I’m a 12-year-old girl. Why don’t the characters in my apps look like me? • Hacker News Board

Re: I’m a 12-year-old girl. Why don’t the characters in my apps look like me?

#101

Post by smtddr » Mon, Mar 09, 2015, 4:03 AM UTC

zorked wrote: post #30

opso wrote: post #9

This is a bit tangential to the article, but the first paragraph stuck out to me. For a 12-year-old girl, playing games on an iPhone is pretty regular behavior. Almost all of my friends have game apps on their phones, and we’ll spend sleepovers playing side by side. Back in my day, I was playing video games all the time, hacking them with debug cheats and GameShark. This was universally called a waste of my time by e…

Oh, that kind of thing still exists. Took me all of two seconds to find it: http://www.androidgamehacks.net/forums/ And just like hacking with Game Genie was unusual back then, jailbreaking devices, hacking .apk files and hand-editing save games isn't for everybody either. But all of that definitely still exists, and is far more accessible than ever.

Not the same.

The GameGenie/GameShark/ActionReplay scene was much more accessible than hacking .apk files and jailbreaking mobile devices. I was messing with those devices even before I decided on a CS major. And it was as simple as just having one stray thought "What happens if I change this number?" In contrast, you don't just decide "What happens if I open this apk file up and change such and such?" How many people even know that the apk files are just zip files to start with? Then you get into decompile the files or hex-editor or whatever... but none of that is accessible as just randomly entering a different number in the GameGenie interface that's presented to you immediately.

Re: I’m a 12-year-old girl. Why don’t the characters in my apps look like me?

#102

Post by tracker1 » Mon, Mar 09, 2015, 4:06 AM UTC

lkbm wrote: post #13

opso wrote: post #9

This is a bit tangential to the article, but the first paragraph stuck out to me. For a 12-year-old girl, playing games on an iPhone is pretty regular behavior. Almost all of my friends have game apps on their phones, and we’ll spend sleepovers playing side by side. Back in my day, I was playing video games all the time, hacking them with debug cheats and GameShark. This was universally called a waste of my time by e…

It's still seen as a waste of time, I think. Just has finally been accepted as normal. And while you may have been firing up hex editors, that probably wasn't the norm. YOu are right, though, that the computer games of the nineties offered a lot more hackability than iPhone apps. ZZT was an introduction to OOP for many kids, Red Alert had rules.ini that defined the stats for each unit, and Duke3D had configuration fi…

I don't think the assumption is that all the users are male... it seems to me a lot of the assumption is that "girls are more likely to pay for a character change than boys" which may or may not be correct, without actual data.

That said, I feel that most (not all) apps with in-game purchases are pretty sleazy.

Re: I’m a 12-year-old girl. Why don’t the characters in my apps look like me?

#103

Post by hasenj » Mon, Mar 09, 2015, 4:07 AM UTC

_bfhp wrote: post #80

hasenj wrote: post #48

I am a male. When I would play RPG games (not that I play them that much ..) I'd always choose a female character if there was any. Specially when I was younger. I always thought it was the boys who wanted to play as a "kickass chick". e.g. Tomb Raider

I also often choose female characters. There is some demand from boys for female characters, but as with a lot of demand in the market I'm sure, game companies have little way to detect it, afaik

A successful game company would be in constant engagement with their user base, asking them about their favorite characters, etc.

Re: I’m a 12-year-old girl. Why don’t the characters in my apps look like me?

#104

Post by imron » Mon, Mar 09, 2015, 4:08 AM UTC

Poor girl. I really hope she has the strength and support necessary to survive the inevitable barrage of criticism, anger, threats and hate that gets directed at females speaking out on topics like this.

Re: I’m a 12-year-old girl. Why don’t the characters in my apps look like me?

#105

Post by Mithaldu » Mon, Mar 09, 2015, 4:09 AM UTC

bhayden wrote: post #100

Am I wrong for thinking it sounds really antisocial for girls to have sleepover and then play on their phones? When I have a kid I really don't want them to be exposed to mindless consumption but it sadly seems like it's not going to be possible unless they're home schooled. At the very least, they're getting a very locked down smart phone.

