To reply to your story on MMOs I have never seen or heard someone state that female players are worse than male players. I will admit that I play a lot of female toons even though it dosn't reflect what I am in real life. It sickens me that now girls too are ganging up on guys who play as females. Not every guy who rolls a female toon is looking for hand outs, dancing naked on mail boxes, or trying to get a RL BF. What you stated in your essay was truely and purely a generalization. Who says that those people arn't women (yes I said it WOMEN not girls). In RL when I get with a group of gaming dudes and a girl happens to be there, playing, surrounded by guys she tends to flirt with EVERYONE! I don't know why they do this, perhaps they feel out of their feminine element being in the geekish "man cave" but it almost always happens. Now let me stop there because I just made a generalization. So to disclame myself I would say that 3/4ths of the time that happens.
The bottom line is, a woman can pwn as good as any guy, anywhere if she practices enough. Games are all about skill, however it dosn't mean that girls don't flirt with guys on games, or dance on mail boxes. Don't try to fight a generalization with another generalization because it destroys your very valid argument and makes you look bad in the end.
Only one lady I've ever been with has played computer games with me, she liked her superhero's (or at least humoured me into thinking she did haha) and stuck it out through the pawnings until she actually started to beat me a few times on Marvel vs Capcom 2... What a trooper! Only now do I realise I miss her more than ever. Gonna bypass self pity and go for brief pitstop at self loathing before hitting the highway of self destruction lol. Thanks for ruining my night lol.
All jokes aside amusing article. And there has been a crt monitor rotting at the bottom of my garden for several years now hahaha.
The day I got viciously outskilled, ouclassed, ganked, camped and ganked again by a girl in WOW I lost all my prejudices regarding girls in mmorpgs. Except one: girls in guilds = more social interaction but also more drama. (At least that has been my personal experience). No reason for me to look down on them though, as drama can be quite entertaining. ^_^
haha you got beaten by a girl
Joing aside, in any competetive sport, the top of the crop are males so I dont see the point of trying to point out that some girl beat you. I am sure there are alot of girls that can beat me up both in RL and in games, that does not make them equal to men when it comes to competetive sports.
Girls do not play video games, they just pretend to play to suite their BF's because women are animals and only want one thing.
I laughed at this... I hate to admit it, but I know quite a few women, thats right WOMEN who play video games. And sadly they are better at it than me, and I have played since I was 7... (Almost 24 now)
The day I got viciously outskilled, ouclassed, ganked, camped and ganked again by a girl in WOW I lost all my prejudices regarding girls in mmorpgs.
Why would that be such a shocking and unlikely event that it changed the way you perceive the opposite gender?
I have always wondered why some men find it surprising that women play games and are good at them, in EVE there are lots of women playing and they are just as likely to be as competitive and ruthless as the men and just as likely to chill in high sec and run missions.
Yet some of the male players express that "hey girls play EVE and some of them really kick arse as good as the guys do" as if its a massive shock and shouldn't be possible. I guess society is to blame because it raised people on so many stereotypes about gender and when people see the truth for themselves it pulls the wool from over their eyes and forces them to form their own opinion instead of what they have been spoon fed.
Currently playing:
EVE online (Ruining low sec one hotdrop at a time)
Gravity Rush, Dishonoured: The Knife of Dunwall.
(Waiting for) Metro: Last Light, Company of Heroes II.
Author tries to see game-world as microcosm of real world, while at the same time talking about behavior in virtual world. If you are of age let's say around 25-35 how often do u get in contact with 10-16 y.o.(if they are not your kids of course) people of any gender in Real Life? I'm 28 y.o. "male", and I'm a graduate student - in my case it would be once in a couple months. I don’t hang out, chat, or collaborate with people who have to grow to see things the way I see them.
In a virtual world situation is absolutely different. Most of the time you have to ally with whoever you can to complete something as fast, as easy, and as cheap as you can. And I don’t care absolutely what the gender of that person is. Moreover, I don’t even care what heshe think about me as a person, as long it is not my friend or guild-member.
