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Games for Gamers(Boy Games)措辞引发的争议

发布时间:2011-07-06 10:46:23 Tags:,

游戏邦注:本文作者是Omaha Sternberg,其报名注册Casual Connect时对该网页措辞深表不满,特就此进行反驳。Casual Connect总经理Jessica Tams已就文章进行回应,她表示族群区分主要针对游戏制作和推广。她认为,“从统计数据看,女性群体有其偏好类型,男性群体也有其钟情游戏。若设计师能无法参透此道理,那么其作品只会以失败告终。”她认为该措辞,即Games for Gamers(Boy Games),旨在推广Casual Connect原本忽略的群体。“我们的大会、杂志,除瞄准年轻男性游戏外,还广泛讨论成熟女性玩家,希望大家不要受误导。”

Casual Connect from iieeg.com

Casual Connect from iieeg.com

我在回复中表示虽然我理解这些问题,但这是瞄准游戏的两个词语之一(不同于探讨游戏如何制作、发行和推广)。另一词语就是iPhone/Mobile。因此将此词组分开所阐述观点有限,认为游戏玩家就是指男性玩家,女性并不包含在内。这点我不敢苟同。

几天前,我从Casual Connect那收到封邮件,Casual Connect是我最喜欢的游戏大会之一,提醒我注册报名。我年年都参加Casual Connect,大会从2006年开始举办,最初名称是Casuality,鲜少有人能够准确读出该词。不仅因为我喜欢参加活动,同开发商和发行商交谈,参加派对,我还希望看到这个伟大休闲游戏盛会能够真正参透整个游戏行业以及休闲游戏。

所以我在注册过程看到“Primary Business”的选项是Games for Gamers(Boy Games)时非常震惊。

玩家游戏仅指男性游戏?这似乎说不通。我觉得自己需要说明其中错误之处。其他选择是Development、Destination (零售或门户网站)、Publishing、Tools & Services、Social & Community和iPhone/Mobile。所有类型都不要求你以某种性别身份参与。

我就此问题联系Casual Connect:男性游戏为何放置在玩家游戏旁,即Games for Gamers(Boy Games)?下面是我从Casual Connect内容经理Tennille Forsberg那得到的回应:

“我们通常所说的玩家游戏(Games for Gamers)是指融入硬核游戏机制的休闲游戏,而硬核游戏通常瞄准男性玩家。特此澄清。”

硬核游戏瞄准男性玩家,而非女性玩家。这是我和众多业内人士多年来着力推翻的观念,然而这一观念在此又再次突显。这个陈述蕴藏太多传统观念,我们很难逐一阐述。

硬核游戏即男性游戏:这个概念完全就是说传统AAA硬核游戏是男性专属游戏。女性被排除在外。若女性加入其中,最终只会遭到排挤,甚至嘲笑。这些游戏不属于你,你不要期望有人会和你一起玩,会和你讨论游戏内容,或者出售道具给你。我们认为你不会有兴趣玩这类游戏。你有没有兴趣不是重点。

休闲游戏融入男性游戏机制:这个男性社区已经延伸至休闲游戏领域。而这些休闲游戏也是服务男性群体,女性群体完全排除在外。

玩家游戏通常指男性游戏:Casual Connect,或从更大范围来说,整个休闲游戏市场显然认为所有玩家游戏都只服务男性群体(游戏邦注:若你是个游戏玩家,那么你就是男性。若你是女性,你就不是游戏玩家)。

所以让我们再来看看Casual Connect传达的观点。玩家游戏是指男性游戏。女性不是玩家,她们不会玩这类游戏。融入硬核游戏机制的休闲游戏只服务男性玩家。因为女性完全不是休闲游戏玩家。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

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. (Source:igameradio


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