To all the "Girl Gamers!"

[AxemRed]

Like, say you're trying to romance a guy who likes sci-fi. You don't like sci-fi, but you don't hate it. If you tell him you like sci-fi, your relationship goes up! If you tell him you don't, your relationship goes down and your character is probably rude about it by default. Considering that from what I've seen, in BxG games as long as you don't grossly object to a LI's view on life, you're pretty solid and conflicting fiction interests never really come up.

>you like sci-fi, your relationship goes up
Most dating sims work like this (regardless of target demographic)

>as long as you don't grossly object to a LI's view on life
Most visual novels work like this (regardless of target demographic)

[Cadenza]

Like, say you're trying to romance a guy who likes sci-fi. You don't like sci-fi, but you don't hate it. If you tell him you like sci-fi, your relationship goes up! If you tell him you don't, your relationship goes down and your character is probably rude about it by default. Considering that from what I've seen, in BxG games as long as you don't grossly object to a LI's view on life, you're pretty solid and conflicting fiction interests never really come up.

>you like sci-fi, your relationship goes up
Most dating sims work like this (regardless of target demographic)

>as long as you don't grossly object to a LI's view on life
Most visual novels work like this (regardless of target demographic)

I did say from my experience, sorry.
Redact, then. Generally! I prefer if a game doesn't depend on us liking the same things for us to develop a relationship. Relationships are about a lot more than that.

[EroBotan]

>you like sci-fi, your relationship goes up
Most dating sims work like this (regardless of target demographic)

Actually real life works like this too ^^;

but yeah, it will be nice if this works both way in dating sims, meaning that your partner will also try to do things that you like too (off course this can only happen when he/she become interested in you).

[9-of-Hearts]

Well, there are a whole heap of things I want in console games and more variety in protagonists tops the list. Seriously, I went looking for new games recently and almost every one I picked up that was in the genre I enjoyed was straight, white, male, depressed, stoic and OUT FOR REVENGE!11!!1 With and without masks. Seriously, how hard is it to mix it up a little. What about a funny smartarse, or an intelligent manipulator or someone who is just plain lucky. No, all I get are a bunch of badasses with the personlaity of a brick wall. It's the primary reason I didn't buy Dishonored, despite it having an interesting setting.

But I'm presuming you are asking specifically about what I'm interested in in regards to my gender. And that is simple, female perspective.

I want more female protagonists and female characters in general, but I also want them to be told like females, and not a male perception of what females are. There are some games that have plenty of female characters and zero female perspective. I want stories told that are relevent to me, that tell stories I can connect to.

Well-written, I second everything in here.

[...]One dad was so concerned that he cracked into one of the newer Zelda games (one where you could choose your own name) and changed all the male pronouns to female ones. He wanted to make sure his daughter grew up in a world where she could be the hero.

I absolutely love this guy.

I don't play half as many games as I want to, but I definitely read about them (totally the same thing, right?/shot) But yeah, I just want more female characters with good heads on their shoulders in prominent and influential roles in games. I want characters of all types to be realistic (within the bounds of their society/world of course) and can hold their own, unless there're good reasons otherwise. ......And I'm REALLY not a fan of almost of the girl characters I see in scanty armor. I mean really? It's just asking for the girls to die in so many of their worlds. Function a.k.a. protection over form, please--like usually seen on guys in games! And what Auro-Cyanide has mentioned.

[azureXtwilight]

It's simple for me, great story and a girl main character that doesn't get kidnapped every five minutes and I have to backtrack again to save her. Gimme some ass-kicking woman, damnit.

...Probably the reason why I play Devil May Cry. Hey, Trish!

Some people think that girl will only play romance-for-girl games, but it's not true. Sometime we play as male main character because we want to see the male MC in action (esp if he's nice looking), some other time we play as girl characters and grow a farm or look for materias because we kick ass yo b*tches! Some other, other time just go "What the heck they have a super awesome story -- see FF VII -- I'mma play it and stuff"

[Aines445]

Well, I don't really play console games, but overall:

I want a BADASS, STRONG AS FUCK WOMAN as a protagonist.

