Leisure experience project :Leisure experience project Girl Meets HALO – Jackie Morris


History of Halo :History of Halo Created by Bungie Games, published and owned by Microsoft First released in 2001 as Halo: Combat Envolved Trilogy of games praised as the best first-person shooter on a video game console


Halo 3 Trailer :Halo 3 Trailer


Who Plays Halo? :Who Plays Halo? With Halo 3, over 1 million unique users play daily Not much research on how many girls play, but the number seems to be increasing Many celebrities play Halo --- including the Jonas Brothers, Dane Cook, Justin Timberlake, Eddie Murphy, and Incubus


Girls and Video Games :Girls and Video Games Girls and video games don’t normally go hand-in-hand The gaming industry is noticing a fast-growing number of girl players over the years According to Reuters, between Jan and Aug 2008, female gamers made up 28% of total industry revenue Females accounted for 21% of the industry’s total sales growth in 2007, and many feel the number is much larger


Why No Girl Gamers? :Why No Girl Gamers? Games haven’t appealed to women Typically most games haven’t appealed to the interests of women (sex, violence, action, adventure) Games marketed more for the male demographic Setting up booths at conventions with “sexy” girls to bring men in


Why the Increase in Female Gamers? :Why the Increase in Female Gamers? Companies are increasing their number of “casual” games available on consoles, such as the Nintendo Wii Wii Fit sold 1.4 million units in the USA since it first launched in 2008 The Sims has sold over 100 copies since 2000 Guitar Hero and Rockband appeal to women because of their interactive nature


The Stereotypes :The Stereotypes As with most of our readings and in the movie “Mona Lisa Smile,” women are more often see to be “seen and not heard,” even in today’s society Women are to be dainty, girly, and not do boyish activities Girls are meant to cook, clean, play with dolls Based on our readings, I feel playing video games would go under the Liberal Feminist category Women want to be seen as equal, and being able to play the same genre of video games without complaining is a good start And hey, some girls might even become better than some of the boys out there! There has been progression in way video games are created and marketed so that they do include the female demographic, so the field is changing rapidly


“Hot Girls” Play Video Games? :“Hot Girls” Play Video Games? Looking for information on this presentation, I saw a lot of results about “hot” girls playing video games Men only like to focus on those few cute girls playing video games & emphasize that they are both “hot” and play video games = their dream girl I find it somewhat sexist that these are the type of girls they want to portray as the ones playing video games


My Thoughts :My Thoughts I can see why boys like this game… shooting, violence, guns, killing things left and right I actually liked it, I didn’t mind all the violence and the shooting , it was actually fun! I play video games, but games like Sims and Rockband, so playing Halo was a different approach to video games for me Even as a woman I need to vent out that rage and anger, and I liked using a video game to do so, easy to accomplish and no one gets hut in the process  Even though video games are mostly focused on being enjoyed by the male demographic, those same games (Halo, WoW, Grand Theft Auto) can also have appeal to women, even if all they want to do is to see what the “hype” is about I really did enjoy exposing myself to a new activity, and I think I will continue to try to play this game… as best to my abilities! I don’t think I played this type of game before because I’m not a big fan of “shoot ‘em up” games, but this one was fun because it was about missions too, not just killing things left and right


References :References