Funzies for Friday: Genderized Game Commercials

Mia Consalvo once said: "Women are aware of publicized games but they don't pay attention to the commercials on TV because they seem to know that the ads aren't targeted to them." Yeah, I've complained about this before. How women are neglected in both game design and marketing. I'll have to apologize. I was totally wrong and don't know what I was thinking. This situation clearly is no more. In fact, it has come up clear us day that women play too.

And what do we play? Just ask the ads targeted to us.

Well hello Bayonetta.

The life simulator, the music game, the game you can cook in, the exercise one...  All good in a way, but I'm sensing a pattern here. I've seen this ad before. Many, many times. It's always the same. While there might be men and women in the picture, the games the girls choose to play are exactly these. And what do guys play? Shooting and driving. Oh, and sports, but manly ones, like hockey. In this one though I'm seriously confused about the hack and slash one. I'm almost wondering if they accidentally pasted it in just because it has a girl on it? She's got guns and everything!

But there's more. Oh boy is there more when we move from consoles to casual. When Dragons of Atlantis, a Facebook-game, advertises to girls we get copywriter gold like this:

...while men get to enjoy stuff like this:

Oh yeah, they have us all figured out. What smooth target margeting. I especially love how they tell us straight in the headline that they know women love it. Because of the cutesy babies, right? I suppose the trailer is misleading then, because it promises stuff like raising a powerful dragon, forging alliances and building empires, but maybe it's like a co-op then? Co-op with real men. (Fake men need no apply.)

Yes, sure, it seems like a joke, but if it is, it's not working. If only women get the nurturing ad and men the real men ad, we don't get the "haha, oh how delightfully over the top" effect. We just get pissed off. Especially because I'm freaking terrified people might actually think like this. People who work in gaming.

That guy variant is almost fine, despite the fact that's I suddenly feel like He-Man reading that, but goddamn... They must have thought really hard to figure out what women could do in that game that would be womanly enough. I'm wondering is there more of these. 

Try on the prettiest armors and share on Facebook! 
Pet fluffy Minotaurs! 
Collect pretty jewels for resources! 
Build your cities, it's like decorating! (I could go on all night.) 

At good old times, that was of course not even a problem, women were those who appeared in the ads for men, and rather hilariously so. 

From the excellent codinghorror.com

What do men like? Boobies! And girls touching each other, obviously. Better promise them sex, they'll never play otherwise! And of course they appeal to the classic: damsels in distress. What man isn't moved by those words that are obviously written by those beautiful medieval fictional ladies. I'm playing this game, I'm playing it right now! Can't you hear them screaming in agony and fear!

I guess I should be lucky this type of tragic mess hasn't spread outside Facebook and browser games yet.

      

If I'd have to choose though, I'd say my favorites are the ones that don't even try. The ones that have decided that women are like children, because they don't give a shit about women really. What can be sold to little girls, can be sold to grown women too. Here's a Ubisoft game targeted to girls on Nintendo DS. And here's another one. They've made a whole game series of that stuff, "Babiez", "Fashion Designer", "Animal Doctor", and are advertizing it agressively to girls. Women. Wait. Who are these targeted again? Oh, girls aged 6 to 14. Well no wonder they advertise with 30+ women then, right!

"Of all ages", you say?

As much as I appreciate the fun factor, I cannot stop wondering how these advertises are made. The seem so desperate to get that assumed target by creating scenarios that aren't really needed. Is someone really going to fall for this? To buy shit just because it tells who it targets in conveniently vague category? Call me old fashioned but I don't think you should start any advert by wondering "what do we know about women/men" and just going with it.

Women games? That's like guy chocolate!

And about women in gaming ads. There is stuff between 'invisible' and 'a bucket full of pink and pretty', you know. If you want to advertise to women, then do it with the game content itself. Appeal with a story or a character. Don't guess, for the love of god. Look up studies, do something. If a woman isn't playing your game, find out why. It's probably not because of the lack of cutesy babies. The best part is if you don't genderize, you can sell the games to both men and women. Offer alternatives, sure, just don't make them stupid.

And here's the real shocker. It is in fact not possible to catch every gamer girl's or boy's attention. Not ever. We do not play with our genitals after all. A lot of women and men love war games, a lot of women and men love FPSs, action adventures, puzzles, civilization games, and casual games. On other words: women and men are all different kind of people, who love all kinds of games. Not everything has to be targeted. In fact it's probably a very bad idea.