'Women are the new core,' says Microsoft narrative designer

[Scisca]

Machiavellian said:

Scisca said:

The statement is pure BS. Women as a group are not the new core or any type of core. I think that forums like this one show very well what the core looks like. Are there girls among us? Sure! But are the proportions between males and females roughly balanced? I think I don't need to answer that, and it's exactly the same when it comes to the core. The core is not purely male or closed to women in any aspect. It's just that most women aren't interested in core gaming.

What he really meant was probably that women as a group (so those of them who aren't traditional core) have joined the general gamer hoard and are currently a big demographic of well... milking cows (brutal, but true). They pay money for games, but in no way are they a real core. Still, calling them "the new core" is better from the marketing point of view than "milking cows". Women will never be the driving force behind the sales of consoles. It won't be these "new core" women standing in lines to buy PS4/X720 on the first day this Christmas. It will be the real core comprising men and women in a ratio similar to the ratio in this forum. The women they are talking about spend money, more and more of it, but that doesn't mean they are core. I somehow can't imagine random women at a hairstylist or at a manicure place this autumn gossiping about PS4 or X720. I work with 2 guys and 8 women (we're all under 30) and I can always talk about games with the guys, but girls don't like this topic. A few of them have only played "some kind of a dancing game on X-box" when they were on a house party. Do such games generate income? Sure - the money is the same as that coming from any other core game. Does that make them core? Nope. I have no doubt that this statement is a sign of a big Kinect 2.0 push, which surely is inevitable. They want to get all the casual gaming women to play on the next X-box and not Wii U or PS4. And I think they have a good chance at succeeding.

Women used to be the extra cheese in our gaming burger, but are now turning into the extra bacon, to say it in American ;) An awesome part, but still not the burger itself :P

If I'm wrong and they actually plan to change the games and turn them into more politically correct and watered down crap, then it's yet another reason for me not to buy the next X-box. Halo with Mistress Chieftess? Flirting with Cortan? Damn...

The more I hear about the next X-box, the more I think it's a console that's made with everyone in mind, except for the true gamers. Wonder if all this will turn out true once they reveal the console.

 

Machiavellian said:

rutea7 said:

enrageorange said:

rutea7 said:
Funny... Women have been accounted as core market in Asian countries since like always. There hasn't been exactly a lack of strong female leads. There could be more but I don't feel there's a lack.
Ubisoft did great with Aveline in ACIII: Liberation, Lara Croft just got "reborn", Lightning is a strong character and there's plenty more.

Is Microsoft just opening up to this? Maybe they have a new IP with a female protagonist. Let's hope its not kinect yoga.

You  named 3 female lead games. Now think of all the male lead games. I could name 10 new games that came out in just the last 2 weeks. Obviously we can't expect an even 50/50 ratio. That simply isn't the ratio of core female gamers vs male gamers. But it needs to be better than 95/5 which it currently is.

No it doesnt cause women dont need to play female characters just like men dont need to play only male characters.

I would counter your point in stating that only playing male and white male characters limits the creative story parts of games and make them very stereotypical.  I would believe that women would like to see portrayals of women with strong leads that express a women point of view instead of a character swap where you could put a male character in the same role and you would not know the difference.  

Case in point would be a game like God of War.  How exactly would a game like that be made if the lead was a women.  How would the story change and plot points.  It would actually be very interesting if we could see such a game.  There are a lot of very good women writters who I believe would love a chance to create such a character in a game but the chances are slim the way the industry is right now.  Thank goodness CD made Tomb Raider lead a women but even they still protray the character mostly male, at least the previous games I have not played the latest one to make a determination on that one.

 

Ever heard of Bayonetta? One of the most critically acclaimed games this gen? How well did it sell? It wasn't a launch title, it was multiplat, it was AAA and it was awesome... So what went wrong? And why do so many people think it was because the lead character was a woman? And this game was 100% designed aroung the fact that the lead character is a woman, she's not interchangable with a dude character, so you can get the answer to your question there. If you really care about having an even ratio of characters, go out right now and buy Bayo. Or maybe even better - get a Wii U and buy Bayo 2. You'd do 3 good things in one move - buy a Wii U, buy a core 3rd party game, buy a game with a female lead. Also buy a Vita while you're at doing good things ;) You can guy Gravity Rush and Assassin's Creed III: Liberation to support female characters there as well :P

 

Exactly what do you consider a core gamer because most people have a different opinion.  In my opinion, a core gamer to a business is someone who regularly plays and purchase vidoe games.  Its not the type of games they play but their willingness to invest their time to playing games.  Games are an investment to business and to consumers.  If a group grows larger like women, they they would be a new core group of gamers.  

Have I heard of Bayonetta, I still play it today.  One of my favorite action beat-em up games and probably still the barometer for those types of games today.  With that said you make my point without even knowing it.  So is the question that good games do not sell on current cosoles because the majority are white males or is it that the genra that the game is made does not have enough diversity to warrant a lead character that is female.  Anyway there are a lot of reason that Bayo did not sell that great but placing it on the character will be hard.  Most games in that genra barely sell over a million and the Only one I could find based on my limited search is God of War.

Anyway, I have a Vita and played both Gravity Rush and Assasin Creed so I am doing my part :)  On another note, I do not care if the character is male or female but then again, in RPGs I do not make female character because I do not see myself female.

I think you can see from my comment who I consider core gamers. It's people who are like us in this forum - really interested in their games. It's people who drive the sales of consoles and buy them because they know what these consoles stand for and not just because "a friend told me this Wii/Kinect thing is fun" or just because everyone is buying it or cause Oprah told them to do so. It's people who will wait a whole night in front of a shop to get the next console day 1. People who play the consoles really often and play regular old-fashoned games and don't play exclusively (or mainly) games like Mario Party, Singstar or Just Dance to have fun while friends come over. If you only or almost only play games when friends come over and aren't interested in playing games when you're alone - you're a casual player. Core gamers are also people who are willing to talk about games to friends or read about games - some news or reviews, even just from time to time. To sum up - people who consider gaming as part of their lives.

Good to hear you're supporting these games and Vita :) Hope you're also going to get Bayo 2 and Gravity Rush 2 if it comes out. I don't know what the reason for poor sales of Bayo 1 is, but it clearly shows that there is no core female crowd interested in regular games more tailored towards women. Especially since Bayo seems to be the perfect character for the ladies to like. A strong, independent woman, neither a sexual object (like Lara used to be), nor just an asexual person given a female face (Samus Aran). Girls really should like her, still the sales are what they are...

I also don't care if the character is male or female, white, black (CJ and Aveline are awesome) or asian (just recently - Wei from Sleeping Dogs). I've just platinumed ACIII:L and started GR :) Still, just like you, when I create a character - he's male and white, but that's cause it's easiest for me to identify with such a character :) The only thing that's different from the template standard is blond hair and blue eyes that I also transfer from myself onto my protagonist.