Here's my take on it. There are a lot of different people in this
world. Duh. Stereotyping is useful and important in marketing, but only
to a degree and only if you are staying up on current issues. Women are
just as diverse as men. You seem to be under the assumption that the
gaming industry markets towards men. It doesn't. IIRC, almost every
gaming company out there markets to the same kind of person (a group of
people who are drawn to a similar ideology and self image), which happens
to be a small group of men and an even smaller group of women.
There is a big world out there and there is no reason why RPGs
can't target a wide variety of markets. (other than the fact that the
"bad ass" boys will probably feel like they have been betrayed) "Women"
is not a market. I understand that Romance books are for "women" but
they aren't if you really think about it. Women just so happen to be
their biggest fans. A large number of women in society enjoy romance
novels, not because women were born to love romance but because of
certain aspects in our society. Those aspects are what you need to be
conscious of, or else your products are going to be lame replicas of what
"women" really want, IMO. It's kind of a cycle. Marketing can be a long
chicken/egg argument, but I say that developers have to both create their
own markets as well as follow an established market.
Look at it this way...
Would the hard core Christian president of a local PTA consider
running a Vampire LARP for her kids? Not likely. Why? Because the
image of the game, even though it is _just a game_ directly contradicts
with her RL ideology. But you also can't develop the "What Would Jesus
Do RPG" and expect _all_ Christians to purchase it just because it has
the word "Jesus" in the title.
You need to understand stereotypes, but you also can't depend on
them. You need to manipulate your market, but you also need to let it
manipulate you. I've just got to figure out how to get my products on
Oprah!
: ),
Maggie
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