Why? Because a girl can be this awesome sword-wielding RPG hero too! And I'd like her dominating the game! Well, she doesn't need to be physically strong, I'm mostly saying strong-willed, but I'm not that pleased when they're these damsels in distress in some games (But they're not the main characters), because WOMEN CAN KICK ASS TOO! ^-^ And if you can pick the gender, it should make your actions different then when you choose to be a guy. I don't think the plot should be completly the same if you can pick gender, since if a woman's perspective is different than a man's, then a woman's action should be different, therefore changing more than some dialogue. I also like violence and all, so that should be in there too! Girls don't just like flowers and do housework, they also want SOME GUNS!! KILL THOSE BASTARDS!! XD I guess some don't though (I do XD) And if there's one thing I hate in otome games, is that I'm never badass enough! I don't want to be this blank girl, I don't want to be this high school weak girl, I want to DOMINATE THOSE GUYS XD!!! Well, you get the point. (By the way, I AM a girl)

[Fungii]

I just want decent games?
Oh and less brown. Idk, it'd be nice to see some next gen games with a pallete more akin to a wii title than just dirt. I don't care how lovingly those cliffs are rendered, give me a reason to look at them other than your 300 mile draw distance.

Sadly I'm part of the problem and I'm rarely interested in female characters of any kind whoops.
But I suppose it would be nice to see a dynamic between a man and woman that is less about sexual tension and more like, say, The Doctor and Donna from s4 of Doctor Who.

[MaiMai]

If there's one game that sums up my interests, it's probably Deadly Premonition.

Why a game with Dreamcast era graphics, clunky gameplay, and generally poor reviews across the board? Because smart people can see it as a game with wonderful characters, a great story, unintentional hilarity, and a fun mystery. Also you get to bash enemies with an electric guitar.

So really, I don't think I have a game in mind when I try to think "as a girl" but it just has to be good?? I think I like games both girls and guys can enjoy together...

[fioricca]

I wouldn't say that eastern games have more elements that appeals to girls, but I've always enjoyed japanese games more than western ones. I bought a few eastern and western RPG titles the other day (Dragon Age II, Mass Effect 3; Yakuza 4), and I couldn't get past 5 minutes of the first two games, but I racked up 30+ hours of gameplay on Yakuza 4 in a few days. I guess I just enjoy the unique characters Yakuza had more than the generic characters of Dragon Age; with DA, everyone felt the same, but Yakuza 4 had an engaging plot, intriguing characters and superb delivery. It was a guyish sort of game in that you play as people that are connected, in some way or another, to the yakuza world -- you also go around beating thugs up and dating girls from host clubs -- but it also had a lot of elements that appealed to me. Dating hostesses were a lot more fun than I thought, and the main protagonist, Kiryuu, is hot rofl.

If I had to point out a difference I've observed between male and female gamers, it's that the guys around me are more particular about gameplay (they prefer skipping the story and jumping straight into battles), whereas my female friends are into character dynamics, plot dynamics, ships, etc. We all can enjoy good games, but what we look out for seems to be different. a I know I'm definitely more into character dynamics/relationships (rivalries never gets old), and the games that have stuck out the most to me were those with amazing characters that I could cry and laugh with (eg Ace Attorney, Tales of series, Suikoden series). An exception to this would be the Rune Factory/Harvest Moon games; I'm a fairly devout fan of the RF/HM series as I love planting crops and watching them grow. XD; The ability to make your own stuff (cooking, smithing) is also a lot of fun.

