The "Female Demographic"?

[r505Matt]

mai said:

r505Matt said: 

Take a look at Bioware, some their games are controversially known for the 'sexual path' (so to speak) a character can take. Last I checked, most straight males, while playing a female character, aren't too keen on hooking up their character up with a guy. It can get kind of awkward (I feel bad for the achievement junkies out there in this case haha), especially if you are really absorbed in the game, and you feel some kind of connection with your main character. Having a guy hit on you must be awkward in that situation.

So it would seem to me that developers are really starting to recognize that female gamers play all kinds of games, like male gamers do, and they are taking steps (albeit some small ones in some cases, and some BAD steps in other cases) to acknowledge that. 

I doubt BioWare games serve as good examples, they have very little (if any) appeal to female gamers. Forementioned sexual path, or rather sex scene is treated like a reward for accomplishment of side quest in Mass Effect. This's pretty much stereotypical male image of romantic relationship, not to mention overall lack of intrigue in dialogue threads with potential love interests (look at my avy for reference). I had a chance to experience more complex relationships in my personal life than these fantasies, and I'm not a space travelling hero or anything. Not a big loss, since romantic relationships aren't that important in this particular game, but BioWare could have done a better job.

I would sure hope that your personal life has had more complex relationships. To expect a game to deliver that experience at that level is kind of silly. Whether DA:O appeals to females or not is actually irrelevant. The point I was trying to make was that developers are not closed to the idea of females playing their games. That doesn't mean they market towards them, or design games towards them. Just because the 'sexual paths' in ME and DA:O aren't sophisticated doesn't mean it only appeals to males. I mean, these games aren't dating sims, but they through a little extra in, and that little extra is NOT just geared towards male gamers. That was what I was getting at.

Is the system shallow at this point? Sure, but it is an attempt, and making an attempt is important. Otherwise, why not just have male main characters only hook up with girls, and female main characters only hook up with girls. Most guys wouldn't care if they game was like that, but girls might be outraged at the discrimination. By making all options available, its a very male/female/heterosexual/homosexual friendly game.

Not all girls care about sophisticated dialogue mind you, and not all guys care about shallow sex either.