Women and gaming

Alright, peeps...

I got in an argument with someone last night about women and stereotypes on gaming. Mostly about Red vs. Blue and how they treat their female cast compared to their male cast and how much I hated the treatment and the chars coming from that. So I got curious:

Do you think there's a vast majority of people who put women in stereotypes for playing games/online games? Do you think that there should be this stuff happening in the media and in general especially with males?

Personally, I am a female gamer, I have played Halo. I'm not the best player, granted, but I am a good player. I also have played games all my life, from the Sega Master System and Nintendo to today with the 360 and PS3. I definitely think there are some stereotypes for women out there who play a lot of games, hell, look at a lot of the gaming websites and the ratio of men to women who work on them. I don't know the ratio here, sorry peeps. :P The world is changing and I still hate the stereotypes thrown out there.

 

Oh yeah there is definitely a stereotype going on in the gaming community. Not only is it against girl gamers, but against certain enthnic groups/religion. In my opinion the gaming community is terrible because there is a stereotype for basically everything. Yet girl gamers receive most of the unfair treatment. Do they deserve this? No. Although I do fail to see why people would treat girl gamers soo badly, for all we know that one person could be a family member or a friend from a long distant area.

 

I think one of the problems is for a long time, it was a "boys" hobby, girls were few and exclusive. I remember I was popular at EB and Gamestop because of my vast knowledge of games and being able to chat with the clerks there about games coming out or are available. Even today some clerks are surprised about how much I know and how much I'm willing to chat with them on a slow time.

It is changing, granted... There are women getting into gaming a lot more than when I was growing up. Hell, my best friend thought the best time you could have in Orcarina of Time was riding Epona around the field and that's it when I was dungeon diving into the deepest pits to fix Hyrule. I really don't understand it either, I grew to ignore it until it slowly changed. Hell, one of the original goals of Pac Man and Miss Pac Man was to get girls interested in gaming.

I hope it changes, even today, I see it happening a lot, even with the media. Especially with a place like Roosterteeth where a mostly male group dictates that women act this way online. If you ever see the characters beyond Blood Gulch and Sister, you see what I mean. Outside of original Tex and CT, I have not seen one female character I like on the show, sadly. And ones I do like fall apart into one of their stereotypes.

 

I think in general social situations, girl gamers are considered 'not cool' and its 'not cool' to play game, but online its considered super hot and alot of girls play on this.
I think there is a small majority of girl gamers that ruin it for others, such as calling yourself 'GurlGam3rxoxox' or putting a clan tag as 'girl' i don't see the need to express the fact of being female?

ONE MOREEE THINGGG :p My girlfriend as recently been playing an MMORPG and there is a female in her guild and all i can here is 'hehe' 'meow' 'hehehehe'

Unfortunately there is a small few.


but back the subject i think its stereotyped that girls are bad at games because like you said its a very boyish think to do, boys play games and girls play make up, that's how it was in my childhood. also boys don't like girls being better than them at games and get very frustrated at it.

XD

 

I remember loosing to my sister and one of our female friends on a NES game once, back when I was a teenager. Couldn' t find the exit or something. They were taunting me about it, and I cracked them up by replying "well how the hell do you expect me to compete against feminine intuition ?"

I' ve been an IT student and I' ve also learned CG for a while. There were very few female students in both schools, and that' s an understatement. I hardly think it can be explained away by a biased candidacy screening, those careers just don' t seem to attract girls for some reason.

When it comes to playing however, in my experience, girls play video games as much as boys, boys being more prone to really get into it. My experiences don' t necessarily match the global statistics though, but if I am to believe the statistics I' ve seen it' s indeed 50/50, girls being more attracted to social/casual games overall.

Whether I think back about my childhood or look at my lil cousins now I can' t think of one example of a girl (or a boy for that matter) being mocked for liking video games. Cheek in tongue taunting, sure, but plain backlash, nope.