For example, why would author expect some "respect" or "understanding" from people who are not on the same “real life”-level in computer game? And what exactly gender has to do with this issue?
Everything I said above was not to blame people of certain age, but rather to show example that every one of us does not behave in virtual world same way as we live and communicate in real life.
I played with quite a few girls (including my wife) - and most of them were casual gamers. Some of them are decent players, others not really. Playing with women definitely makes playing process more entertaining, but there is one thing I encountered that irritates me when "female" enter a community.
Real example: I was a member of the hardcore pvp-oriented corp in EVE, and we were member of huge ally. Our corp consisted from about 40 male between 20-50 y.o. 60% of the people played drunk/high most of the time, and we understood each other very well this way. But... when we had to group with other corporations, and there are some delicate and touchy girls/women who don't get, or found offensive our jokes - we have to either shut up, or move to another channel. I've never had such a problem in any male community.
I didn't want to offend anyone, so please forgive me if I did so.
Thank you, so much, for tackling this issue. I am a man, and am very secure in my sexuality; I also like to play female characters. This stems from my earlier tabletop days; my primary reasoning behind this is that no one expends a 95 lb girl to whip out a rocket launcher and take some nasty monster to town. There's a LOT more to it than that, these days; in fact, I was playing one of my most favorite fantasy characters, a Female Elf Ranger in Warhammer FRP, whom I had written a decent history for, built up in game over quite a bit of time, and then a woman -who may or may not still be a friend because of a recent falling out I've had with the group-, who is also an excellent gamer and, except for arguing with her husband all the time at my gaming table, brings a great deal to the game, made me uncomfortable for reasons I am still trying very hard to fathom. I ran my character in a way where she had her sensible side, was sensitive to what was going on around her, was more intelligent than almost all of my male characters, and whom I really felt I could role-play and, after 27 years of role-playing, NOW I'm getting squeamish about running a female character? What's that all about.
Anyway, the maturity level of a greater portion of most male gamers is, indeed, quite low when it comes to having any female enter any game, and I think males expect that role-playing is a men's only club... let me rephrase, a geeky men's only club. Guys, you better pull your heads out of your collective fourth point of contact, because women-gamers rock on toast, and they will bring their A-game -I know this from personal experience- on you, so don't be squeamish with them, or you will be schooled -I also know this (grins sheepishly) from personal experience.
This stems from my earlier tabletop days; my primary reasoning behind this is that no one expends (how about expects) a 95 lb girl to whip out a rocket launcher and take some nasty monster to town.
I ran my character in a way where she had her sensible side, was sensitive to what was going on around her, was more intelligent than almost all of my male characters, and whom I really felt I could role-play and, after 27 years of role-playing, NOW I'm getting squeamish about running a female character? What's that all about. (I meant to include that she is a badass with a bow and arrow, not too bad with a sword, and is a team player much of the time. Boy, tonight I am just not concentrating on my posting.)
Well said, especially the part that women play games and not all the women characters are men in disguise. Dear lord, this argument is still being had!
parrotpholk-Because we all know the miracle patch fairy shows up the night before release and sprinkles magic dust on the server to make it allllll better.
I tend to avoid the female gamers - they tend to be the worst players and then they bitch at you when you point out things they could do to fix the problem. Drama central. I would rather play with a bunch of immature men - at least we get the job done and no one cries about it. Just sayin'.
I tend to avoid the female gamers - they tend to be the worst players and then they bitch at you when you point out things they could do to fix the problem. Drama central. I would rather play with a bunch of immature men - at least we get the job done and no one cries about it. Just sayin'.
That's not my experience, I seen many male players whine and cry. Particularly tanks who blame the healer for his incompetence. I mean sometimes healers do suck but when you see the tank constantly messing up.
One guy was so bad in EQ2 so my swashie took over tanking after he died like 7 times. He went over to DPS and he still died 3 more times even though no other player died, he was just suicidal and a dramaqueen.
