Home Gaming Could Virtual Reality widen gaming’s gender gap?

Could Virtual Reality widen gaming’s gender gap?

3 min read
40

Weird science

I think by now everyone realizes that women are gamers, too. Sure, it’s still a pretty male dominated industry, but women have become more prominent and representation has become a bit of a big deal. However, if the future of gaming lies in Virtual Reality, I can’t help but wonder if that gender divide will widen once again.

I foresee two major obstacles: physical hardware and male oriented software. The first issue was highlighted in this article from The Verge. In it, a woman describes her frustration with a range of virtual and augmented reality experiences – headsets that didn’t fit, body wear that didn’t even touch her skin and motion control rings or gloves that fell off or bunched on her smaller hands. But it’s more than making sure headsets and motion controls fit a wider range of body types:

One eye-tracking headset stubbornly ignored my pupils until an employee asked if I was wearing mascara. When it got recalibrated perfectly a few minutes later, I was surprised — not by the fact that it worked, but by the fact that anyone had thought to troubleshoot makeup.

Women might be excluded from some experiences simply because they’re smaller or wear makeup? While that’s frustrating on an expo floor, imagine the irritation of buying such a product only to discover upon getting it home that it doesn’t work? Plus, with families and friends often sharing their entertainment at home, imagine how many women will be alienated from VR when their friends’ headsets don’t fit or the motion controls are completely off kilter due to differing sizes. Women should be half the market opportunity, and hardware manufacturers will need to account for smaller physiques if they’re going to engage with them.

Thankfully, I didn’t have those issues when I used the Hololens or PlayStation VR. However, I can certainly foresee issues surrounding content. VR is at its best when players are totally immersed in the experience, essentially forgetting that they are in a virtual reality. I experienced such immersion when I got to play London Heist – I was so busy shooting and engaging with the content that I wasn’t too worried about whether my hands looked masculine or feminine. However, if I had looked down on my body and seen a man, I would definitely be aware that I’m playing a game, breaking the immersive moment.

When playing traditional games, I’ve never minded playing as a man or woman. It doesn’t change my enjoyment factor for the most part; while I like having customization options in games to make characters look the way I like, if I’m playing as a predetermined character, I don’t mind if it’s male or female. However, when it comes to VR, these aspects will matter more, but be much harder to implement. It’s hard enough to make an enjoyable experience in VR, imagine expecting studios to also make them customizable so that players can state if they’re men or women? And why stop there – players might also lose immersion if their character has a different skin tone to their own, or a different BMI. Where do we draw the line?

With Virtual Reality almost upon us, these aren’t just theoretical questions anymore. How much immersion do we expect? What standard of diversity will be expected, or will VR just reinforce the stereotype of all gamers being white males?

Last Updated: March 22, 2016

40 Comments

  1. konfab

    March 22, 2016 at 14:08

    Or you could use it to share the experience of being someone else.

    As for the hardware fitting problems, I am pretty sure that kind of thing will be fixed. Remember this is the first generation of the devices.

    Reply

  2. Alien Emperor Trevor

    March 22, 2016 at 14:17

    What are all those words doing under the underboob? Am I supposed to read as well?

    Reply

  3. Ottokie

    March 22, 2016 at 14:19

    I am part of the group of all boys and girls who can not afford this tech

    Reply

    • konfab

      March 22, 2016 at 14:27

      ;-;

      Reply

    • Pariah

      March 22, 2016 at 15:13

      Discrimination against the poor!!! RIOT!

      Reply

  4. DragonSpirit009

    March 22, 2016 at 14:20

    Gaming for woman does sometimes get a big knock. Like this weekend at rAge… One of the PS4 dude asked people if they liked to join a mini competition and that there were only two spots left. I raised my hand and called out but the guy ignored me and chose two other guys.
    Gave the dude one hell of a death glare and then left the area.

    Reply

    • Her Highness the Hipster

      March 22, 2016 at 14:22

      that’s seriously lame! hate when there are stories like this – everyone should be included instead of alienated

      Reply

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        March 22, 2016 at 14:24

        WHAT’S WRONG WITH BEING ALIENATED?