 

When I was a kid, my friends and I went through a phase where we'd all pile into my living room and play video games. Most of the time it was just me and a group of boys, though, and I was sort of seen as a bit of a tomboy back then. I was never mocked or even joked to. Probably because, as the owner of the games, I usually won lol. With some games, I called to my friends for help when I got stuck and still never got any comments about female gamers. Nowadays, pretty much all of my close friends are gamers at some level, gender be damned. There is nothing more gender-neutral than trying to beat your friends at something, and I think that anyone who believes that gaming is a 'boys' club' is sorely mistaken.

I'd love it if the female gamer 'stereotype' would just go away. Girls who think they are special snowflakes for picking up a controller as well as the boys who put them up on a pedestal need to stop.

 

I very much agree with this, they make it seem like they re the first girl to pick up a controller.
By doing this you only show the opposite of what they want you to think.
Social networking pictures are worse
Example
Girl posts picture of her and a controller....obviously doesn't play games
Guy posts picture with lots of money......obviously has no money
Person post picture of a salad 'healthy eating y'all'......first healthy meal EVAAAR.
You see where I am going with this?
If things are normal and everyday, you don't see the need to express it.

The stereotype needs to stop. :p

 

I remember I beat Ark trying to get past Marluxia. He spent two years trying to get past him, and it took me two tries. Same with .hack and one of the villains. His smiley was classic, and so was his reaction when it took him five minutes to reply.

Granted, I am not an expert at gaming, though I consider myself a semi-hardcore gamer who plays when I want to and can. I spent most of high school between homework and school to get through the dungeons of Link to the Past and Orcarina of Time. 19 deaths to get through that final dungeon of Link to the Past. The programmers were nice enough to give you a counter. >< Anyway, back on topic, I had a brother who excelled at games, far better than I was, but gave up a short time later while I competed for play time and continued to play games. I still manage to play on even ground with men on Halo in most occasions, just don't give me a sniper.

I just think women who do put themselves on a pedestal make it worse for the hardcore women gamers. Though it is slowly changing for women who are playing games and stereotypes. It's easier for me to sit down and play games with the guys and talk about games than it used to be.

 

I want to lean toward no only because I don't like to play with girls who do that just for attention. It really pisses me off when female gamers have girl in their name I can't stand that I just don't see the point in you doing that. If you play against me I'm gonna say you're trash, why are you here, ISO(1V1) then, wow you're talent less things of that nature even if you're a guy. I don't care who you are you'll get it the same as everyone else, but for girls who do that for attention I pay you no mind.

Now answer me this girls or guys who have experienced this. I ignore girls who play video games for attention all the time I just hate that yet these are the same girls who are so quick to friend me and call me different since I'm not all over them, or saying things like go back in the kitchen, or yea you me later at my house, just dumb disses like that. They always seem to be all over me yet try their all to get me to be like one of those guys I just never understood the logic in that. The fact you play games for attention I hate you just for that no matter how skilled you are the moment you take out the reason for being amazing at a game and get attention that way I'm the one you won't see supporting anything you do. So my question to you girls mostly is why do you make such a big deal out of females gaming and all that alone is attention, and still do what you're complaining about?

Back on topic I see this a lot with how female gamers are treated differently and have this complete out of this world expectation of how they are all like yet no matter how different some girl gamers are they can't escape the stereotype. Why? Simple... The Industry... Its sounds crazy, but look at the general demographic and who the target audience is. Females in general for cover art, outfits, armor, they are very sexualized and there's just no denying that.

I could say something along the lines of legit girl gamers compared to "Girl Gamers" is still putting them in stereotypes as to what a real gamer are supposed to be compared to a fake ones. Which is part of the reason why I was leaning towards no simply because if you don't fit it then why bother? Then comes what about the rest of the general public thoughts and the rest of the females... Ok look you're one person out of the 7 billion people on this Earth. You bearing that responsibility just to prove a point is pointless and immature because you're letting people get to you first off. Secondly you can't change every single persons mind. If that's why you got into gaming to try and be different and so worried about every little move you do that's so sad.

