"Girly" Video Games

[Alimoaning]

Played a lot of GirlsGoGames in my day, but checking up on it now it seems much more like a hub for Princess gross out mini-games than what I was addicted to.

 

[Lady Pigroach]

Every single Hamtaro game for GBC/GBA. I played and replayed those games for years. Youtuber Pikasprey has a few let's plays if you're interested lol

 

[Azafran90]

You monsters are responsible for my newfound addiction to Cocoppa

I lived Barbie Storymaker, the fashion designer one were You printed out the clothes and the make-up one, and I find it kind of bittersweet that My 4 y/o loves a new Barbie game that's basically 2 of those ay once.
Farmville, Harvest Moon and the Sims were also My faves.
Not to mention my obligatory addiction to character creation parts of games, I just wish programmers knew how hair is suppossed to look on humans.

 

[off meds / online]

am I exceptional for liking the style savvy series?

 

[dismissfrogs]

am I exceptional for liking the style savvy series?

Every second post is about that game, so nah.

 

[ManateeHunter]

Is Super Princess Peach a "girly" game?
I enjoyed it tbh, and it's a shame it never got a sequel.

 

[The 3rd Hooligan]

OG Doom. No feminine enemies and hot (heh) enemies and protagonist.

 

[WarJams]

The driving plot of Wild Arms 3 was about a young woman trying to find her long-split father, who left her as a child after teaching her how to shoot a handgun to protect herself. I don't think the game itself is girly, but playing the game at the time I always wondered if the story would have been more moving to a grill than it was to me. It was serviceable enough, but I just couldn't wholly connect emotionally with the female protagonist.

 

[Vapewizard]

White Day Sale!

Happy White Day, everyone! From March 14th to March 17th, you can pick up 15 unique titles at an amazing discount!We’ll also be price-matching some of these discounts on Steam! Sales Times: M…

blog.mangagamer.org

Mangagamer is having a white day sale on mostly Otome, BL and Yuri games until the 17th. Might be worth checking out to see if any titles sound interesting to you. Two of these I have recommended here but I haven't played most of this lineup so I don't have any extra recs to make. (Only anti recs for Hadaka shitsuji and No thank you cause I dislike them.)

 

[BlankSpaceBaby]

Surprised no one mentioned the KFC Colonel Sanders romance simulation game.



I tried it. I didn't even reach the stage where I would meet Colonel Sanders because I was certain blood was flowing profusely from my nose after 2 minutes in. It was really, really cheesy, with the protagonist being this Mary Sue that everyone simply adores and loves despite being a complete bitch to her best friend and everyone else around her.

 

[judge claude frollo]

Hamtaro Ham Ham Heartbreak

but I think we can all agree this is a god tier game and no one should talk shit about it

 

[Guts Gets Some]

A lot of people are talking the Sims and whatnot, which to me is a game anyone can play.
The only ones that are obvious are more about gearing it towards a specific gender than making a fun game. And that's how it was for quite awhile in the early days, so it's no wonder it took girls a lot longer to get into games when that kind of garbage was the only stuff 'geared' at them.

I say just play a game that appeals to you, and less about who it's geared towards. I don't care if I play as a female in a game, and I know women don't care if it's a guy. And I'd also play a pink nightmare game if it was fun too. That's all anyone should look for in games; if it's fun and appealing to them.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

I find the concept of what makes a "girlie" game vs any other. A lot of people are talking the Sims and whatnot, which to me is a game anyone can play.
The only ones that are obvious are more about gearing it towards a specific gender than making a fun game. And that's how it was for quite awhile in the early days, so it's no wonder it took girls a lot longer to get into games when that kind of garbage was the only stuff 'geared' at them.

Remember that games were really bad for a really long time, that was one factor that made video games a boys thing. Another was the change of the arcades which made women lose interest, women made up a substantial part of the player base early on for a very simple reason. It was bars that used to have the arcade machines and cocktail cabinets made a ton of money there. A cocktail cabinet is like a cocktail table with the screen/machine underneath a glass tabletop and controls on either end if it's a game like pong. It can be played, sitting down, or just used as a table.

A guy or a gal could ask someone at a bar if they wanted to play and if so, they took their drinks to the table and sat down. After the game they could stick around or walk their separate ways. It was understandably popular, a very simple 25 cent icebreaker and speed date. Masayoshi Son, the founder of the Japanese Softbank, started his path to becoming a multi-billionaire by making a ton of money focusing on those cabinets in the 70s and he understood in which locales they should be placed: bars.

Arcades then turned into a kids and teen thing. The home consoles arrived and they were meant for kids and confined to the home. The dating and social aspect were gone and women exited video games, making it an exceedingly male(boy) past time.

