Yuck, the pink is supposed to make me want to pick this up? Sorry, Nintendo...you are getting pwned by your own stupidity.

Woman Gamers Unite!

Yuck, the pink is supposed to make me want to pick this up? Sorry, Nintendo...you are getting pwned by your own stupidity.

Women Gamers Unite!

I'm more offended at the punctuation/grammatical error in the first sentence. Yeah hi, apostrophes are for possessives, not plurals. But, you see, I guess they figured I wouldn't notice that on account of my intelligence-hindering vagina.

Gaaaaaaah.

The pink, the pink! Eeet scorches.

Seriously. Why pink? I'd almost say lazy graphic designers, but as a graphic designer, I realise the blame for this is more about the PR and marketing weasels. Why the swirly typeface? (And actually on an aesthetic level the whole design is just crap.)

(Of course, I've had the opposite happen as well. I did some ads for a video game once and they were sent back because the orange I used was too close to coral, and that was too "girly" a colour for the male audience the clients had in mind. Never mind that I had colour picked the colour straight from their logo, no, it was too "girly".)

So you want all the latest gaming gossip and the hottest hints and tips especially written for you?

What exactly does that mean? Are games now offering a secret "girl mode" where stuff doesn't happen in the same way? Do women gamers not understand how to read the same hints or tips that male gamers do? Grrr! Ridiculous!

As a girl gamer for most of my life (I still have my original, banana yellow Game Boy), I'm kind of offended. First of all, they are listing games that apparently only girls play...I never played Nintendogs or Cooking Mama and I found Animal Crossing boring...I sincerely hope the "and many more" includes other games like The Legend of Zelda series (and not just the newer cartoony ones), superhero games, and essentially Nintendo's whole line...not just what they think girls like.

The bad grammar ... it hurts just to look at it. The pink doesn't help.

I don't understand how they keep making this mistake. Girls interested in stereotypically "boys" games and hobbies aren't in it for pink and flowers. Ugh.

Lionel trains made the same mistake a while back. They realized they did have a significant female demographic, and tried to pitch to them with pink trains. The girls didn't buy it, of course, because they weren't fond of pink, they liked the realism of the "boys" model.

Also, I don't know if you've seen this, but I had to share.

Let me guess... they're going to talk about that Barbie Island Princess Game. After all, that must be what girls play.
And why not women? Why just girls?
This one gets a "yuck, you failed" all around.

EW EW EW!!

I'll stick with my tabletop Dungeons & Dragons run by a woman any day! And you know, besides that, there is always World of Warcraft.

I challenge any chauvinist to fight my ass-kicking Warlock and tell me I'm "just a girl."

Um, the target market for this (which is not you, unless you're 14 or under) does in fact play Cooking Mama and Nintendogs. A *lot*. And Sims. And Mario. And they're so used to having pink and purple stuff with flowy fonts marketed at them that the design won't put them off.

Probably the market does, in fact, need a women's gaming guide. The trouble is that our culture encourages women, but not men, to grow the hell up. So the styles for boys and men are very similar, and it's hard to find something for a boy that a man would recoil from; but girls are sold frilly, and then told to reject it because it's childish. So women reject the girls' gaming guide because it is girlish, but men do not reject the boys' gaming guide for being boyish; if anything, the men's gaming guides are just more intense than the boys', and the base principles of design are the same. Either that or everything except Pokemon game guides are actually being designed for 18-year-old men, which splits the difference between the 8 year olds and the 28 years olds.

But I think that women gamers often don't realize that gaming is mainstream among modern girls, and many of the things that were true of girls who had to fight to compete in a boys' world aren't true of a group of girls who don't see it as being a boys' world. The kind of girl who loves pink and frilly and can be successfully marketed to by using these things didn't used to play games, because there were no games on the market for her; girls like you guys were *had* to have a high tolerance for living in a boys' world and using their stuff, or you couldn't game at all. Modern girls have much *less* of a sense that games are for boys -- obviously the sense exists, thus "Beat the boys at their own game!" grrl power rhetoric -- but it's okay to like games *and* be girly, because there are games that are commonly understood to be liked by girls now. Anything about pets, anything very cartoony, and obviously stuff pitched directly at the femme ghetto like Cooking Mama... these are popular girl games. It's not all barbie anymore, and the mindset of the girls isn't "oh my god, they're trying to force me to play barbie, I must reject their ways and play Mortal Kombat instead".

