Gender & Generational Differences in Gaming: Lessons For All
Thankfully, a fair number of industries have jumped on the marketing to women bandwagon by now (financial services and home improvement to name two) and are moving toward the 2.0 level of understanding. Still, plenty of others – many of which are just too embedded in their traditionally male-oriented ways – are taking that transition very slowly. For whatever reason, they don’t see the urgency or understand how crucial women are to their business today, let alone tomorrow.
Digital generation businesses, on the other hand, often evolve at the speed-of-light and so are forced to take on these gender difference questions quickly. Gaming is one such industry that is clearly more oriented toward Gen X and younger consumers, and those in its marketing ranks are trying hard to get the attention of prospective female buyers.
Interestingly, I’ve been seeing a lot of discussion among women in that realm piping up on the topic. One such post that seems to have started a great peer group discussion is Leigh Alexander’s latest “Aberrant Gamer” column on the GameSetWatch blog.
Here’s an excerpt of the last few paragraphs:
Some women may like Metal Gear Solid just as much, if not more, as they like Katamari Damacy and The Sims (ahem). But we are the exception – come on, let’s admit it – and while ultimately I still believe game preferences come primarily down to personality and not gender, maybe if we look closely at what the average female likes to play on the console, or is attracted to at retail, we might be able to pick out a rule or two we can learn from – besides “make it pink.”
Sigh. All right. Now you may run to the comments section and talk about how you’re a girl who likes Gears of War, or how your sister is better at Army of Two than you are, or you and your galpals play Halo competitively.
Just remember – just because women aren’t excluded doesn’t mean they feel welcome in a widespread way, and that’s definitely something it’s possible to change. And without being unafraid to look more closely at the issue and entertain the idea that men and women just might have different needs, we’ll never really know precisely where to start.
Rest assured, this isn’t just about gaming. What Alexander’s piece and reader comments show is that putting it out there – admitting that gender stereotypes exist, and inviting dialog from everyone involved (male and female) about what that means and if it works, is the way to answer the larger questions many other industries need to be mulling over.
- Are there generational differences in how gender is dealt with for the consumer market?
- Can traditional businesses, especially, ever get to a place where such discussions occur and inspire new strategies?
Consider the men and women of the auto industry. If ever there was a group of mainly Boomer generation executives stuck fighting old gender battles, this might be it. These folks are certainly attempting to address gender differences across the board (in-house to marketing), but they still need to remind themselves not to think pink. Are these men and women contributing and listening equally to their gender-related conversations?
People in industries that don’t quite turn on a dime (as gaming must) may not yet be prepared to face the facts of how generations and gender matter. Perhaps they are instead hoping to just do their best with the status quo until they retire 10 years from now. After all, by that time the “youngsters” can deal with whether and how gender applies to marketing.
In reality, waiting for them wouldn’t be such a smart move. Generational and cultural differences loom large at this point in history, and we will all have to approach gender in our marketing efforts in new ways. I’m not saying youth-oriented/driven businesses have all the answers or are doing everything right. They can certainly learn great practices from their traditional counterparts as well. But, businesses in industries like gaming may have the advantage in dealing with gender issues in the workplace, in product development and in marketing, because their hand is being so strongly forced. And, the women within are starting the conversation (and seeming to do so in ways that invite men’s participation).
“Older” marketers (35+, I mean…) in the traditional industries should realize that competitive advantage comes from being ready to do things a bit differently when circumstances call for it. Since we are experiencing a significant generational transition in the work and consuming worlds, that time is now. There is a changing attitude about gender differences that can be leveraged for more effective marketing in any realm.
Game on.
