Extra Credits

No Gendered Mechanics (2015x6)

: 19, 2015

Assumptions that certain games are only for people of a certain gender have driven game design decisions for years. Genres that are stereotyped as male, such as first person shooters, are surrounded by the trappings of a supposedly male identity: guns, warfare, and so on. Games that are stereotyped as female, such as match three games, are decorated with gender signifiers like gems and jewelry. This creates a self-perpetuating cycle as designers see mostly people of the gender-targeted audience buying that type of game and so they double-down on the stereotyping, but this approach causes games as a whole to miss out on many opportunities for creative new games even within established genres. By eliminating our assumptions that certain mechanics only appeal to certain genders, we can create new experiences and find new audiences.