Notes on
Gender Inclusive Game Design
“Gender Inclusive Game Design: Expanding
The Market”
By Sheri Graner Ray
Overall Notes
• None of these notes are true for every single
(wo)man
• All notes are intended to be offered in a
respectful fashion
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Chapter 1: Females and Machines
• Women generally think of (and are pushed
to think of) computers as being workrelated machines
– When asked what games for women there were,
salespeople at retail game stores suggested
typing tutors, gardening software, etc
• Women are ~52% of the overall population,
but play games substantially less than men
do
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Chapter 1: Females and Machines
• ♂: Computers are a challenge to be overcome
• ♀: Prefer a more artistic,
communicative/cooperative interaction
• Example: fighting games
– ♀: Tend to not enjoy the ‘hidden game play
elements’, such as secret, special moves that are
discovered only by trial & error
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Chapter 1: Females and Machines
• Example: failure penalties
– ♀: Tend to not enjoy a crippling penalty for
failure (your avatar died & you have to restart the
level)
• Example: Goals
– ♀: Often times prefer more open-ended
gameplay, perhaps even without a precise goal
• Such as Sim* - SimCity, SimTower, The Sims, etc
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Chapter 4: Stimulation &
Entertainment
• ♂: measurable physiological reaction from
visual input (e.g., adrenaline)
• ♀: not so much response to visual input
• ♀: tend to have more of a reaction to
‘emotional input’
– “mutually beneficial solutions to socially
significant situations”
– Ex: BioShock: Rescue my spouse & kid!
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Chapter 4: Stimulation &
Entertainment
• ♀: tactile feedback good, too
– Dance Dance Revolution
– ‘Immersive’ arcade games – motorcycles,
‘snowboards’, etc
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Chapter 4: Learning and Communications
Styles in Computer Game Development
• ♂: excel at targeting moving targets in an
uncluttered field
• ♀: excel at targeting stationary targets in a
cluttered field
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Chapter 4: Learning and Communications
Styles in Computer Game Development
• LEARNING:
• ♂: Are willing to just try stuff
– “If all else fails, try reading the manual”
• ♀: Are less willing to take risks while learning
– Generally want to know what to do, first
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Chapter 4: Learning and Communications
Styles in Computer Game Development
• COMMUNICATION STYLES:
• ♂: Typically more overtly dominant
• ♀: Typically more overtly empathetic
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Chapter 6: Reward and Gameplay
• ♀: ‘High Score’ sorts of rewards aren’t
particularly rewarding
• Idea – look for alternative reward structures
– Ultima Online/MMORPGs: participating in the life
of a community, such as by creating items that can
be sold
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Chapter 7: Avatar Selection
• ‘Pyramid of power’ & ♀/♂ avatar selection
– ♀ are generally uncomfortable playing a ♂ avatar
– But not vice-versa: most ♂ don’t have a problem
playing a game with a ♀ avatar
• Avatar portrayal:
– ♂: powerful
– ♀: sexual
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Chapter 7: Avatar Selection
• Good Game Design Idea:
– Offer a selection of both ♀ and ♂ avatars.
– Don’t offer just token/weak ♀ avatars
• Example: that game where the wizard & warrior are
male, and only the thief is female
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Chapter 8: Puzzle Games
• Scott Kim Definition (from Pg 110):
– “A puzzle is a problem that is fun to solve, which
means that the goal is to find the right answer. In
contrast, the goal of a game is to beat another
player. By this definition single player games like
solitaire card games are actually randomly
generated puzzles”
• Audience for these games is often-times ♀
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Chapter 8: Puzzle Games
• Puzzles are not violent, not action games, and
not directly competitive
• Plus, they’re great for ‘casual gaming’ market –
you can pick up Blix, play for 5 boards, then
move on.
• Plus, they’re great on limited-capability devices
– phones, iPods, Zunes, etc
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Chapter 8: Puzzle Games
• Types:
– Logic puzzles
– Word puzzles
– Visual Puzzles
• Example of usage: Bully (as a substitute for
actually going to real classes  )
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Chapter 9: Online/Wireless Games
• Online games tend to be more flexible/openended
– (as opposed to ‘pipe’ style games)
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Summary: Things to Think About When
Designing Women-Friendly Games
• Reward Issues:
– Flashing lights & points aren’t enough
• Look for an emotional tie-in
– Female avatars allow women players to identify
with the character more
– Set up the story/game to encourage player
identifying with the character
• “Understanding Comics” – iconic character idea
– Mutually beneficial solution to socially significant
problem
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Summary: Things to Think About When
Designing Women-Friendly Games
• Allow for confrontational and nonconfrontational resolution of issues
– Allow for <multiple> ways to resolve things
– Non-confrontational:
• Stealth
• Interpersonal manipulation
– White Wolf vs. AD&D
• Allow for non-confrontational activity:
– Timed/scored activity
• Tetris, racing
• (as opposed to killing each other)
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Summary: Things to Think About When
Designing Women-Friendly Games
• Create shorter, more ‘bite-sized’ subgoals
– Facilitates game play over shorter periods of time
• Avoid severe penalty failures
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