What does Everyone Like? What’s niche?
Zubon has a little comment about Niche Games & Mass Market. It’s a rather solid post, but I can’t get over the opening:
Everyone likes boobies. Everyone likes huge phallic swords that burn with purple fire. Everyone likes blowing up the bad guy.
Now, far be it from me to disagree. I have to admit to finding a certain aesthetic satisfaction in the female bust… and ever since my life as a combat engineer explosions have had a special place in my heart.
But the comment bothers me.
We’ve seen a number of blogs associating games with other forms of mass media. Let me add another one.Â
Look at the Neilson Ratings. Broadcast or cable, it doesn’t matter.
Violence as a theme is pretty high, whether sports (NFL) or pseudo-sports (WWF) or crime series (CSI). Gore’s less notable… a few gratuitous autopsy shots… that’s about it. But blowing up bad guys? Well, the crime shows occasionally have the baddie shot, but more often than not, they’re brought to justice alive.Â
Boobies? Nice looking ladies abound, but maybe TV ratings aren’t the best metric for this, given the FCC limitations.
So let’s look at the movies.Â
Of the all-time top 250, there are movies aplenty with fine-looking lasses in some compromising attire, but you have to go all the way to #46 (Beverly Hills Cop) to find something R-rated. There are certainly notable boobie moments without R ratings. No (hetero) guy thinks of Return of the Jedi for more than a few moments without thinking of a certain metal bikini. “The Kiss†in Spider Man may be a romantic scene to the ladies, but it’s a water-soaked knit shirt that’s most memorable to some of us…
But really, compared to games- where they practically poke your eye out with the obvious, these scenes are tame and momentary. That bikini had what? Two minutes of screen time in Jedi? Perhaps it’s true that the hint is more appealing than the obvious (…as I hide my copy of DOA: Beach Volleyball..).
Let’s return to “blowing up baddies.â€Â On that movie list, bad guys die a bit more, it seems. When it happens, it’s frequently, it’s a forced situation- no other choice- and hardly cause of celebration. Many baddies die from faults in their own evilness more than the action of the hero. A good number DO survive, though… and in many (#4: ET, #14 Finding Nemo, for example) there’s no real bad guy to kill. It’s noteworthy that one reasone “Revenge” of the Jedi was changed to Return was that “revenge” wasn’t a virtue for a jedi.
Purple flaming swords? Never really cared for them myself. They fall into that “oversized relatively useless ubergun†and “stupidly spikey uberarmor†that’s actually a huge gaming turnoff for me. I’d rather have a armor that looks like functional armor, weapons that have some semblance of function, and swordplay that didn’t use unnecessary neon particle effects for non-spellcasters. I like grit. Not glowies. Â
But, surely Hollywood, intoxicagted by special effects support the “purple sword” claim? No. Not as it relates to games. Hollywood effects are over-the-top, but compared to game styles, they’re practically mundane. Heck, if you look at movies based on games (there are none I could see in the top 250… perhaps saying something) they tone down those hyperstylized parts considerably- even when computer graphics would make it possible.  Budget issues may influence this, but maybe it’s BECAUSE they’re seeking a broader audience.
There ARE plenty of comic-book titles in that top 250. Comics are notorious for spiky armor, flaming oddly-shaped swords, and other stupi… err… graphical embellishments. It’s rather noteworthy that even though the X-Men Movie was more effects-driven than they typical Hollywood epic, the visual embellishments are toned down considerably from what you’d find in the comic.
Again, could it be to keep things appealing to a broader audience?
What Zubon lists as “everyone likes†is already a relatively narrowed niche. True, it’s something of a “gamer” niche- a group that’s been conditioned by Mortal Kombat, Final Fantasy, ”Jiggle tech,” and WoW raids. Games are reaching a broader market than the traditional niche of gamers. In a few years, when the title you’re working on is ready for launch, that broader market will be even more prominent. Don’t be afraid of catering to some of those tastes.
December 21st, 2006 at 10:49 pm
I think the concept you’re looking for is “family.” Sure, sex sells, but you don’t take the kids to go see it. PG-rated movies excel because their potential audience is wider. Also, kids want to see the same movie five times, then buy Finding Nemo on DVD and watch it twice a day in their Finding Nemo pajamas while holding a stuffed Squirt.
You will see the same pattern in gaming, I am sure. Mario did not become a superstar on the weight of Princess Toadstool’s breasts. Whether this applies to online games is more questionable. In the United States, it is illegal for the under-13 crowd to play your game. That probably stops few, as I still see lots of kids in-game, but many parents would not let their kids have unrestricted internet play anyway. There is no loss in potential audience for making your game PG-13.
There are two obvious counter-points.
First, you can be vulgar, prurient, and/or dumb without actually flashing breasts. The swords and explosions are just the most visible manifestations. The top movies include a fair amount of vulgar and dumb.
Second, you seem to be confusing the superstars with the majority. The best movies are good; Sturgeon’s Revelation still applies. A lot of the 90% that is crud will be vulgar, prurient, and dumb. I expect the best shows on TV to be good. I expect most of it to be The Simple Life, fifteen Survivor clones, soap operas, pro wrestling, daytime talk shows, and so on.
A stronger argument would be about what percentage of the total spending goes towards the refined versus the vulgar. That is something I do not know.
I do note the top 10 films include Shrek 2, Phantom Menace, Pirates of the Caribbean 2, Spider-Man, Revenge of the Sith, and Spider-Man 2. That sounds like a good mix of vulgar, dumb, explosions, and even Samuel Jackson’s glowing purple sword. You can debate whether Titanic fits any of that list.
December 21st, 2006 at 11:07 pm
Very good points, Zubon.
I’m also curious regarding the spending of vulgar vs refined.
It’s not even that I’m driven for family gaming. I DO believe that online games would do well to think of the multiple-gamer family more, but what probably got me so fixated on that comment was that so many game developers DO tend to think that way:
Let’s mix gratuitous violence, barely covered breasts, and an artstyle / effects of ginormous proportions and we’ll have a blockbuster.
Now, I enjoyed the mindless testosterone-and-dynamite flicks like Predator, Starship Troopers, and Eight Legged Freaks. They ARE fun. I’m just tired of seeing every hopeful title end up turning into one.
December 22nd, 2006 at 5:21 pm
Even Blizzard themselves poke fun at this stereotype. Just type /silly a few times when you play your female Night Elf and she’ll eventually come out with something like:
“Oh look, there I go, dancing again. I hope you and your friends are enjoying the show.”
Perhaps the most disturbing quasi conversation I had was while playing my female Gnome Rogue. One fellow sent me a PST telling me I looked like I was 10 years old, then promptly asked me if I wanted to Cyber. Perhaps we can also stereotype WoW players by their female toons (on Alliance side, at least)
Female NE - male player, any age from puberty onwards.
Female Human - mature female player
Female Dwarf - mature female player
Female Gnome - teenage or younger female player (not fitting the stereotype here