Cloaked and Watching You

What could CCP Games do to attract and maintain a higher percentage of women to the game. Will Incarna do the trick? Can anything else be done in the mean time? Can we the players do our part to share the game we love with our counterparts, with our sisters or daughters, with the Ladies in our lives? What could be added to the game to make it more attractive to them? Should anything be changed? Is the game at fault, or its player base to blame?

Source:

<http://www.crazykinux.com/2010/04/eve-blog-banter-special-edition-ladies.html>

Response to the Blog Banter challenge:

I really wasn’t going to participate in this contest/discussion but then I read some of the submissions. I was unable to lock blog targets nor did F1, F2, F3, … have any affect. The overwhelming desire to create frozen corpses in space fueled this response.

I am a female EVE Online player. I have played off and on since early 2006. I’ve tried about every aspect of the game except invention and building T2 stuff. I am far too lazy to have to manage a POS. I have lived in 0.0 (Vale of the Silent), low sec and high sec. I had a blast with Faction Warfare! I managed to lose about 1 billion worth of ships but it was always crazy fun. (Except that @#!% desynch bit but that was finally fixed.)

“What could CCP Games do to attract and maintain a higher percentage of women to the game?”

Advertise the cooperative aspects of the game.  One of the submissions to this contest (written by a female player) indicated that she didn’t know missions were shareable.  Promote activities that are cooperative.

EVE is a harsh environment but there are options in the game play that don’t include explosions. Promote the several different activities not just the PvP. Promote the building of ships and stations. Promote invention and drug manufacturing.

“Will Incarna do the trick?”

Will the mere ability to walk in stations attract female players? I don’t think so. If CCP uses Incarta just to attract female players then we’re going to have a lot of women walking in station and still very few in ships. (I don’t know what the rest of the options in stations might be so I can’t comment.)

“Can anything else be done in the mean time? “

Not really. Leave EVE as it is. Please.

“Can we, the players, do our part to share the game we love with our counterparts, with our sisters or daughters, with the Ladies in our lives? “

Absolutely! Teach women the different aspects of the game. All you silly men that wrote submissions to this contest indicating that EVE would need to be easier so that women will play really pissed me off. I was coddled too much in the beginning. I was told to train skills for mining and sneaking around in 0.0 so that I wouldn’t actually get involved in the battles. I actually got one director to finally admit that the guys didn’t like to see me lose ships. It was horribly annoying. I had to read the available information and figure EVE out on my own. (Personally, I do prefer to be self-sufficient.)

Guys, stop assuming we need kittens and coupons to get involved. Seriously. Don’t insult me by assuming I need Hello farkin Kitty space ships. By the way, if any skills are introduced that go anywhere near cooking, cleaning or sewing I’ll snap. I have guns and I know how to use them. It will not be pretty.

This next item is touchy and I don’t expect great response but I’m going to throw it out here anyway. It is the current culture of video games for the players to refer to losses in PvP as one of several violent sexual acts. Some women blow it off as part of the culture. Other women are greatly offended. Think about it.

If your corp/alliance isn’t interested in attracting female players then, by all means, keep the bios with images of dicks and stick people getting it from behind. However, if you do wish to attract women to your corp/alliance you will need to adopt policies regarding behavior. Really. If you want women to play with you, keep the male locker room talk in that locker room.

“What could be added to the game to make it more attractive to them?”

Leave it as it is. For those who like to dress characters there are other options available. (City of Heroes!)  No need to try to change EVE to gain a higher volume of female players just for the sake of getting more female players. No one game pleases all players. Just advertise the cooperative aspects of the game. It is very easy for new players to feel isolated in EVE.

“Should anything be changed?”

Oh and the rookie help chat channel is way too busy. Perhaps create topic-specific channels as well as the main channel?

“Is the game at fault, or its player base to blame?”

Both.

EVE has a lot more anti-social content than other games I’ve played (except Faces of Mankind). You can be shot anywhere, anytime, for no reason other than someone else decided it would be fun. (BOOM! Headshot!) EVE attracts griefers because they can’t get away with these activities in other games.

