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Female Gamer Talks Girl Gaming
Snowcone writes "As gaming becomes more mainstream, it's inevitable that many girls will join the ranks of the die-hard gamer. Gaming is typically reserved for those with that extra chromosome, which poses the question; in a world dominated by the male sex, why do women choose to put themselves in the position of the minority? As a female gamer, Dots @ Snackbar Games discusses reasons why it's ok for girls to enjoy gaming just as much as the guys do." This is another perspective on a much-discussed subject.
Ladies play games differently to men, so maybe there are not enough games that cater to this difference.
I remember watching a program years ago which studied the sytes of gamplay of men and women. It wasn't exactly an extensive test but there was a difference.
For example, one of the games they used was one of the Super Mario games (can't remember which...) The men would run through the level making sure they killed all the enemies on route while women would run through the level avoiding any enemies they could if it meant an easier route through.
I know thats pretty basic but my misses certainly doesnt enjoy the mindless shoot-em up games.
I have no sig yet I must scream.
I've been gaming for about 4 years now. I didn't get into gaming until I was in college. Honestly, my parents didn't encourage gaming that much. I don't think they discussed the possiblity of buying me a game console when I was a kid.
I'm a male gamer, so it doesn't really apply much to me, but I thought I'd add some things for comparison. I've been a gamer almost as long as I can remember (because I remember my parents getting the Atari 2600, which is the first thing I remember playing games on). My mom played Centipede, Pac-Man, and a handful of other games, and occasionally took us with her to arcades (once she found arcades that weren't essentially bars with games). My parents also took full advantage of the console crash by buying a lot of carts for that 2600 when everyone was selling them for next to nothing. That being said, I know my dad played the games as well, but I don't really remember him spending a lot of time doing it (unlike my mom). My parents never really discussed me getting a console as a kid, they just bought the 2600 and told me to stop playing to go outside, or eat, or whatever. Similarly, they eventually bought an NES (though by this time my parents were divorced, it was my dad and the woman that would eventually become my step-mom). Both systems were kept in the family room for a while, though eventually we had more televisions in the house and the NES moved to a spare room (especially since I played the thing a lot). The first console that was really bought for me was a Turbo Grafx-16, which I had asked for as a Christmas present (actually, I asked for either the TG-16 or a Genesis, and my dad bought the TG-16 after looking up information on which was technically the better system). It wasn't a discussion thing, and my sister and step-sister played games as well, just not as much as I did (in fact, no one in the house played as much as I did).
Am I into different games than male gamers? Maybe, maybe not. I'd like to think my gender has very little to do with the type of games I prefer.
I have to admit that I do use male sounding names on gaming servers. I really hate joining a game and being distracted by some 13 year old's sexist comments. But on the same token if I'm kicking some 13 year old's ass and he's making stupid comments, I will inform him that a woman is kicking his sorry ass.
That's completely understandable. Many of the female gamers I've played TFC with chose non-gender-specific names, or names that many of the 13-year-olds wouldn't always pick up on as being female. Then again, I have played with a handful that are very up-front about it. There seems to be little difference between the character of the women that do either, and in fact many that normally play under feminine names will choose non-specific names when they don't want to suffer even the chance of the crap some people choose to spew forth at female gamers.
I am a little disappointed that one of the articles talked about gaming as a way to help women date. I also happen to be an IT professional, and the thought of dating or marrying an IT professional did not factor into my decision to pursue a career in computing. I'd like to think that the fact I love math, puzzles and logic had some influence in my decision. So I'd like to think I game because gaming is a great form of entertainment.
I really don't know where that angle came from in the article, and felt it was possibly the weakest angle such an article could choose. I feel that it makes female gamers seem manipulative rather than just seeing them as any other gamer. When playing a game, there shouldn't be any difference in the way you treat the other players. The fact that my girlfriend plays games only matters because I keep trying to find ways to get her interested in more games that I play, so that we can spend time together instead of letting the games become a sore point when she wants to spend time doing something together.
-PainKilleR-[CE]
--
Evan
"$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
I got started in gaming early. My parents bought an Atari VCS (yes, it wasn't called the 2600 then) back just about when they came out, and I remember them playing Space Invaders on it a lot. Of course, as it was a family thing, I got into playing games also, and just never stopped. When we got our first computer, everyone would work together on the Scott Adams text adventure games. (yes, we eventually beat all of the first twelve of them) My sister is a gamer also, though not as much as I am. She did get herself a Genesis and took it with her to college, and I know she still plays games occasionally.
What do I play? Whatever I find fun. Civilization, Sim City, The Sims, Quake, Super Monkey Ball, Animal Crossing, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, RPGs, old arcade games on emulators, whatever. I agree with you that I believe my gender doesn't affect the types of games I play.
