensated by goal setting.

Afterword

In this article I tried to highlight the key points of game development for a female audience. Of course, there are countless moments (activities, socialization, etc.), but the moments described in this article are, in my opinion, key. As you have seen prejudice even more.

For male game developers, it is difficult to understand women's logic and women's view, so the last tip:

Show your achievements to your wives, girlfriends, etc. Watch their reaction and impression.

Literature

Notable article with KRI full of feminism - Why women do not play: a manifesto of change