So I think most of you are wrong. based on my survey of 10 year old girls who play Nintendo (okay, my highly statistically significant sample of three... but at least they're in the target market, unlike adult women like most of you), this style *will* appeal. It's not the Women Gamers' Guide, and it's not trying to be. It literally *is* the Girl Gamers' Guide, and more of today's crop of female Nintendo players will find that design appealing than the girls of yesterday who felt they had to reject the actively girlish if they wanted to play a good game at all.

And yes, I agree that it is stupid looking. But it will sell. Because 18-24 year old women gamers are not the market for it.

The good news is you just have to wait 10 years and there will be stuff for 18-24 year old women gamers, because if they know the 10 year old gamers exist, then in 10 years they'll know 20 year old gamers exist. The bad news is that you will be a curmudgeon in your 30's then, like me.

Stupid warlocks. IMBA FTL. ;)

But Minerva, haven't you run into those idiots yet who tell you no actual women play WoW, and it's just guys who want free stuff as female toons? :/

It's ironic. I only got, temporarily, into the hardcore, world of warcraft style MMORPGs because my SO at the time insisted upon it. Guess that set different expectations for me.

Now if they were making a magazine that had good reviews of all games, without the chauvinistic, idiotic "heh...heh...boobies" attitude of most gamer's mags these days, that would be one thing. But this pink monstrocity is another entirely.

Now if they were making a magazine that had good reviews of all games, without the chauvinistic, idiotic "heh...heh...boobies" attitude of most gamer's mags these days, that would be one thing. But this pink monstrocity is another entirely.

Time, I think, for a gratuitous plug for Cerise.

Yes, it does in fact get A LOT worse than this...

oh goodness...
is one of the games listed on the cover REALLY "cooking mama?"

Here is the piece that I just wrote:

http://aikenareaprogressive.blogspot.com/2007/11/instead-of-mega-man-5-girl-gamers-have.html

Appearantly, gamer mags are appeasing to the lowest common denominator.

Sorry, Nintendo...you are getting pwned by your own stupidity.

Just to clarify, this is not published by Nintendo- it's published by Papercut Ltd. about Nintendo products. Papercut Ltd. publish cheat guides for other systems, too.

AlaraJRogers: I'm not completely sure what you're getting at. Yes, some girl gamers do play those games. Why do they play those games over other games? Well, probably because of some of the things you mention- they're encouraged to, while being discouraged from playing "boy" games.

And then you get this guide, which further reinforces this idea that some games are girl games, and some games are boy games.

Will it sell? It'll probably do as well as any other random guide does. Does that make it unproblematic or less stupid? Not a bit.

The bigger problem is that women and girls already play games. Market research suggests that women are playing games at almost the same numbers as men are- and they're often playing the same games. Leading research suggests that- and this is crazy- women and girls like games that are fun, not necessarily games that are marketed as being for them.

This sort of thing just serves to drive a wedge between men and women gamers and reinforces the stereotype that women and girls aren't real gamers.

@AlaraJRogers

I'm curious what games do your girls play and on what platforms?

I challenge any chauvinist to fight my ass-kicking Warlock and tell me I'm "just a girl."

My BM hunter would have a few things to say to your fearlock. :)

The one nice thing about world of warcraft (to pick probably the most popular game) is that they explicitly make a point of not having any difference between male and female characters. I go back far enough to remember the days when in a lot of games female characters had more intellect and less strength than male characters, females couldn't play certain classes etc etc.

The optimistic part of me hopes that a generation boys growing up watching female characters strap on the plate armor and tank Illidan (or whoever) might learn a thing or two about gender stereotypes.