Immature people are the worst players in the world because they spend their time blaming stuff or people instead of trying to actually get better.
EQ2 had a high percentage of female players but almost 100% of the idots there were guys, often but not always younger (I havn't played it in 8 months now).
The big difference between men and ladies is one thing: how many pair of shoes we own. Guys might be slightly more competetive as well and that might be both bad or good, but it is what often leads to whining.
It's interesting, I really enjoyed the article, and I was fascinated by the early, positive comments... and then we go on through the posts and the old female gamers tropes just crop up like mushrooms.
People criticize Isabella for tackling a topic that crops up here on a weekly basis? Really? Is there some sort of internet rule that says only male players can talk about women in games? I'm baffled, honestly.
To be fair, MMO gaming is largely a boys club, yes more women than ever are playing, but not enough (yet) to alter the misconceptions of many. The gaming world is a microcosm, it's just not one that is necessarily reflective of real life.
To give an example, while I was out of work I applied to do a course in software development. There was an aptitude test that we had to sit to secure places (you needed 70% or higher to qualify). The day I sat the test there were 20 guys and 2 women, and the facilitator (who was also female) told us we were the first women ever to apply for the course, and it's been running for 5 years. Yikes. I got offered a place - but I'd just started my new job and had to turn it down. I don't know how the other woman did. I don't know whether the above says more about women (we'll play games, but making them is men's work?) or about the industry in general. I tend to go with the latter - it's pretty much a sausage fest.
The only reason my fellow players will ever know I'm female, is down to Vent. Most people seem to assume I'm a guy and that doesn't bother me in the least - it means I'm being held to the same standard as everyone else, and that's all I want. I hate drama, can't abide loot-whores and play games (as I have since I was ten) to have fun. I don't care a whit what gender the people I'm playing with are. I get as frustrated about wipes as the next person, and am willing to kick back and chat about mechanics, rotations and theorycraft so that I can be a better player.
Put me in a game, and I'm a gamer first and foremost - and that's how I think it should be. If anyone randomly asks me if I'm female in real life, I'll just get skeeved and /ignore them. To be frank, I've had more fun in playing games where the community were less likely to be "white knights" or "pick-up artists", so I know there are plenty of male gamers out there who care as little as I do about gender and gaming. It's really only when you come to forums that the old saws raise their heads, and then it's a simple matter of /rolleyes and move on.
Or in this case, /typewalloftext and move on....erm, sorry about that!
If it weren't for articles such as this there wuoldn't be an issue in the first place. From day 1 playing my first MMO perhaps 7 or 8 years ago the players I met were a healthy mix of male and female. From people still in school to mothers or fathers having to afk to take care of a baby, to people hitting pension age kicking back and having some gaming fun, to people in the military jumping on voice chat every so often via satelite even when deployed.
If it weren't for articles like this then no one would even pay any heed to whether women play MMO's or not, just as many of them do as men do. Online communities have the same mix of gender, ethnicity, lifestyles as any other walk of life and if differences weren't shoved down our throats every two minutes no one would notice. Perhaps the problems the author talks about occur in WoW, but i don't play it and very rarely encounter them in other games, in fact I can't ever remember encountering them unless it was as a joke by either a male or female.
The amount of people talking about how great women are at gaming have given me the need to write this reply.
It's clear that women game, especially since the popularity of social gaming has risen. I think the thought that "women don't play videogames" is less prominent than you imagine. There's always going to besome people that are ignorant and make claims like this. If there's anything to talk about it's how annoying some girls are about letting others know that they are in fact female and they they do in fact play videogames. Making an article like this is exactly what "girl gamers" do. They go onto servers and they announce to everyone that they play games and make a big fucking deal about it. By "girl gamers" I am of course referring to the very specific type of female gamer that people loathe running into both online and off who bitch and moan anytime they are criticised and constantly talk about themselves instead of playing the game (and distracting us until we mute them). Nobody cares that you're a female gamer and that female gamers are able to hold their own in videogames except maybe other females that want to pat their own ego by acknowledging the article. Devoting an entire article to this is just...ugh.
