Use Video Game Design School To Attract New Gamers
By Alex Russel
alex.russel@computeranimationschoolreview.com
Computer Animation School Review Columnist
Video game design is new enough that new markets are most certainly out there to be tapped. The best indicator that such a market exists is probably The Sims, the game that is replacing doll playing as a primary pastime for pre-teen girls.
When Wal-Mart entered the video game design business, the store chain stocked its shelves with well-known titles, but it also encouraged companies to design games for customers who up to that point weren´t interested in video game design.
New Markets for Video Game Design
The result of that invitation was "Deer Hunter," one of the highest-selling games ever, which became popular without state-of-the-art graphics, but by appealing to an older and less demanding clientele that didn't really care about the design details that are so crucial to video game fanatics.
Lesson (slowly) learned. Video game design publishers are starting to look into ways to attract new users. The audience in mind is, not surprisingly, women.
Women: A Video Game Design School Challenge?
This throws an interesting challenge to anyone attending video game design school. Can you, the student, come up with concepts that will appeal to women and get them behind a video game controller?
A starting point should probably be The Sims, the hugely successful Electronic Arts game whose customers are over 50 percent female. According to a recent New York Times article, young girls are starting to replace doll playing with playing The Sims. The core concept behind the Sims--make believe--isn't that different from doll playing, psychologists say.
Schools Can Look To TV For Design Inspiration
Another source of inspiration could be TV and movies, which are primarily watched by women. An interesting video game design school challenge would be to figure out what attracts women to a certain type of TV show and adapt it to a video game design.
That is starting to happen. Wysteria Lane, that fictional street made famous by Desperate Housewives, is now available as a video game. We'll see it if it manages to get women by the millions to enjoy some video game design fun.
Sources
New York Times
Los Angeles Times
New York Times (2)
About the Author
Alex Russel is a freelance media writer living in Brooklyn.
Posted on June 8, 2006 at 09:25 PM
