With the name of Warty, I'm surprised you're worried.
As for why girls don't seem to be into games, I think it's a case of upbringing. The Gamer-girls I do know are no different from those who don't play games except for in one respect; their parents let them play videogames when they first showed an interest.
Those girls who own consoles and play regularly enjoy games, and those who don't seem to be brought up to think that it s 'boy thing', so when they hear guys talking about games, they just fade out.
Girls do game shut up about this.
I was at Wow: Cataclysm night release at my local gamestop there were about 300+ people there and every third was a woman. My wow guilds active mebers ~28 people of them 6 are confirmed girls, in the same gaming community that I am part of there are in total of 10 girls of total of ~45 active members.
I'm a girl as well and have the same thoughts about the FPS genre too, I don't like aliens or giant guns that shoot lasers (mostly) or big spaceships, basically futuristic stuff. I'm into more Medieval fantasy, like the Zelda series, or games like Dark Cloud, Odin Sphere and Skies of Arcadia. Realism = boring to me, at least sometimes. There are good games that have realism out there I've played. I did grow up with the super nintendo, but never became a real game till almost 11 years ago.
Oh, for sure. I'll read every science fiction book there is, but I can't get into games about aliens. So, no thanks Halo
The dystopian thing is good though, and the medieval thing. But not Hello Kitty Online. That was not worth the time it took to download at all
One Hit Noob said:
So it doesn't disturb you when a 13 year old boy trying his very best to make his voice deep, asking you to be his girlfriend? Because all the girls I know get tired of that.
That's actually never happened to me, in any game, ever. Guildies know I'm a girl, but they also know my boyfriend is in the same guild And my character is a female, so it's not like it's a hidden thing.
To be honest, I don't think I've even ever encountered a male come on to me online at any point, even on a forum or something like that.
Lmao, maybe my voice is just really unappealing :3
I am a girl, and I love God of War. LOVE it. Let's just put that out there right now. I also love Silent Hill, Professor Layton, Final Fantasy, and Trauma Center, among many, many others. Yes, I like story- and character-driven games that make me think and pull me in emotionally, but I also like games where I can just carve bloody swathes through hordes of enemies. I don't think it's an issue of game genre, though I'm sure there are some game genres that you'll find a lot more boys playing than girls, and vice versa.
Girls do like games, and "girl gamers" are becoming less and less of a rarity in recent years, which is great. But yes, it's still a social image thing that a lot of people just can't seem to let go of. The media is probably to blame for this, and so are the gaming companies themselves. Again and again, the question is asked: "How do we sell games to girls?" And again and again, the question is answered: "Put a horse or a dress or something pink on the cover." THIS IS NOT HELPING, EITHER.
Girls don't like games that are made for girls (though again, I'm sure there are exceptions to that rule). Girls like games that are GOOD. Make good games, and girls will buy them. It is as simple as that. And hey, you know what? I'm pretty sure boys like games that are good, too!
This is just a vague theory, but maybe the word "girl" is also part of the problem. You think "girl", you think "Barbie dolls and tea parties". Maybe referring to female gamers as "women" might help get people's brains out of the childish mindset that produces childish, patronizing "girly games" because they think that's the only way to get females playing them. We're adults (well, some of us are), and we like to be treated as such.
Unfortunately if this were true then there would be more then one woman I have ever met who has any respectable skill at a Cave STG.
I'll probably be called a sexist for this but I'll say that the want to compete and dominate others is less common in women.
This would explain why more and more women are joining games. The challenge and complex competition of games are being nuetered more and more over time.
Firstly, let me thank those of you who came here to intelligently discuss the issue at hand.
Secondly, let me set up a booth so all my haters can form an orderly cue and take turns slapping me stupid.
I ask because I see games as a gender neutral medium. While I know and acknowlege that more and more young women are engaging with the medium (which is great) very few women my own age are prepared to. (I'm in my 30's) If they do, they don't likr to admit it. I just don't like that so many people miss out on a whole medium of expression.
That being said, I don't like gender (or anyother) types of stereotypes/prejudices. I'm a single dad and I raise my daughter to not believe but KNOW that these ideas are foolish.
She also LOVES games, her best friend loves games (who's parents are both gamers). Infact, my kid is so much into games that she wants to become a developer. (Which, incidentally, is a great way to get her to do her math homework.) I even went as far as buying her a $1,800+ computer and am getting her lessons in Flash, 3D design et cetera.
Oh, and yes. Her choice of games is somewhat different to my own. Because she's a somewhat different person.
BTW: I can't believe that people are still making lewd advances toward women and making fucked up sandwich getting "jokes". May I say to those people... 'Fuck you. If you can't think before you speak, please don't.' To my female counterparts, I apologise on behalf of my gender.
Firstly, let me thank those of you who came here to intelligently discuss the issue at hand.
Secondly, let me set up a booth so all my haters can form an orderly cue and take turns slapping me stupid.