Also, female gamers have never...eeeeever...had as much of a prominent role in competitive gaming as men have. In the past, it has been the case that women almost always underperform compared to the men (see: CGS and pretty much every serious eSports competition ever) and in other cases blatantly cheated (see the Counter-Strike Women's All-Stars game) their way to mediocrity. I'm not pointing out that women can never be as good as men in competitive gaming, but I am making the point that men are more reliable, in general, at high-level play.
When it comes to selecting teammates or guild mates for any game, I am almost always going to go into the situation with higher expectation for the male (although I'm going to pick the best person either way). That's just honesty on my part. The Museum of Tolerance has a whole thing about how we all have prejudice, and to pretend that you don't is simply assinine.
Until the vast majority of women that make their presence as a woman known in games isn't trying to make a big deal about how they're a female, or until I stop running into girls that claim they are gamers who actually only play WoW or [insert recent game that is actually just an interactive movie here] and don't give a shit about anything else in the industry, or attempt to become the leader of the guild despite the fact that there are better people suited for the task, or throw temper tantrums everytime they get criticised...
I have every reason to believe that there are differences between men and women that do effect our relationship in game and not only that, but also how we play and our ability to deal with the challenges in front of us.
_________________________________ "Fixed it. Because that wall of text attacked me, killed me and looted my body..." -George "sniperg" Light
absolutely pointless rant about being a girl. there is no purpose for this thread at all.. shes a female gamer, nothing will ever change that, no matter what words you use!! she will always be a female gamer wether she hides the fact or not.
our world has 2 genders it always has!!! females and males. we are not the same!!! girls for a start have 1 more rib than we males.. they also dont get really bad facial hair. they dont have sticky out genitles, they dont have excessively hairy backs or bums, they always look younger when they are older, they are by far a hell of alot more mature, and half of the worlds population of females are pretty damn sexy!!!! oh yea they are the ones that have the babies too. and they claim to be able to multitask where we males are pretty open about our inability to do more than one thing at once.
now men on the other hand to me are definately not attractive, i dont get tingles down the back of my spine when i look at another guy, and i know there is some argument as to why guys play female chars but i think its damn freaky, ive heard some guys say they would rather run round the game looking at a girls arse than a guys arse ?????
not the best argument!! their is a term we use in the real world for guys that wear girls clothes!!!! thats right your all tranny's!!!! lol
After reading the article, it would seem that females would make better raid leaders. It also seems to indicate that females would have more difficulty figuring out a new encounter or mechanic. Which fits right in line with some of my experiences with females becoming very emotional during new content raids.
Originally posted by Adamai their is a term we use in the real world for guys that wear girls clothes!!!! thats right your all tranny's!!!! lol
How do you call gamers that play non human avatars?
Girls in mmos be good or bad, depends on the education and age and whatever. A female educated to see gaming as waste of time and not womanlike will be bad, unexperienced, shy to play a game. Females grown up with games will be much better, some will become that good to compete with the best man.
Drama starts when the envy takes the lead in the heads of some people, probably man, who feel cheated or have the need to try to mate these "real" woman. Really ridiculous things happen then...people losing totally their head and mind like horny animals fighting over the few real woman in their game and breaking up relationships etc. Some of the gaming woman also like this to happen...
Another dimension of social gameplay implemented at zero cost for the developers^^
"Torquemada... do not implore him for compassion. Torquemada... do not beg him for forgiveness. Torquemada... do not ask him for mercy. Let's face it, you can't Torquemada anything!"
I haven't experienced much prejudice in the games I play - probably because I tend to decline 'help', as I prefer to get to know the game properly without taking short-cuts, and therefor do a lot of soloing and random-grouping - but I do meet it a lot on forums.
