‘Pink Games’, as Jenson and Castell (2014) refer to them in their article ‘Online games, gender and feminism‘, is a term used to describe “games for girls” made by companies in a hope to appeal to a female market. The term stems from the marketing technique companies use of packaging their “girl toys” in pink packaging as a way to attract girls to their products. This “pinkwashing” technique is used in most products across the board, including – but not limited to – toiletries, toys, clothing and, of course,video games.
Pink video games usually go a step further than just a pink box; the themes of many of these games are entirely derived from female stereotypes. Cassell and Jenkins point out that “the market research which supports the growth of the girls’ game movement has located fairly stereotypical conceptions of female taste”(1998, p. 19). You may wonder how, in this day and age, these games even manage to make it to production. Many of these “games for girls” games are made by male game developers. With the ratio of female to male game developers being 1:3 in 2014 (Clercq, 2014), it is evident in a lot of these “games for girls” games that there was little to no actual female input.
This uneven ratio in girl game production led to the concept of “games by girls for girls”, which companies such as Purple Moon, Her Interactive and Silicon Sisters all embraced. These companies are female-owned and largely female staffed and they hope to “awaken a female-only market for video games, emphasising differences between what girls and boys want in video games”.
I discussed this in my first blog post of my DA series. My next post in the series will be looking at Imagine Babies 3D, a “game for girls” game by Ubisoft. Ubisoft was actually once the leading publisher of “games for girls” on the Nintendo DS and Wii (Gaudiosi, 2008) but has long been criticised for its stereotypical themes and concepts, within its Imagine series of games in particular. This is something I will be exploring further in my upcoming DA post.
Resources:
Clercq, Lize 2014, “Why are their so few female gamers?”, Unite IT, 28 January, Viewed 22 October 2020, <http://www.unite-it.eu/profiles/blogs/why-are-so-few-women-developing-video-games>
Gaudiosi, John 2008, “E3 trendspotting: Game publishers turning more to girl gamers”, Venture Beat, 20 July, viewed 22 October 2020, <https://venturebeat.com/2008/07/20/e3-trendspotting-game-publishers-turning-more-to-girl-gamers/>
Alicia McFadden 
Reblogged this on Game Cultures.
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Hi Alicia!
Awesome work on your beta presentation. Love to see the progress! As someone who hasn’t played video games in years, but also use to love playing pink games growing up, I think your current approach is a perfect way to gain a deeper understanding of this subject’s content. You have made an interesting choice by drawing on past experiences and nostalgia. A quote from week 4 reading allowed me to revisit my childhood gaming memories and remind me of your project. “The origins of videogames have long captured the public imagination”, (Nooney, 2013).
I’m someone who has a similar level of gaming experience to you, and this project is something I’ve been following throughout the semester.
I’ve made a few notes to assist you with moving forward with the project:
Firstly, I think its great youre trying to find the OG games, but to save you some time and money, theres plenty of free online games that could possibly work out too in your favour!
To engage your audience, you could involve them in your project by allowing them to input their opinion. For e.g. you could post a poll or question on Instagram/twitter to ask them what game they would like to be compared/analysed next.
I also found another blog by WRAPPZ which explores the contrast in popular games, https://www.wrappz.com/blog/video-games-past-present-and-future/
They also discuss aspects of the evolution of gaming including new trends, integration, and innovation. These aspects are interesting key points you could examine in your research.
Cheers!
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Hi Alicia! I found your digital artefact while on Twitter and I absolutely love the concept. As I am someone who has very limited knowledge on games and rarely plays them, I got excited when you mentioned you were looking at the concept of “Pink Games” and that you were going to be playing them on the Nintendo console. I have grown up playing the DS and own a couple of “Imagine” games myself. From my experience, I can understand what pink games are and how they are so popular in the specific demographic you mentioned in your beta video.
While watching your video, I took a couple of notes which I think may help you iterate and move forwards with your digital artefact.
When I was younger and playing these Nintendo DS games, I was also playing similar games online such as “StarDoll” and any free dress up games. I think It would be interesting to explore online games with similar concepts to the Imagine games. This way, you are expanding onto different platforms, saving money and you get to play throwback games.
I also wanted to know why you chose feminism as your analytical framework as its a very interesting concept and what specific elements of the games you will be analysing. This book “From Barbie to Mortal Combat” talks about gender and computer games. I think this could be a good resource to look at when you are writing about the “pink” factors in games. https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Y5_cbfm3YfYC&oi=fnd&pg=PR8&dq=pink+games&ots=pidITuC5yh&sig=7ihoC_4BbAeCN_8wu8UtD1nJawQ&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=pink%20games&f=false
I am very excited to read your next blog posts.
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Hey Alicia!
I am obsessed with your project. I myself grew up with these pink games and for some reason, I hate myself for liking them! I had all these imagine games, and I grew up with male cousins who played pokemon and mario which are both names that have stood the test of time, unlike Imagine Babysitter (Such a dumb game). I think you have framed these games perfectly through a feminist lens and while it seems so obviously sexist when reflecting on them, I genuinely am still currently having my perception broadened by your DA. I think your analytical framework is awesome and still really recommend you looking at Margaret Atwood’s feminist work, even if it’s not explicitly Spotty Handed Villianesses. Her novel “The Handmaid’s Tale” is a dystopian text that forecasts ultimate women oppression as a warning- while that is not related to gaming, it frames Atwood’s work and shows you her strong feminist perspectives (She was part of the third wave feminist movement).