That said, I notice a lot more explicit racism and homophobia in these game populations than I do sexism. I wonder to what extent that's everyone else's experience...

Oh my god, I am going to kill nintendo with my pokemon.

Seriously.

What the hell is this!? I don't play that 'Cooking Mama' genre. I play Resident Evil, Manhunt, and the like. Whatever shoots zombies. I bet you they don't have stuff like that in there.

If they put in a chapter about pokemon, (Which I'm covering because it IS owned by Nintendo, and I know a lot about it), I will bet you anything it'll be all about how to cook Poffins and catch 'cute' pokemon. The girls I know who play are deadly serious about their games. I don't know who the hell Nintendo thinks they're fooling.

Roymac, I think what Alara was pointing out is that there are a lot of girls who do play games that are pink and frilly and marketed towards them. Check out the DS game section some time. About half them are about fuzzy pets or cooking or some female teen pop idol or something else that says it's *for girls* and not *for boys*. One of the most popular colors for the DS is pink. In the DS accessories section you'll find cute little DS bags with butterflies and other frilly things. While I don't support gender-segregated toys, it's clear that this book fits right in the gaming world anymore, and is certainly not dumb from a business perspective.

Roymac, I think what Alara was pointing out is that there are a lot of girls who do play games that are pink and frilly and marketed towards them.

Okay, but what is the value of pointing that out? It's not really surprising that girls tend to exhibit behaviors that are reinforced and encouraged by advertising, television shows, and society at large anymore than it's surprising that a lot of boys end up dressed in blue, asking for soldier toys, and playing with cars. There's not much value that I can see in pointing out "a lot of children end up reinforcing traditional gender stereotyping" and stopping there. Isn't part of the point to examine why that happens, and what the effect is?

If girls are encouraged to embrace one thing when they're children but are expected to completely abandon those things as they grow up, what does that tell us? And if boys are encouraged to embrace something, and are encouraged to embrace it even more as we grow up, what impact might that have?

Check out the DS game section some time. About half them are about fuzzy pets or cooking or some female teen pop idol or something else that says it's *for girls* and not *for boys*. One of the most popular colors for the DS is pink. In the DS accessories section you'll find cute little DS bags with butterflies and other frilly things. While I don't support gender-segregated toys, it's clear that this book fits right in the gaming world anymore, and is certainly not dumb from a business perspective.

I understand that- but this isn't a site about discussing how to make the most money as a commercial entity- it's a site of feminist criticism and discussion. The argument that "Well, it makes sense from a money-making perspective" doesn't tell us anything about the product as an example of something the reinforces stereotypical gender representations, and reinforces notions about what boys and girls "like" when it comes to games.

If girls are constantly taught that they should embrace games about ponys and cooking, and they're constantly told that these things- these pink bags and sparkly pouches and butterfly labels- are for them, while these things- games about fighting and robots and dark colored pouches and camo patterns- are for boys... well, that's going to have an impact on the types of things that girls and boys purchase and that are purchased for them.

This might fit in with how games are currently marketed, but that doesn't make it good or acceptable.

It literally *is* the Girl Gamers' Guide, and more of today's crop of female Nintendo players will find that design appealing than the girls of yesterday who felt they had to reject the actively girlish if they wanted to play a good game at all.

I never felt as if I had to "reject the actively girlish if I wanted a good game." For me, I played what I liked with no thought about boys or "boy vs. girl games" whatsoever. I still do. Most games from my youth didn't sexualize women. That came with improvement in graphics and that's only when I starting hearing this whole "videogames are for boys" rhetoric. It honestly never occurred to me or my friends that we shouldn't like or play games because of our gender.

but it's okay to like games *and* be girly, because there are games that are commonly understood to be liked by girls now

Maybe today's girls purchase this pink, flowery crap because that is practically all that is pushed at them. Seems to me there is a hell of a lot more pressure on girls to like "girly things" and avoid "boy's toys" than when I was young.

While I don't support gender-segregated toys, it's clear that this book fits right in the gaming world anymore, and is certainly not dumb from a business perspective.

