sophiaserpentia | (no subject)

In light of Activision-Blizzard's RealIDFail, it's dawned on me that there is a sizable void.

There are lots of women who play games. There are no developers catering to them.

Gaming has been historically extremely male-centered. The stereotypical gamer is a teen boy in his parents' basement hunched over an XBox or a Nintendo. The stereotypical game designer is a man who, ten years ago, was that boy. Game designers target boys' and men's idea of fun. Game advertisers target the interests of boys and men. And, as RealIDFail demonstrates quite clearly, game developers have little interest in the specific concerns of women online, where those concerns differ from men's, or in the specific ways in which women use social networks differently from men.

I'm cherry-picking my examples here for emphasis, but as anyone in the wide world of woman-gamer blogging can tell you, dealing with misogyny -- as well as racism, homophobia, and transphobia -- in the gamer universe or in game advertising or content is an everyday thing.

So... why should we? Make that trade-off to play games we enjoy, I mean?

If there are any development studios with an anti-racist, anti-sexist, anti-'phobic perspective, I want to find out who and where they are. A very cursory google search does not reveal the names of any studios developing from this perspective.

If there aren't... I want to play a role in founding one. Anyone else interested?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I didn't know that about the 56% figure, that's fascinating. I know that somewhere around 30% of people who play MMORPGs are women. That's a number that could be bigger too, and I think is likely to grow.

That's good to know about Bioware & Turbine. I would, a few years ago, have included Blizzard, because at the outset, WoW was fairly woman-friendly. Female toon models were not disproportionate caricatures, and there was nothing in the game content that implied, anywhere, that women are less capable and less fully empowered. That came from the players, who brought their sexism, racism, and 'phobia with them from Earth... and by degrees, over the years, Blizzard has done less and less to stop them from spewing it in-game.

Thank you for the nod to WIGI -- I will look into them.

That came from the players, who brought their sexism, racism, and 'phobia with them from Earth... and by degrees, over the years, Blizzard has done less and less to stop them from spewing it in-game.

Honestly, I think this real ID move by Blizzard will function to return gaming to more of a white-het-boys club. Not only will the voices of oppressed people be silenced, fewer would-be allies will speak out. On top of that the "post rating" feature will further drown out the voices of those who speak against misogyny, racism, homophobia and transphobia.

Blizzard's community team will be able to quickly and easily locate highly rated posts to participate in or to highlight discussions that players find worthwhile.

And Blizzard does like to claim that they respond to the wants of their player base. The ones who communicate with them via the official forums.

I'm sure that the mainstream commercial gaming industry will look to Blizzard, see who stuck with them through tough economic times, and continue to define that as the "gaming base" that needs to be catered to. In spite of the social engineering that is obviously happening to keep the increasing number of voices who would say differently silenced.

I agree -- I hope they enjoy their new sausage fest.

It's also one of the things that led me to the epiphany of the OP. Acti-Blizz made a cold calculation, and people like you and me and most of the people I love and care about and enjoy playing the game with were deemed expendable. I don't know how else to interpret this. Either they knew it would silence us and they don't care, or they didn't even bother to worry about it, the cluelessness of which would be inexcusably bad for an environment this size. And that awareness it makes it less than likely that I will return to WoW -- and SC, and Diablo -- even if they reverse this, because who knows how *else* this attitude will seep out into the WoW environment.

I'm sure that the mainstream commercial gaming industry will look to Blizzard

*sighs* Probably. Well... fine. If they don't want our money, they obviously don't need it badly enough. Time I don't spend playing a game can go towards figuring out how to manifest this new vision anyway.

(no subject)

Re: WIGI and some studios...

Re: WIGI and some studios...

Re: WIGI and some studios...