Developers, please take note of Naughty Dog’s inclusion of women

The ideology that only certain subgenres of games appeal to women needs to radically change before we can begin to work on other sexist issues within our community.

[Ashunderfire86]

Women are now the new target audience. They starting to play the same games as men, and are almost half the gaming public. Women into gaming has evolved like women into sports. There should be no discrimination against women. Us men need to be better stewards of the gaming industry.

[krontaar]

Oh please. "farmville" doesnt count as a game.

[rainslacker]

By who's criteria? It meets every definition of what a game is according to almost every book written by every industry vet on what a game is.

It's not a "hardcore" game, but it is still a game. It's just not one that appeals to you, but I would wager the people that play it aren't attracted to anything that we hold up high.

[TheFirstClassic]

Women may or may not take up half of the "gaming public", I don't know, but they do NOT buy as many games as men. They are not the target audience, and you are much more likely to achieve high sales by targeting men, not women.

[Testfire]

Aww, such a gentleman, now excuse me while I throw up. Men are men, women are women. Different hormones and in general different tastes. Sure there are women that like violent games but in general they don't. Sure there are men who like Cooking Mama and Animal Crossing, but in general they don't. I really cannot stand people like you that want the world to be one big androgynous society. Grow a pair and act like a man.

[Ashunderfire86]

I am a man, and I am just stating the facts. There nothing wrong with women and men liking the same thing anyway. Your a female I assume. You should realize the change in women, in terms of entertainment. Look at the many sports commentor that are women now, and women watching sports. They actually even know the team player names. Nintendo Wii help bring more women into gaming also. Don't forget that the game Portal was a woman's idea and etc. Lady take that pair and go suck or stuff it. I kid I kid LOL!!! But you should still take notice of the change.

[Wenis]

Hold up, I get the point you made with genders liking certain games, but dude, Animal Crossing is the bomb no matter what your gender.

[Why o why]

Im with wenis

Cooking mama's alright too.

[GribbleGrunger]

So you're saying that the inclusion of women as leads in games is because more women are playing games? That's rather a shallow view. I watch films with female leads because I find the character interesting, not because it's a female lead. This world is full of diversity. To define something based on just one of those diversities is missing the point. Do you honestly think that ND sat down and included a female lead just because they thought women would then play it? Give me a break. They included characters that their story required. It's as simple as that.

[Ashunderfire86]

14 disagrees yet one person sees the point. Thanks to the Blue Ocean strategy by the Nintendo Wii, which many of you forgot, brought us those female and older audiences to gaming in a revolutionary way. Need I remind you that females are about 40 percent of gamers(And still growing). So take your disagrees and go shove it!!! It is very true that the gaming industry in a way is a bit sexist, and we need to be better stewards. Atleast that we can agree on. Yeah men are still the main audience, but women are the new target audience. I did not say the most targeted, so get that straight people!!!

[TheFirstClassic]

If they are THE target audience, then they are the most targeted, or should be the most targeted for success.. That's just what that means. The Blue Ocean strategy has its weakpoints, strong hardware sales and lowerr software sales. That's why wii's third party support was so low. The casuals may play a game every once in a while, but they won't buy that many.

[Pushagree]

Appealing to a target audience is not the same as discrimination. Saying video games are sexist for not appealing to women who don't buy them in the first place is like saying The View is anti-man for not featuring explosions, fist fights, and constant swearing.

[user7693958]

what did he/she say?
lol

I guess Kinect is the new hardcore audience.. wait! I did not say it or think this way.. it was M$ don't blame me ..

PS4v

[Ewok]

It's a circle. Developers think women don't play games, so they target their games at men, so women don't buy them, so developers think women don't play games, so....

We are lucky to have three female writers on staff right now and we've had emails from female readers saying it's quite refreshing to read a publication that isn't male dominated - so I know that female gamers are out there!

[brbobcat]

Another day, another article about "female gaming." Not that this one is irrational; on the contrary, it's one of the more constructive articles about sexism in gaming. Still, these type of articles focused on gender in the gaming industry are getting stale.

[Sketchy_Galore]

Ellie is about thirteen isn't she? If that's a woman there are a few angry mobs that owe me an apology.

Ps. Yeah, I know that wasn't really the point of the article but I had the bad joke in my head and had to get it out. Pretty good article overall. I never particularly opposed women in gaming since I'm not some kind of savage but I must admit until recently I kinda didn't take the issue as seriously as maybe I should have. I still think many critics complaining about sexism in gaming go way too far and pick silly examples but it cannot be denied that there is some degree of sexism behind the scenes. That My little pony comment is just idiotic for one thing.

[PSN-JeRzYzFyNeSt]

still rather play with a guy character.

[Rai]

Naughty Dog man...they can do no wrong.

[Bakkies]

It's great that developers see the financial potential of targeting the other half of the population and I believe the gaming community will welcome the influx of female gamers with open arms.

Unfortunately we have Anita Sarkeesian with her fallacious arguments, the recent Donglegate scandal and people like the one in the video below.

An egalitarian society doesn't seem to be in the near future.

[Moncole]

It doesn't matter who test it as long as its their target audience.

[Genuine-User]

From my experience on PSN, Steam and XBL, there are many more female gamers than we think.

[r21]

I've never once met a female gamer online. They probably turned off their mics so no guys will go, "Girl? You a girl? Check out my skillz!"

[Genuine-User]

Lol

I have played quite a few on Uncharted, Gears, Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six etc

[ExCest]

I say who cares if there are female characters or male characters. I say we should just be a little more liberal and less conservative with what we see as a norm and "correct".

I'm mostly referring to those religious hoo-ha's and those craaaazy politicians that run this damn country.

[ShaunCameron]

Unfortunately, this "liberal" attitude is the reason why a lot of things in America are dumbed-down.

<I say we should just be a little more liberal and less conservative with what we see as a norm and "correct".>

[ifritAlkhemyst]

Who cares? If the character serves the story than so be it. Determining your character's sex with the sole aim of marketing to a specific demographic is crass and cynical in my opinion.

[Kratoscar2008]

My sister is a gamer and she didnt had any problems playing FFX-2. Maybe if women accepted ANY female representation as they are things would improve.