Adrian Chmielarz's Essay on Preferential Differences Between Men and Women and Companies Have Adapted and Marketed To It AgainstGamerGate

Edit: Darnit, that title should be "How Companies have adapted and marketed to it", sorry.

Recently Adrian* wrote a the following [essay]([http://ift.tt/1AWU35S) (Archive) on Medium titled "Women And Video Games" which talks about how different genres tends to appeal more to men vs women and vice versa and different ways this has effected the way companies making those types of game have adjusted their product to appeal to the market. The essay focuses primarily on genres that tend to appeal to most women, and does a good job at sourcing the quotes used to support his statements. (I found the article from silicon sisters a good read, if for no other reason that I now think hell must involve never being able to find the ketchup in a refrigerator for all eternity.)

I link this because I think it does a good job at encapsulating what some people have been expressing as to reasoning certain games pander to certain groups, and more importantly why that is normal and to be expected, and also why cries to change content tend to put our backs up. (I personally think it's a difference in philosophy of letting a market regulate itself vs. a desire to have central authority regulate content, the "Let's form a company" vs. "Let's form a committee" mindset, but that's just me and my opinion.)

Anyway, I think it's a good read so I wanted to share it with everyone. What are you thoughts on this after reading this? I'd be interested in reading them. Do you think this helps explain why companies are more willing to pander to a particular audience? And if so, do you think they should? Did you agree or disagree with my personal opinion that a lot of the conflict we're seeing occurring stems different philosophies on how best to affect change in the product a producer makes for a consumer? (Decentralized vs. centralized, laissez-faire vs. central authority regulation, etc. Keep in mind that is my opinion, not necessarily the author's. I do tend to color conflicts in the framework of issues that are most important to me.)

^{*Adrian Chmielarz credits himself as co-owner/creative director the Astronauts The Vanishing of Ethan Carter and previously co-owner/creative director at People Can Fly Painkiller, Bulletstorm}

Submitted March 19, 2015 at 10:50AM by furluge http://ift.tt/1H18xqa AgainstGamerGate