Girl Gamers

[JessicaSarahS]

I was watching some Zero punctuation reviews, and this caught my eye, so I had to sign up and get involved in the discussion.

I never considered myself a "female gamer", because I really hate that term, even "gamer" bugs me. I play games, plain and simple. I love FPS and some RTS games(mostly RTT's). I will also admit to liking the Sims franchise, however I detest MMORPGS. I started gaming on super Nintendo, then PCs, and I've stuck with PC gaming ever since. I do have a wii, but I play more PC than wii games.

I do have to say, amongst girls in my age and social group, I am the odd one out. I like different movies, music and entertainment than the others, and they see my hobbies as odd and nerdy. Even my parents think it's just a phase that I'll "grow out of" (I'm 24). But I like my gaming hobby. I am also a computer tech, which seems to be a bit more acceptable than playing games, only because it provides a source of income for me.

FPS relieve a lot of stress for me. They can create some anxiety, and someone had mentioned earlier how girls may want a game to relax by, and I think this is partly true. On occasion, if I ever get stuck on a mission, I do relax with The Sims, or even chess, just to clear my mind. But I will always play FPS's.

At the same time, when playing CS, CoD or TF2 online, I never mention that I'm a girl, because of the "OMGz Ur A gIrL, pix Plz" responses I get, or when guys get mad that I'm killing them. I'm not super crazy awesome or anything, I'll never claim to be. I'm fairly average. I have good game days and bad ones so I really don't understand why they get pissed. I kill you, you kill me, that's how these games work!!! Which is why I never indicate my gender when I start a game. But I don't make it a secret either. I have to use the mic sometimes!

So I think it's all boils down to personal preference. Add a hint of resistance to female gamers from both guys and girls, and you'll get the reason why we're so few and far in between.

 

[Larenxis]

Is it wrong that I don't care about this at all?

 

[[HD]Rob Inglis]

Another one of these threads, well, If I guess right it has something to do with girls do exist in games, and they need to be treated fairly and respected and what not. Not saying this is bad, the thread that is, but truth is that girls play games to. They are humans just like you but they have breasts (usually).

EDIT: Okay, so I went back and actually read the thread. Maybe girls don't like gaming as much because...the sky is blue, how the hell should we know, we aren't a bunch of scientist inside some kind of volcano lab with the best minds in the world. We can't figure this out unless girls who don't play games were to actually tell us.

Is it wrong that I don't care about this at all?

rofl (plain and simple)

 

[The Reverend]

Is it wrong that I don't care about this at all?

Whatever floats thy boat.

At the same time, when playing CS, CoD or TF2 online, I never mention that I'm a girl, because of the "OMGz Ur A gIrL, pix Plz" responses I get, or when guys get mad that I'm killing them. I'm not super crazy awesome or anything, I'll never claim to be. I'm fairly average. I have good game days and bad ones so I really don't understand why they get pissed. I kill you, you kill me, that's how these games work!!! Which is why I never indicate my gender when I start a game. But I don't make it a secret either. I have to use the mic sometimes!

One of the people I regularly play TF2 with is female, although I cant say Ive ever heard someone say "OMGz Ur A gIrL, pix Plz" to her. I think American guys are worse for that sort of thing though, us Brits are a bit more.. mature? Well, maybe, I think its more to do with servers you play in and players you play regularly with. There are, obviously, dicks who often give out some stick, but she just laughs and gets on with the game. I think you ladies should either ignore them or make fun of their manhood, if you're feeling mean. The mute button works well too.

I guess this kind of argument is a moot point. What is socially acceptable changes over time, and gaming isn't exempt. Think of what life was like 10, 50, 100 years ago. Hell, in 100 years it could be that women play more games than men (most of the men being killed off by ravenous weasels and wor.) And then the same debate will go on then, except vice versa. Well, maybe. Who knows. Ive put in my 2 pennies.

