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Why do women play Baldur's Gate?

Saigon1983Saigon1983 Member Posts: 157
edited May 2015 in Off-Topic
Actually, a subject)

Suddenly, this question came in my head. As a representative of the male part of the world, I understand the reasons why the games in general (and in BG and IWD in particular) are played by men. But why do women play in them?

First, women in principle are not very typical in playing computer games. And it's not my idea, it's simple statistics. I'm sure, that an audience of this community consists of less then 20% of female members. In other words, for every five men, there is only one woman on these forums))

I can understand when girls are playing in something causal, such as Solitaire, Tetris, three in a row or quests a la "Find the object." It is relaxing and is a good break from the daily routine affairs. But the games of such a plan as BG, IWD and, especially, PST require high concentration and a lot of time, which most of the beautiful half of humanity simply doesn't has for "this kind of child's plays".

So I would like to hear the opinion of our lovely female participants. Why have you chosen the games of such a plan?

(Sorry for construction of this text, this time I used Google Translate)
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Comments

  • Saigon1983Saigon1983 Member Posts: 157
    @iKrivetko, because it is uncommon. It is as uncommon as man in the parfume boutique, for instance. This doesn't mean, that man is never seen in such boutique, but the target audience of cosmetic industry is women, and the t.a. of game industry is men. Of all women I know (and I know a lot of them), I know no one, that plays games other than any point-and-click type. At the same time, I don't know much men, that are fond of shopping, for example))
  • Saigon1983Saigon1983 Member Posts: 157
    @FinneousPJ, really? Show me a forum, where there are thousands of men discussing about "What do you prefer: Amway or Ives Roucher?" (I don't mean you-know-what-guys). And show me another forum, which audience is 80% women and they talk about GTA or Counter Strike.

    Absolutly, there ARE many games for women and many cosmetics for men. But the main audience is predicted.
  • FinneousPJFinneousPJ Member Posts: 6,455
    edited May 2015
    @Saigon1983 Forum? What do forums have to do with anything? I thought we were discussing products & brands. BTW, homosexuals are people and men too. I didn't claim GTA or Counter Strike are games for women. Obviously this isn't worth my time, so I'll leave you to your 1980s world view.
  • Saigon1983Saigon1983 Member Posts: 157
    @Ardanis, yeah, I've just wanted to post almost the same))
  • SilverstarSilverstar Member Posts: 2,207
    I'm just as puzzled as Saigon1983.

    http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=252
  • reedmilfamreedmilfam Member Posts: 2,808
    I'm wondering at the gross assumptions about what gender, and how much of that gender, plays video games. My daughters play BG because I do. At least, the older of the two does; the younger just loves the characters, but plays more of the DOTA style games.

    The broad question of why women play the game is unanswerable. It's as vague a question as to why men play Baldur's Gate. Ask ten, and you'll probably get eight answers, if not ten.
  • Saigon1983Saigon1983 Member Posts: 157
    My percentage was random. But:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_and_video_games

    According to statistics of 1988 and 2008 years of women-gamers percentage, and keeping in mind, that most of BG and IWD players first met with these games in '99-'01, and also considering the fact, that in this community there are players from all over the world (with different relations with game industry and different cultures, and statistic from wiki, I think, based more on Europe and American people), I supposed, that quantity of females on this forum is about 20% (maybe, +-5%).
  • Saigon1983Saigon1983 Member Posts: 157
    Seeing the way that this thread goes to, I suppose, that Google doesn't translate my thoughts correctly)))

    So, I'll try it another way.