There was a thread on these forums, actually, much about the same issue, and some of the posts there just made me want to set someone on fire. And not in a good way. Some people's lack of insight is just... I would say appalling, but what I mean is it really makes me want to do violent things :P
Thank devs for games where I can be violent all legally and witout prosecution... *grins shiftily*
EDIT: *sighs* Didn't read beyond the first posts. Should have. The closeminded neanderthals brought their clubs here too. I guess there's no fighting 10 000 years lack of evolution.
"So I contend that the player stories will always be more powerful than the scripted stories that we try to tell the players."
Comments
wish i could find some of these girls. Most of teh girls i meet are those party sluts
To reply to your story on MMOs I have never seen or heard someone state that female players are worse than male players. I will admit that I play a lot of female toons even though it dosn't reflect what I am in real life. It sickens me that now girls too are ganging up on guys who play as females. Not every guy who rolls a female toon is looking for hand outs, dancing naked on mail boxes, or trying to get a RL BF. What you stated in your essay was truely and purely a generalization. Who says that those people arn't women (yes I said it WOMEN not girls). In RL when I get with a group of gaming dudes and a girl happens to be there, playing, surrounded by guys she tends to flirt with EVERYONE! I don't know why they do this, perhaps they feel out of their feminine element being in the geekish "man cave" but it almost always happens. Now let me stop there because I just made a generalization. So to disclame myself I would say that 3/4ths of the time that happens.
The bottom line is, a woman can pwn as good as any guy, anywhere if she practices enough. Games are all about skill, however it dosn't mean that girls don't flirt with guys on games, or dance on mail boxes. Don't try to fight a generalization with another generalization because it destroys your very valid argument and makes you look bad in the end.
Only one lady I've ever been with has played computer games with me, she liked her superhero's (or at least humoured me into thinking she did haha) and stuck it out through the pawnings until she actually started to beat me a few times on Marvel vs Capcom 2... What a trooper! Only now do I realise I miss her more than ever. Gonna bypass self pity and go for brief pitstop at self loathing before hitting the highway of self destruction lol. Thanks for ruining my night lol.
All jokes aside amusing article. And there has been a crt monitor rotting at the bottom of my garden for several years now hahaha.
On the opposite spectrum... What about the females who play and has to let ever on know and rub in the fact i just got one shoted by a girl?
This.
I am entitled to my opinions, misspellings, and grammatical errors.
haha you got beaten by a girl
Joing aside, in any competetive sport, the top of the crop are males so I dont see the point of trying to point out that some girl beat you. I am sure there are alot of girls that can beat me up both in RL and in games, that does not make them equal to men when it comes to competetive sports.
My gaming blog
Girls do not play video games, they just pretend to play to suite their BF's because women are animals and only want one thing.
I laughed at this... I hate to admit it, but I know quite a few women, thats right WOMEN who play video games. And sadly they are better at it than me, and I have played since I was 7... (Almost 24 now)
Why would that be such a shocking and unlikely event that it changed the way you perceive the opposite gender?
I have always wondered why some men find it surprising that women play games and are good at them, in EVE there are lots of women playing and they are just as likely to be as competitive and ruthless as the men and just as likely to chill in high sec and run missions.
Yet some of the male players express that "hey girls play EVE and some of them really kick arse as good as the guys do" as if its a massive shock and shouldn't be possible. I guess society is to blame because it raised people on so many stereotypes about gender and when people see the truth for themselves it pulls the wool from over their eyes and forces them to form their own opinion instead of what they have been spoon fed.
Currently playing:
EVE online (Ruining low sec one hotdrop at a time)
Gravity Rush,
Dishonoured: The Knife of Dunwall.
(Waiting for) Metro: Last Light,
Company of Heroes II.
The person who beat me worst in real swordfighting was a rather small, cute red haired girl, and I sparred with some nasty looking huge guys...
It is not about appearance or which sex you belong, combat (real or MMO) is about guts.