I'm not a girl and even my profile pic goes with what I said about how girls are shown in gaming so my question I want answered is why do you game? To be those worried about what others may think about you or just do it to game and just deal with the bs that comes with it?

 

The only point of their name choice that is immediately apparent to anyone reading it is to be unique, allowing them to be easily identified, beyond that it' s just whatev. Hell, considering the number of members here who change their name every Thursday I' d say some people don' t even care about that. I go by Patman wherever I go, but I didn' t chose it to also convey the fact that I' m (probably) male, though it is a side effect. You know, don' t judge a book by its cover, yaddy yaddy yadda.

Maybe those girls couldn' t care less what their name is and picked the first thing that went through their mind. Maybe it' s a more or less obvious reference (I' ve come across a Harry'sGirl on a Silent Hill forum). Maybe it' s a pun, like mine, who knows ? Or maybe they did pick it to draw attention. Maybe to them the video game is just a pretext, the real show being the social interractions that go with it. As Shakespeare puts it "All the world' s a stage". So here' s the three million dollars question : does that make them any less of a gamer ?

 

It all depends on who you ask that question too. Even if I say no because I have my own means of defining what a gamer is not just the general means of what a gamer is. If we go by that then I wouldn't be close to one at all. I'm just one person

 

Just a person who nonetheless happens to play video games, whatever his motives to play them are. Don' t hardcore players make up their own rules all the time ? I mean, in a cinema audience some people get half their fun by gossiping all along. Some couldn' t care less about the movie and just tagged along their familly or friends. They might not qualify as movie afficionados, but it doesn' t make them any less of a movie goer and the marketing departments definitely target them. I' d even say they' ve become their main target, and since the video game industry seems hell bent on following Hollywood' s footsteps ...

Just look at Mario Kart, the game is designed so that a little luck can make up for your lack of skills. And if you' re that terrible at driving you can just say **** it and get your kicks at driving backwards, spamming shells and bananas around, without ruining anyone else' s fun. Mario Kart might not be your average "hardcore gamer" cup of tea, depending on how you define it, but it sure sells truckloads of copies.

 

I think a couple weeks back or something, one of the female writers for Dragon Age II was threatened by fans for her contribution to the game. She eventually quit the studio on an unrelated note, but I definitely sense that she felt some kind of discrimination. She is lucky to have the staff support her, but at the end of the day, it is still another female developer lost to a well-known game series.

I'm more for female game developers in the business, especially in the fields of Directing, Writing, and Character Designing. I'm sure there are some out there, but if I can't recall many names in those positions, then obviously I think that there aren't enough.

Definitely being a woman would bring a different approach, perspective, and/or even philosophy to a very expanding business and industry. It's severely unfortunate that advertisements depict the ideal role model for female characters as "sexy, strong, etc." Sure, attractive characters win the most interested consumers, but at least in my view, I'd like to have actual diversity in these roles. Women can be vain, women can be playgirls, women can be nice, women can be timid--- just as much as the many male characters out there. And with women developers in those shoes, I think they can fulfill a sense of such in the main character role. Western RPG's I think are the closest to this, so I'm thinking in terms of a lot of the JRPG's/non-RPG's out there.

As for the female gamer, a lot of what I just said parallels greatly to what media depicts them as: sexy, strong, etc. This can be said of all entertainment industries that attractive women will garner mo' moneys. Stereotypes are just everywhere and while we may have to deal with them, we also have to accept the fact outside of the media that all female gamers are nothing like that. Just as male gamers who are depicted as completely aggressive, etc.

Most of my friends who are gamers are male. Surprise. I know at least one girl-friend who games everyday. I'm more moderate, I play whenever I have actual free time to sit down and play. My hand-eye coordination is below average, so naturally, I guess you could say, I play certain games. I'm a picky person in terms of any kind of media entertainment, so if you try to recommend me something, it'll have to be a game that I was interested in the first place. I take my time with video games, exploring every nook and cranny, collecting items, finding the secrets. As a voice actress, I like to listen and watch closely to the cutscenes in hopes of becoming just like these talents. As a musician, I like to enjoy and contemplate the soundtrack as I'm taking a break, getting inspired to perhaps perform music of my own into video games, movies, and the like.

