A little about me...● Educational Game
developer at Helen Doron English
● The illustrator of the english and hebrew comic “You Must Be Fun At Parties” ( למה
להרוס חייבת (את
Meet Helen Doron’s game and TV series character , Polly The Collie
Female Female Also female (of course !)
...which is a female. Turns out all these characters I thought were male ,
are actually female
How to create gender neutral games for kids
Toy aisles today
Girls:- pink and pastel colors- cooking , beauty, baby and animal nurturing- highly feminized from a young age
Boys:- blue and primary colors- adventure, building, science, racing, shooting
Boys
Girls
Lego in the 1970’s : Gender Neutral
But it wasn't always like that...Lego Today : Gender divided
Strawberry Shortcake Evolution
1980 2003 2007 2013
Today: Strawberry Shortcake beauty merchandise
Google play search: Boys vs. girls apps
boys
Girls
Cooking
Baby care
Boys
Building
Racing
2009
2014
2013
Angry Birds Evolution
Not gendered
Anyone can choose their own genders for
birds
Gendered
-All Birds are male except Matilda
-Matilda get a new “feminine” design
-stella added to cartoon
-Stella gets a separate game
- Main Angry birds games include mostly male
characters
But things are changing in the toy & gaming world...
Temple Run Has 60% female players
Minecraft Has 40% female players on PC/console and 58% female players on mobile
(1)Choosing your colorsOr : What’s wrong with a pink jeep?
Don’t use: gendered colors. why?
- Children prefer toys based on gender associations - color coding limits their game choices
- Teaches boys and girls they are so different, they can't even play with the same toy
- Girls playing with “boy toys” in feminine colors, see them as different than the “regular” toys or “adjusted” so they can play them.
Do Use: Gender Neutral Colors
Other Hair dressing apps
Toca Hair Salon
Color pallette:
Color pallette:
Other Robot apps:
Color pallette:
Color pallette:
Toca Robot Lab:
Abuzz Robot Lab:
...And one robot game for the girls:
(2) Letting girls be girls
Boy charactersLook like boys, age-appropriate
Girl charactersFeminine, have makeup and
curvy figure from a young age
Boy animals Girl animals: The dreaded pink bonnet...
- Start from character traits, like : size , color , personality - and not from his/hers gender.
- Avoid overused color combinations and gender markers
- Make sure the design is age appropriate
- Players can understand the character’s gender through dialogue and story
Making a good female character
Fruit Ninja Mari
- Doesn’t have too feminine features for her age
- A part of the team: Doesn’t have different-colored (e.g pink) or shaped uniform from the rest
Masha And The Bear
- Doesn’t have too feminine features for her age .Actually looks like a child
- Her clothing fits her activities (living in the woods)
*based on a russian tv series
Toss - Cut The Rope 2
- Looks like a monster/creature and not too feminized
- A part of the team:
Doesn’t have different-colored (e.g pink) , design or size from the rest
Kiko - Kiko’s Thinking Time
- Looks like a regular and not too feminized
- Her gender is revealed by
story and context
(3) Have a variety of characters
How To make sure the game includes a variety of characters?
- Add the character gender in the end of the design / don’t assign genders
- Make sure both genders are represented in “feminine” or “masculine” games
- Count your characters - you might find surprising things!
Subway Surfers
A variety of female characters Basic game has 8 male characters and 5 female . Expansions games have more than 10 other unlockable female characters Variety of boy characters
too!
Crossy Roads
Has a variety of female charactersHas a lot of gender-less / un-gendered characters ,that kids can imagine either way
Nurturing , baby care, beauty etc. games offering characters
?
And Remember : We are so much more than our gender...
That’s Nintendo’s Kirby!
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