If you think all ladies are helpless and always needs rescuing you are in for a nasty surprise sooner or later...
For every Loise Lane there is a Bodicea as well.
I could honestly care less who is male, female or whatever. I just login to play the game and have fun. Who cares what gender they are.
Author tries to see game-world as microcosm of real world, while at the same time talking about behavior in virtual world. If you are of age let's say around 25-35 how often do u get in contact with 10-16 y.o.(if they are not your kids of course) people of any gender in Real Life? I'm 28 y.o. "male", and I'm a graduate student - in my case it would be once in a couple months. I don’t hang out, chat, or collaborate with people who have to grow to see things the way I see them.
In a virtual world situation is absolutely different. Most of the time you have to ally with whoever you can to complete something as fast, as easy, and as cheap as you can. And I don’t care absolutely what the gender of that person is. Moreover, I don’t even care what heshe think about me as a person, as long it is not my friend or guild-member.
For example, why would author expect some "respect" or "understanding" from people who are not on the same “real life”-level in computer game? And what exactly gender has to do with this issue?
Everything I said above was not to blame people of certain age, but rather to show example that every one of us does not behave in virtual world same way as we live and communicate in real life.
I played with quite a few girls (including my wife) - and most of them were casual gamers. Some of them are decent players, others not really. Playing with women definitely makes playing process more entertaining, but there is one thing I encountered that irritates me when "female" enter a community.
Real example: I was a member of the hardcore pvp-oriented corp in EVE, and we were member of huge ally. Our corp consisted from about 40 male between 20-50 y.o. 60% of the people played drunk/high most of the time, and we understood each other very well this way. But... when we had to group with other corporations, and there are some delicate and touchy girls/women who don't get, or found offensive our jokes - we have to either shut up, or move to another channel. I've never had such a problem in any male community.
I didn't want to offend anyone, so please forgive me if I did so.
Thank you, so much, for tackling this issue. I am a man, and am very secure in my sexuality; I also like to play female characters. This stems from my earlier tabletop days; my primary reasoning behind this is that no one expends a 95 lb girl to whip out a rocket launcher and take some nasty monster to town. There's a LOT more to it than that, these days; in fact, I was playing one of my most favorite fantasy characters, a Female Elf Ranger in Warhammer FRP, whom I had written a decent history for, built up in game over quite a bit of time, and then a woman -who may or may not still be a friend because of a recent falling out I've had with the group-, who is also an excellent gamer and, except for arguing with her husband all the time at my gaming table, brings a great deal to the game, made me uncomfortable for reasons I am still trying very hard to fathom. I ran my character in a way where she had her sensible side, was sensitive to what was going on around her, was more intelligent than almost all of my male characters, and whom I really felt I could role-play and, after 27 years of role-playing, NOW I'm getting squeamish about running a female character? What's that all about.
Anyway, the maturity level of a greater portion of most male gamers is, indeed, quite low when it comes to having any female enter any game, and I think males expect that role-playing is a men's only club... let me rephrase, a geeky men's only club. Guys, you better pull your heads out of your collective fourth point of contact, because women-gamers rock on toast, and they will bring their A-game -I know this from personal experience- on you, so don't be squeamish with them, or you will be schooled -I also know this (grins sheepishly) from personal experience.
Well said, especially the part that women play games and not all the women characters are men in disguise. Dear lord, this argument is still being had!
parrotpholk-Because we all know the miracle patch fairy shows up the night before release and sprinkles magic dust on the server to make it allllll better.
That's not my experience, I seen many male players whine and cry. Particularly tanks who blame the healer for his incompetence. I mean sometimes healers do suck but when you see the tank constantly messing up.
One guy was so bad in EQ2 so my swashie took over tanking after he died like 7 times. He went over to DPS and he still died 3 more times even though no other player died, he was just suicidal and a dramaqueen.
Immature people are the worst players in the world because they spend their time blaming stuff or people instead of trying to actually get better.
