Hmmmm,
Women who are adamantly against D&D. Here's the
problem as I see it: The concept of what a 'Gamer' is. Let's face it,
those of us who are here consider ourselves 'Gamers'. We are people for
whom this is generally a way of life. some more than others. I myself can
handle a game every other week comfortably. I have friends back home that
go 5 games a week, every week plus boffer events during the summer. These
friends are both men and women. They are 'Gamers'.
I think it is ridiculous to consider those
that spend inordinate amount of time playing these games as your "core"
group. In fact I would venture that those that impact the industry the most
are much more balanced than the "gamers" you describe above. Gaming is
a hobby. Some people become very involved in their hobby (for the record
gaming every night...or pursuing any hobby everyday is WAY over the top) but
by in large a hobby is just that something we devote a fair but reasonable
amount of time.
The focus of any
company should and must be on the majority of their target audience.(which
is not the "5 nights" a week variety.)
Actually, I was just using this
to illustrate the range of experience and intensity of the hobby. Myself at
the low range and these particular friends at the high range. Besides, it
would stand to reason that the more often one plays the more they are likely
to buy. ex. "Our monday and Wednsday games are both D&D.. can we break
it up and maybe play star wars on
Tuesday?"
True. However (and here I engage in the stereotype I
cautioned against!) I would think those that play everynight are not (by
necessity) in the higher income bracket and therefor less able to afford those
different books. Even if they are not they as a total percentage of the entire
market would represent a very small portion indeed.
What you have proposed is to create a game that will draw
non-gamer women into being gamers. Informal polls aside, one of the best
ways to start is to look at what draws non-gamer men into being gamers.
First of all, there is the type. A certain set of interests that inspires
the gaming spirit. Sci-fi/Fantasy is a big one. Let's face it, not all men
and not all women share these interests. I had roommates in college to
whom the very idea was anethma, among other things it would have cut into
the drinking time. Some women are the same way.
Agreed. Those that show
an increased interest in Sci-Fi/Fantasy genre tend to be more "open" to the
concept of gaming. Interesting observation that those that don't game were
(according to you) spending their time drinking. Not a really fair
observation which smacks of an unconstructive stereotype.
I said among other things. For
my particular roommates that was true. My friends from back home would use
that time for movies more often than not. Contrary to what you think, I'm
not pushing stereotypes but rather pointing out specific examples from my
own life.
Now you have a target audience. Young geeky guys. The
majority of male gamers I know tended towards engineering/computer
science. In a way, people who wanted a way to express their creative needs
but couldn't really act. Now you want to find an analgous group of women.
You don't want to be tapping Sororities (in general - there are some
Engineering related sororities but I think those are the exception, not
the rule). Anime fans are a good start. There are more and more girls
moving into the engineering and computer science fields these
days.
I am not sure that "engineering/computer
science" is an accurate or helpful category. In my present gaming group it
is pretty evenly split between "the arts" and " science" and not all the
science group falls into the above category. (i.e. one is a biologist)
Again, personal experience. I can think of one
friend in particular who switched his major to theater after our
LARP group brought out the actor in him. However, the majority
that I personally know were of those two majors. It could well be simply a
case that Umass has a very large CS/Engineering deptartment and so
percentage chances favored
it.
Clearly the above is based on personal experience; it
is interesting to see we have divergent gaming
backgrounds.
One final note: I think that there are a lot more women
gamers out there than you realize. In my experience the female of the
species is less prone to 'Rules Lawyering', a Syndrome that often spings
up in gamers who have read every single rulebook and know it backwards and
forwards. You'll find that most guys say gaming is better with a woman.
The reason for that is the difference between watching a movie in black
and white vs. in color. The characters become less stats on paper and more
detailed. Based on that, you can't judge the presence of women gamers
based on how many books they buy.
Again a propensity to
quote rules does not relate to buying power. All serious players (once they
become serious) own rule books and buy supplements.(whether male or female)
Your above statements (as well as others) dance around the issue and present
essentially baseless and somewhat sexist stereotypes.
I
think it's pretty obvious that in order to quote rules, you have to have
read them ;-) I do admit that this was a pretty lame corolation however. I
am a bit offened at the hint that I am being sexist. In any discussion
revolving around gender issues we dance that line however, everything that I
have said is based off of personal gaming experience with women I have gamed
with.
Relax on
the "sexist" comment. My point was not made to offend but rather point out that
any discussion like this when not supported by empirical data quickly devolves
into (by necessity) generalizations.
As
for the issue, here it is spelled out: If you're looking to sell to the
female demographic, you need to realize that it is not as simple as females.
There are 3 types of women you will be dealing with. 1. Those who are
already gamers. 2. Those who aren't gamers but might be. 3. Those who will
never ever be gamers. As a company looking to target these markets you will
want to know who the women who already game are and which types of games
they like so that you can get them you buy your products. You will also want
to find out Who the ones that might be are and figure out how to get them
into the hobby.
Exactly Bill, most of the conversations
have revolved around how to draw in the potential female gamers.Based on such a
HUGE demographic any meaningful marketing program is almost doomed to failure.
What we all may be missing is retention versus recruitment or any other number
of factors.
All of this is based off personal experience. Anyone with different
experiences than me are free to dissagree.
-Bill
All the above
highlights the problem with a discussion of this type. We all bring our
various unsubstantiated views and these types of positions have driven
the gaming industry over the past few years. The solution needs to be long
term and thoughtful.
I beleive you are seriously
mistaken here. As someone who's only experience is a lifetime of playing
games with various different friends, my views have been well substantiated
by observations on playing style and purchusing habits of (counts) near 50
women gamers I have known in my short time on this planet. Well, I do agree
with the long term and thoughtful statement
;-)
My
point here was that even with a wealth of personal experience (I too have gamed
with dozens of female gamers) Our assumptions tend to be coloured by our
individual background. Any strategy must be removed of the bias that has been
demonstrated in this forum (on both sides of the issue)
a) Design well balanced supplements and
corebooks.
Hardly revolutionary here. But
definitly something someone should state more often. Also, something I think
that would (or at least should) apply equally towards drawing in both
genders.
b) Monitor sales and identify sales
trends.
Because everybody fills in
those little surveys and mails them
back.
There are of course many other ways to monitor sales
trends but point well taken...it ain't easy...
c) Establish a wide
playtest base.
If
for no other reason than to make sure that you get 'A'
done.
d) React to the established data and not to
preconceived notions.
Good idea. I don't want to see
Barbi's Dungeon Adventure in my local gaming store.
Not a quick fix for
sure but it is Marketing 101 and generally produces level results.
You'd think gaming companies
would be doing that already wouldn't you? Or at least their marketing
departments. Except of course if they were doing good enough business from
their mostly male clientel (assumption here, I don't know the demographic
stats) and the established data told them that their biggest clients were
these men and so they kept producing games that men liked and didn't change
for fear of alienating their established
clientel.
Yes. Despite the progressive view of many gaming
companies they continue to lag behind current trends and market theory. Even
WoC's vaunted d20 strategy has run the very real risk (and may have already) of
alienating traditional D&D gamers (every gaming group went through the
3ed/2ed "break up") I would just LOVE to see the data on that! (For the record I
am a d20 supporter but that doesn't erase my misgivings at the very tangible
number(in my area) of longterm D&D players who have not made the
switch)
Trevor
Fortune favors the bold,
-Bill
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