Messages

76

Nintendo Gaming / Re: One-third of Wii owners are female?

« on: December 01, 2009, 08:36:03 PM »

Kids these days, eh?

77

Nintendo Gaming / Re: One-third of Wii owners are female?

« on: December 01, 2009, 08:21:16 PM »

what if they whisper sweet nothings instead? :

You want punky 12 year olds to whisper sweet nothings?  What is a sweet nothing to a 12 year old anyways?

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: One-third of Wii owners are female?

« on: December 01, 2009, 07:51:54 PM »

If a girl tries a game of Mario kart online no big deal, even if it is her first time.  If she tries Halo or pretty much any Xbox game she is probably going to walk away and never look back.  Voice chat on is the default and why would a new person want to turn it off?  It sounds kind of cool.  A new player is mocked and ridiculed and told to quit the entire first time they play.  If a girl thinks it might be fun to be social in the socially oriented game its time to duck for cover.

This guy gets it. I'm actually glad that most online Wii games don't have voice chat.

Agreed.  Most of my guy friends don't even like voice chat, and I don't want punky 12 year olds chirping in my ear.  Games for me are meant to be relaxing.

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NWR Forums Discord / Re: Forum Connection: SilverGrey Edition

« on: November 29, 2009, 09:49:07 PM »

No worries, I'm a good sport, and I'm hard to scare off.  But please don't consider that a challenge.

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NWR Forums Discord / Re: Forum Connection: SilverGrey Edition

« on: November 29, 2009, 09:42:17 PM »

Hmmm, well that could be interesting.  I don't even know who Morari is.

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NWR Forums Discord / Re: Why my job sucks..

« on: November 28, 2009, 04:23:26 PM »

Must be why I enjoyed telling customers that they were wrong about something......
"I want to buy this blender I see on your website"
"We don't carry that blender, I'm very sorry"
"I'm looking at it, it's on your website, it's right in front of me!!!"
"What does the top of the website say?"
"Pottery Barn"
"I'm very sorry, but this is Crate & Barrel"
"........so why can't I order the blender?"

This is an actual conversation I had with a customer when I used to work for Crate & Barrel as my summer job when I was in school.  And it's not even the weirdest one I had.

82

General Chat / Re: Goodbye Everyone

« on: November 28, 2009, 04:03:06 PM »

I didn't realize it was the same person either.  I thought it was just a nickname he'd earned being called Pro.  I also thought he was a girl too, so I'm not the best person to be asking who I thought Pro was because I apparently had everything confused.

And now I know the rest of the story.  Before I joined up I had sorted out that Pro was the same person as NinGurl, and that neither of them were girls.  He always struck me as kind of a strange girl as it was, kind of.....crass.  Also all the avatars of various bits of Daisy were a hint.

There is a lot of contradiction going on between these 2 post.

You're right, there is, but it's all true.  I've been lurking for a while and there was a period of time where I was confused, followed by a period of time where I sorted it out, and then I joined up.

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General Chat / Re: Goodbye Everyone

« on: November 28, 2009, 03:31:59 PM »

And now I know the rest of the story.  Before I joined up I had sorted out that Pro was the same person as NinGurl, and that neither of them were girls.  He always struck me as kind of a strange girl as it was, kind of.....crass.  Also all the avatars of various bits of Daisy were a hint.

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General Chat / Re: Goodbye Everyone

« on: November 28, 2009, 03:03:17 PM »

Yeah, I guess.  I'm sure there's a story behind the username.  Same with the huggles thing.

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General Chat / Re: Goodbye Everyone

« on: November 28, 2009, 02:46:46 PM »

I didn't realize it was the same person either.  I thought it was just a nickname he'd earned being called Pro.  I also thought he was a girl too, so I'm not the best person to be asking who I thought Pro was because I apparently had everything confused.

86

Nintendo Gaming / Re: One-third of Wii owners are female?

« on: November 28, 2009, 01:28:57 PM »

]That is an interesting idea, though I'm also not sure how it would work. I hate it when a game classifies difficulty as "casual" and "hardcore" because I don't think there is an inherent amount of challenge to either one. So I wouldn't want to see games plastered with "For Casuals" and "For Hardcore!", and that also doesn't cover games which have a wide appeal like Mario Kart Wii. People also have varying degrees of skill so what is easy for one person may be hard for another. Maybe they could advertise if a game has a difficulty selector? Features like the Super Guide in NSMBWii should also be on the box somewhere.

