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Not Just Playing House
RexDart writes "Tom's Hardware has posted an interview with the founders of PMS Clan, the high-profile, international female gaming group with the mission of 'providing a fun and competitive environment for female gamers in a wide variety of first person shooter' games. They speak out on topics from how to get started and what to play, clan organization, censorship, online harrassment, and the role of female characters in games. Plus, why and how they allow males in their group as well."
I've been hogging the computer. I'll let you play as soon as you do the dishes and iron my shirt hun.
A clan of women makes sense. They are a significant minority in online games, and with the way males online tend to act with women, I can see how this kind of supportive group can work. This clan is giving a conflicting image, though. "We're women, we game, don't objectify us" gets a little fuzzy when you're posting Gen13-style art and Charlie's Angels silhouettes as representations of who you are.
I don't know about you, but my servers run on the power of cotton candy and happy thoughts. -Anonymous Coward
I seem to recall an article in PCGamer well before 2002 about game sites on the net, featuring News Site (Blue's News), MMOs (Ultima Online, Meridian 59), and clan pages. I recall there being a female Quake clan called "Clan PMS" in that article but I don't think these are the same people.
Insert Sig Here
Nice phrase, I like it! I've suspected such things in the past, as I'm sure many others have. I'm trying to remember the name of the group that first made me say, "WTF is going on, here?!" but it escapes me at the moment. Anyhow, has anybody ever been able to tie them together? Proof of this "corporate-sponsored feminism?"
I don't know about you, but my servers run on the power of cotton candy and happy thoughts. -Anonymous Coward
There are a handfull of girl gamers on the server I play on. Some are even hot. But they don't try to exploit the fact that they are female. And I wouldn't have that much respect for them if they did. I have found that they prefer not to be treated different. They want to shoot things up, not answer asl's. Conversely, I've seen male players with seemingly female names greatly disappoint their teammates.
This is not insightful, it's obvious. Is there a mod for that?
Someone hates these cans.
Really, how often do you know the gender of the person you're playing with or against?
Whoever said: Can you just discuss things like normal people? We get it. You're women. OMG. Stop discussing how dumb women are in games. Stop discussing the 'female point of view'. Just talk about the games like other columnists. It's women like this that are alienating themselves from the culture, not the other way around. I dont think it could have been put much better, and I would never join a clan called PMS anything. Those women also make it *so* much harder for ones like me that just want recognized as a female gamer. No, I dont think most female gamers are lesbians, or transgender, a good % yes, more than 50% I doubt it. I am neither, but when I am online, I hardly use the talk feature, I dont specify Im female b/c thats not the point of the game. And yes, the girlie girls that are all 'ooo look at me' do ruin it for the rest of us. I still am female, I just dont broadcast it (and most never know the differance), I dont go 'O look I killed it' or 'eww thats nasty'. I dont flirt or expect a game area to be a chatroom base. I dont get freaked out if I break a nail when playing, and I dont just say I game to get points with the male gender. I game to game, to kill, & win. Said best: The player with the most frags wins. For the visual learners: http://www.jinx.com/scripts/details.asp?affid=-1&p roductID=201
I agree with most of the comments made that women should stop making a big deal about, "OMG, I'm a girl and I play games, so I should be treated equally. BTW, I'm a girl. Don't treat me like one. I'm a girl." I don't understand how making an all girl clan is supposed to level the playing field. It only calls more attention to the fact that the players are female. I've played many online games, mainly FPS, and I've never encountered any type of harassment for being a girl and I've never been excluded an invitation to a clan. Most clans aren't exclusively men, so why the necessity to make an all-women one? It makes me think of real-life sports. Most sports teams separate men from women because men are usually physically stronger than women. By creating a clan separate from men in the gaming world, isn't that what these women are implying? That brings me to the question of why does there need to be gender in online games? Most FPS games only have male models, so I just assume there's only one gender in the online world. It's not like gender affects gameplay, so why is it even an issue? The only time gender comes up is when I'm using voice-chat and usually it's someone commenting, "Wow, you sound like an 10 year old boy" and I just laugh at it and continue the game.
Why is this blatant sexism any less disgusting because a female does it. Novelty? Because (some) men *like* the idea of being sexploited?
Hi, I'm going to have a l33t kl4n. Every time a grrl asks to join I'm going to say "No way baby, but you can be my stroke-kitten!"
Yeah, I thought it would sound just as stupid from a guy. I was right.
How about this? How about we all enjoy the fact that we're males and females, and we all just play the freaking games? I mean, if you want to make a HUGE deal out of your vagina, go for it, but don't expect special treatment.
You make an issue out of your being a chick, and I may just objectify you since you brought it up. Otherwise, I'm just going to play the game, m'kay?
-Styopa
I'm starting an all-male clan called Clan TESTICLE. What? You don't like that? All males?! How unbelievably SEXIST!
</double standards>
C17H21NO4
Wow, that is old. I remember playing Quake against a few of those girls way back then, one of them even went to my school
I can't say i'm suprised at some of the comments on here because i've been around in the gaming world long enough to see this many times before. First of all, there is nothing wrong with having an all-female clan. Get over it. Yes, I thought some of the art on the site was a bit questionable at first too but that is just the style of this specific team and after spending some time on the forums I think it fits the team. And to the person who said this: "Could it be because they're not actually that great when it comes to gaming?" I'd be careful about throwing around comments like that if you have never even watched them play. I've never seen PMS in-game but i've had people make comments like that about me and I beat both of them.