I think branching out from the imagine games might be beneficial for you also just because you don’t have access to more than one. Cooking Mama, while fun is a game aimed at girls and is entirely based on cooking and cooking skills. If you like, I have a wide range of pink games (ds cards) here if you’d like to borrow them? I have Imagine Babysitter, Imagine Happy Cooking, Style boutique, Cooking mama 1, 2, and 3, I have both Hannah Montana games as well which I don’t doubt has sexist themes. Message me on twitter if you’re interested!
Here is a great academic article titled “Dismantling the Patriarchal Myth of Femininity: A Study of
Margaret Atwood’s Life Before Man” Ms. K.B. Nivethitha. There is great concepts and discussion on femininity in the patriarchy. This could be great to back up your DA.
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Hey Alicia,
I have been loving your series so far, I read your previous blogs that were out and to look back and say I too have played those games makes me a bit uncomfortable… This idealistic way of thinking is really interesting to me though because maybe they design all of these programs to influence the decisions we have and how we grow up in the world.
i definitely think Jenson and Castell discussed so many valuable points, as you said “Pink is girly, pink is for girls”, I don’t even understand this concept truthfully of why we can’t just like any colour and why pink is marketed to girls and blue for boys! Plot twist in another dimension there could be blue for girls, pink for boys….
It does sadden me to see how sexist the past games were. If you ever get a chance look into the game Rub Bunnies.. It is made by ubisoft and I just feel so uncomfortable that I played it! I am not really a fan of any of the DS childrens games anymore because of how innocent we are, we don’t understand anything yet we are being fed all of these messages that only adults would truly understand. It does sadden me.
Anyways, on a more positive note I am really impressed with the work you have done for this! I am so interested to see how you managed to record you screen for your DS!!!
Good luck for the rest of the games! I look forward to reading more.
Amy
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Hey, Alicia!
Firstly, I love love LOVE the aesthetic you’ve got going on in your beta. Such a cool, femme-retro vibe which I love.
Secondly, it’s great to see that you’re receiving some great feedback and responses to your posts. One thing which I’ve started thinking while watching your beta is that there aren’t too many pink games around before. I’ve even had a look online just now and I can’t find anything quite like it which is really great to see, actually. Something I did notice is that there aren’t too many female protagonists in games targeted towards kids, but rather there’s been an influx of “choose your own protagonist”-style games mixed along with a load male protagonists. While that’s not the worst thing in the world, and it’s definitely not as bad as the pink games you’re talking about, it’s still not ideal when considering feminist representation (or lack thereof) in the video game industry.
I believe Chris touched on the ideas of women and video games in an earlier lecture. I can’t seem to find which week it’s from, but from memory he mentioned the impact women often had in the development of video games while not actually receiving much recognition for it. I’ll take a look over the next few days and DM you when I find which week it’s referring too. That might be something interesting to consider when developing your final DA or contextual report.
I also found a paper on empowerment and sexism in video games (Nic Giolla Easpaig, B. and Humphrey, R. (2018) “Pitching a virtual woo”: analysing discussion of sexism in online gaming. Feminism and Psychology, 27(4), pp. 553-561.) which doesn’t directly relate to your DA but might help you a little with the framework surrounding your DA.
Keep up the good work, Alicia! So great seeing what you’re doing.
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Hey Alicia! Setbacks in DA’s are definitely frustrating but I congratulate you for being able to work through it and adjusting your schedule in order to keep yourself on track despite the slow start.
Although you managed to find the DS game at a reasonable price, I would honestly consider maybe looking at online pink games that I remember playing all the time when I was younger like Barbie, My Scene, Polly pocket, Bratz etc. This will be inexpensive for your DA as well as provide you with an audience who would have definitely come across at least one of these computer games.
You had said in your BETA video that you had so many responses from your pitch from girls who had played a few of those pink games. In order to keep that engagement and response on your future blog posts, I suggest maybe providing questions that spark people’s nostalgia to your blog posts or as a tweet that attracts people to respond and share their memories.
Super interesting topic, all the best!
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In this post, the work contributes about the process how “games for girls” could appeal female gamers. To be more specific, reference to subject materials about marketing techniques (pink-washing technique) to attract female customers has been made in the post. Researching about how companies are marketing the games for girls to be sold more often to female gamers highlights the extent of research. Next, the actionable suggestions about the competitive advantage of pink video games and ways to increase share of video games developed for females have been made. The post highlights that games for females are developed by men developers. Therefore, for better understanding of female perspective on these games, ratio of female developers to male developers should be increased. However, the difficulties created due to uneven male: female developer ratio for companies like Purple Moon has been referred. Out of the experience, the post highlights how male to female employee ratio tags a company as developer of games for women only. Considering the previous comments, improvements are still pending as interactions are found with peoples who have commented on the work.
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