Personally, I love being able to let my “bad girl” out to play. [evil grin]  I have stolen ships from POS’ with no passwords. I stole a control tower as it was unanchored by another player. I even stole ice from isk farmers once just to see how long they would let me get away with it. (They never fought back.) I even tried pirating in Molden Heath low sec but that didn’t last long because I didn’t want to lose the ability to go shopping in Rens. I’d much rather shoot the red blinkies than be a red blinkie.

What the newer players don’t know is that, although EVE attracts more anti-social behavior, you can also fight back against that behavior. You can get even! Tired of some jerk stealing loot from your missions in high sec? Set up a trap and gank him or war dec him so you can shoot him every time you see him. One of most satisfying things I’ve ever done in a game is to set up a mission loot trap and then wait for the thief in a stealth bomber. You can’t get that in WoW when you get some jerk in a dungeon pug. This is where EVE empowers the players.

The players have grown accustomed to the male-dominated environment of the game. I don’t expect the guys to change their behavior tomorrow just to attract more female players. EVE has become much like a gentlemen’s club. I understand the guys that don’t want to give this up and I don’t blame them. There is no nagging spouse NPC in EVE. (Thank gawd.) However, if there are male players who wish to invite more women to join the ranks of EVE pilots then you will have to tone down that sexually violent banter. Also, treat the women as your equals. Show them all facets of the game. Don’t assume that they don’t want to fight. Present the options and let them choose.

I’ve met some insanely intelligent women in EVE. They (and I) enjoy the complexity. Women who seem challenged by the complexity need to just go play something else until they learn how to use a computer. (No really.)

Chebri’s MMO History:

Anarchy Online, City of Villains, EVE Online, Face of Mankind, Guild Wars, Puzzle Pirates, Second Life, World of Warcraft

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Five links to other blogs on this topic:

Internet Spaceships

“The UI is confusing and non-immersive, the gameplay is harsh enough that you really can’t go out and get involved in the game world, the only way to identify someone is by a little nametag and picture, and the game overall doesn’t so much pull you into the world as distance you from it.”

“Eve is a game about Spaceships, and spaceships are for men!”

Nikita, I respect you as another living human being but please stop writing. No really.

It’s not about fluffy bloody Kittens people!

“It’s not that we need to change EVE to attract more women. We need to present EVE to strong minded Women with the drive to form their own story. Women who can see into the depth of space and learn to love its challenges and shape their own story. There are plenty of these strong minded Women out there in the gaming world. If only they could be convinced to log in and then make it through the learning curve. There are some that have and they truly are worthy players of EVE and have forged a great story for themself and us to enjoy.”

You are already married? Damn my luck.

Sorry, No Pink Spaceships Here Please

“Don’t change Eve purely to appeal to some demographic, whether it be females or pre-adolescent kids or grandparents. Instead, change Eve to make it a better game!”

Amen! Don’t forget the Phobos is a bit pink but…Keep your phobos outta my wormhole!

New Eden doesn’t need to change for Eve – Adam needs to get over himself

“Before you go read the post yourself I’d implore you NOT to read the comments section. I found it incredibly insulting that some people made suggestions such as “make the game more casual” – what? EVE is by far the most casual game I’ve ever played, and I’ve played more then my fair share. Other suggestions included “make it involve less math” – again, what? How does implying women don’t enjoy the game because it requires thought make any sense at all. We’re not all mindless drones looking for the next clone out there to play. If we were, chances are we’d happily be in some other game.”

Nicely stated! Several of the responses have really been insulting to the female population. Shame, shame, shame.

Space Boobies Are Bad, m’kay?

“What would you want if you were a female player in Eve? Oddly enough I have some female friends and they seem to like the idea of being a female pirate. Maybe it’s the patch or maybe it’s the power? Not really sure as when I pressed on the matter all I got was some evil laughs and something muttered about Girl Power. There was a glint in their eyes. Seriously. I got scared and left.”

Do the boys in EVE cry real tears when they find out a girl kicked their ass right into a clone? *giggle*

Let’s not forget the Hellcats of EVE! RAWR

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Friday April 23, 2010

More links to this blogfest…

Girls Just Wanna Have … Guns! (love the title!)

Don’t Change EVE for Me

How to Handle a Women

Girl on Girls in Space

It’s a woman’s world (they just don’t know it yet!)

Where are all the Wenches?