Here's what inspired this comment from me.  I work in a library currently.  I work with a lot of children's books.   The books that help kids as they're learning to read usually have levels or stepping stones or whatever that book publisher chooses to call them.  Then on the back of the book it tells you what level the book is, and what is expected at that level.  Things listed are paragraphs, long sentences, 2 syllable words, so on and so forth.  If on the back of a game case they could list some of the aspects of gameplay in the same manner they might make a step towards not only giving a hint as to the difficulty of the title, but also help with the other comment we were making about wanting to know what the game is about and what you the player will be doing.  Maybe not go so far as to actually give a level number like the stepping stones books, so you don't run into the 'well how casual does casual mean?' or 'how difficult is hardcore really?' which would be pretty impossible to predict because there's so much variance in skill level.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: One-third of Wii owners are female?

« on: November 28, 2009, 02:09:02 AM »

I think that games need to lose the stigma of being a 'guy' thing before you will ever hope to see that ratio evening out to 50/50.

What can we do to help change things? It's pretty difficult to get people interested as they are going to need to be eased into it. I try to encourage my friends and family to try my new games, but... sometimes they just flat out refuse. And my sister doesn't have a lot of perseverance if a game is proving challenging.

Also, why won't you let me visit your Animal Crossing town? I'm really nice... and I bring presents!

Well first off my town is a royal mess cause I haven't been there for a few months so probably all my citizens moved away and it's covered in weeds, but perhaps someday I will allow visitors.  I'm trying to think of ways to get people interested in games who are new, which has led to me think about how I get interested in the first place.  But that has a lot to do with a Black Friday sale offering me a N64 for $15 back when I was a freshmen in college.  I was never allowed video games at home and I had always wanted to play OOT.  I remember seeing people playing it when it was new and I was just absolutely fascinated.  So for me, it was the hook, I wanted to see how you played that game.  Not gonna lie, the 2 things I wanted to do most were ride Epona around Hyrule Field, and catch a fairy in a bottle.  Anyhow, I think the Wii has been the hook for more people to look at video games as something new and different and not so scary.  I also think the glut of minigame compilations has its merits because people have fun playing together and waving their arms around and looking like fools and then say 'hey what else can we play like this?'  So I already think the industry is changing its stereotype.  But at the same time, why play minigames when you can play a super fun full-length game?  So there's still lots of ground to go if the industry will ever be considered equally accessible, and even then you'll have people who just have lots more skills than new players.  So I have 2 thoughts:
1. Twice I have encountered lost looking moms who think the game rating is telling you how hard the game is, rather than the rating of content.  I spent 15 minutes explaining to one mom why not every E game would be perfect for her 4 year old.  I don't even work at that store, I was looking for something myself and I guess I looked nicer than the store clerk?  Anyhow, not sure how it would be managed but I think a difficulty rating system could have its potential to make games a little less intimidating on the purchasing end.

2. I wish the back of game cases were more descriptive (in some cases) in telling you what the game is actually about, and what you as the player are doing in the game.  I consider myself an informed game consumer because I read reviews and forums like this and know before I go off to get something whether or not it's going to be a game I would be likely to enjoy.  It's very rare for me to just wander over to the Wii section and see what looks good because I find reading the back of the case to be of very little use in telling me what I want to know.  The sheer amount of STUFF available for the Wii (and video games in general) can be an intimidating experience even if you know what you're looking for, let alone if you don't.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: One-third of Wii owners are female?

« on: November 28, 2009, 01:18:55 AM »

From my perspective, I'm used to being the only girl I know who plays games.  Now granted, I have several friends who own Wiis who are girls, and much as I love Wii Fit, I do like to play other stuff.  I got one of my girlfriends who loves zombies to play Eternal Darkness and she did alright but then was like 'no this game is too intense, I can't believe you like it'.  So I mean, seems like it would be something she could handle more than my girlfriends who just love the frisbee puppy in Wii Sports Resort, but still struck out.  I think it's a very intimidating hobby to pick up.  I still get intimidated walking into a Gamestop.  I don't race Mario Kart online or let people visit my Animal Crossing town, and I hate when people say 'ooo what are you playing?  can I watch?' No, you may not watch, because you make me nervous.  Now I think this has a lot more to do with my own insecurities of my gaming skills than it necessarily being that I'm a girl, but I do feel that the vast majority of people I know who play are guys, and they've all had systems for years and they're very good at games and so to have them let you play and you spend half your time dead (don't even start me on what it's like to watch me play Goldeneye, even though it actually is pretty entertaining to other people).  I'm rambling, I know, but I think that games need to lose the stigma of being a 'guy' thing before you will ever hope to see that ratio evening out to 50/50.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: One-third of Wii owners are female?

