NEWS smile and act nice: Where the Girls Aren't

IS LOUISA NUTS?
REACTION :

No Louisa is not nuts. I have a daughter age 10 and in the 3 months since we got the computer it has not been easy to find stuff that she really likes (or me, come to that!). I have major concerns about the games available, I am aware the guys playing them may already be socially inept and this can lead to them becoming seriously warped in their dealings with the 50% of the population who are female yet may not be the lusty pneumatic bimbos of cyber fantasy. -diane

Right there witcha, sister! -miaowgrrl

The video game industry is lacking and sexist. -whitney

There is definitely a need out there for better CD-ROM games for girls. I work for a games company in San Francisco, and in a company of about 30 artists, I am one of only about 4 women 3d graphics artists. The ratio of 26 men artists to only 4 women artists is not unusual in this kind of business. Most of the men here have been playing arcade games or such gaming systems as Nintendo since they were boys, so it's not so unusual that they would be interested in this sort of field. Unfortunately, for the women, they haven't been playing game systems throughout their childhood, so therefore there aren't that many women working in the computer games development fields. For the few women in the computer games development field, it's difficult sometimes to get respect. My hope is that companies like Mattel and Girl Games will get the hairdos and make-up out of their system and realize that girls are more interested in using their minds, and should be encouraged to do so. Perhaps better CD-ROM games for girls would introduce them to the fun field of computer gaming. It's a great career, and has the potential to be a great place for girls to rule! -kelly

Wow. what a terrible editorial. I'm peeling my smileandactnice sticker off of my bike helmet as I type this. I had such high hopes for your site, and now this...

I was a little perturbed by the "games for girls article... I think it misses the point that often a girl's paradigm for creative playtime expression takes a different form than a boy's. I would point to the "Mattel for Girls" Barbie software, which includes a desktop customizing app, a fantasy nail studio, a fashion design studio (which prints out patterns you can sew)etc, etc, etc. My personal fave is the Barbie digital camera, with which I took the two little pics attached. The one is just my neigbor's garage, and then I used their software to make it the psychedelic southwestern world of Barbie and Skipper. I mean really-- who wants to play shooter killer blah blah when you play with games like this? So hey- the world ain't all bad for girls.

Why do games have to be aimed at audiences of a different sex? Loads of girls love games that are specifically designed for guys. Of course there is a line that distinguishes the taste of girls and boys, but it's a thin one. Girls don't all enjoy sitting around twirling their hair and sitting in front of a computer screen with scrolling dresses. So someone please take note of this and design a really cool game that aimed at non-stereotypical 'girls'.

I think the focus on creating and (especially) marketing "girl games" has overshadowed the importance of QUALITY. Narrative games, action games, adventures, magazines, etc. can all be entertaining, exciting, and perhaps educational when they're done well. I plan to create games for teens, children, girls, boys, everyone--and I hope that my work will have both style and substance. I'm working on a Web site now: http://pages.nyu.edu/~oa215 -Olugbemisola, a "girl" game maker

by Louisa C. Brinsmade

"It's all about the girl,
developing really awesome girls."
-- Laura Groppe of Girl Games, NY Times, '97

Actually, it's about money. Developing really awesome ways to make money. Did you ever hear John Romero at Ion Storm talk about "developing really awesome boys..."? The guy who pushed us screaming into the killing fields of Quake and Doom probably isn't all that concerned with early childhood development. So, enough with the nobility about girls and technology, that's only slowing everybody down.

Why so mad? Well, you would be too if you were out there looking for some girl fun on a CD-ROM hybrid and all you found was ONE game worth playing. The Vampire Diaries by Her Interactive. That's it. Check it out, though: Elena, the main character, comes back from vacationing on the French Riviera (yeah!) to find her hometown swarming with vampires. You navigate her through secret passageways and puzzles looking for clues to save the town from this evil scourge. Elena doesn't just interact with other characters, she has to fight off the vampires, some of whom have erotic ways. (Elena is bent over backwards in an "embrace" by a handsome doctor biting her neck, for instance…) The game sells for $39.95, pretty much in line with other CD-ROM games out there, and is for girls ages 13 and up.

Yet, despite the appeal of a story involving mystery and hidden identities as opposed to heavy-duty plasma guns blowing the enemy into bloody chunks, The Vampire Diaries is still a one-of-a-kind game. No one else even comes close to the level of adventure, 3D graphics, or content produced here for female players.

Even in the girl game community, The Vampire Diaries hasn't started the anticipated revolution in female gaming. That's because game publishers like Mattel and Hasbro are busy sucking up the disposable allowances of Tweens with "branded" games like Barbie spin-offs and other hairdo and horsey games. And by the way, Girl Games is a big part of that, having produced the Clueless CD-ROM for Mattel. Gee, how original.

Nevertheless, the handful of "girl game" companies, especially Girl Games, Purple Moon, Her Interactive, and Girl Tech, get tons of press accolades. Not for product, mind you, but just for being girls.

So, while we're busy congratulating them for having wombs and giving birth to new companies, let's bother to take a look at what they're producing. Purple Moon put out Rockett's New School, and a slew of other Rockett character adventures, along with Secret Paths by the Sea, a sort of girls' clubhouse where you sit around with other characters and try to figure out life's problems. Both games are "issue-oriented," and attempt to simulate actual game-playing, but fun they are not. In both the Rockett and Secret Paths series, the graphics are flat and the player spends much of time watching the story develop on the screen with barely any interaction necessary. By the way, Purple Moon went out of business early this year.

Girl Games came out with Clueless in 1997, and Let's Talk About Me, that has a series of fun quizzes, fortune telling games, personality tests, a diary, wardrobes, and hair stylings. But the game is full of negativity - the player gets dissed if she says she's pretty happy with her childhood. "Come on, get real…" is the game's response. Parents and friends she may have conflicts with are all imbued with negative characteristics: "bossy, selfish, critical," the list goes on. What was it Laura Groppe said? "Developing really awesome girls." Yeah, that was it. I'd rather fight off advances on Lara Croft's big breasts in Tomb Raider. The only bright spot in Girl Games' list of products is Teen Digital Diva, out last fall. The game allows the player to create their own magazine with design options, photos and articles, and then lets her email it to her friends.

Taken as a whole, the selection is extremely thin, especially considering the hundreds of game titles out there. The only real place for girls to look for fun right now is on the Internet. Girl Games' Planet Girl.com web site is very cool, and Girl Tech has a lot of fun and educational game ideas, for both on and off the computer. They also have a good chat board.

And then, there's always the future to look forward to. Online gaming is all the buzz right now, with an estimated 9 million players coming by the year 2000. The Internet is also one place "where boys don't rule," says Girl Games VP Katherine Jones. The company is planning big things for girls gaming on the World Wide Web, she says. That's good -- just reassure me Barbie's not invited to the slumber party and I'll be happy.

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