EQ2 had a high percentage of female players but almost 100% of the idots there were guys, often but not always younger (I havn't played it in 8 months now).
The big difference between men and ladies is one thing: how many pair of shoes we own. Guys might be slightly more competetive as well and that might be both bad or good, but it is what often leads to whining.
It's interesting, I really enjoyed the article, and I was fascinated by the early, positive comments... and then we go on through the posts and the old female gamers tropes just crop up like mushrooms.
People criticize Isabella for tackling a topic that crops up here on a weekly basis? Really? Is there some sort of internet rule that says only male players can talk about women in games? I'm baffled, honestly.
To be fair, MMO gaming is largely a boys club, yes more women than ever are playing, but not enough (yet) to alter the misconceptions of many. The gaming world is a microcosm, it's just not one that is necessarily reflective of real life.
To give an example, while I was out of work I applied to do a course in software development. There was an aptitude test that we had to sit to secure places (you needed 70% or higher to qualify). The day I sat the test there were 20 guys and 2 women, and the facilitator (who was also female) told us we were the first women ever to apply for the course, and it's been running for 5 years. Yikes. I got offered a place - but I'd just started my new job and had to turn it down. I don't know how the other woman did. I don't know whether the above says more about women (we'll play games, but making them is men's work?) or about the industry in general. I tend to go with the latter - it's pretty much a sausage fest.
The only reason my fellow players will ever know I'm female, is down to Vent. Most people seem to assume I'm a guy and that doesn't bother me in the least - it means I'm being held to the same standard as everyone else, and that's all I want. I hate drama, can't abide loot-whores and play games (as I have since I was ten) to have fun. I don't care a whit what gender the people I'm playing with are. I get as frustrated about wipes as the next person, and am willing to kick back and chat about mechanics, rotations and theorycraft so that I can be a better player.
Put me in a game, and I'm a gamer first and foremost - and that's how I think it should be. If anyone randomly asks me if I'm female in real life, I'll just get skeeved and /ignore them. To be frank, I've had more fun in playing games where the community were less likely to be "white knights" or "pick-up artists", so I know there are plenty of male gamers out there who care as little as I do about gender and gaming. It's really only when you come to forums that the old saws raise their heads, and then it's a simple matter of /rolleyes and move on.
Or in this case, /typewalloftext and move on....erm, sorry about that!
If it weren't for articles such as this there wuoldn't be an issue in the first place. From day 1 playing my first MMO perhaps 7 or 8 years ago the players I met were a healthy mix of male and female. From people still in school to mothers or fathers having to afk to take care of a baby, to people hitting pension age kicking back and having some gaming fun, to people in the military jumping on voice chat every so often via satelite even when deployed.
If it weren't for articles like this then no one would even pay any heed to whether women play MMO's or not, just as many of them do as men do. Online communities have the same mix of gender, ethnicity, lifestyles as any other walk of life and if differences weren't shoved down our throats every two minutes no one would notice. Perhaps the problems the author talks about occur in WoW, but i don't play it and very rarely encounter them in other games, in fact I can't ever remember encountering them unless it was as a joke by either a male or female.
The amount of people talking about how great women are at gaming have given me the need to write this reply.
It's clear that women game, especially since the popularity of social gaming has risen. I think the thought that "women don't play videogames" is less prominent than you imagine. There's always going to be some people that are ignorant and make claims like this. If there's anything to talk about it's how annoying some girls are about letting others know that they are in fact female and they they do in fact play videogames. Making an article like this is exactly what "girl gamers" do. They go onto servers and they announce to everyone that they play games and make a big fucking deal about it. By "girl gamers" I am of course referring to the very specific type of female gamer that people loathe running into both online and off who bitch and moan anytime they are criticised and constantly talk about themselves instead of playing the game (and distracting us until we mute them). Nobody cares that you're a female gamer and that female gamers are able to hold their own in videogames except maybe other females that want to pat their own ego by acknowledging the article. Devoting an entire article to this is just...ugh.