I did that (as a boy) back in the day too. Pack up the PC and bring it over to a friend. Even when playing single player games we still had the experience of being immediately together, able to talk directly and freely, and able to show/help each other stuff. I suppose that's just the modern version of that.

Re: I’m a 12-year-old girl. Why don’t the characters in my apps look like me?

#106

Post by zobzu » Mon, Mar 09, 2015, 4:10 AM UTC

lkbm wrote: post #13

opso wrote: post #9

This is a bit tangential to the article, but the first paragraph stuck out to me. For a 12-year-old girl, playing games on an iPhone is pretty regular behavior. Almost all of my friends have game apps on their phones, and we’ll spend sleepovers playing side by side. Back in my day, I was playing video games all the time, hacking them with debug cheats and GameShark. This was universally called a waste of my time by e…

It's still seen as a waste of time, I think. Just has finally been accepted as normal. And while you may have been firing up hex editors, that probably wasn't the norm. YOu are right, though, that the computer games of the nineties offered a lot more hackability than iPhone apps. ZZT was an introduction to OOP for many kids, Red Alert had rules.ini that defined the stats for each unit, and Duke3D had configuration fi…

Interestingly in many games of the 90s...

- there were both genders more often (in, fact, i can name very few of the games I played that were male only... yeah DukeNukem for ex. I know a couple female only games, tho)

- when different genders were proposed it was OF COURSE for free. Now u gotta pay because u like a red hat better or what not.

Re: I’m a 12-year-old girl. Why don’t the characters in my apps look like me?

#107

Post by UUMMUU » Mon, Mar 09, 2015, 4:11 AM UTC

It's articles like this that make me wonder if I should just always be sorry for being born a male. There are two kinds of responses to this article. Either you agree that all men are chauvinist pigs and only out to further the male-dominated agenda or you are a sexist bigot. In all honesty if the game developers only make a male characters, that's their prerogative, calling them sexist for not making a female character is extremely pretentious.

Re: I’m a 12-year-old girl. Why don’t the characters in my apps look like me?

#108

Post by morgante » Mon, Mar 09, 2015, 4:14 AM UTC

acjohnson55 wrote: post #96

morgante wrote: post #63

Unfortunately, this is likely a side-effect of the majority of game developers being male. A male making a female character is an altogether dicey proposition. Not only do they have to go through extra effort to imagine said character, but they also run the significant risk of being castigated if said female character doesn't perfectly align to various norms.

What's more harmful, catching some blowback or perpetuating the status quo that tells women from an early age "it's not for you"?

The answer to that question entirely depends on whether you're operating from a personal or a societal perspective.

Re: I’m a 12-year-old girl. Why don’t the characters in my apps look like me?

#109

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Mar 09, 2015, 4:16 AM UTC

venomsnake wrote: post #52

ChazDazzle wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a prevalent meme on Hacker News but it's nothing more than the tech version of Old Man Yells At Cloud.

This old man seems to be unable to find the built in file explorer in iDevices with which to be able to find the savegame location and edit the number of coins he has. Enlighten me, youngster how is that accomplished without breaking the warranty of the device?

[deleted]

Re: I’m a 12-year-old girl. Why don’t the characters in my apps look like me?

#110

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Mar 09, 2015, 4:22 AM UTC

NoPiece wrote: post #82

hackuser wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Definitely point it out, here and to the game developer. To a great degree it just comes down to awareness, and the best fix for that is to talk about it. The beneficiaries don't want to be sexist (of course there always are exceptions); people just don't notice it unless it happens to them -- just as people ignore most risks in other areas of life, such as lack of backups or weak passwords, health risks, etc. until…

I think that is great advice - if it bugs you, You should reach out to the developer. Email or tweet them, and say, Hey I have a daughter/girlfriend/wife and she wishes she could play OlliOlli as a female. What is unfortunate is that there is a growing group of activists who will start the discussion with a public accusation or attack.

[deleted]