With the spread of tools such as smartphones, it is becoming easier for people to play games. Among them, the proportion of female and child players has also reached a point that cannot be ignored. Recently, a 12-year-old girl wrote a "research paper" because she loves smartphone games, and some of its ideas, such as "there are gender differences in games" and "female gamers need to invest more money than male gamers", have also attracted everyone's attention.

■A 12-year-old girl gamer conducted a survey on the game world of "male society".

This girl's name is Mattie Maisha, and she usually likes to use her smartphone to play game apps, which is also more in line with the characteristics of current girls. And one day, she saw a female friend operating a male character to play a game, and subconsciously asked, "Why do you want to use a male character to play a game?" ”

Later, the friend replied, "Because there are only male characters in this game." ”

Since Marty has only played games with female characters so far, he may have felt a kind of culture shock about the phenomenon of his friends using male characters to control the game. Because of this, Marty investigated the ratio of male to female characters in the game and began to write a "research paper". And the article was published in the Washington Post, so it attracted attention.

■ Game merchants who do not set female characters will be fined !?

In the "Research Paper", Marty came to his conclusion by researching the top 50 game apps that his parents helped download, such as "JetpackJoyride" and "TempleRun", which are now in the top 50 on the iTunes charts.

Among the TOP50, one of the most obvious features is that the protagonists of the games are basically male. In the game, although the type of non-human animals and plants as the protagonist also accounts for a certain proportion, almost 98% of the games have zài in various forms to reflect the image of the juvenile character, and as the protagonist.

On the other hand, about 46% of games have a girl's protagonist, so the game as a whole is still a "male society".

And the more extreme phenomenon occurs when it comes to the user's financial investment. Among the TOP50, 90% of the games in which the shonen character is the protagonist can be played for free, but only 15% of the shoujo games can be played for free. In "TempleRun: Oz" with Disney, Marty spent an extra $29.97 in order to choose a girl as the main character. Interestingly, about 60% of the users of this series are women. If the game design was more female, perhaps this game could have gained even more popularity.

In addition, she is unhappy with the female character EmotikaDiva that she paid $9.99 for SuperFallingFred, because the character she paid for was not attractive.

"Only through the guò fee method can choose female characters, such a game manufacturer should be 'fined'." At the end of the article, Marty thinks that players like her, who like to choose female characters, may find the game worthless if they can't be treated in the right way by game merchants.

Although this article reflects the issue of gender disparities in a broad sense, from the strategic perspective of merchants, I believe that their opinions are also worthy of the attention of major game companies.

■ Making a zuò game from a woman's perspective will open up new paths

Nowadays, game apps on smartphones and other platforms are defined as the type of game apps that can be played anywhere. And because of such a popular background, the number of female gamers is also increasing. Last year, according to a survey conducted by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), about 48% of video gamers in the U.S. are women, and the fact that "teenagers under the age of 18 are more likely to play games than women over the age of 18" has also raised the question.

Therefore, even from the market level, it is impossible to ignore the existence of female players. Marty expressed her dissatisfaction with the "male society" game industry, but at the same time, she also praised TheHungerGames, which allows you to choose from shonen and shoujo characters for free. So on the other hand, if you make zuò games from a woman's perspective, then maybe businesses can also find a new way to do business.