 

[Guts Gets Some]

Remember that games were really bad for a really long time, that was one factor that made video games a boys thing. Another was the change of the arcades which made women lose interest, women made up a substantial part of the player base early on for a very simple reason. It was bars that used to have the arcade machines and cocktail cabinets made a ton of money there. A cocktail cabinet is like a cocktail table with the screen/machine underneath a glass tabletop and controls on either end if it's a game like pong. It can be played, sitting down, or just used as a table.

A guy or a gal could ask someone at a bar if they wanted to play and if so, they took their drinks to the table and sat down. After the game they could stick around or walk their separate ways. It was understandably popular, a very simple 25 cent icebreaker and speed date. Masayoshi Son, the founder of the Japanese Softbank, started his path to becoming a multi-billionaire by making a ton of money focusing on those cabinets in the 70s and he understood in which locales they should be placed: bars.

Arcades then turned into a kids and teen thing. The home consoles arrived and they were meant for kids and confined to the home. The dating and social aspect were gone and women exited video games, making it an exceedingly male(boy) past time.

Didn't help that the companies also directly targeted boys more than girls too. Further isolating them.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

Didn't help that the companies also directly targeted boys more than girls too. Further isolating them.

Not really true, girls and women had a big place in their advertising as they targeted families as a whole, the truth have become twisted over time.

Googling a couple of print ads, thumbnailed and spoilered.

Spoiler

The Odyssey ads in:
Germany, box art


Italy


US, box art


The Odyssey 2


Intellivision


Games for the Atari 2600


Early Atari computer


Atari promotional picture

It makes no sense to intentionally split an emerging market along gender lines if you can capture all of it especially is there weren't any existing and entrenched customer base. Video games had not established itself as anything yet so it would be wise to try to get everyone in on it, including mom and dad. Exactly like what we saw happen with smartphones. There was nothing nefarious happening with vidya, the boy market was the one that established itself and survived the crash so they started to focus on them because they were their customers and that's when it became very boy focused for natural reasons.

 

[Guts Gets Some]

Not really true, girls and women had a big place in their advertising as they targeted families as a whole, the truth have become twisted over time.

Googling a couple of print ads, thumbnailed and spoilered.

Spoiler

The Odyssey ads in:
Germany, box art
View attachment 1191442

Italy
View attachment 1191441

US, box art
View attachment 1191443

The Odyssey 2
View attachment 1191439

Intellivision
View attachment 1191440

Games for the Atari 2600
View attachment 1191444

Early Atari computer
View attachment 1191465

Atari promotional picture
View attachment 1191485

It makes no sense to intentionally split an emerging market along gender lines if you can capture all of it especially is there weren't any existing and entrenched customer base. Video games had not established itself as anything yet so it would be wise to try to get everyone in on it, including mom and dad. Exactly like what we saw happen with smartphones. There was nothing nefarious happening with vidya, the boy market was the one that established itself and survived the crash so they started to focus on them because they were their customers and that's when it became very boy focused for natural reasons.

You're talking early stuff, I'm talking a little later. Nintendo and Sega, that was clearly more geared towards boys than girls. Of course, girlie games like Barbie still appeared, but it was 1%.

 

[MysticMisty]

A lot of people are talking the Sims and whatnot, which to me is a game anyone can play.

The Sims is gender neutral (like most games), but it's hugely popular with girls/women because it's a high tech electronic version of dress up and house combined into a single package. But better because it's extremely customizable and comes with a huge variety of props and locations. But yes, it's not explicitly for girls/women like "Ride Barbie's Horse" is.

I do find it disappointing when game companies won't acknowledge certain demographics exist, though. At least not properly. It's the reason why the majority of explicitly female games when I was young were shitty Barbie games, yet we get the (technically) gender neutral Tetris Attack instead of the actually female oriented Panel de Pon.

 

[Ashley Lynne Coulter]

I'm having some trouble running Flash games now in both Firefox and Chrome, does anyone know a good workaround?

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

You're talking early stuff, I'm talking a little later. Nintendo and Sega, that was clearly more geared towards boys than girls. Of course, girlie games like Barbie still appeared, but it was 1%.

Oh yeah, absolutely, I'm talking about pre video game crash, before Nintendo. Boys were the demographic that grew and after the crash video games were declared dead but the boys stuck around and became the core demographic by default, so they had to market to them. It ending up like that was not by design, it just turned out that way. Companies like Nintendo and Sega would have loved to have the girl market as well in the same way Mattel sells dolls to both genders in the form of Barbie and He-Man.

 

[Literally Unironically]

White Day Sale!

Happy White Day, everyone! From March 14th to March 17th, you can pick up 15 unique titles at an amazing discount!We’ll also be price-matching some of these discounts on Steam! Sales Times: M…

blog.mangagamer.org

Mangagamer is having a white day sale on mostly Otome, BL and Yuri games until the 17th. Might be worth checking out to see if any titles sound interesting to you. Two of these I have recommended here but I haven't played most of this lineup so I don't have any extra recs to make. (Only anti recs for Hadaka shitsuji and No thank you cause I dislike them.)

What's wrong with those?