marketing to women

Often I write about sexism in game marketing, so I'll try not to beat a dead horse. Although this is a joke I often feel that this is actually how some people feel games should be marketed to girl/women.

Not that games like cooking mama isn't fun, I just don't think there is any reason to market is as a "Girls" game. I think it is a very good gender neutral game, that both men and women can enjoy. Then again I think and know women that genuinely enjoy playing Halo. (and not to impress boys or to humiliate them.)

Another interesting tactic for marketing things to women is the use of magic. TV troupes has an excellent article on "Clark's Law for Girls' Toys". There are several DS and Wii games out there targeted towards young girls and all of a sudden your stylus or Wii-mote is a wand, yet for boys the Wii-mote uses advance gyroscopic computing.

The point is, efforts to have unsubtle marketing for women mostly comes out as crass and often humiliating. Now not all companies do this, "Pony Friends" is a relatively respectful game. Yes the target market is for little girls that love horseys and such, but you're not feeding the horse magic jelly beans or showering it with magical rainbows. You're picking out crap caught in the hoof, which from my friends who do ride horses is a fairly important and vital part of horse care. People will play games out of interests, and well made games that are fun to play will attract more people; no amount of marketing can cover that or impress more girls or boys to play them.