An excerpt from an old document I wrote (circa 1997, I think)
I hope this is appropriate to post this. I don't ANSWER some of the questions presented by Matt's article, but there perhaps some clues that can be gleaned from it. By the way, this was an excerpt from a MASSIVE document I wrote concerning my solution to an all-in-one-boat game: an MMORPG!!!! Unfortunately, my enthusiasm was killed when I read about "Ultima Online," which came out not too long after I started brainstorming the idea. Anyhow:
* * * * *
When the concept of Zee Zone was first gelling in my head, I wondered what kind of computer game would appeal to just about everybody, young and old, male and female.
The inspiration hit me when I watched a young girl play "Mario 64" on a Nintendo 64 (which, at that time, was a very new video game system) in a local department store. "Mario 64" was itself a very innovative game, basically allowing the player to maneuver Mario around freely within a three-dimensional polygon environment. However, what struck me at that moment was the fact that the young girl was playing the game DIFFERENTLY than the way I had seen young boys play it!
When I observed boys playing the game, I noticed that boys were very aggressive and straight-forward. When "evil" creatures came near them, they aggressively tried to destroy them in "Mario" fashion by jumping on them, throwing blocks on them (crushing them in the process), or throwing bombs at them. The boys then proceeded to find the "end" of the level in as quick and direct a fashion as possible.
When I watched the girl play, I was initially frustrated by her approach. "What is she doing?" I would think to myself. I didn't want to be rude, so I kept my observations to myself. Needless to say, it seemed to me that she was playing the game like an idiot. Then it hit me: the girl wasn't playing the game "wrong," she was playing it "differently" than I was accustomed to! So I continued to observe and mentally take notes. And upon doing so, the very beginnings of inspiration to the ZZ universe was born!
As it turns out, the girl did not at all see the urgency of immediately reaching the end "goal" of the game level. There didn't seem to be any sense of "blood lust" in her, since she showed little desire to "kill" the "bad guys" in the same manner the boys did, instead preferring to run away from them. It seemed that she was primarily interested in observing, exploring, and interacting with the game environment.
The girl wandered around from place to place within the game level environment. She walked up to a tree and climbed it. She came down and went to another tree and climbed it. "That was pointless," I thought to myself, before realizing that she was having fun in her own legitimate way.
There was a butterfly flying around in her vicinity. As far as I could tell, the butterfly served no significant purpose to the game; it was mere "eye candy." Yet the girl was mesmerized by it, and proceeded to follow it around so she could continue to observe it. The butterfly started to flutter away, so she moved closer. Yet another pointless waste of time, it seemed. "Get on with it!" I would think to myself.
The girl then moved "Mario" over to a nearby block, picked it up, and threw it. She then picked up another block and carried it around. "Oh good," I thought, "now she's going to kill one of those creatures with it!" Wrong. She walked over to the previous block and tried to stack the block she was carrying on top of it. What in the world was she doing!?!?
Then it hit me: she was trying to BUILD something! While the boys were interested, basically, in conquest, the girl was interested in exercising her creativity! As she continued to try to stack blocks on top of each other, it occurred to me that not only was her method of game playing NOT idiotic, it was actually much "brainier" than the boys' method! It turns out that, as revolutionary a game that Mario 64 was from the "boys'" perspective, featuring conquest and aggression, it was relatively archaic from the "girl's" perspective, featuring very limited outlets of creative and constructive expression!
While it may sound extremely sexist to stereotype males and females in this manner, its no secret that computer gamers are are proportionally far more represented by males than females. As a computer game conceptualist, I can't help but ask the question, "why is that?" There are certainly no barriers prohibiting girls from entering video arcades, nor are there any laws against girls playing games on their Nintendos and Playstations, yet it's clear that computer/video gamers are far more likely to be male than female.
Do females like to have fun? Of course they do! So why aren't they flocking to Quake marathons and Mortal Kombat bloodfests? The initial conclusion is quite obvious: these games must not be appealing to females in general. Again, the question is asked, "why is that?"
It's probably an exercise in futility for a male such as myself to try to understand the female persuasion, but it seems to me that most games are geared towards satisfying male fantasies: achieving wealth and power through aggression and conquest. But a game that allows for more creativity, exploration, and interpersonal relationships will certainly benefit everyone, male and female alike!
