male/female knightmare fans

[Cleo]

Hi guys!

First ever post, so be gentle with me please!

Been lurking for a while now, and I've noticed that there seem to be a lot more male fans than female.

Is this the case, or are all the girls just a bit more shy?

[Illusion]

Hi Cleo, and welcome.

A survey by the Knightmare Adventuter's Club in 1992 asked this very question, and found that:

Oh dear. Sorry to say the boys outnumber the girls by almost four to one! 78% of you are boys, and 22% are girls. Let's look on the bright side - at least everybody is either a boy or a girl!

Full survey results at http://www.knightmare.com/club/1-3/p7.htm.

So, yes it would seem that this is the case.

[Kieran]

There are plenty of female fans out there, maybe they just don't post on here as much. The community has a fair balance, really.

[Velda]

For some bizarre reason, there doesn't seem to be as many female sci-fi/fantasy fans in the world. It's not just with KM, but also things like Star Trek and Doctor Who. I however, am a MASSIVE fan of those genres, and happily so

[Kieran]

Ohh so am I, go Dr Who! I think you'll find a lot of females around us are interested in such things, I know most of 'em!

[Velda]

I suppose it's something to do with the fact that the media portrays girls as being shopaholics who are image obsessed and chick-lit/flick mad. How wrong they are, thank goodness!

[TheBrollachan]

And you don't forget there are members who pretend to be others. As well as other who are not sure of who they are.

[Elita]

And members who go into unscheduled Lurker Mode when they can't be arsed logging in!

[Emii]

This thread reminds me of a thread on my roleplay society's board that might interest people with regards to females and the sci-fi/fantasy front. It starts off discussing females and LARP, but then broadens out to the fantasy side - very interesting Not strictly KM, but still relevant...

http://users.aber.ac.uk/cgi-bin/user/sc ... 1082636406

[hindleyite]

At the risk of increasing the level of swooping generalisation in this thread...

This reminds me of an old debate about video games, the fact there were no really good ones made specifically for girls. The trouble is, they were incredibly condescending and, to be honest, really bad. The best games were not ones that specifically set out to win over one gender or the other, just to create a good gaming experience in much the same way as Knightmare.

I guess it's just that the vast amount of girls aren't exactly won over by killing goblins and slaying dragons, just the way they're brought up to be. I wonder what the female-orientated version of Knightmare would have been like? Would it have even made it past the pilot or gone the same way as those terrible games for girls that flopped miserably?

Or, that if there were more female game designers, eventually there would have been a good video game aimed specifically at girls?

[Pooka]

What's a game "aimed at girls", though? I don't see why a game shouldn't be universalisable, never mind what gender the main character is. Some games allow you to choose and everything.

[hindleyite]

What's a game "aimed at girls", though? I don't see why a game shouldn't be universalisable, never mind what gender the main character is. Some games allow you to choose and everything.

I'm talking about games like those awful Spice Girls and Britney dance ones in the mid-90s. Plus, I'll wager there's never been a good Barbie game... not that I've ever played any of them, it's just there seems to be a general consensus they're terrible.

Now I'm not saying boys can't enjoy them in the same way a girl could just as much enjoy a 'lad's' game (All Action Kill Zone etc.). I guess Knightmare falls into the latter category, though it doesn't specifically set out to cater for a specific gender like Barbie's Super Shopping Time or whatever. Hmm.

[Pooka]

Well, those games are cack, that's the general reason why girls' games aren't really that popular.

I am acquainted with Barbie Goes Shopping. It's a terrible example of a terrible genre. But then again, it's only terrible because it was specifically designed with girls in mind. Games like the Metroid series, which features a female lead, are pretty much non-gender-specific; the only reason that people seem to think of them as 'boy' games is that the media portrays boys playing them.

Bad Influence used to give games two scores, one from the girls and one from the boys. Er, presumably in order to prove that girls play games too, or something.

[hindleyite]

Bad Influence used to give games two scores, one from the girls and one from the boys. Er, presumably in order to prove that girls play games too, or something.

Interesting, that. I know of no other games show that did that at the time or even since. I'm kind of glad we've moved on from the days of positive sexual discrimination in the gaming media. I wonder if the introduction of a female assistant for Treguard was a product of that?

[Mystara]

Interestingly, though, I read an article about female World of Warcraft players.
Being a fantasy RPG, you wouldn't expect girls to play it (according to the stereotypes), but many get introduced by watching a friend play and then get hooked into it. Particularly due to the social aspect.

I believe The Sims is also well known for it.