I ask because I see games as a gender neutral medium. While I know and acknowlege that more and more young women are engaging with the medium (which is great) very few women my own age are prepared to. (I'm in my 30's) If they do, they don't likr to admit it. I just don't like that so many people miss out on a whole medium of expression.
That being said, I don't like gender (or anyother) types of stereotypes/prejudices. I'm a single dad and I raise my daughter to not believe but KNOW that these ideas are foolish.
She also LOVES games, her best friend loves games (who's parents are both gamers). Infact, my kid is so much into games that she wants to become a developer. (Which, incidentally, is a great way to get her to do her math homework.) I even went as far as buying her a $1,800+ computer and am getting her lessons in Flash, 3D design et cetera.
Oh, and yes. Her choice of games is somewhat different to my own. Because she's a somewhat different person.
BTW: I can't believe that people are still making lewd advances toward women and making fucked up sandwich getting "jokes". May I say to those people... 'Fuck you. If you can't think before you speak, please don't.' To my female counterparts, I apologise on behalf of my gender.
Why aren't girls into games? (Yeah, ok. I know this isn't universally true, but generally, face it.)
There must be something about it that either activly discourages women, or simply fails to capture their imaginations. I can almost guarantee that if you meet a nice girl at a party she's not going to want to hear about how you owned arse on Medal of Honor last night... Ok, those discussions can be tedious... meh.
The real question is 'Why don't (generally) females get enraptured with video game excellence?
Off the top of my head I can only surmise that it has a lot to do with the low brow gender roles depicted in many games, or the lack of female protagonists, or that female dialouge is being done badly.
Tell me what you think, I'd especially like to hear from our lady gamer friends and hear your opinions on this...
Because it is not socially acceptable for them to play proper games for some reason.
If they did play games other then ones on facebook then they would be treated as being weird, and many girls also have the impression that games are just 'silly'.
Ironically, every girl I know how has tried out gaming loves it. Women and logic for you.....
I am sorry to say that, but you are talking to the wrong girls.
Of course you cannot walk up to the dressed up gals at you lokal bar and ask: "Hey sweetie, are you into teebagging? Wanna see me discharging my plasma rifle?" And expect anything but a well-deserved slap.
There are a lot of girls out there, playing games. In fact I know more girls that are seriously into gaming, than I know men. Unfortunately these are all very "nerdy" girls in the sense that they don't have a mircaculous waistline or huge breasts.
To put it simple: There is a reason why a teenage buy spends all his time gaming, instead of playing football or shaking the happy maker. This reason can be applyed to girls as well. Unfortunately for the male percetion of the opposite sex the resulting female is rarely recognized as such, because they aren't THAT gorgeous.
Even shorter: There are gamer girls out there, but many of them aren't the girls you would consider attractive, which make them seem rarer than they are.
Why? Here's one reason: threads like this. It's the main reason why a lot of female gamers won't speak up. Or our treatment on services like XBL. (I refuse to ever use it again)
We won't ever outnumber the more vocal male playerbase, but it's a load to think there aren't any female gamers that aren't horrible stereotypes. (Frag Dolls I'm looking at you idiots) And gross assumptions are just that. I have no issue with FPSs, I play TF2 on a daily basis, though less now with the over abundance of trading and hat crap.
We do like games, actually. Whenever I get a girl to play a game, even one like Halo, they have a blast. Many are just turned off by them because guys can be overzealous about them.
as someone who has a lot of friends (guys and girls) that play video games (myself being a guy) I've come to this conclusion as well.
I can take any game I've played in the past week, and tell you that not only did i play it for something like 20 hours over the past 7 days, my friend (who is a girl) has probably only played that same game this week for about 5, maybe 10.
I've had the occasional all-nighter gaming binge with girl gamer friends. just less often than with guy gamer friends.
I think that to answer your question as to why girls aren't into games has to do a lot to do with two things.
1) they were never introduced to it properly
2) they don't know any friends (female) that are into it
As to how to introduce games to girls? I don't think throwing them right into your Halo game is the way to go. I started introducing games like Viva Pinata and Harvest Moon to a couple of my female friends who were typically turned off by my videogame conversations.
Yeah, I can see that. thinking of people who I've put an effort into introducing video games to, It's really been almost exclusively men, although I did get my sister playing Zelda. This is not because I don't think girls should be playing video game (quite the opposite in fact) but because when I think of people who could get into gaming I almost always think of men. another example of preconceived notions getting in the way of change.
AstylahAthrys said:
We do like games, actually. Whenever I get a girl to play a game, even one like Halo, they have a blast. Many are just turned off by them because guys can be overzealous about them.
Yeah, we can be. There's no denying that one of the biggest hurdles in getting girls into gaming is male gamers. we don't exactly have the best reputation for reasonable behavior. and we certainly not famous for our social skills. Look at most forums or play xbox live for a little while, the instant a member of the fairer sex reveals her gender she's mobbed by everyone on the site either telling her that girls aren't fit to play games or invitations to cyber.
