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Denver, 7:51 PM
Tue Dec 1
63 posts in the last 24 hours
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07/20/09
07/20/09
07/20/09
Blame men and society all you want, but when nearly every girl a guy will hear on a TF2 server does nothing but hammer on the mic about how they merely ARE a girl it can get annoying quickly, and leads to bad feelings.
I could also bring up about a million stories of girls acting like dastardly attention-craved demons from my time in a top-end WoW guild, but I could probably write a book and make more money that way.
The fact of the matter is, is that while there are probably 5 women who game that do not fit my description for each one that does, the ones who do are what stick in many peoples' minds and lend themselves towards these negative sentiments. It is an issue both genders have to work out.
07/20/09
07/20/09
Interestingly enough I don't think I've ever run across that sort of gamer girl. Most of the ones I know are completely normal. Or slightly insane, but not in the way you're describing.
07/20/09
07/20/09
Oh, you're soooo persecuted, gamer girl ... Only the majority of the guys in the world fantasize about you.
07/20/09
Go blow yourself.
07/20/09
I still consider "girl gamers" to be hard to find; I know only a couple of girls who play games, and they play puzzle games. Conventionally, anything of rarity is to be held in a higher regard than usual, and finding a girl who enjoys your misunderstood hobby as much as you do is, understandably, something to be desired.
If this isn't accurate, and there really are almost as many girls playing Halo as there are guys, then we have an issue where either girls aren't comfortable with letting people know they play games, or guys just aren't paying attention.
[God DAMMIT K. I don't like my text disappearing when I click outside the box]
It may be fair to say that the industry has only just reached mass market, and so we don't yet know how to interact with everyone else, including women, on this platform. It might also be fair to say that games are inherently competitive, and that the male proclivity towards this kind of competitiveness is offputting for women.
There's so many factors to consider as to why, if this actually is the case, many girls don't feel comfortable playing games - far too many than I care to outline while my comments disappear everytime I click outside this box. It is probably because we consider "girl gamers" special or exceptional, and that there has been enough social pressure on women to adhear to stereotypes, that they don't feel comfortable with it. Compound this with how misrepresented video games are as a whole, and you've got a pretty steep hill.
Being male, my insight is obviously limited. I'd still go out of my way to get a girl that plays games, but only for the same reason that I was excited when I found out my last girlfriend liked 24 and Led Zeppelin.
07/20/09
07/20/09
07/20/09
I agree. I will tell someone I play games and suddenly something changes. Those who don't realize that girls play games (see above comments) need to know they they do. I would love to play a match on Halo without having someone make a big deal (usually in the negative) about me being female. Especially because I am not very good at Halo which seems to make for even better cannon fodder. If people just stopped going "OMG ur a gurl?" or "You play gamez?!?" maybe all the hype would die down. And that would be good for gamers everywhere.
07/20/09
Besides that I don't really make a big deal about my gaming.
07/20/09
07/20/09
As for girl gamers being attention whores, there will always be some girls that seek the attention in this manner, just like there will always be guys that think its ok to hit on girl gamers. There will always be idiots across both genders.
The author of the article has made a good point and I hope to see tha attitude towrds girl gamers change in my lifetime, but I doubt it will.
07/20/09
I have no doubt that a girl would be interested in games with guns, swords or whatever. However I very much doubt my mum would be interested...
07/19/09
07/19/09
Why can't girls just be gamers?
07/19/09
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07/19/09
It's true that guys don't know a lot of girls that play games for the most part so it's easy to make assumptions or be shocked by the fact that there are as many as there are, but I find it odd to hear about this pedestal they're being put on?
In my experience, this has been the case. I don't get guys hitting on me at Gamestop. I get guys asking me if I'd like to preorder barbie or sims games. I get guys asking if I own a PS2, because the Gamecube games are on the other wall, and that's probably what I'm looking for. I get guys INSISTING I'm looking for Gladius, because a game called Gradius does not exist.
I'm the manager at an arcade, and I get this at work quite often as well. I know people aren't going to assume the only female there is the manager. I know people aren't going to assume that I play games either. BUT, when you start going off about RPGs and Shooters and arcade games, and I can actually have something to say, probably know more about the stuff than you do, how are you going to blow me off like I said nothing and ignore me. Especially when I know if I was a guy, they'd be all over the conversation (I know, because I've seen them do it). I'm not condescending. I'm not mean. I also know I'm not annoying hyperactive girl with glass shattering screechy voice either. I genuinely get excited when I can talk to someone about games, because guy or girl, there are a lot of "gamers" that don't know all that much. Especially about more niche genres and developers.
I just wish people could get past the stereotypes and shock of it. People play games, that's all there is to it. If you really have to categorize people and judge, at least wait until they open their mouth, lol.
07/19/09
QFT
Going to reference WoW for this one, One of my previous guilds was primarily female. I was the odd man out. You know how weird it was to be in Ventrilo talking about menstrual cycles? yeah. And it's so funny the perks females get for playing games to. I have no shame of course and my alt is of course female, it's fantastic because I get free stuff all the time as long as I type with a lot of smileys. Regardless, my girlfriend plays more games than I do nowadays so of course I don;t give her any special treatment. I wipe the floor with her in most games. She's just as competitive and I like it that way. Gender should never be an issue when for the most part, gaming is anonymous. It's not my fault that just because my Spartan in Halo rocks pink armor, you assume I'm female and send me super gross messages.
07/20/09
07/19/09
If I don't know a girl in real life that likes to play video games, if it's some chick on the internet, I don't care.
07/19/09
07/19/09
07/20/09
Being militant about pronouncing your gender to a whole bunch of people who don't want to believe it is just like being militant about arguing evolution in a creationist forum.
You're not going to change anyone who doesn't want to change, you're only upsetting yourself and alienating anyone around who's perfectly accepting of/indifferent to you.
Let your playing speak for you, if you're a gamer. Your naughty bits shouldn't even enter into the equation, only your mind and your hands on the mouse/keyboard or gamepad.
07/19/09
My beliefs are that most gamers would be more than happy to interact with the female species, and video games are a great forum to do this in. The main reason why there are is negative attention given to them on LIVE is the same reasons why there is so much racism.
I dare anyone to go to a Halo, or even a SFIV tournament and yell out the N word, and make fun of an Asian there.
I think girl gamers are just put on this pedestal because it's truly rare to find a girl who is into gaming as much as guys are, or at least that publicly declare it.
Show me a girl who plays Halo and I can show you a girl who has never played a Dragon Quest game, or something like Contra - those girl gamers are far in between, maybe just for that reason there is a negative connotation on the stereotype that girl gamers are really "hardcore" enough to be put in one group along with the boys.
But if a girl is comfortable enough to play with a testosterone filled environment then more power to her, because hell, even just going online for a guy since you automatically will have at least one person hate you from the get go.