        Reply

    • miaau

      March 22, 2016 at 14:29

      yeah. told a story here before about my wife slaughtering someone at Tekken 3, a few years back. He made a comment about the men must play or something, so another friend asked my wife to take his place at the console. Even chose the character for her to play. (He saw us about once a week for supper and brought his play-station to our house and we played Tekken together). It was great to see.

      I sometimes think some men are nothing more than little boys afraid to get cooties. Perhaps I am harsh, but to hear some of the jokes at the office or other places? Jokes are jokes, but sometimes…..

      Reply

  5. Euphoriac

    March 22, 2016 at 14:24

    You’re seriously saying that it’s sexist because it doesn’t accommodate for you wearing make-up? Hahahaha.

    Reply

  6. konfab

    March 22, 2016 at 14:25

    Our minds are also pretty good at constructing a reality that we want around us. To paraphrase Morpheus: “reality is just electrical signals interpreted by our brains”.

    Take reading for example, there is no direct visual or audio stimulation and no feedback, yet our minds are capable of constructing a reality that surrounds that character, then placing ourselves in that character’s position and empathising with him/her.

    I suspect we are not going to have a problem:

    Reply

    • HvR

      March 22, 2016 at 15:20

      Clearly the game should have been called Alien: Holy Shit fcuking god aaahhhh

      Reply

  7. Daniel

    March 22, 2016 at 14:43

    While I agree VR needs to be as inclusive as possible to accommodate the variety of human shapes and sizes, this article is really sexist. You make an assumption that only women are shorter or smaller. Although you may not count shorter men as actual men, they are, think before you write such crap. It’s unreal how dumb this is. Oh and fuck you.

    Reply

    • Jan Prins

      March 22, 2016 at 15:00

      Aw man! You had such a great start. Then you fumbled into a lousy finish!

      Reply

      • Pariah

        March 22, 2016 at 15:11

        Something I’m sure you’re accustomed to?

        😀

        *RUNS

        Reply

        • Jan Prins

          March 22, 2016 at 15:28

          You assume a lot. Boet, I cannot even get to the starting point.

          Reply

      • Sn4tch3r

        March 22, 2016 at 15:14

        Why? The article is sexist and it’s written by a woman. A woman in gaming no less. A woman who should be more sensitive to these kinds of problems. Just another stupid example of a woman who believes all her problems are women’s problems. Because straight white men have no problems. This article is riddled with garbage. This is just more SJW garbage, feminist whinging. I’m a straight, white, male, and I will also be hoping VR fits me as I am smaller than an average male. This article has a female focus for no reason other than a self important women wrote it. Also do you honestly believe people making VR haven’t considered these things? I mean… wow.

        Carry on white knights. I’ve got my sword.

        Reply

        • Gavin Mannion

          March 22, 2016 at 15:15

          I think the problem is you ended up beign an asshole and attacking her instead of defending your point.

          Reply

          • Sn4tch3r

            March 22, 2016 at 15:18

            If you wrote this before writing your other post. I’d almost feel bad.

        • Her Highness the Hipster

          March 22, 2016 at 15:19

          while i recognize that men can also be smaller than average, an average sized woman is generally smaller than an averaged sized man, which is why i focused on women in my argument about the size of the tech. furthermore, if the “norm” of VR is to show a white male as the player character, this is even more alienating an experience than it is in normal games because of the immersion goals of virtual reality.

          Reply

          • Sn4tch3r

            March 22, 2016 at 15:25

            Next time resist the urge to make everything about women or black people. You know very well what you are doing. It’s exclusionary and insulting, and a form of bullying. Thanks. Write about “people.”

            Because we are all different.

          • DragonSpirit009

            March 22, 2016 at 15:55

            People should just calm down and shouldn’t take anything personal. I know well that I’m not an average woman size. I’m a plumpy overweight girl and I know how it feels not to be able to join the “party” on certain occasions when it comes to gaming. But I don’t go all nuts about it.

        • Jan Prins

          March 22, 2016 at 15:24

          The article is sexist and written by a woman. Dang boet! Sorry to hear. And man, I am EVER so sorry to hear you are smaller than an average male. Let me tell you. One day when you saved up for some female company (Because Lord knows, I do not think any woman would be willing to go out with you, unless you handed over a hefty amount of cash) you might find the size of your sword does not really count.