« on: November 28, 2009, 12:22:13 AM »

At the risk of offending the gross majority of the people who post here, I think it's easier to make games that appeal to guys.  Girls are notoriously fickle (we'll deny it, and kill you if you say it, but we are) so who knows what we want to play?  If you make it pink it's probably your best bet, but then again, there's loads of girls who don't like pink.  I'd be thrilled with a blue Wii or a green Wii but not pink.  Shirtless Johnny Depp could work if you find a girl who likes Johnny Depp (what sort of game would it be exactly Mop_it_up?)  I feel like the games I end up playing are the fringes of 'boy' games but then again what makes a 'girl' game?  Besides pink....

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: One-third of Wii owners are female?

« on: November 27, 2009, 04:12:54 PM »

I think it has something to do with companies seeming to play down to female gamers.  I think games are intimidating to most new players, but for women there's also the stigma of entering a 'boys only' zone.  At least that's how I felt.  I like games to challenge me that I have a good time playing, but I don't feel challenged playing a FPS (and I don't enjoy them) nor do I feel challenged playing puppy sparkle dance party.  I don't envy companies trying to develop for these new audiences of games that they haven't dealt with before.  I think female gamers are harder to compartmentalize, they may want to play just about anything, but I think most of them chafe at feeling pandered to.

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General Chat / Re: "Hey I'm new!" Official Introduce Yourself to the Internet Thread

« on: November 24, 2009, 06:38:59 PM »

I'm sure he just wants you to pick up an avatar, and that's all.

And done.  How's this?

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General Chat / Re: "Hey I'm new!" Official Introduce Yourself to the Internet Thread

« on: November 24, 2009, 11:55:49 AM »

I'm just never one to ignore the obvious.

You think I'm a spy?

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Rune Factory Frontier

« on: November 24, 2009, 11:55:00 AM »

I wonder why if the Runeys are so integral to the game, they chose to make the system for moving them around so awkward!  I've spent most of my playing time this morning moving those little suckers about.  I'm going to have to start writing down the numbers in the areas so I stop having to run back to the map all the time.  Also I do not like the Runey vacuum Harvester device.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Rune Factory Frontier

« on: November 23, 2009, 11:32:02 PM »

Wow, thank you so much!  I don't really get it, but I shall keep reading it until it makes a little more sense.  Apparently a grass factory should be something I set up.  Anyone have thoughts on a good place?  I had no idea the Runey system was so......complicated.  This game is a lot more detailed than I originally thought.

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General Chat / Re: "Hey I'm new!" Official Introduce Yourself to the Internet Thread

« on: November 23, 2009, 09:55:42 PM »

I've never seen the Black Cauldron, but  having read the Wikipedia synopsis I don't see a mention of a dragon as any sort of a main character.  So i don't know.

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General Chat / Re: "Hey I'm new!" Official Introduce Yourself to the Internet Thread

« on: November 23, 2009, 09:34:41 PM »

I LOVE Madam Mim!!!  Sword in the Stone is a seriously under-appreciated Disney film. 
And she really didn't say  no purple dragons.

So that begs the question:
Who would win in the fight between Madam Mim as a dragon and Maleficent as a dragon?
Or how about Pete's Dragon?
Or The Reluctant Dragon?

Man Disney's got a lot of dragons.....

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Rune Factory Frontier

« on: November 23, 2009, 09:25:15 PM »

I'm having an exciting Rune Factory day.  I bought a spear, found new stuff in the Green Ruins, and my monsters decided that they should start doing their jobs.  I guess that whole feeding them thing does wonders for their opinion of me.  Can I get some Runey help though?  On the distribution map, what should the pie chart look like for the 4 colors of Runeys?  Should they each be a quarter of the pie?

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Rune Factory Frontier

« on: November 23, 2009, 07:42:26 PM »

As nearly as I can tell from my own experience, you can just leave them there.  Perhaps someone who's further into the game can weigh in with a different experience, but I have several plots that I just have stuff sitting on doing nothing.

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Rune Factory Frontier

« on: November 23, 2009, 07:29:59 PM »

Where are these RP replenishing crystals? I've never seen one.

You get them when you grow crops in dungeons, they're white glowing orbs that hang over the fully-grown crop.  You would get them in your fields on your farm too but outside of caves Rune Crystals become Runeys instead.

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General Chat / Re: "Hey I'm new!" Official Introduce Yourself to the Internet Thread

« on: November 23, 2009, 07:20:19 PM »

It's a tough call since we don't know how much power Ursula had at her disposal before the trident.  I mean she apparently had the power to turn former merpeople into those little, I dunno, gray critter things.  She also had the power to transform Ariel into a human (and she probably could have done it without taking her voice) so Ursula's powers are not to be discounted.