[Note: This is a resubmission of an old entry for the Untapped Potential musing we had months ago. I am resending this because I feel this is an issue I want more people to talk about.]



For over 30 years, the videogame industry has been evolving in graphics, engines, systems, story lines, ergonomic, commodity, energy consumption and has also branded a very important field in our lives.

Now, what about women? Yeah, you know, chicks.

Video games are stereotypically targeted to be boy stuff and it undeniably is for marketing and attitude, us men love to be better than someone else by nature and we play videogames to try to be the best on the world in something regardless on what it is. Now the idea of putting women on the market is not new, hell no, it's been for a very long time.



Going to a trip on essentials, let's talk about Mattel and Play-Doh. We all know Barbie is not only a popular role model chosen by suburban mothers to keep their little girls on track on a long time, and Mattel seeing this little gray box of happiness (and easy money) to make a videogame based on their rose-tinted universe and counterpart of Hot Wheels. Speaking of it, Mattel is very well known to sort Happy Meals easily on that matter, blue things for boys, pink things for girls, and it is modern discipline that being caught playing with dolls or make-up is the biggest humiliation a father can receive from his son, and that's why boys have Hot Wheels, I mean yeah those fast motherfuckers are cool and I like racing too, fast things are exciting. Now on Play-Doh it is a much more impressive idea. Play-Doh did an important bond with our life as children (if you were born around the 50's and beyond) because it created an important treaty in our life to play with girls without it being wrong. When you and your sister play with Play-Doh you are learning team work, share resources, economy and synergy.


So ok ok, let's go back with videogames. I am a guy, I love videogames, and it is natural that I love women because I am a guy and putting a woman on a main role on a videogame sounds like a great idea. Yeah it does. still we are filling the whole bucket with testosterone and no estrogen.

OH WAIT, WAIT, THERE IS ROOM AFTER ALL... OH HOW COULD I FORGET NINTENDOGS, IMAGINE BABYZ, AND DINNER DASH! OH HOW BLIND AM I!

So here is the problem. Casual games are doing a job to introduce a wider audience into our hobby, we are not very conformed with the idea, but it is a very good economic success. (hence, Nintendo's office swimming in gold and platinum with WiiFit), however we still have to take out this.



If we want to put girls sharing the audience we should balance out the male marketing to do a clear field for them to take approach to the controller...



To do so it is important to do Play-Doh instead of Hot Wheels/Barbie borders. Let's make games that are designed for people to enjoy, and I even mean any audience despite expertise.

One way I think that could work is to make a title where the game is a girl, BUT her gender is not pushed to be too explicit. For example, Samus.

Samus Aran is strong, agile, smart and courageous, and we forget most of the time that it is about a woman all the time, hell many still ask "WHAAAAT SAMUS IS A GUUURL!?". Another one is Jade from Beyond Good and Evil; her gender is obvious, but she isn't defying anatomy, gravity or social consideration too much, she is just an intelligent and brave lady that wields a baton uncovering the conspiracies behind a breached government.

Another technique would be to not generalize genders, there is nothing wrong with having many male heroes but it wouldn't hurt to also make another half with women that also feel fun as well, that of course is not to go all feminist.



Another great idea is to give the player the option to be either a boy or a girl, the first time I saw this was on Word Rescue, an educative (but FUN) DOS game that mixed a Super Mario Bros platforming style with spelling. GameFreak followed this years later on Pokemon Crystal introducing the first girl trainer Kris.

Or even better yet how about not specifying the gender of the character? Kirby is pink, round and soft, but you are not very clear on what gender it is, that goes without saying it blushed when was kissed by Ribbon in the ending of Kirby 64.



Enough talk about the game structure, how about the marketing? Many games like Tomb Raider, Dead or Alive or Grand Theft Auto and, damn, Duke Nukem depend on the male target, all filled with gore, violence, drugs and tits, hell yeah manly shit. But this is much more saturated than it appears, mainly as there are no many women with guns as our friend Elsa said once.

Or, you know, how about you the female readers give more ideas on what to do on the issue? It is hard to dig the opposite gender's psychology without being a girl.

So, aside thinking about the children, how about we also think about our sister? Our girlfriend? Our wife? Our best friend? Our grandma? Our daughter? Women? If you want them to start play games, then by hell start to prepare the field so they stay.

Why to choose between pink and blue when you can be yellow or green?