Alter Life - another MMOG from NCSoft, targeted at...women?!

[Signe]

[quote="schild"
The cantinas in SWG provided the best oppurtunity for roleplaying. I wish more games had places like them. I think if headquarters had been put into CoH at launch I would've remained subbed just to use it as a virtual chat room as it was very nice to my dual monitor setup.[/quote]

I agree.  I had some really good times in SWG's cantinas. I wouldn't mind a bit having a place just like that, filled with people just doing the 'social' thing.  Card games, parlor games, tailors, image designers... that sort of thing.  Years ago, The Sierra Network had a service that included game rooms for cards, a very unsophisticated rpg (well, by todays standards), a childrens gaming area, and a casino area named after Leisure Suit Larry.  Unfortunately, Larry World was too adult for me.  It turned into constant requests for phone or cyber sex and completely alienated anyone just looking to play poker or slot machines.  

If THERE had the look and atmosphere of SWG, I would have given it a go.  It has to have the 'look', though.  I NEED to be adorable in a game like that.

[Furiously]

As to who games are designed for? Games are designed for people who will buy and play them. This is based on demographics, which yes Sloth, includes gender. Yes some women are just as capable of enjoying Doom, but it was designed by guys for guys because they knew guys would fucking play it.

I'd take it one step further, most games are designed by a male who would like to play that game. Fifteen programers figure out what can and can't be done with the given budget and time constraints and the resulting game is what happens. This is then targeted at 14-25 year old males who have a subscription to PC gamer and think "The Ved" is the ultimate.

Or

Its a game targeted at a particular audience (See Mary-Kate and Ashley games) which no one cares about producing and usually shows. (I think there are exceptions such as the first Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego).

I think the nail was hit on the head that you seem to think games are just divinely delivered to the stores, and that the programmer's and designer's thoughts and intentions didn't play ANY part in coming up with or shaping the game in any fashion.

One final point, look at the famous women game designers compared to the famous male ones. Better yet, I don't think this would be so bright, because I will end up in a sex change discussion. Needless to say, there are not nearly enough females in positions to create and program games.

[Numtini]

The cantinas in SWG provided the best oppurtunity for roleplaying. I wish more games had places like them.

A pale shadow of The Reet's Retreat in AO. :-)

There had a majority of women players. There seem to be more women in Second Life than most games. I think Sims Online was a flop simply because it was a bad game, not necessarily because it didn't click the same buttons as Sims, though that didn't help.

I don't think I've ever been in a guild that didn't have a woman as leader.

[Venkman]

I'd take it one step further, most games are designed by a male who would like to play that game. Fifteen programers figure out what can and can't be done with the given budget and time constraints and the resulting game is what happens. This is then targeted at 14-25 year old males who have a subscription to PC gamer and think "The Ved" is the ultimate.

I think that's causal. The 15 programmers used to be the gamers others tossed shit at. It's not that the 14-25 year old male crowd is targetted because of their discerning taste. It's mostly because what attracts them to a game is so well-known, only those entirely new to the industry even have to ask how to sell them a game.

Needless to say, there are not nearly enough females in positions to create and program games.

This is sooo true in not just a few markets. There is nothing more amazing than watching a room full of middle-aged men design something for tween girls (since tweens are a huge ass market of primary purchasers and household purchase drivers, and tween girls have more money than tween boys). There is no connection for these people, no deep-seated understanding of both another age and the other gender. So they'll continue going with the easy path: "what would I play". Which, of course, eventually leads to "what would I have played if I had two more years of development and publishers with the patience of Job?"

A pale shadow of The Reet's Retreat in AO

It's nice to have an AO fanboi here. I don't think I've ever actually seen one. Rare species to be sure.

[Numtini]

It's nice to have an AO fanboi here. I don't think I've ever actually seen one. Rare species to be sure.

<laughs> Actually I'm playing SWG right now. But for going clubbing in a game, AO's just amazing. Mostly due to a very active and dedicated in game radiostation, gridstream productions. Whlie the avatars are pretty primitive, their dance emotes can be strung together pretty creatively as well.

[HaemishM]

AO's club scene is a perfect example to me of a community forming in a game that really wasn't designed very well with that community in mind. It's one of those organic things that just happened, in spite of all the bugs and fuckupery of the early release. It also goes to show what happens when developers DON'T try to steer a community in a particular way; they tried with the storyline and got bitch-slapped, which I think made them lay off the club scene. American developers would get all in a tizzy thinking about "What if minors are having cyber sex!?!?" or "What if the radio station plays copyrighted music?!"

[Sky]

It's nice to have an AO fanboi here. I don't think I've ever actually seen one. Rare species to be sure.

Yeah, that's not fanboi, that's how it is. And AO didn't need friggin' battle fatigue to foster that community.

UO's pk scene is a perfect example to me of a community forming in a game that really wasn't designed very well with that community in mind.

Misquote for teh win!

[Numtini]

American developers would get all in a tizzy thinking about "What if minors are having cyber sex!?!?" or "What if the radio station plays copyrighted music?!

I think not having an American developer has helped foster AO's social community a lot. The small population has helped with a lot with people not abusing the freedom they have.

They actually have been going through Live 365 to be legal for as long as I've listened to GSP. You listen through a standard player though, so Funcom really isn't involved at all other than promoting the station and events.

[HaemishM]

UO's pk scene is a perfect example to me of a community forming in a game that really wasn't designed very well with that community in mind.

Misquote for teh win!

The best part is your misquote actually proves my point even further. :) AO wasn't, IMO, designed as a big social exercise, but it happened in spite of mind-numbingly EQ-like gameplay. SWG was designed with the cantina population in mind, and all it seems to have fostered was AFK macroing dancers and a great big vaccum sound.