          Reply

          • Sn4tch3r

            March 22, 2016 at 15:57

            Mate, I don’t need your sympathy. Your assumptions about my life are as wrong and stupid as the assumptions made by the writer of this article. I’ll give you a fresh shovel soon.

        • miaau

          March 22, 2016 at 15:38

          you do not need a sword.

          “It’s unreal how dumb this is. Oh and fuck you.” I fail to see how that fits into any argument.

          I happen to agree with most of what you said. I just do not understand why you needed to personalise this.

          Reply

    • DragonSpirit009

      March 22, 2016 at 15:04

      Geez dude… Grab a chill pill.

      Reply

    • Gavin Mannion

      March 22, 2016 at 15:07

      we all know short people aren’t real people… what’s next, letting short people vote and drive?

      Reply

      • konfab

        March 22, 2016 at 15:46

        Well they are certainly not allowed on rollercoasters. :3

        Reply

        • miaau

          March 22, 2016 at 16:05

          true, true. But Kids play areas allow people, assumed to be children, of 1.4 meters tall to play. My wife, who I do not view as short, as maybe 15 cm taller than that. How short is short?

          Reply

        • Sn4tch3r

          March 22, 2016 at 16:06

          I’m 5 foot not a fucking dwarf. But dwarfs should get VR too.

          Reply

  8. Gavin Mannion

    March 22, 2016 at 15:05

    I don’t get it… What’s the actual complaint?

    That the test devices aren’t one size fits all yet or that someone played a game as someone other than themself?

    I can’t remember the last time I chose to play as a white male so I seriously doubt that’s going to be a problem.. careful before you break that drum you keep banging

    Reply

    • Her Highness the Hipster

      March 22, 2016 at 15:12

      i had a witty comeback about you playing a VR game and looking down to see boobs, but then I remembered you’d enjoy that.

      Reply

      • Gavin Mannion

        March 22, 2016 at 15:13

        so so much

        Reply

      • miaau

        March 22, 2016 at 16:04

        That might just freak me out a little…. A lot.

        Reply

  9. Raptor Rants

    March 22, 2016 at 15:21

    I’m not sure I can truly agree the equipment fitting really should be based on a gender argument.

    Sure often females are of smaller size than men, but remember there are many men in the gaming industry that aren’t exactly beefy sausage fingered individuals.

    The argument here should rather be about how they should try ensure equipment fits different body sizes. Not whether woman are going to be alienated from VR because it doesn’t fit. That same argument will go for men who are, like myself, skinny buggers.
    I really don’t think this should be turned in to a gender war. As for game characters, this is the same thing that is an issue in current gaming and I am sure once VR starts taking off (If) then they will be sure to include all forms of body types.

    But again I think that may be bad. Last thing I want is a feminist movement freaking out because men can choose to play as woman just so they can look at VR cleavage. No matter which way you swing it gender fights will be had on both sides of that fence.

    Reply

  10. HvR

    March 22, 2016 at 15:27

    Not sure this size argument has any validity.

    Having held a few unit and seen men and women using almost all the units I feel it is going to work on the majority of men and women.

    In fact I will bet that there will be the same amount or more men with broader heads that will have fitting issues than women with narrower/smaller heads.

    i will probably be one of them as 80% of spectacle frames squeeze my face. It is one of those things.

    Reply

  11. konfab

    March 22, 2016 at 15:43

    Also stop enforcing gender stereotypes about makeup.
    http://static.stereogum.com/uploads/2012/04/marilyn-manson.jpg

    Men wear it as well.

    I also suspect it wouldn’t work well with someone who has a black eye, so I guess the system is also ablest. ;3

    Reply

    • HvR

      March 22, 2016 at 15:48

      JJ looks properly pissed in that pic.

      Reply

    • Sn4tch3r

      March 22, 2016 at 15:53

      Yeah I was a goth when I was 15 too, so short and wore makeup. Fuck me this chick screwed up. Take the article down already OMG.

      Reply

  12. skwirl

    March 22, 2016 at 16:00

    “I believe people should stop defining themselves and just enjoy playing games, so let’s get on with it!”

    You don’t seem to believe this anymore Zoe.

    Reply

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