Also, female gamers have never...eeeeever...had as much of a prominent role in competitive gaming as men have. In the past, it has been the case that women almost always underperform compared to the men (see: CGS and pretty much every serious eSports competition ever) and in other cases blatantly cheated (see the Counter-Strike Women's All-Stars game) their way to mediocrity. I'm not pointing out that women can never be as good as men in competitive gaming, but I am making the point that men are more reliable, in general, at high-level play.
When it comes to selecting teammates or guild mates for any game, I am almost always going to go into the situation with higher expectation for the male (although I'm going to pick the best person either way). That's just honesty on my part. The Museum of Tolerance has a whole thing about how we all have prejudice, and to pretend that you don't is simply assinine.
Until the vast majority of women that make their presence as a woman known in games isn't trying to make a big deal about how they're a female, or until I stop running into girls that claim they are gamers who actually only play WoW or [insert recent game that is actually just an interactive movie here] and don't give a shit about anything else in the industry, or attempt to become the leader of the guild despite the fact that there are better people suited for the task, or throw temper tantrums everytime they get criticised...
I have every reason to believe that there are differences between men and women that do effect our relationship in game and not only that, but also how we play and our ability to deal with the challenges in front of us.
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"Fixed it. Because that wall of text attacked me, killed me and looted my body..."
-George "sniperg" Light
absolutely pointless rant about being a girl. there is no purpose for this thread at all.. shes a female gamer, nothing will ever change that, no matter what words you use!! she will always be a female gamer wether she hides the fact or not.
our world has 2 genders it always has!!! females and males. we are not the same!!! girls for a start have 1 more rib than we males.. they also dont get really bad facial hair. they dont have sticky out genitles, they dont have excessively hairy backs or bums, they always look younger when they are older, they are by far a hell of alot more mature, and half of the worlds population of females are pretty damn sexy!!!! oh yea they are the ones that have the babies too. and they claim to be able to multitask where we males are pretty open about our inability to do more than one thing at once.
now men on the other hand to me are definately not attractive, i dont get tingles down the back of my spine when i look at another guy, and i know there is some argument as to why guys play female chars but i think its damn freaky, ive heard some guys say they would rather run round the game looking at a girls arse than a guys arse ?????
not the best argument!! their is a term we use in the real world for guys that wear girls clothes!!!! thats right your all tranny's!!!! lol
lol best comment yet doubt people will get the joke and just flame you though
oh yea they are definately emotional. lol
How do you call gamers that play non human avatars?
Girls in mmos be good or bad, depends on the education and age and whatever.
A female educated to see gaming as waste of time and not womanlike will be bad, unexperienced, shy to play a game.
Females grown up with games will be much better, some will become that good to compete with the best man.
Drama starts when the envy takes the lead in the heads of some people, probably man, who feel cheated or have the need to try to mate these "real" woman.
Really ridiculous things happen then...people losing totally their head and mind like horny animals fighting over the few real woman in their game and breaking up relationships etc. Some of the gaming woman also like this to happen...
Another dimension of social gameplay implemented at zero cost for the developers^^
"Torquemada... do not implore him for compassion. Torquemada... do not beg him for forgiveness. Torquemada... do not ask him for mercy. Let's face it, you can't Torquemada anything!"
MWO Music Video - What does the Mech say: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF6HYNqCDLI
Johnny Cash - The Man Comes Around: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0x2iwK0BKM
There was a thread on these forums, actually, much about the same issue, and some of the posts there just made me want to set someone on fire. And not in a good way. Some people's lack of insight is just... I would say appalling, but what I mean is it really makes me want to do violent things :P
Thank devs for games where I can be violent all legally and witout prosecution... *grins shiftily*
EDIT: *sighs* Didn't read beyond the first posts. Should have. The closeminded neanderthals brought their clubs here too. I guess there's no fighting 10 000 years lack of evolution.
"So I contend that the player stories will always be more powerful than the scripted stories that we try to tell the players."
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