Rebel Play - After the Presentation

After Rebel Play's presentation, I looked over some of the questions I had thought of previously and used their answers to generate ideas of answering the question we were posed - 'Do media platforms and genres have specific gender appeal? Why don't more women play console games?'


From the presentation, we gathered the information that women were more interested in playing social games, such as The Sims and Farmville, whereas men were more likely to play shooter games such as Grand Theft Auto or Call of Duty. This gives the impression that women prefer to play a game that relates to their life and can help them in some way. The shooter games that the male stereotype play relate to game playing as a hobby. Repetitive games are seen as more likely to be played by males - e.g. an objective where the player needs to shoot 100 objects over the course of the gameplay. The games women play have an objective and social aspect, where objectives don't need to be repeated time and time again.


Another reason as to women preferring different consoles was their styling. Where a Wii is slim-fitting and can be put neatly away, the Xbox or Playstation consoles are larger and bulkier, perhaps hinting at a materialistic reason that women don't use certain platforms.


The presentation gave the impression that the reason women don't play console games is because they are male-based. From childhood, girls play with dolls and pretend household items, whereas boys play with footballs and guns. This difference is reflected in their adult life, and as in childhood, there is little room for crossover. Certain gaming platforms could produce games for women, but if the platforms are initially bought for the males in the house, would women bother to buy a game for themselves to use on it? It seems typical of women to use the Wii or Nintendo DS, or social games on Facebook, that have a certain aim or outcome, and so these consoles become more appealing to them through advertisement.