I hope this is appropriate to post this. I don't ANSWER some of the questions presented by Matt's article, but there perhaps some clues that can be gleaned from it. By the way, this was an excerpt from a MASSIVE document I wrote concerning my solution to an all-in-one-boat game: an MMORPG!!!! Unfortunately, my enthusiasm was killed when I read about "Ultima Online," which came out not too long after I started brainstorming the idea. Anyhow:
* * * * *
When the concept of Zee Zone was first gelling in my head, I wondered what kind of computer game would appeal to just about everybody, young and old, male and female.
The inspiration hit me when I watched a young girl play "Mario 64" on a Nintendo 64 (which, at that time, was a very new video game system) in a local department store. "Mario 64" was itself a very innovative game, basically allowing the player to maneuver Mario around freely within a three-dimensional polygon environment. However, what struck me at that moment was the fact that the young girl was playing the game DIFFERENTLY than the way I had seen young boys play it!
When I observed boys playing the game, I noticed that boys were very aggressive and straight-forward. When "evil" creatures came near them, they aggressively tried to destroy them in "Mario" fashion by jumping on them, throwing blocks on them (crushing them in the process), or throwing bombs at them. The boys then proceeded to find the "end" of the level in as quick and direct a fashion as possible.
When I watched the girl play, I was initially frustrated by her approach. "What is she doing?" I would think to myself. I didn't want to be rude, so I kept my observations to myself. Needless to say, it seemed to me that she was playing the game like an idiot. Then it hit me: the girl wasn't playing the game "wrong," she was playing it "differently" than I was accustomed to! So I continued to observe and mentally take notes. And upon doing so, the very beginnings of inspiration to the ZZ universe was born!
As it turns out, the girl did not at all see the urgency of immediately reaching the end "goal" of the game level. There didn't seem to be any sense of "blood lust" in her, since she showed little desire to "kill" the "bad guys" in the same manner the boys did, instead preferring to run away from them. It seemed that she was primarily interested in observing, exploring, and interacting with the game environment.
The girl wandered around from place to place within the game level environment. She walked up to a tree and climbed it. She came down and went to another tree and climbed it. "That was pointless," I thought to myself, before realizing that she was having fun in her own legitimate way.
There was a butterfly flying around in her vicinity. As far as I could tell, the butterfly served no significant purpose to the game; it was mere "eye candy." Yet the girl was mesmerized by it, and proceeded to follow it around so she could continue to observe it. The butterfly started to flutter away, so she moved closer. Yet another pointless waste of time, it seemed. "Get on with it!" I would think to myself.
The girl then moved "Mario" over to a nearby block, picked it up, and threw it. She then picked up another block and carried it around. "Oh good," I thought, "now she's going to kill one of those creatures with it!" Wrong. She walked over to the previous block and tried to stack the block she was carrying on top of it. What in the world was she doing!?!?
Then it hit me: she was trying to BUILD something! While the boys were interested, basically, in conquest, the girl was interested in exercising her creativity! As she continued to try to stack blocks on top of each other, it occurred to me that not only was her method of game playing NOT idiotic, it was actually much "brainier" than the boys' method! It turns out that, as revolutionary a game that Mario 64 was from the "boys'" perspective, featuring conquest and aggression, it was relatively archaic from the "girl's" perspective, featuring very limited outlets of creative and constructive expression!
While it may sound extremely sexist to stereotype males and females in this manner, its no secret that computer gamers are are proportionally far more represented by males than females. As a computer game conceptualist, I can't help but ask the question, "why is that?" There are certainly no barriers prohibiting girls from entering video arcades, nor are there any laws against girls playing games on their Nintendos and Playstations, yet it's clear that computer/video gamers are far more likely to be male than female.
Do females like to have fun? Of course they do! So why aren't they flocking to Quake marathons and Mortal Kombat bloodfests? The initial conclusion is quite obvious: these games must not be appealing to females in general. Again, the question is asked, "why is that?"
It's probably an exercise in futility for a male such as myself to try to understand the female persuasion, but it seems to me that most games are geared towards satisfying male fantasies: achieving wealth and power through aggression and conquest. But a game that allows for more creativity, exploration, and interpersonal relationships will certainly benefit everyone, male and female alike!
(end of excerpt)
qoj hpmoj o+ 6uo73q 3Jv 3svq jnoh 77V