So, what does all that define me as? I'm much more deeper than just a "gamer that is a girl." Out with the labels, they do not define you for who you are. You define you. Does that mean labels are non-existent? Of course not. Someone along the way will eventually slap some label on me. But if we all, as gamers, are able to describe rather than define, then we don't need to be as conscientious about these stereotypes as the media makes it out to be. With the type of industry the video game community is at this moment, it'll take a very long time for this to settle in the majority of everyone's mindsets.

 

You actually remind me, Anixe, of a controversy I heard when Tomb Raider was coming out.

The scene where Laura Croft was going to be well, if you seen the scene and/or the controversy, you know what I'm talking about. And the Director said something like: "The only way women get to be like Laura Croft is through experiences like this. To be a strong, fighting female." Or something like that. The outrage and backlash over his comments was terrible to the point where they brought in a female developer and she spoke about how she based Laura Croft on her own persona. Whether she was telling the truth, I don't know, but it shows a lot of not only the gaming community, but society itself.

It's interesting, though... I have rarely seen a gamer do Lets Plays except herroyalmajesty who does old games Lets Plays, mostly female related games. While I see a lot of males doing countdowns, Lets Plays, commentary, reviews, etc... Even That Guy With the Glasses has very few females who do video game reviews. Granted, some do, but not nearly as many as men.

The whole gaming industry seems the hardest for women to get into and the hardest to shake the prejudices and stereotypes that are aimed towards them. It's only the last few years I've seen women selling games at gaming stores. It's not just through the developers and publishers, it's through the whole industry.

A comment about JRPG's, and I hear it A LOT from Spooney especially when it comes to Final Fantasy. Women are severely degraded in their games, most girls, (yes, girls) are put into very skimpy costumes, and have decorations i.e. from Final FAntasy XIII: Tattoos, put on their upper thigh which is of course, shown to the audience. Or Final Fantasy X and Riku. Enough said. NC does bring up a good point when it comes to that in his Sailor Moon review about Japanese culture and women, especially when it comes to kids 13 years old and up.

It seems like it's everywhere and the gamers, the ones like me and other ones, not the ones who just want to say: "Hey, I can play World of Warcraft." Or: "Hey, look at me, I have a controller." Or the best one: "Hey, I am in the skimpiest outfit and I can murder you in one shot." Which one of my friends when I brought up women gamers mentioned there's a whole group of these girls in a game he plays and that's what they do exactly.

It's hard for people to accept there's just women gamers out there like men gamers who play games at the same level and have fun doing so and maybe even make a career out of it.

 

Which is the point I'm making saying it all depends on who you ask. You can be a hardcore gamer, average gamer doesn't matter its all preference which was stated yet you repeated what I was saying. I'm not sure if you're trying to make a point that I already made, or something else. Whatever you reasoning maybe look at who has the bigger voice in media. Corporations that has a large group of individuals who agree with them on whatever it is they maybe putting out there, or the smaller group who either doesn't agree with what, or how the media portrays said media and might not be seen as much. If you continue to see what a "Gamer" is supposed to be and how female gamers are portrayed in the gaming industry that is where the real answer lies. So many people have seen and been feed that for so long it just seems to be natural and correct although its no where close I can't control that.

What I can do however is play games and just treat it how its supposed to be treated. If its supposed to a competitive style of game play I'll play that way and expect everyone else too as well. That too causes problems since I'm basing it off of assumptions, but I have the experience to back it up even though it still ignorant for anything can happen. Which is why I'm saying it all depends on who you ask. You going back and forth with me shows how different our views on this subject are just sayin.

