stonyarc
02-09-2008, 01:07 AM
This morning, I was asked to talk to a class at the University of Washington about women in gaming, community aspects and how the GamerchiX (http://www.xbox.com/en-US/community/personality/trixie/gamerchix/default.htm) group helps female gamers. The name of the class is "The Future of Chick Lit" and is taught by former MS employee, Wanda Gregory. It's a class that aims to encourage more females to not only enjoy playing games, but to hopefully inspire them to develop them. Hey, surprise! TriXie (http://live.xbox.com/en-US/profile/profile.aspx?pp=0&GamerTag=trixie360), Kitty (http://live.xbox.com/en-US/profile/profile.aspx?pp=0&GamerTag=pms%20kitty) and I (http://live.xbox.com/en-US/profile/profile.aspx?pp=0&GamerTag=dirtydiva) have the same aspirations!
It was interesting to see that many did not know about things on the Xbox such as Achievements (http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/systemuse/xbox360/livefeatures/achievements.htm), Xbox LIVE Arcade (http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/livearcadexbox360/), the web presence (forums (http://forums.xbox.com/)), etc. I got to explain how all of these things make the system so great for someone like me. When I ran through the disgusting amount of arcade games I have, I heard many oohs and ahhs for things like Frogger (http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/f/froggerlivearcadexbox360/default.htm), Sonic (http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/s/sonicxboxlivearcade/default.htm) and Dig Dug (http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/d/digdugxboxlivearcade/default.htm). It made me proud that these games are still popular today. OLD SKOOL, BABY! One student was far too good at Wik (http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/w/wikfableofsoulslivearcadexbox360/default.htm) and impressed us all with his tongue swinging, grub eating skills.
I was given a lot of useful information as to what female gamers who are not currently playing the system think about it. The general consensus was that the system was geared towards more veteran players - that it wasn't simple to pick up and just play without having to learn difficult control schemes. HOWEVER, when I put in Rock Band (http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/r/rockband/), even the most vocal PC player jumped on board and knocked it out of the park.
Everyone had a good time with the games (I had to politely power down when SOMEONE wouldn't put the controller down while playing Gears of War (http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/g/gearsofwar/)!)
By the end of the class, most understood the value of a group like GamerchiX - How it helps women find one another and gives them a space to learn games in a fostering environment. I still believe that encouraging more women to play and develop games can only add to more variety. That's good for everyone.
I'd like to say a big thanks to Wanda for giving me the opportunity to speak and to the students for being so open and sharing so much. Thank you!
http://gamerscoreblog.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=557320http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GamerscoreBlog/~4/231897370
More... (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GamerscoreBlog/~3/231897370/557320.aspx)
It was interesting to see that many did not know about things on the Xbox such as Achievements (http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/systemuse/xbox360/livefeatures/achievements.htm), Xbox LIVE Arcade (http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/livearcadexbox360/), the web presence (forums (http://forums.xbox.com/)), etc. I got to explain how all of these things make the system so great for someone like me. When I ran through the disgusting amount of arcade games I have, I heard many oohs and ahhs for things like Frogger (http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/f/froggerlivearcadexbox360/default.htm), Sonic (http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/s/sonicxboxlivearcade/default.htm) and Dig Dug (http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/d/digdugxboxlivearcade/default.htm). It made me proud that these games are still popular today. OLD SKOOL, BABY! One student was far too good at Wik (http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/w/wikfableofsoulslivearcadexbox360/default.htm) and impressed us all with his tongue swinging, grub eating skills.
I was given a lot of useful information as to what female gamers who are not currently playing the system think about it. The general consensus was that the system was geared towards more veteran players - that it wasn't simple to pick up and just play without having to learn difficult control schemes. HOWEVER, when I put in Rock Band (http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/r/rockband/), even the most vocal PC player jumped on board and knocked it out of the park.
Everyone had a good time with the games (I had to politely power down when SOMEONE wouldn't put the controller down while playing Gears of War (http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/g/gearsofwar/)!)
By the end of the class, most understood the value of a group like GamerchiX - How it helps women find one another and gives them a space to learn games in a fostering environment. I still believe that encouraging more women to play and develop games can only add to more variety. That's good for everyone.
I'd like to say a big thanks to Wanda for giving me the opportunity to speak and to the students for being so open and sharing so much. Thank you!
http://gamerscoreblog.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=557320http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GamerscoreBlog/~4/231897370
More... (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GamerscoreBlog/~3/231897370/557320.aspx)