Facebook硬核游戏编辑本段回目录
Facebook上的硬核游戏显然比休闲游戏具有更大的挑战难度。玩家可以在《FarmVile》这类游戏上收获大量乐趣，但有时他们也需要更具深度的体验。然而，硬核游戏主要针对男性玩家吗？要怎样才能让女性玩家进入RTS战场或回合制冒险游戏中？众所周知，Facebook上的女性玩家在用户基础上占据最大比例。但其中又有多少女性喜爱坦克战斗或创建城堡，希望借此征服服务器？未经深入调查，我们难以给出答案，但这不是关键所在。更重要的是，硬核游戏开发商如何向这群特殊用户推广游戏，他们往往会忽视女性用户。你只要简单看下Facebook上评价最高的硬核游戏，以及女性在其中的出现频率便能知晓，如果当真如此，原因何在。
hardcore game(from games)
首先是列表方面。进入App Center后，我会看到列表，点击游戏栏，会出现战略、冒险、模拟这些分类，然后相应游戏会按评分从高到低排列。在此，你会看到某些显著趋势。通常，引用男性角色会选用代表力量的图片：比如肌肉男，精良装备或为拿下城市，配备充分武器。这在多数游戏中十分普遍。但我们实在无法理解，为何在女性玩家占据大半比例的情况下仍采取这种举措。难道呈现中性图片不是更明智之举吗？或者至少加入一些坚强的女性角色，平衡这些雄性元素？
当然，在基本搜索中会出现女性角色，但主要以两种方式。其一是衣着暴露的战士。她总穿着少量衣服，而且仅能这样做。她可以强大，但同时也必须迷人。其二是主导城市建造或动物园管理这些友好游戏中善良的教授型角色。她会梳着精美发髻，通常看上去好像可以有条不紊地解决所有问题。而我们对它们的好奇往往是那些不寻常方面；即使是以专业角度审视，我们仍困惑为何最初要采用这种方式，现在该如何改变。我们知道，事实上体验社交游戏与硬核游戏的女性与男性玩家比例基本一致。当然，不同的游戏会有些许偏差，但这是因为图画或广告的粗俗展现吗？我们中又有多少人会在第一次看到硬核游戏后，不经尝试便跳过？现在，假设你是个通常不喜爱硬核游戏，或基本不玩游戏的玩家。那么你体验的最后一款作品应该就是塞满大量刻板男性形象的游戏。
woman figure(from games.com)
我能够轻易列举出构造这类游戏的几种渠道。比如，最明显的方式是停止让游戏中的唯一女性角色扮演性感的机器人助理，或是大胆可爱的科学家。更重要是，游戏开发商在指出游戏细节部分时，应保持中立态度，否则偏向某一性别推广游戏就会错过大量商机。与其在即时战略游戏广告中采用嘶吼的高大健硕的战士形象，倒不如展现游戏中可以构造的各种工具，或是张贴游戏的运行过程。这样会导致失去那些通常因男性图像而受到吸引的玩家吗？也许会，然而，专注游戏机制也可能会诱惑这类玩家，同时还会吸引大量压根对健壮男性角色或性感女性角色不感冒的用户。
也就是说，长期依赖图像吸引某个性别玩家的开发商、广告商与发行商从未考虑过，对所有玩家而言，他们只想体验游戏。而这些图像则毫无意义可言，也许他们更乐意见到玩法截屏，而不是毫无作用的角色图片。以硬核游戏为例，它们不该依赖3D角色，而应强调玩法方面。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，作者：Beau Hindman）
Core Corner: How hardcore Facebook games can welcome women
by Beau Hindman
Core gaming on Facebook is definitely a more challenging genre than casual Facebook gaming. There’s plenty of fun to be had in a game like FarmVille, but sometimes a more in-depth experience is needed. But do core games attract mostly men? How can women get into the RTS battlefields and turn-based adventures? It’s been known for a while how many women enjoy gaming on Facebook. It’s safe to say that they make up the largest portion of the user base. But how many of those women enjoy tank battles or castle-building in the hopes of conquering a server? It’s hard to say without deeper investigation, but that’s not really the point. The more important point is how the core developers seem to market to a very particular crowd and how they often cut female characters out of the equation. It’s simple: Look at the highest rated core games on Facebook and see how often women appear in the games, and if so, how they are presented.
First, the list. I came across this list by going to the App Center, clicking on games, next on strategy, adventure or simulation (generally home to more advanced games) and then organizing them by top-rated. At that point, you see some obvious trends. Generally, when you see a reference to a male character, he will be the picture of power: muscular, well-armored or packing enough weaponry to take down a city. This is par for the course in gaming in general. It’s not quite understood why, especially since female players make up at least half of the audience in gaming, social or otherwise. Wouldn’t it be smarter to make more neutral images, or at least balance the testosterone with at least some strong female characters?
Women are represented in these basic searches, but mainly in two ways. First, there is the scantily-clad warrior. She wears as little clothing as possible, and usually this is her only option. She can look powerful but must also look appealing. Next, we have the harmless professor-type of character who usually hosts a friendly game of city building or zoo keeping. This character has a nice hairdo, and generally looks as though she can solve any issue while keeping her hair in a perfect bun. What’s curious about all of this artwork and imagery does not stem from the normal areas; even if we look at it from an academic point of view, we have to wonder how it got this way in the first place, or how it can be changed now. We know for a fact that women and men play social games, even core games, in equal numbers at least. Sure, there will be some sway depending on the title, but is that due to poor representations through artwork or advertising? How many of us see a core game for the first time and skip it without ever trying it? Now, imagine you’re a player who normally does not enjoy core games or who normally avoids games altogether. The last title you might attempt to play would be one that seems to be chock full of sexist stereotypes.
I’s easy to present several ways to build such games. Stop forcing the only female characters into roles as either sexy robotic assistants or a plucky, cute scientists, for example–pretty obvious. The more important point to make is that game developers miss out on a lot of potential revenue by marketing to one side rather than remaining relatively neutral while pointing out the finer points of the game. Instead of having a massive, muscular warrior screaming from an advertisement of a real-time-strategy game, maybe present an image of the various vehicles that can be built, or post images of the game in action. Would there be a loss of players who might normally be attracted to those images of maleness? Possibly, but it’s also possible that concentrating on game mechanics would not only draw in those same players, but also attract players who might not be affected at all by a picture of a muscular male character or sexy female warrior.
In other words, developers, advertisers and publishers have long relied on imagery that attempts to attract one sex or the other without considering that, in all sexes and sexual orientations, there are humans who just want to play a game. The imagery means nothing to these players, and they would rather see screen shots of gameplay rather than artwork of characters that have no impact on the game. Core gaming is often representational and doesn’t rely on three-dimensional characters anyway, so gameplay needs to be emphasized.(source:games)
