Pink Consoles : The Elusive Girl Gamer

On the hunt for a most elusive prey, the right tactic is something to draw them in. Some prey likes shiny objects, or a more colorful variety of console. Other prey tends to enjoy vast character profiles and less pixel ratio on their screen. Then of course there’s our prey, hard to snag and impossible to pin down, rare as can be – almost a myth. The girl gamer.

Do we wiggle games based on popular female realities like Barbie or Bratz, use shoddy gameplay and bad graphics, but the same price as the general consumer won’t know the difference? Or should we take a different approach? Perhaps something in pink, that will draw her in!

Or the best bait of all could be set out, what every girl gamer wants – to be acknowledged as part of the market who plays just as hard as the boys.

I know I do.

I’ve been playing video games since the NES first stepped up to plate. The old Nintendo system with it’s pixel to pixel screen play and massively exciting side scroller action was always at the reach of my brother’s hand. Occasionally that second player controller would slide my way and I would actually have a chance to jump into Luigi’s shoes, to dazzle as Tails while Sonic pushed it out there, to squeeze in some time at duck hunt and try not to shoot that laughing dog. Second player, second choice, was my life. I was the little sister, the younger, the odd little child that liked to grab onto the video gaming system and play. I’m probably the only person I know that had to use a step stool to play Mortal Combat on an Arcade, but I have, I did, and I am – female and a gamer.

It sometimes feels like it’s an impossible concept for the main public to wrap their mind around. The general idea is that the gaming gene doesn’t come about unless there’s a y chromosome firmly shoved somewhere in the DNA. More than one third of the video game consumers market would strongly disagree. Because, they’re all girls. Or more accurately, females. A third of the market that seems to be completely ignored.

Shutting my eyes and pretending that Tails was a girl and that one day the Princess would save me, didn’t really last too long. Even the small opportunities presenting themselves, such as Lara Croft bounding along with cleavage I still don’t have, and Terra and Celeste rocking it hard in a Role Playing Game of Final Fantasy. At least Japan seemed to know that girls did exist, though watching my brother and friends play with Lara and watching her bounce along, she didn’t seem like that strong female figure I was hoping for. Though that, and the thousands of other games where squinting might make those tights Link is wearing feminine, didn’t really stop me from playing. I thought that’s all there was, because well… I was all there was. I didn’t know any girls who liked to play video games and mainly people around me held the same opinion.

It’s not hard to figure out why this idea prevails, all one would have to do is browse their local video game store to see shelf after shelf of completely male directed games. The only women usually seen on the boxes look more like they should be in Maxim (which actually had a special issue with undressed video game girls) more than made out of polygons. So where’s a girl like me go when she wants to get a game and doesn’t want to settle?

The answer – she doesn’t. She, like me and many other girl gamers, settle again and again. It’s not like I have anything against playing as a male character, just like I’m sure guys don’t mind messing around with Lara on occasion. I have no problem dawning the tunic and Master Sword and taking on Ganon as Link, while I go save my Princess and I would change him or that fat plumber for the world – but sometimes, I’d really like to be able to play as Zelda. And not just for a mele game.

Growing up where women in RPGs are always the weaker healer characters, pushed aside for stronger male leads. Where if there is a female character, it’s a gimmick made for a multiplayer game. Where most of the time if there’s even a female non-playable, she acts like a complete waste of air. Well it’s more than a little discouraging, especially considering what I know now.

Women have been growing up with video games just as long as men and while I, like many others, started by watching my brother play the first Nintendo, eventually the boys left home and the consoles were left all on their lonesome. It was only right to pick up the controller and have a crack at it ourselves. And like my other—sisteren—it wasn’t long after that that new consoles, games, and adventures began to present themselves.

A few years after the fun adventures of Super Nintendo and that short lived tryst with Sega Genesis, the ultra new consoles started to come out and I got my first taste at what could be. We (foolhardily) picked up an N64 and a copy of GoldenEye, only to ever play it on multiplayer (for you young folks it’s like James Bond in Halo) to shoot at each other. My brother and I had loads of fun with it, even more so when I discovered not only could I play as a female Russian hot stuff who could kick serious butt, but I could also beat him.

And oh did that feel good.

It was just a taste though and my brother eventually got tired and moved onto bigger and better things. Like out of the house. Leaving the console. Finally I had the option to pick up the controller and actually, well, control something. I could play as a first player and shift and change. The first occasion I had the time to beat Ocarina of Time, well I felt like I’d become a woman. I played progressively more and more, enjoying every second of the time where I was actually playing out long quests and not watching my brother do it first. To be fair the N64 didn’t leave me with much and it wasn’t until I bought my Xbox did I discover pure bliss – and the realization I didn’t have to settle.

I popped Knights of the Old Republic into my Xbox on a gaff, I liked Star Wars and it looked fun, and there on the loading screen was a choice between the usual stats and upgrades that are required when you starts, personality points and whatever – but what was really shocking was that there was a choice to play a girl. As the main character. I was excited, but no where near as mind blown as I was once I’d actually finished the game (eight hours from the climax to the end, no sleep, all shaking). The plot was delightfully thought-out and thorough in every sense. There was a deep sense that the characters were actually talking to a woman who completely kicked ass. A woman I was playing. Not to mention the other implications that Bioware did amazingly well and not to spoil anything (if you haven’t played it yet, what’s wrong with you?) but the “Luke, I am your father” level of reveal during the climax of the game pretty much sealed the bad-assness of my character.

The best part was after I was done with the game, replaying as a male (and then a female a few more times), I actually found the game had more zest the first way. There was actual thought put it, like they’d actually talked to girls and asked them what they wanted. Turns out, they did.

Notice to all you game companies out there, Bioware’s full of smarty-pants who realized the easiest way in the world to appeal to a third of your consumer market is to just ask them. Turns out what most girls wanted was just a good character to play. No big-jugs-McGee, no ridiculously shallow outlook, no lame assed healing powers as the only thing available, no pink. Don’t get me wrong – some girls like pink. I, on occasion, happen to find the color okay, but that is still not a way to drag girls in. We don’t want much, which works out since that’s about as much as video game corporations are willing to give.

Though it seems the critically acclaimed success of Knights of the Old Republic, wasn’t enough to change video game companies’ mind. My excitement about grabbing up ‘Fables’ which claimed to be even more inclusive and full of crazy choices that would shape every part of your world, didn’t even include the option for a different gender. The only thing that changed for me then was that I put the box back.

I have yet to play Fables and I may never unless they make a version where I can play as a girl. It’s not that I still don’t mind playing as a guy, I preferred it in the sequel to Knights of the Old Republic (but that and Lucas’ apparent attempt at making any Star Wars related product official and giving us girls the throw-away is another story) – and I still wouldn’t trade in Double-Oh-Seven’s gender for anything, but if there’s an option and an advertisement for choice – well then, give me one!

Needless to say it’s not surprising that the games that do well in the market right now in that one little consumer branch that’s over a third now and still growing are the ones that appeal to every part of the brain. The Sims is one of the highest selling computer games out there and its entire market is pretty much picking and choosing what you want and creating your own world. Where you can have an entire Amazonian society if you want.

It’s not that I do, it’s just nice to have the option every once and a while.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be saving up for my Wii and playing my female character on my Nintendo DS’ Pokemon Pearl.