Oh -- I should also say that I've never liked GUST games as although the alchemy system is fun, their female characters are unappealing while the male characters are boring to me. /glares at you, Iris, Rorona, Ar Tonelico and Mana Khemia 8| There are a number of girls who loved Ar Tonelico/Atelier series, but I'd stop playing whenever the heroine/any female character appears. This probably resonates with what's been said about 'a male perspective of females' XD; I don't actually know how to feel about playing as a strong, female protagonist -- right now, I'd be wary of any games that have "STRONG FEMALE PROTAG" as one of their labels. All of the strong female characters I've enjoyed in games are side characters, like Seneca from Rhapsodia (she is SO C U T E), Kika from Suikoden IV, Helba from the .hack// games, Franziska from Ace Attorney (I liked her better in Phoenix Wright than in the Miles Edgeworth game, I think they abused her whip a little too much in that) and also Ema Skye. They're all side characters and I like them that way. I can't imagine playing as any of them at all, it'd just feel weird and off-character. The games I've played which offers you an experience as a female character were Fire Emblem 7 (you could play as Lynn, though the story isn't complete unless you play Eliwood's and Hector's routes as well), Fire Emblem 8 (which had Eirika but also Ephraim), Suikoden III (Chris, but like in the previously mentioned games, you also had to play as Hugo, Geddoe and Thomas), and Wild Arms III (which had Virginia, but also Jet, Clive and Gallows). Lynn, Eirika, Chris and Virginia are strong female protags that I enjoyed playing as, but they weren't exactly characters that 'kicked ass'. All four girls are great with their weapons, but I'd be horrified if they suddenly started exerting their physical dominance over others...

I actually like Maya more than Virginia (personal preference), but part of what I love about Maya is that she is a strong rival character to Virginia. I wouldn't want Maya and Virginia to swop roles; Virginia has a quieter demeanour, but somehow that works really well with her main character status, while Maya should simply stay as a rival character. It would be awesome to see more ojou-sama girls like Maya in games, though!

[LateWhiteRabbit]

Well, there are a whole heap of things I want in console games and more variety in protagonists tops the list. Seriously, I went looking for new games recently and almost every one I picked up that was in the genre I enjoyed was straight, white, male, depressed, stoic and OUT FOR REVENGE!11!!1 With and without masks. Seriously, how hard is it to mix it up a little. What about a funny smartarse, or an intelligent manipulator or someone who is just plain lucky.

Yeah. Hell, I'm a straight white male who is a former Marine (so, like, half the video game protagonists ever are a perfect analogue match for me) and I'm sick and tired of these guys. Maybe for different reasons than other players, since I like to play games as escapism and to roleplay different experiences and roles, and white Marine-guy-like-me doesn't fit the bill. Admittedly, at first I was flattered that most game developers came up with "former or current Marine" as a prerequisite for someone single-handedly saving the day, but holy crap am I tired of watching the same rerun over and over again at this point.

I loved playing Commander Shepard in Mass Effect so much more as a woman. Commander Shepard IS a woman to me. I hear "Commander Shepard" and think "female". And how much more interesting than that default male model Shepard with the square jaw and buzz cut! (And Jennifer Hale gave female Shepard much better voice acting IMHO than the voice actor for the male Shepard.)

No, all I get are a bunch of badasses with the personlaity of a brick wall. It's the primary reason I didn't buy Dishonored, despite it having an interesting setting.

I got the impression playing Dishonored that Corvo was supposed to be a tabula rasa for the player to project onto, because they never show his face, and his motivations and actions are strictly up to the player, as he never speaks. NPCs just react to his actions, which are totally under the player's control. Is he a noble and caring Captain of the Guard who takes care not to harm the men formerly under his command, even after being falsely accused, or is he vindictive and cruel, exacting pain and death on any that slight him? It's pretty telling when you can play a game based around assassination and vengeance and still win without ever harming a soul.

Interestingly I've seen it brought up that Corvo could easily have been made gender neutral with some very tiny plot changes. (Of course you'd lose a fairly important subtext about his relationship with a couple of the major NPCs, but that's easy to miss anyway....)

[Auro-Cyanide]

@LWR, I don't understand how they think viewing all these stories through one lens is in anyway interesting I have no problem with the character type a part from the fact there are no alternatives to make each experience unique.

I must say I like my female Shepard more than the male one, but I'm only in the second game with him and I wasn't sure if it was me just being biased to my first run XD But I do see how it is more interesting to be someone different saving the universe for once, even if it is in a similar fashion.