Again, is it possible that this is because that is what's shoved down their collective throats (the pink and flowery starts when they are infants)? Just because it's good for business, doesn't mean it's good for our children.

The good news is you just have to wait 10 years and there will be stuff for 18-24 year old women gamers

I'm not sure why you think there needs to be guides directly marketed toward women. I don't have any problem reading the guides currently on the market. I think you are confusing "guides" with "magazines." Guides deal directly with game-play and I can safely say that I've never bought a guide and thought, "Wow, I wish this guide was geared toward women." I've never read a guide that felt gendered in any way. Gamers mags, I assume, are geared toward males, but I don't read them, so I don't know.

That said, I notice a lot more explicit racism and homophobia in these game populations than I do sexism.

I don't know that there is more of it, but it's at least as prominent as the sexism and very, very noticeable.

As a girl gamer, I am offended by this in more ways than one. All the chick gamers I know would turn their nose up at this purely because of the piss-poor marketing.

I was going to note how the grammatical error was more glaring than the shocking pink, but several other commenters already noted that too. But seriously, I am so sick of patronizing marketing to women, where everything that is the "girls' version" of, I suppose, the normal "men's item" has to be bright, horrifying, childish pink. No wonder women are seen as being "Other."

syntyche: while WoW and EQ before it doesn't gender-link abilities, Edward Castronova's paper from 2003 (http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=415043) makes an interesting read about how those characters are valued, regardless of ability parity.

"The girls I know who play are deadly serious about their games. I don't know who the hell Nintendo thinks they're fooling."

I work for THQ, which is the 3rd biggest video game publisher on the planet. Female gamers is the fastest growing segment in our industry, and more interestingly female gamers over 50 is the fastest growing of all. The lengths of market research that go into game designs is massive. Nintendo is fooling no-one - they are selling tons of product right into the demographics they want to. Females that enjoy male games don't need to be marketed to. They are active gamers today. The best selling Nintendo DS product (outside of Ninetendo first party products) was Paws and Claws Pet Vet last year. Young female gamers loved that title, and now there are 30 more in a row behind it. These companies would not be spending $$ on games that cost millions of dollars to develop, market, and build without receiving returns that make them a solid business decision.

. Females that enjoy male games don't need to be marketed to. They are active gamers today.

But what about the young female gamers? Doesn't the fact that they are bombarded with stereotypes of what girls should and shouldn't like affect their decisions? Wouldn't it be healthier for both sexes to just market the games toward everyone since, as you pointed out, females play all types of games (and males do too)?

These companies would not be spending $$ on games that cost millions of dollars to develop, market, and build without receiving returns that make them a solid business decision.

And? Again, just because something makes money for a company, doesn't mean it's good for the consumer. I'm not really concerned with what's best for the multi-million dollar companies so much as what's best for our children.

Also, which games are "male games" exactly? And why would you classify them as "male games" and not just games?

BuffyTheWhite, what the hell? Girls that play male games don't want to be marketed too? I beg to differ, I'd recommend that you check out the cerise link some one posted higher up. We'd love to be marketed too. we'd love to be considered part of the demographic, and not belittled by how we see women represented in the games we enjoy playing. The writers of Cerise fight tooth and nail to get a bit of attention for these issues, and you're here on a feminist blog toting the company line that they don't need to market to women who like games that aren't painted in pink and about taking care of ponies. Not true! we want to be marketed too. we want games about ass kicking that don't belittle us as people. Why do we get pink games instead?

Ok, that game book looks totally stupid, but Cooking Mama is seriously one of my favorite games ever, and I consider it the best $20 I ever spent. The game makes great use of the touch pad and has supertight controlls, and it's a whole lot of fun.
Generally I don't like extremely violent or war-themed video games (there are a few i like, though) and I feel like people judge me as more of a girly player or something because of that. What I usually look for in video games is innovative play and originality. It's just as fucked up and sexist to say a game is marketed towards girls if it isn't a calssic-shoot-em'-up or war strategy game.

not belittled by how we see women represented in the games we enjoy playing

Tersa: I guess that's what she meant by "male games;" the ones that portray women in sexist, misogynistic ways. Got it.
And I agree with you, we play those games because we enjoy the game-play, not because we enjoy being demeaned.