    BG-like games are based not only on storyline, but also on mobs-cutting, sword-swinging, blood-letting and other same "not-what-ordinary-woman-could-like" things. I think, that you wouldn't argue, that this type of components is what EVERY woman will like? So, what interest does women find in BG and IWD? Maybe, they like romances, or music, or smile of Minsc. I don't know, and that's why I posted my question))
  • Saigon1983Saigon1983 Member Posts: 157
    @DreadKhan, I posted the same thread in one of the russian forums. There I can see a gender of participants, and from over than 3000 members, there are only about 500 women. It is 15%. But, as I said before, I've paid attention to culture differences (especially the fact, that game industry came to Russia much later, than to Japan, for example), and wrote a number - about 20%))
  • joluvjoluv Member Posts: 2,137
    Saigon1983 said:

    Seeing the way that this thread goes to, I suppose, that Google doesn't translate my thoughts correctly)))

    So, I'll try it another way.

    BG-like games are based not only on storyline, but also on mobs-cutting, sword-swinging, blood-letting and other same "not-what-ordinary-woman-could-like" things. I think, that you wouldn't argue, that this type of components is what EVERY woman will like? So, what interest does women find in BG and IWD? Maybe, they like romances, or music, or smile of Minsc. I don't know, and that's why I posted my question))

    That is exactly what I thought you meant. Google Translate did a great job.

    Neither every woman nor every man likes those things. But many of both, including "ordinary" ones, can and do like those things.
  • DreadKhanDreadKhan Member Posts: 3,857
    You are ignoring the fact that posting on a forum is not at all required to play a game like BG, and thst women have an incentive to either not share their gender or lie about it. Most younger gamer dudebros are not very good at dealing with women, and some are even deliberately douchey towards women online, perhaps to make up for not being able to talk to them in RL. Even this topic is going to be a bit offensive to women, even if you aren't trying to be rude.

    Also, your statistic is still not based on fact. Gamers are about evenly split by gender. How old a game isn't terribly relevant.
  • DreadKhanDreadKhan Member Posts: 3,857
    Women also might like the premise of a fantasy game that really doesn't pander much to 'male fantasy' tropes, ie stupidly skimpy women, and ridiculously huge/jacked men. The games aren't perfect, but I expect most women gamers would be happier than with some more modern games.
  • SquireSquire Member Posts: 511
    My guess: same reason some girls play football, or take a martial art, or racing, or any other sport that's male dominated. There's no big reason behind it, some girls just like doing it. Some of them are even good at it. ;)

    What I can't understand is why any woman would want to waste her life behind a computer doing things that are, ultimately, inconsequential. Surely this is the curse of sad lonely men with no social lives!! :D Honestly though, I think the geek gene is universal and can be present in either gender. I don't know whether it's more common in guys, or if guys are more likely to embrace it - at least publicly, but the fact remains that geekism of this kind is still very much "a guy thing".

    Besides, RPGs are more likely to appeal to women because you can go shopping in them. XDXD
  • the_spyderthe_spyder Member Posts: 5,018
    Squire said:

    I think the geek gene is universal and can be present in either gender. I don't know whether it's more common in guys, or if guys are more likely to embrace it - at least publicly, but the fact remains that geekism of this kind is still very much "a guy thing".

    I think that it is largely societal. For a long time it was not deemed fashionable or appropriate for a woman to find more geek pursuits to be fun. Which is by no means to say that they didn't or couldn't, but that it was not acceptable behavior.

    this is rapidly straying into Gamergate territory. No member should be treated negatively if they have an honest interest in something. It is a true travesty to act in a prejudiced manner towards another who shares an interest. Alas, this is not always observed. And you may find that a lot of the 'Gaming' community who are women will use either masculine names, or gender neutral names to hide the fact.
    Squire said:


    Besides, RPGs are more likely to appeal to women because you can go shopping in them. XDXD

    I found this quite funny. When Diablo 1 came out, my girlfriend of the time was as into the game as I was. She loved the game so much that she actually wrote a letter to PC Gamer, who then published it. She discussed the virtues of the game as "Killing loads of monsters and then going shopping". She was of course quite serious about her love for the game and didn't take seriously the 'shopping' and the 'accessorizing'. She was a true gamer.
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