Eh, I read the back of Dishonoured and the character sounded almost identical to Cole MacGrath or Adam Jensen or even the Assassin Creed guys. While you have a choice of if they do good or bad, the character underneath is still mono-toned. Not that I won't ever play it, just I was looking for something interesting that day and was generally annoyed about not being able to find it. Nathan Drake is probably one of the few characters that had a bit more going for him in those genres of games. My knowledge of games is a couple years old now, it's been a while since I've been able to sit down and play -.-

[LateWhiteRabbit]

@LWR, I don't understand how they think viewing all these stories through one lens is in anyway interesting

It's just the developers or writers being lazy. Most of them are white straight men, so their hero template defaults to that. Then they think, "Hmm. He'll have to be tough. Hey! Marines are tough!" But it's in space/Hell/future, so the hero becomes a Space Marine, or a Marine that finds a portal to Hell, or a Future Marine, etc. etc. etc. And Marines are BALD, right? And hair is hard to draw/model/animate so it's PERFECT. My God, we're brilliant. Ship it!

[SundownKid]

It's just the developers or writers being lazy. Most of them are white straight men, so their hero template defaults to that. Then they think, "Hmm. He'll have to be tough. Hey! Marines are tough!" But it's in space/Hell/future, so the hero becomes a Space Marine, or a Marine that finds a portal to Hell, or a Future Marine, etc. etc. etc. And Marines are BALD, right? And hair is hard to draw/model/animate so it's PERFECT. My God, we're brilliant. Ship it!

Honestly, I dislike those bald space marine type characters and I'm right in the middle of their target demographic as a young American white guy with an XBOX. Being someone who plays a lot of video games, though, the grimdark shooters get old fast. It's ridiculous how they recycle the tired old violence card over and over again. While I'm a shooter fan, I've always preferred the kind of games that "girl gamers" like, which is to say games that are heavy on plot and character dynamics. That's not to say that I don't like fun games, but I would be mortified at people who skip past the cutscenes to get to the next battle when playing on their own. Probably because I was a huge movie watcher and bookworm BEFORE I started playing video games.

[Aines445]

Lol the girls that I know don't play games at all, or play assassins creed XD. Mostly because in my country japanese games are not popular at all, and most avoid these games. Guys are the ones that mostly play games, but most play Footbal games or Call of Duty, and if I were to say that I played games to a guy, he would be suprised like "Wow a girl gamer?! O.O" XD. I actually enjoy both western and eastern games, like how I love Dragon Age Origins and Persona 3, Dragon Age being western and Persona 3 being Eastern (Persona 3's my favourite game though). When you say that girls mostly like characters and plot, I actually do, but the girls that I know from my country don't XD, and my brother actually cares more about plot and gameplay, so I guess you're kinda right in that theory, one thing that I hate about him is that he hates any eastern game, no matter what genre. And is Dishonored that bad?? Never played it, but my brother said it was good (Wait he said out of the games that were released in 2012 XD). When I think about strong female protagonist, I mean to avoid "a male's view of a female". There are a lot of games that put a female protagonist for male gamers, and that kind of pisses me off. I actually can only imagine Shepard as a male, maybe also because of my brother?? XD

[Paul Mesken]

or a Marine that finds a portal to Hell

Hey! That was a great game! Especially Doom 3. Luckily for the civilians nobody got dragged off to hell by demons because I capped them all right between the eyes before the demons could get to them

Anyway, from what I've read in this thread is that it's not the gameplay itself but having a convincing female protagonist that seems to be important. Indeed, even as a male I can clearly see that a lot of the female protagonists are really men "without the package but with a rack", to put it bluntly. And secondary female characters are typically nagging, irrational, prone to falling when chased, etc.

A stereotypical male hero invented by men is governed by the "3 C's" : cool, calm and collected. Think John Wayne or Clint Eastwood (in his early movies). A stereotypical female hero invented by men is the same (think Lara Croft, she's like Dirty Harry but just better looking). Someone like John Wayne is admired by other men but hardly by women (or so I've read somewhere). The male ideal of a male hero is just projected onto a female body.

I wonder if it's possible at all to come up with characters that are liked by both men and women. My guess would be characters like in the movies "Lord of the Rings" and "Indiana Jones".

If it's indeed the characters themselves that are of importance to female gamers then perhaps that's the way to resolve this :

Just name the movies and characters in that movie that are good female characters. And perhaps male characters should be mentioned too.