I have only played a few games online, and I haven't really worried about whether or not I 'sound' female to others. In Diablo II, I pick character names that I feel fit the character, which instantly makes me the minority around people naming their characters like "XX_KillRBarB_XX". So I never really got bugged there, as by the time anyone found out I was female, I had already been playing with them for a while and determined the person was decent enough to party with that they didn't seem to care all that much.
When I was playing Quake, on the other hand, I named myself 'Gib-Girl' to make it clear to all the guys exactly who was kicking their ass - it's funny to watch the sexist-type gamers freak out when a woman proceeds to drop him with a railgun 6 times in a row while trying to steal the flag. I rarely got crap from the people there because when I was big into Quake 2 CTF, most of the munchkins were onto Quake 3, so it was more serious players on the servers, and mostly the same people, so we got to know each other - and I got plenty of respect for being good.
Games for the reason of dating? That's pathetic, I agree. If you're a gamer, and a person you're interested in is also a gamer, sure it will help, but only if you're truly interested in games, and not doing it just to get someone else. After all, when you stop being interested, either you'll have other things in common, which would have been good enough to get along dating anyways, or you won't, at which point the relationship falls apart because it is based on pretense.
My partner is not a gamer. She grew up in small-town Indiana, on a farm. She never played a game until Solitare on the computer while in college. Since being with me, she's learned to like a few games. From Bookworm and Bejeweled on the PC, to Animal Crossing and Monkey Ball (mainly Monkey Target), to playing Dr. Mario until she was REALLY good (able to start on lvl 20 with fast speed). But it's only the occasional game. I think my gaming has rubbed off on her as much as it's going to.
"You know your god is man-made when he hates all the same people you do."
Women don't play games because it's seen as boring, dorky, geeky etc. Just like using a computer was 15-20 years ago. I suspect this will change, since every girl now has a gaming system of some type in her house (ie a PC) and most of them carry one on them at all times (a cell phone). Also, console/pc games are a lot more mainstream than they were 10-15 years ago. I think this bias will change with time, and a lot of the younger girls now will grow up playing games, where as women around my age (mid-late 20's) are hopeless if they don't play already. :)
When I read this, I was IMed by a female friend of mine wondering when I'll be back to my Uni dorm so she can play more Diablo II. This was immediately after another female friend of mine sent me an email detailing how much fun she had playing Super Smash Brothers Melee as Kirby. ... I'm telling you, female gamers exist. They are all over the place - it is just that most males tend to look at places other than a computer/TV screen when it comes to females. Then again, it might just be that they never ask.
--- Ãther SPOON!
Such is life, and to a large extent there's absolutely nothing wrong with this. Furthermore I would add that this is the way people are in general, whether it's about videogames or anything else. Both men and women will do things to include themselves in some social unit. The only difference is that women will generally see the relationship benefits of the activity, whereas guys tend to be oblivious to this sort of thing.
I guess this is just further affirmation that gaming is getting more mainstream, since it's evaluated in contexts other than 13-year-old l33t 1-0wn3rz-j00 circles. We'll probably find that other groups of people will have different motivations for getting into gaming, and this is a good thing. One thing I've observed is that some people that have never played games before have recently gotten into a particular game and have kicked some serious ass (I'm talking console/fighting games and first person shooters). I'm actually quite pleased that being a good gamer does not require a history of geekiness, although this is a theory that is still left to be proven.
If you play video games and he plays video games then you have something to talk about. Not to mention something to do together that you both enjoy.
so why not just play and make better grades.
and my favorite
Your boss goes in there when he gets really stressed about something to play a good game of Halo. You go in there and ask if you can join him. You play a round of Halo with his and voila! Instant respect.
Makes you kinda wonder if Dot is really a girl, doesn't it?
Imagine for a moment Dot is a girl saying these things. Now imagine Dot is really a guy saying these things. Draw your own suspicions.
"Last one in is a rotten goblin!" - Kepp
-Female gamers - where are you?-
:)
;)
:P
:)
I'm right here. Thanks for asking.
I love games and have loved games my whole life. I am mainly into RPGs, adventures, and god games, but I'll play almost anything except sports games and flight simulators. I even enjoy networked fps games, as long as I'm not so behind other players in skill that I spend the game permanently dead.
I never, never started gaming for any guy. I game because it's fun. I game because I enjoy it. In fact, when I started dating my husband, I played computer and console games much more than even he did. He's starting to catch up with me now, though.
So, don't think that you're alone. You're not. We're out here. We just can be hard to find.