Casual Connect promotes “Girls Aren’t Gamers” paradigm
Editor’s Note: This editorial was written by Omaha Sternberg, Editor-in-Chief here at iGame Radio. She attends Casual Connect every year, since its inception, and is a gamer of all kinds of games, including traditional “core games”.
UPDATE: Jessica Tams, Managing Director for Casual Connect, responded to this article, stating that the separation was about “denoting demographics when creating & marketing content.” She said, “Statistically, girls play some types of games more frequently and boys play some games more frequently. If a game designer does not keep this in mind, their product will suffer.”
She also felt that the term was about promoting a demographic that is not focused on much at Casual Connect. “…we spend so much time talking about mature female gamers at our conferences and in our magazine that when we do talk about games that have a younger male (boys) demographic – we call this out so people will not be confused.”
In my reply I stated that though I understood those issues, the problem I had was that this term was one of only two that actually specified a focus on gaming and games specifically (as opposed to how games are created, published, distributed, or marketed)…the other term being iPhone/Mobile. So separating this phrase out in this way really can only come across in a very limited fashion…that Games for Gamers are games for boys, and girls are left out. And that offends me.
About a week ago, I received an email from one of my favorite gaming conventions, Casual Connect, reminding me to register. I’ve been attending Casual Connect every year since it started in 2006 and was called Casuality, a name few could pronounce correctly. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed not just attending the events, interviewing developers and publishers, and going to the parties, but also watching this great convention of casual games grow over time into something that really understands the game industry as a whole, and the casual game connection within it.
So I was pretty surprised during the registration process to see amongst the choices for “Primary Business” was: Games for Gamers (Boy Games).
Games for Gamers are only games for boys? That didn’t seem right. I knew I had to be interpreting that wrong. The other choices were Development, Destination (retail & portals), Publishing, Tools & Services, Social & Community, and iPhone/Mobile. All pretty generic, with no indication that you had to be a specific gender to participate in that segment.
I contacted Casual Connect about this, asking why “Boy Games” was listed next to “Games for Gamers”, and this is the response I received from Tennille Forsberg, Content Manager of Casual Connect:
“Games for Gamers is the term we’ve always used for casual games that incorporate game mechanics found in core games–games boys play. ;) So, it’s just a clarifier [sic].”
Core games are games boys play. Not girls. This is a paradigm that I and many in the industry have been trying to dispel for a long time, and yet here it has once again raised it’s ugly head…in the casual gaming industry. There are so many paradigms that this statement generates it’s hard to keep track.
Core Games – games boys play: This paradigm states outright that core games, the traditional, triple AAA titles, are a men’s only club. No women allowed. Or if women do come in, expect to be singled out, stared at, even ridiculed. These games are not for you, and you shouldn’t expect anyone here to want to play with you, talk to you about the games, or sell them to you. And we expect that you aren’t interested in playing them. Whether you are or not is irrelevant.
Casual games that incorporate game mechanics found in games boys play: This men’s-only club is now extending to casual games. Once again, these casual games are for boys only…no girls allowed.
Games for Gamers is the term we’ve always used for games boys play: Apparently Casual Connect, and by extension the Casual Gaming industry, has always considered that any games for gamers are only for boys. If you’re a gamer, you’re a boy. If you’re a girl, you’re not a gamer.
So, let’s revisit this in it’s entirety. Games for Gamers are games for boys. Girls are not gamers. They don’t play these games. The casual games that incorporate mechanics from these games, only for gamers, also will be for boys. Because girls aren’t casual gamers either.
And the folks at Casual Connect are happy to cater to and continue this paradigm.
Comments
9 Responses to “Casual Connect promotes “Girls Aren’t Gamers” paradigm”
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Hi! I think I remember meeting you at Casual Connect many years ago! I have staff at GamingAngels that go now. I’m trying to find out more information because this totally disgusts me. Particularly at the one conference that I always thought gender wasn’t an issue at.
Great to hear from you again! Yeah, I was surprised when I saw the phrase, but more shocked at the response when I asked Casual Connect. It just didn’t seem right to me, and didn’t match with my experience at the convention and the industry. And the percentage of males who play casual games is just not small enough to justify a need to create a focus on that demographic, either.
But I mean the stats don’t lie. Obviously, a gamer is a gamer no matter the gender but if the core audience of a specific title is statistically proven to be overwhelmingly male, how can you expect developers, publishers, and marketers not to focus on that demographic? It seems to me like good business, not gender discrimination…
The problem is that the only choices given for those coming to the convention that focus on games themselves are Games for Gamers (Boys Games) and iPhone/Mobile. I could accept the demographic argument if there were more choices for the games/gaming side when people were registering, but there weren’t. It gives the heavy implication that when it comes to gaming, these are the only two focuses of Casual Connect. And in casual games, the statistics show a higher percentage of female gamers, though not overwhelmingly so.
As a woman and a game design student, I also get annoyed when people still insist that games are only for boys or men. I got pretty irked when I read the quote you posted, “Games for Gamers is the term we’ve always used for casual games that incorporate game mechanics found in core games–games boys play.”
I’m wondering that, if by “boys,” they specifically mean young males and not the male gender as a whole. Then again, the word “core” is used, so…that only adds to the confusion…
This is ridiculous. As a typical male gamer, I’ve been wanting to see more variety in the demographic of “core gamer.” The last thing we want is to exclude women.
Sorry, but the description made of “Games for Gamers” being for boys only is absolutely correct. Not withstanding exceptions to the rule, girls aren’t hardcore gamers. They aren’t anywhere close. When we look at AAA titles, who’s buying them? Boys. The only girls buying them are the mothers of the boys who want them.
Boys are core gamers, hardcore gamers. Girls? Maybe they’ll play a little Farmville, or a game of Peggle, or maybe even a game of Angry Birds. But that’s as far as it goes. Casual Connect understands things perfectly.
I’m a female gamer, been playing since I was about 10 (going back to old DOS titles). I realize I’m in an extreme minority of women who are hard core gamers, but for the love of God we’re out there. My husband gets nervous when other male gamers find out how much I love games.
Also, Mr. Collider? I logged over 200 hours each in Fallout 3 and New Vegas. The only reason I haven’t played the hell out of many other ‘male’ oriented titles in the last five years is that I was an extreme WoW addict and found that to be cheaper than short titles for $60 a pop.
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