Suki the Cat said:
Plenty of girls play games, but the girls that play games are the shy and quiet type so you won't find them in the club when your not looking for shy and quiet girls that are not super-attractive, and admit it: you never look for those, do you? You never look in the corner of the room! Look there next time and you'll find one (unless it's the wrong kind of party, I don't know what places you go to...)
I usually make a point of talking to the shy, cute ones. forget the 10's on the dance floor, the one you want is the 5-8 on the wall. They've always been around hotter friends, so they never realized that they're also attractive. And they're much more likely to be into the same things you are. Although an inherit problem meeting shy cuties is exactly that, they're shy, less likely to show up at parties.
HigherTomorrow said:
It's like a secret hobby for girls. They're not too interested in sharing that they play video games because they will be thought of as weird by fellow girls and (most likely) extremely hot by fellow guys.
It all boils down to the fact that video gaming in general is still seen as a nerdy, geeky, and socially awkward hobby. It's not that girls are turned off by video gaming, it's that they (and other guys who "hide" their gameplaying hobbies; C'mon, I don't believe for a second you haven't at least played a game of Madden, so stop telling me you don't play video games!) are turned off by the social aspect, or, the way their hobby is socially handled.
Games are a much bigger aspect of our culture than we give them credit for. If my college professor can give a long discussion on the merits of angry birds then games aren't quite the social cesspool that they used to be. But once again one of the biggest problems are gamers themselves. if we want more female gamers, we need to work on the culture of gaming.
Jennacide said:
Why? Here's one reason: threads like this. It's the main reason why a lot of female gamers won't speak up. Or our treatment on services like XBL. (I refuse to ever use it again)
We won't ever outnumber the more vocal male playerbase, but it's a load to think there aren't any female gamers that aren't horrible stereotypes. (Frag Dolls I'm looking at you idiots) And gross assumptions are just that. I have no issue with FPSs, I play TF2 on a daily basis, though less now with the over abundance of trading and hat crap.
No one will ever say that male gamers are non-vocal, especially within our own communities. But don't think that girls are the only ones mistreated on XBL, live is a notorious hive of scum and villainy. Famous for it's population of 14 year old boys eager to try out their newly learned swear words and drunken idiots, eager to assert their dominance behind the shield of anonymity. A place where no one is safe from their screechy dialogue and tea bagging game play.
Like I said before, we need to fix ourselves as gamers, before we complain about our negative reputation, and the lack of a diverse gamer base.
I for one would love to see more girls gaming. video games are a huge part of my life, and my culture. The people I talk to discuss the common aspects of our lives, from movies to books, politics and television, and yes gaming. and it's always awkward to talk to a girl and have no common ground. I would love being able to talk to a girl about the philosophical nuances of bioshock, the advantages of playing a spy over a pyro, or how excited we are for portal 2 to come out.
Gaming is something I enjoy, and if I can get others to enjoy it too that's all the better.
Hi there. I'm a girl I have a balanced life, I'm not a tomboy, and I game. I grew up on rpg's and platformers, wipe the floor with male friends' butts in rts, and have been playing fps for the last two years... A lot.
For whoever said fps is scary, I agree. Biosbock was my first and it terrified me. But terrified in an enjoyable way and... You get used to it.
Most girls I know game. Including the most feminine girls I know, and the most drop-dead gorgeous ones too. And they do like killing things. So many times I have heard... When do we get to start shooting things?
I think social conditioning has a lot to do with it. My brother gamed and my parents found it a way to make me sit down and shut up.
I do know one girl who definitely does not game though. She was abused as a child by her guardian - he mimicked the violence in games. She also had an abusive boyfriend... Gamer. Stories like that make gaming unappealing. But they're unfortunately perceived as more common than they really are.
I'm female and video games take up all the free time I have between studying and being forced into socialising outside of xbl. The only real genres I dislike are RPGs and RTS. I spent a lot of today on Black Ops after work. There are lots of girls I know who are better at - and more into - games than I am, a couple of them pretty much destroy anyone we play against on Gears or L4D. While lots of girls I know aren't into games at all, there are lots of boys I know who aren't either. I think it's a lot more even these days than you'd think.
Admittedly there do seem to be some difference when I play online with my friends. If I play with other girls, we stick together, talk tactics, and try to have each others backs as much as we can. If I play with boys, they make me hold back here or camp here or you just stand there and defend that flag whilst the men go and do the real work eh? It's as if being a girl means you can't possibly know how to play
This has actualy become more common. i turned my girlfriend into a gamer it started with her and pokemon platinum but i slowly started changing the games i got her into the wii recently there its a start. you never know some day it could be black ops but that could take a while teaching her how to play has been as much fun for her more so i fear the day when she tries to get me into one of her hobbies. I honestly think it brought us closer together.
I am female, I game, so does my daughter and my eldest son is also a gamer. My younger son doesn't but he is only 21 months there is time, my husband doesn't really either. I have, maybe around 200 games across the different formats and do not visit the escapist to justify or prove my existence..... Nor do any of the other female gamers who visit here, so can we talk about games now, please?
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