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GF / Wife Sociology


Josh

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I find my girlfriend's attitude toward games fascinating, and as a licensed social scientist, I feel it is my duty to request information from those of you similarly engaged.

 

My girlfriend doesn't hate games, she actually loves some of them, but she's pretty hot & cold. She couldn't care less for games like Metal Gear, Halo, Socom, etc. However, she loves Wipeout, Dark Cloud 2, Final Fantasy, etc.

 

She has two levels of love: some she likes to watch, and others she likes to play.

 

So on with what I've observed:

 

Likes to play:

Wipeout

Super Monkey Ball

Road Rash

Driver

Virtual Pool

 

Likes to watch (to the point of my not being able to play unless she's around):

Dark Cloud 2

Ratchet & Clank

Zelda (although she might start playing this herself)

Final Fantasy

Kingdom Hearts

ICO

Grand Theft Auto

 

Could care less for:

SOCOM

Metal Gear Solid

Rogue Leader

Metroid

 

 

So it would appear as though she's anti violence, but the GTA reference seems to undermine that. What's more, she loves explosions and dismembered limbs in games and movies when they happen. She even sat through Resident Evil back in the PSX days.

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My GF liked games at sometime in her early life. Mainly 2D platformers.

 

Her life is way to busy nowadays to play videogames, and I don't play around her because our schedules only allow us to see each other a few times a week.

 

That said, whenever I mention that I'm playing games (when she's not around), she usually rolls her eyes or acts indifferent.

 

However, her mother is a gamer just like me (she's into HT/Sci-Fi/DVDs/etc.). I think its kinda cool because it makes the sometimes awkward relationship between boyfriend and parents a lot easier.

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Well, my GF dislikes all games in general, much to my chagrin :P. However, the gf of one of my friends is a very content game-watcher. She prefers the RPGs mostly. I find that the trend in female gaming thus far though, the girls I know who game largely enjoy Final Fantasy style games.

 

I did have a good female acquaintance who LOVED watching me play Res Evil though, because it scared the living crap out of her :lol:. One reason I will never understand the female mind ;)

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I think the non-violent tendancy is generalized as universal among women. I'm certain there are exceptions but I usually don't want to date exceptions. ;)

 

My GF is OK watching and playing -within some limits. She doesn't mind watching me play Zelda and others but she has no interest at all in any type of FPS. I've also found this fairly typical too. Women just don't "get" the FPS perspective as easily as men do. I actually have more than just personal experience on this matter: my ex-wife was a social psychologist and did multiple studies on violence and video games. Through the psychological grapevine she was sought out by other teams doing video game based studies. There is apparently a lot of data suggesting men are more astute at grasping the virtual 3d environments in FPS games.

 

As for games my GF will play, well, they need to meet her "cute cartoon graphics" requirement. She plays the shit out of her GBA. She plays through the various Mario games over and over and over. She can probably beat Yoshi's Island with her eyes closed -I'm serious. It sucks too because Yoshi's Island is my all time favorite platformer and she totally makes me look like I don't know which way to is up on the GBA.

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Yes, universal Mario loving is also to be found throughout the female gender. Well, near-universal. And it has to be 2D. Woe betide the man trying to get a woman to play 3D. Very rare. That I've seen at least.

 

That's why 2D gaming should return, dammit ;).

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My wife is a complete non-gamer though she marvelously understanding of my love for gaming. The ONLY one game that sheis completely addicted to is The Sims. She loves it,owns every expansion and has played the game continually now for almost 2 and a half years.

 

She is also a healthy Supe Monkey Ball player. She loved Monkey Target and Monkey Golf in the sequel. Besides those two games she never plays a single other game, or watches for that matter.

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I hope this doesn't disrupt the subject, but I have a slightly different perspective...although it does have much in common with the other responses here.

 

I'm gay, and my BF isn't really a gamer, but he does like certain games, especially SSX Tricky, Animal Crossing, Hot Shots Golf 3 and Super Monkey Ball (his scores for bowling and golf are up there with my best).

 

He does enjoy watching me play certain games, especially Jak & Daxter, Ratchet & Clank, Rez, Need for Speed:HP2 and Beach Spikers (no that's not a typo :-) )

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Beach Spikers (no that's not a typo :-) )

 

maybe he is trying to tell you something :P

 

LOL!

 

Nevertheless, Beach Spikers is a damn good game.

 

I love it. Pure arcade goodness. And you have to admit, those scenes where you praise/reprimand your partner are quite funny...

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I'm gay, and my BF isn't really a gamer, but he does like certain games, especially SSX Tricky, Animal Crossing, Hot Shots Golf 3 and Super Monkey Ball (his scores for bowling and golf are up there with my best).

 

EdR: It's pretty funny - I have several gay friends, one of whom I play videogames with all the time (he lives in the same building, trains in martial arts with me, etc.). He's into the Metroids, SOCOMs, and all that. His boyfriend (well, ex) wasn't too them it except for the, um, "girlie" games.

 

It seems the videogame gender divide exists across all sexual orientations.

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Very interesting observations. ( From the female point of view anyway ) There are games I don't care about, but that is more from my personal tastes in scifi/fantasy than gaming. I don't care about the SW games, but played the SW game on the X-Box with Cal. I can't stand RPG's like FF. I enjoy the racing games, even though I suck at them with the exception of NFS. I never did qualify for any other license in GT than the first one. :( And Wipeout 3 remains one of my top favs. SOCOM is one of my fav games, as well as RTCW ( tho I don't get to play that one ) I also enjoy Metal Gear Solid.

