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?

#141

Post by undersuit » Mon, Mar 09, 2015, 5:08 PM UTC

Mithaldu wrote: post #105

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.

I'm not an expert on what kids are doing on their phones, but my phone does not encourage interactions. When I packed my computer and took it to a friends house I didn't read Slashdot and play Simfarm alone, we'd hook up Starcraft or Diablo.

I think of the Pewdiepie episode of South Park where Ike and his friends each have their own device and each consumes their own media separately when I think of kids having sleepovers now.

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

#142

Post by undersuit » Mon, Mar 09, 2015, 5:12 PM UTC

cplease wrote: post #127

TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you referring to the WaPo comments, or HN's?

I was refering to WaPo, as there weren't any comments here yet. Predictably they are not a whole lot better here though.

Yeah this entire thread is a caustic cauldron of hate towards a 12 year old girl.

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

#143

Post by jhwhite » Mon, Mar 09, 2015, 6:26 PM UTC

Is it bad this makes sense to me though?

If the makers of the game added a female character that would be extra cost from a platform, front end, and art perspective. Thereby pushing the cost of the game up for everyone when it's probably still mostly males who play the game.

So the cost of adding a female player is recouped by the people that want to play a female character.

If the makers added in a female character to begin with the game might cost a little more, but in app economics there seems to be a big difference in $1.

I wonder how many males that buy games only buy games that offer both genders as playable characters.

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

#144

Post by nosuchthing » Mon, Mar 09, 2015, 7:44 PM UTC

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…

There's a good number of youtube videos where young kids give tutorials on modding Minecraft. Not quiet as raw, but certainly a similar gateway.

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

#145

Post by tessierashpool » Mon, Mar 09, 2015, 8:45 PM UTC

wutbrodo wrote: post #58

tessierashpool wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Even computer games that were not developed with the explicit intent to provide such training, such as Block Out and several versions of Tetris, have been found to contribute to enhancing spatial skills." http://web.jhu.edu/cty/STBguide.pdf

I can see how he was confused by the conflation of "teaches geometry" and "improves spatial skills" (though I can of course see how you could say the former and mean the latter).

well, yeah. I tend to check Hacker News in the morning, while I'm making my espresso, and my precision sometimes suffers accordingly.

sorry, I'd probably get a lot more upvotes if that weren't the case.

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

#146

Post by GhotiFish » Mon, Mar 09, 2015, 11:47 PM UTC

A_COMPUTER wrote: post #67

This 12 year old girl is a better blogger than some of the people Washington Post has on staff. I am not exaggerating, I wish all their bloggers were this analytical.

Well yes. She is. By a substantial margin. It's incredible really, and I mean that in the strict sense of the word. in-credible.

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

#147

Post by NoPiece » Mon, Mar 09, 2015, 11:58 PM UTC

_bfhp wrote: post #90

NoPiece wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I feel for that woman in your life, who would be called an "attacking activist" if she ever strayed outside of your proscribed guidelines of civility. It's unfortunate that women have to deal with violence and discrimination from men so much that they get tired of it and express deep anger on the internet. I as a male sympathize with the anger, not the targets of the anger.

I as a male sympathize with the anger, not the targets of the anger

Good luck being happy in life. Victims deserve your empathy, not the angry. Anger rarely leads good things, whether it be at a personal level, or at a macro level.

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

#148

Post by indians_pro » Fri, Mar 13, 2015, 8:49 PM UTC

cbd1984 wrote: post #72

indians_pro wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The latest versions of firefox are a painful reminder.

Then get the UI you want. That's possible in Firefox, as opposed to Chrome, for example.

Yes but why are they doing it in the first place? When the whole point of firefox is its customizability and 'non-proprietary' nature over chrome. I don't understand.