It’s Tough Getting Your AAA PS3 Blockbuster Tested By Humans Who Don’t Have Penises

18 responses to “It’s Tough Getting Your AAA PS3 Blockbuster Tested By Humans Who Don’t Have Penises”

1. 

   riavan

   April 9, 2013 at 11:39 pm

   Their games demographic will be primarily male. I’m sure getting some females views would be useful but most of the money will lie with male perceptions. That’s not sexist, its just business.

   Reply
   1. 

      luthienanwamane

      April 10, 2013 at 12:03 am

      But if you focus tested female gamers you could expand your target demographic – why limit your game to one specific age group and gender when appealing to multiple demographics could be even more profitable?

      Reply
      1. 

         single_malt

         April 10, 2013 at 12:27 pm

         Just to play devil’s advocate, the flip-side of this is that you adjust your game based on the feedback of your female focus group and end up making it less appealing to male gamers.

         I’m not saying that a focus testing group should be exclusively male, and I agree there are definitely more and more women are playing games, but at the same time I don’t think there’s this huge untapped market of female FPS gamers out there for example. The reboot of Tomb Raider is generally considered to show women in a more realistic light and be more in line with how women want to see themselves portrayed in games, but I suspect that it’s sill predominantly males playing the game.

         Everyone is saying “we need more women in the gaming industry”, but no one seems to want to acknowledge that men’s and women’s interests are starkly different, especially when it comes to what they want from video games. There is no ‘one size fits all’ when it comes something as subjective as gaming.

         Reply
         1. 

            inshuu

            April 10, 2013 at 1:14 pm

            Commonly it’s merely simple oversights which need to be corrected, not radically redesigning the basic message and mechanics of the game itself. It seems strange to suggest that making something more appealing to women means it will automatically make men less interested. I’m curious to see what sort of ‘changes’ you think will actually have such an effect.

            Reply
            1. 

               single_malt

               April 10, 2013 at 4:26 pm

               To clarify, I wasn’t trying to imply that it’s a zero sum game, i.e. that catering a game to women automatically makes it worse for men, I was simply offering a counterpoint to luthienanwamane’s post – I think both outcomes are possible.

               But I also don’t believe there’s anything wrong making a game that us purely targeted towards the male demographic that has no female input at all – GTA is one of the most successful franchises, and is targeted exclusively to male gamers. Similarly there is nothing wrong with making a game targeted towards the female demographic that has no male input. It’s fairly common in cinema and literature, so why not gaming as well?

            2. 

               luthienanwamane

               April 10, 2013 at 4:36 pm

               But I guess the problem is less that a single game is male-targeted but that it is the absolute norm within the industry – as demonstrated by the fact that Naughty Dog had to request female testers specifically.

               In addition, just because a game may be male-targeted, doesn’t mean they should try and see how it tests with other demographics. Plenty of women love male-targeted games, and perhaps finding out exactly what they enjoy in them would be worthwhile. I just think it’s worth having a diverse set of playtesters, who can bring different perspectives to the table. Some plotlines for example can be really problematic, but that may not be noticed by an all male focus group or an all white focus group.

            3. 

               single_malt

               April 10, 2013 at 8:35 pm

               Excellent points, and I definitely agree with you that finding out exactly what women enjoy in games would be worthwhile. I would add that think the indie developer movement has evolved to the point now where its possible for someone to create a game to tap into to this, especially with crowd sourcing initiatives like Kickstarter.

   2. 

      Neo Kaiser

      April 10, 2013 at 12:12 am

      It’s not sexist to think that only one gender can be interested in your game?

      Reply
      1. 

         onesixone

         April 10, 2013 at 12:26 am

         It’s not sexist, it’s realistic, it’s not business sense, it’s closed minded.

         Reply
2. 

   john_stalvern

   April 10, 2013 at 1:41 am

   I rolled my eyes at the article but then I realised I never really considered the genders of the people testing the game, I just assumed it was a mixed bunch.
   I really don’t understand why sexism is still a thing in this year we are in. Everyone is the same bullshit, regardless of dicks or vags. It’s fucking ooooold.

   Reply
   1. 

      Burnside

      April 10, 2013 at 10:51 am

      Seen the comments on Kotaku articles about gender issues?

      That’s why. A large part of the male half of the human race are pig-ignorant scumbags.

      Reply
      1. 

         mistwolf

         April 10, 2013 at 1:58 pm

         It’s true, and I am wavering a lot on Kotaku because of it. I love the focus on these issues and the support from the site for Patricia, but the responses are just completely out of line and horrible and demonstrate the problem aptly. RPS recently posted explaining why they are posting so much on it, and that they don’t plan to stop. It would be nice to see Kotaku take a similar stance, or even go so far as to block some of the more offensive posters. No, not advocating ‘blocking free speech’, but a lot of posts are way out of line for anywhere that claims to be above YouTube in commentariate quality.

         Reply
      2. 

         single_malt

         April 10, 2013 at 5:15 pm

         A large part of the male half of the human race are pig-ignorant scumbags.

         http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/3ttlmu/

         Reply
3. 

   mdn

   April 10, 2013 at 9:07 am

   Why was the name of the article changed?

   http://kotaku.com/its-tough-getting-your-aaa-ps3-blockbuster-tested-by-h-471437582

   Reply
   1. 

      kaflooey

      April 10, 2013 at 9:42 am

      Because in Australia, Women can be ‘dudes’ too? That’s how progressive we are…

      Reply
      1. 

         germinalconsequence

         April 10, 2013 at 6:48 pm

         Dude!? Dude!? DUDE!? Don’t call me Dude!!

         Seriously though, isn’t the female form Dudette?

         Reply
   2. 

      john_stalvern

      April 10, 2013 at 1:12 pm

      Perhaps they changed it over there due to complaints, because Americans?
      Note: no proof that this is what happened.

      Reply
4. 

   reapess

   April 10, 2013 at 10:40 am

   I’d happily be a tester!

   Reply