 

reminds me of this:

When I was a child my sister would come and play with in my sega genesis (Mega drive), but I don't know why whenever a girl grow up they are more prone to abandon their video games, even as a child I don't recall many female gamers, but I think this is the only thing about it , I don't remember mistreat a woman, or seeing then been mistreated (in gaming), the problem is that today's video games are online (AKA INTERNET), and It is commom at internet that people get picked upon, because that's how internet roles.. While in FPS there are some trashing I don't know if it is specially target towards women, because when bros play together they are always cursing each other, so maybe women are just not used to with it?

While is been said that 40% of gamers are women, of my experience I only know female facebook gamers, not console owners or things like that.. when GUITAR HERO was exploding we could convince some to play along, but now days I don't even know any.[DOUBLEPOST=1378146326][/DOUBLEPOST]reminds me of this:

When I was a child my sister would come and play with in my sega genesis (Mega drive), but I don't know why whenever a girl grow up they are more prone to abandon their video games, even as a child I don't recall many female gamers, but I think this is the only thing about it , I don't remember mistreat a woman, or seeing then been mistreated (in gaming), the problem is that today's video games are online (AKA INTERNET), and It is commom at internet that people get picked upon, because that's how internet roles.. While in FPS there are some trashing I don't know if it is specially target towards women, because when bros play together they are always cursing each other, so maybe women are just not used to with it?

While is been said that 40% of gamers are women, of my experience I only know female facebook gamers, not console owners or things like that.. when GUITAR HERO was exploding we could convince some to play along, but now days I don't even know any.

 

Actually, I am a huge female gamer who owned most of the popular consoles one time or another. I still own my Genesis and used to have an SNES. I use other ways of playing the games now than I used to. But I always kept an eye out for a new system that I wanted. I even helped families get their own consoles and games for their children because of what I knew. So it doesn't go to all females.

 

I personally feel no difference in female/male gamers, it doesn't even register like 'omg thats a girl' its just normal, my girlfriend is a big online MMORPG fan like i said above and i enjoy playing games with her.

A gamer is a gamer, not a girl gamer, boy gamer, fat, skinny, tall, short, or any thing in between.

A Gamer is a Gamer.

 

Wha? Have you ever seen the scene with Tex, the female Spartan, stylishly kicking the arses of every male main character in the series? And there have been plenty of female characters in the series. The main reason for a predominantly male cast is because the series was started by a small group of guys recording machinima in a spare bedroom. It changed quickly the more money and talent they got their hands on.
The team are definitely not sexist or misrepresentative at all of sex and gender. This is the company behind RWBY, a main cast consisting of all women and many more women than men for secondary characters.

You're speaking of Rhianna Pratchett, daughter of Terry Pratchett, who is the writer of Tomb Raider and a number of other games like Mirror's Edge and Heavenly Sword who also helped in the writing of Prince of Persia and Bioshock Infinite.
And talking about sexual representation of women in video games... Pratchett was the writer behind Overlord, a game where you can choose mistresses with all the sexual connotations linked with that. I think many people seem to say 'they're scantily clad' but is that a problem? I think many women agree that they want to be sexy, I think what a lot of people seem to believe is that sexy equals stupidity. Overlord is a satire towards the fantasy genre of games, tv shows, movies and books, and the women displayed in it are funny, smart and powerful. And sexy.
There are a number of other games that I could name that represent complex female characters whilst being attractive. I also find 'sexy' to be a little restrictive in those views, because I didn't find the 'sexy' Miranda from the Mass Effect series to be attractive, I seem to go towards the more shy and cute characters like Tali or Merril from DA2, so I don't think sexy necessarily is what all guy gamers would care about, based on my own experience.

I also want to add something minor/major depending on your views, but in the upcoming CoD: Ghost, You now can pick between male and female avatars for the online multiplayer. The largest game series in the world has finally introduced this minor cosmetic change. Take it as games moving with the time, maybe?

 

When I see 'gamer girls' my reaction is always 'Eh whatever' because I know a lot of female gamers and like me have been gaming for years and can normally get through a game without any help. And if a guy ever came up to me and said I'm not a gamer my reply would be 'Wait so playing games for 20 years doesn't make me a gamer?' .... So long story short? I ignore the stereotype.