I had planned to have a post ready to publish today, but I’m too tired: in a play, new job, new car, applying for opportunities… and seriously sleep deprived 😛
Category: Uncategorized
New logo for Grass Green Entertainment
Yay!! You may have seen it on the front page of this site, but I now have a fancy-pants new logo. It’s only taken me like, forever to settle on something I like and don’t feel weird/ashamed of. So I hope you like it too, and if not… too bad.
Oh hai
Yeah, so, it’s been a while since I’ve posted. There has been a lot happening in my life, a lot of setbacks, a lot of distractions. I don’t intend to go into it, but needless to say, once you stop posting, it become hard to start. Do I admit the lack of posts? Do I pretend it never happened?
Anyway, this is just a little bridge post because I decided that I would mention it, and I’ll post again shortly.
Girls play games now, you know?
Yesterday I had a friend stay over my house, after attending a party. During the course of the night, she said that she’s going to get a PS3, because the guys at her work said she should, because it has Blu-ray. Now, I know only one person who gets truly excited about Blu-Ray. He’s a film writer. Films are his life. He wants to see them in their amazing, crisp, hi-def goodness. So I told my friend, “I don’t think it’s worth getting it for the BR. It depends what games you want. XBox are going to do some pretty cool things in the near future, I think you should get that unless you have a solid reason to get the PS3.”
She then came back at me with, “But I was talking to the guys at work…”
I said, “Yeah, and I work and research in games, and date a programmer. I know several people who own every console known to man. How about I ask them? But we’ll get a comparison chart when we get home?” (I think we fought a little more because we were both drunk… but that was the conclusion)
She ended up deciding on the PS3 because she wants SingStar (although she wanted a “white” one, and I said that’d be the 360, but there was pink released at some point… how gross), but she told me how when she talked to the guys at her work about it (I’ll generally describe their occupation as “earth scientists”), and they had expressed some serious confusion over why she wanted a console. “But you’re a girl… Girls don’t play games! Are you serious? Like… real games?”
Sigh. Welcome to 12 years of cultural gender retardation. At least I have the, “You like to go around shooting people? That always struck me as a little homoerotic, personally,” line to throw at them, should they bring up the “girl games vs real games” divide.
Eleven years, no change
Well, not no change entirely.
But the sentiments reflected in the final chapter of From Barbie to Mortal Kombat are still pretty significant today.
I don’t agree with all of them, but it’s worth the read and it’s sad that this chapter could essentially be from a book released now, eleven years later. By far, my favourite quote (which I feel is still true today) is this:
Makes me wonder if the gaming industry is even catering to what guys want in the first place. Maybe it’s just what they think the guys want. (Michelle Goulet for Game Girlz)
Michelle argues that while the sexpot female is supposedly the male ideal, so are the male characters. If they’re not bulked up strong guys, they’re skinny outcasts who either have a science degree or access to a magical sword. While there have been some women who are “average,” there are still plenty of assumptions about what guys who play games would like. This is the default, and making assumptions about what girls would like ends up making it into “Girl Games.”
I’d really like to see a so-called “Girl Game” advertised at an expo with perfume-ad worthy male models. To quote Michelle Goulet again:
Fabio’s stereotype just doesn’t make it into a lot of games, and if this were the case, I don’t think I would have as big of a problem with the “big busted bimbo.”
Nor would I.
Girl Games and Queer Theory
So there are “Grrl Gamers,” and “Girl Games.” So basically, in the game-playing market, there are women and there are androgynes or undifferentiated? You’re female… or you’re a “normal gamer”?
March 09 Perth Games Industry Survey – Results!
Recently, I gave some suggestions to a friend and colleague who was putting together a survey for the Perth game development community.
The survey went out, and many people filled it in. Today, the results are out 😀
Please visit LetsMakeGames.org for the report.
Introductory Essay
I don’t really remember not having exposure to computer and video games. I remember sitting in this very room, watching my brother trying, with all his might, to knock out an opponent in Punch Out!! on his Nintendo Entertainment System. I must have been around five or six. By the time I was nine, I was online. I played Wolfenstein 3D and knew it as a “Doom Clone,” a term I would have to shift to “First Person Shooter,” many years later. Most of my game choices were centred around my brother’s choices, demos I played on the cd accompanying PC Powerplay, or what SNES games were available at the (surprisingly well-stocked) local video rental store.
Honours Application
Bachelor of Arts (Media, Culture and Creative Arts)(Honours)
Against the Odds: Why players persevere through a hostile game experience.
Ellen Jurik 