 

I love fighting games. Tekken, DoA, MK, Battle Arena Toshindin, Soul Blade and Calibur, Bloody Roar, but never liked Bushido Blade for all my love of things Japanese.

 

Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Eternal Darkenss, & Devil May Cry ( please someone shoot DMC2 and put it out of it's misery ) are games I love to play as well as watch Cal play. ( Once again, I suck at them, but it is fun playing. )

 

While I love Spyro, Mario Brothers ( N64 ver ) gives me a headache. Something with the camera swing just invites the migraine into take up residence.

 

I do know that girl gamers are out there. But finding them can be hard. Most of the girls I know who play, or tolerate them, are like you all's g/f and wives. They like a certain few, and play even fewer. Most of us are raised that video games are boys territory and not for little girls. And even with society today accepting that video games are 1) A successful viable market, and 2) unisexually popular, and 3) a socially accpetable activity, look at the games geared towards females : Dance games, Barbie games :roll: any game that contains cute furry animals ... it is hard to wade through all the crap games and find those gems ( well IMHO ) that are fun to play for both sexes with easy learning curves.

 

And our video game females ..... oh please !!! If a girl is gonna kick your ass, she is NOT gonna do it in a dress wearing high heels and not cause injury to herself. And even my all time favorite game ... Dynasty Warriors for all it's eye candy, while they don't portray females with boobs so big they could have been used as a flotation device on the Titanic thereby saving hundreds of lives, they still give you women who go into battle with their skirts cut right up the butt and one of them in hot pants. Part of the appeal to me in Resident Evil and Eternal Darkness was that while the women of S.T.A.R.S and the lead ummmmmm .... Alex Rovias ( ? ) in Eternal Darkenss are beautiful/nice looking women, they are a little more realistic than Anna/Nina in Tekken or any of the girls in DoA. Taki in Soul Calibur is a good example of a woman fighter who is appealing to girls. I have yet to meet a girl who has played the game who does not say she is one of their fav characters. ( Sorry I have gotten a little off track here. )

:oops:

 

Video games are targeted for the male population. And my generation of women did not have the video game console as a household fixture like the kids do today. Atari was just becoming popular after I got out of High School. ( Any age jokes here and Auntie Muffin is gonna kick your ass in Mech Assault as soon as I learn how to play real good. )

 

You young guys today are luckier than those gamers who are in their 30's, girls now are more interested in gaming than before.

Make it a point to play games 2 people can play .... you and your girl friend/wife. You might be surprised at how fast she can kick your ass in Soul Calibur. :wink:

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If a girl is gonna kick your ass, she is NOT gonna do it in a dress wearing high heels

 

Damn! Another ruined fantasy. :)

 

Great perspective.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on what the industry needs to do to gain more female gamers. Consider that the gaming industry does $16 billion on what is, essentially, a male-only user base...they haven't even begun to sucessfully scratch the surface of the female market.

 

Several companies have tried and failed at innovative games for girls. The current strategy seems to be to get them young. If they can set the tone that it is socially acceptable with the current generation of 6-10 year-olds perhaps they can continue selling to them as they mature. The problem is, what sort of content will those girls want as they become women??

 

It's a "problem" that must be solved if our hobby is to every achieve the social acceptance the film industry gets.

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You might be surprised at how fast she can kick your ass in Soul Calibur.

 

Of course, she fails to mention that I probably kick her ass in SC more than she does mine - & that I totally school her in the NFS games (which aggrevates her to no end :wink: )

 

Seriously, though...

 

Being in my early 30's - I can say that I have lived on both extremes. My ex-wife owned an NES, but hated all games other than Tetris. She hated the fact that I played videogames at all - though she did surprise me one Christmas bu getting me a Sega CD.

 

Now, not am I only on the other end of the spectrum - I'm flying over it! Having someone who loves to watch me play - even though she personally might not like it - just takes the guilt out of playing games. She feeds my addiction like there is no tomorrow. Believe me when I say that I'll do whatever I can to keep this one.

 

Besides, she understands my HT hobby too :D

 

So,IMHO - it is far better to have a gamer for a gf/bf than not.

I should know, because every day I pinch myself to see if my life is really happening...

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She feeds my addiction like there is no tomorrow. Believe me when I say that I'll do whatever I can to keep this one.

 

Besides' date=' she understands my HT hobby too :D

 

[/quote']

Maybe you should remember this the next time we have a weekend alone and you decide to play Live the whole time. :shock:

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She feeds my addiction like there is no tomorrow. Believe me when I say that I'll do whatever I can to keep this one.

 

Besides' date=' she understands my HT hobby too :D

 

[/quote']

Maybe you should remember this the next time we have a weekend alone and you decide to play Live the whole time. :shock:

 

dump her now, she is starting to sound like my wife.

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Nah .... I know where all the bodies are buried of all the Liver's he has killed online ! :lol:

 

And then I would not have anyone to play the scary games for me.

 

:cry:

 

You guys can't have him ALL the time damnit !!!

 

You guys just want him to get rid of me so he can't gloat over his good fortune !!! :roll:

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