I know a lot of women who have played sim/management games like The Sims, Zoo Tycoon, Stardew Valley, etc.
A lot of this comes down to the actual survey questions that were used. If the wording of the survey questions was “Have you ever played…” as opposed to “Do you regularly play…” for example, then the numbers could be quite skewed.
Yep, plenty of girls/women out there who don’t really consider themselves “gamers” who will put multiple-digit hours into those management types of games. I personally know several like that. I would imagine a lot of women don’t really get into direct PVP online gaming due to the online environment and lack of attempts to appeal to female gamers with the designs of such games, but would probably play a lot of single-player in a bunch of different genres and series. As the article implies, Nintendo IPs in particular would be appealing due to lack of pandering to either the common “gamer” demographic or to what many other publishers think women want in games (overly stereotypical “girl stuff”).
I think this especially stems from how those games are seen by some more asshole-ish people. Few would disagree that strategy RPGs are not gaming, but I’ve had a clerk at gamestop lecture me about how my then-favorite title wasn’t a “real” part of the series. So it’s still my favorite, but I don’t bring it up anymore.
For much the same reason, there’s an internalized mental block concerning whether or not something like The Sims, Stardew, Animal Crossing, etc. are “real” games because they don’t really have a goal or require the same level of skill. If someone asks me what I play, I’m going to mention Hades before I ever breathe a word about Slime Rancher because one of those is going to get me stereotyped and insulted.
If all I played were really chill, micromanaging “girl games,” I just wouldn’t say anything and would have doubts about describing myself as being on the level “gamer” normally entails.
I know a lot of women who have played sim/management games like The Sims, Zoo Tycoon, Stardew Valley, etc.
A lot of this comes down to the actual survey questions that were used. If the wording of the survey questions was “Have you ever played…” as opposed to “Do you regularly play…” for example, then the numbers could be quite skewed.
Yep, plenty of girls/women out there who don’t really consider themselves “gamers” who will put multiple-digit hours into those management types of games. I personally know several like that. I would imagine a lot of women don’t really get into direct PVP online gaming due to the online environment and lack of attempts to appeal to female gamers with the designs of such games, but would probably play a lot of single-player in a bunch of different genres and series. As the article implies, Nintendo IPs in particular would be appealing due to lack of pandering to either the common “gamer” demographic or to what many other publishers think women want in games (overly stereotypical “girl stuff”).
I think this especially stems from how those games are seen by some more asshole-ish people. Few would disagree that strategy RPGs are not gaming, but I’ve had a clerk at gamestop lecture me about how my then-favorite title wasn’t a “real” part of the series. So it’s still my favorite, but I don’t bring it up anymore.
For much the same reason, there’s an internalized mental block concerning whether or not something like The Sims, Stardew, Animal Crossing, etc. are “real” games because they don’t really have a goal or require the same level of skill. If someone asks me what I play, I’m going to mention Hades before I ever breathe a word about Slime Rancher because one of those is going to get me stereotyped and insulted.
If all I played were really chill, micromanaging “girl games,” I just wouldn’t say anything and would have doubts about describing myself as being on the level “gamer” normally entails.
My wife has solo four stars in every single overcooked map. She still doesn’t think she’s a “gamer”