As a "girl gamer" who enjoys Cooking Mama, Animal Crossing, Harvest Moon, and Viva Pinata, let me just say...I love me some Bioshock.

I'm sick to death of the boundaries drawn between FPS and everything else. If it's not gory, it must be for girls, right? Granted, I tend to enjoy a game more if there is a female as the playable character, but it certainly isn't the defining characteristic of the games I play.

I'd much rather play the games listed on the cover than play Halo, Resident Evil, generic blow shit up and kill people/zombies/ whatever games. There's a huge demographic out there that hates those games because they're incredibly violent, misogynistic, etc. And here's a shocker, they're mostly girls. Many children (but again, mostly girls. Perhaps we should talk about why boys are encouraged to think it's fun to shoot stuff instead...) in this demographic aren't allowed to buy games where realistic people are killed, and I totally agree with this decision made by parents. So, here's a book made just for those girls, safe from gory pictures of dead zombies. Yeah, it would be great if it were unisex, but it's better than nothing. But for my niece, who isn't allowed to play games where people are shot and who adores the color pink, this is absolutely perfect.

My DS is black and what the hell? I wouldn't have a DS is I didn't like the games available for it.

I like video games, but I hate ShootumsKillums (what we call military/FPS/violent games in my house). I think there is a better selection of non-ShootumsKillums for PC than for consoles, so we just do PC games. I love the Sims 2, SimCity, Civilization, the Elder Scrolls games, Rollercoster Tycoon, etc.
My partner has an XBox 360. We got Guitar Hero III and were seriously disappointed by the switch in gender representation. (I'm not trying to start another GH thread. There was just one a few days ago. Just sayin'.)The only games I've played on the 360 that I've enjoyed so far are Viva Pinata and Beautiful Katamari.

Dear Nerdalot:

you might enjoy either a DS or Wii. They seem to specialize in games that you seem to be into.

If you do pickup a DS, be sure to get a copy of Elite Beat Agents.

It had never even occurred to me to wonder how many Feministers played Warcraft! Yes, yes, the graphics of the female avatars are skewed--but as a player what counts is that it's the player's skill, not appearance, that wins out. And there's something deviously satisfying about knowing that a solid majority of the players whose asses I can kick in duels are 'hard core' male gamers. XY chromosomes don't get you any extra points in virtual reality!

Incidentally, my boyfriend always uses female avatars. He says people are nicer to female characters. . . Anyone have any observations on this theory?

I've been getting into MMOs this past year, and agree that WoW's female avatar choice tends to suck. I've been playing Lord of the Rings Online for the last couple of months and I have to say, from a feminist gamer perspective, it's waaaay better than a lot of other games I've tried (not perfect, though. Sigh.). The female characters actually look REAL - you actually can't make hobbits or humans too skinny. Even the elves aren't too sexpot. It is SO NICE to get to play for hours and see realistic - still attractive, like, just REAL - people in a game world. No lingerie-armour. And a completely even male/female spread of NPCs. You can tell they've actually TRIED to make it as gender-balanced as possible. Also, there seems to be much, much less sexist bullshit on chat channels and in PUGs - I've only encountered one 'OMG a gurl!' idiot in like two months of playing.

Anyway, tying this in to the actual post - games that pander to lazy stereotypes DON'T succeed as well as ones that actually make an effort to be GOOD GAMES, that excel in their genre and don't have to rely on chicks in skimpy clothing on their cover. (There was actually an interesting post on Feminist Gamers a while back that showed how the more women in their underwear a game had on the cover, the less likely it was to be selling well. People want GOOD GAMES. Good games aren't full of underwear armour.)

"Do you want to take on the boy's at their own game and beat them every single time?

PLEASE tell me that ugly typo is actually printed in the book. (Boy's versus boys. Plural, not possessive!) That would make this even better...