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What Women Like In Games

Disciplines > Game Design > What Women Like In Games

Talk | Safety | Feelings | Caring | Teaching | See also

Men and women can enjoy playing games together, yet there are natural differences between the sexes. Both of course can like all kinds of things but here are general tendencies.

Talk and relationships

Where men are more into action and competition, women prefer to talk about things. This is perhaps one reason why they make good negotiators.

Games that include human interaction and where people work together towards a common goal are hence more desirable than competition.

Safety and comfort

In an evolutionary situation, women need to keep themselves and their families safe from marauding animals and aggressive males. They hence tend to seek risks less and move towards comfortable situations.

Games that contain risks should be limited. Places of safety are a good idea, where other things like conversation can take place.

Feeling and sensing

Women are more in touch with their emotions (or perhaps men deny theirs more). They tend to be empathetic, sensing how others are feeling and are hence able to offer sympathy and support. This ability also means that when upset, women will turn to one another, while men will 'go to their cave' by themselves.

Games that expose and deal with emotions are hence more likely to be attractive to women. Those that require sensitivity to others also are more preferable for women.

Caring and nurturing

Feeling and sensing the unhappiness of others leads to a greater fulfilment when looking after others. This is a particularly maternal instinct and leads to more women working in caring professions such as nursing.

While men are often happy with aggressive games including killing others, women may find games that help people a more preferable format.

Teaching and being taught

Men like to learn more by doing, while women are generally more aligned with the traditional classroom situation (which is perhaps why teenage girls often seem to do better in schools).

Instruction for games for women should hence have clear details on how to play, including manuals and other guidance.

See also

What Men Like In Games, Evolutionary Drivers