 

[JessicaSarahS]

One of the people I regularly play TF2 with is female, although I cant say Ive ever heard someone say "OMGz Ur A gIrL, pix Plz" to her. I think American guys are worse for that sort of thing though, us Brits are a bit more.. mature? Well, maybe, I think its more to do with servers you play in and players you play regularly with. There are, obviously, dicks who often give out some stick, but she just laughs and gets on with the game. I think you ladies should either ignore them or make fun of their manhood, if you're feeling mean. The mute button works well too.

I think you're right, in that the crowds vary (and that the UK crowd's a little more mature )I have played TF2 in some UK servers, and I have to say, I've enjoyed that crowd more overall than others I played in. However, I never said that the taunts prevented me from enjoying or playing the game. And I do dig into the others a bit. But I could see where a sensitive girl would find that behavior annoying and avoid it altogether. But, it'll never stop me from playing.

 

[Fire Daemon]

I find the Aussie comunity is better then UK because the brits have poor dental hypine. Joking, settle down.

Anyway in my game travels I have seen some girls being "hit on" by guys. Its sad really. Really sad. By past experiences in online game I can think of 4 broad types of guys.

1)The your a chick and I don't care, your the same as any other player.

2)The your a chick and I fell like I need to help you because your not as good other players because your a female.

3)The your a chick and I think your gods gift to me. I will bombared you with friend invites and try to do anything to go outwith you.

4)The your a chick and I hate you. You are the worse sort of scum on the face of the planet and i will insult you untill you are forced to leave.

Most guys fit into number 1 but still there are some immature pricks that fit into number 2,3 and 4.

My views might be a little bit biased but whenever I seem to end up in a game with a girl then there is usually a jerk to piss her off. These people, the Rasicts and the idiots are holding back online gaming.So I don't find it very suprising that you wont find many girls in online FPS games as you would find men.

 

[BLad30Fgod]

I have a friend who plays Halo and is ridiculously good even when drunk. If she wasn't already engaged I would have asked her to marry me years ago.

She's Engaged for years?

Ah, anyway:
People of the female sex do tend to game less then Men. just by the way the where raised i think. The girls in my environment think gaming is stupid, makes you stupid and is not fun. oh how wrong they are.

 

[N1ghtNinja]

This is the 30000 topic about this. Think of something else pls.
Now.....

I think that we can all agree - Men and Women = DIFFERENT! OK?
Men in general like simple FPS games, women like SIMS type games and whatever the hell you people just said. So, there should be games aimed at boys and games aimed at girls. DO YOU PEOPLE AGREE? YES? OK!!!

Now make another thread that I haven't seen already, sheesh.

 

[Hey Joe]

To find the root cause of a perceived lack of female involvement in gaming, you have to trace the beginnings of video gaming and computing in general.

You see, when it all kicked off, fiddling with computers and electronics was considered a very technical thing and of course, women couldn't do anything technical, because they were too busy in the kitchen making the men pies.

Then when the first games came out the whole thing was considered a hobby, but still very technical, and therefore still out of the reach of those dumb...dumb washing machine attachments we call women. As games evolved into more of a business than a hobby, developers had to make games to suit their audience, which was vastly male.

So we had fantasy games where the nerds could escape their reality, and RTS and shooter to validate the player's manliness.

Skip forward a few years and developers start to realize that they've been cutting off 50% of their potential market, and so they start to make games that break the mould. Couple this with technology becoming more accessible to those uninitiated in gaming culture, combined with women realizing that the attitudes that said they couldn't understand the technology of gaming were complete bullshit.

Skip to present day and games that break the mould of male affirmation like The Sims turn out to be quite popular amongst women. As women start to discover what they've been missing out on, they come to gaming in record numbers.

Women will only be a bigger presence in gaming in the future, but those root ideologies of gaming still exist when it comes to manly games such as Battlefield 2, Counter Strike and Halo. So when a woman comes online to experience some adrenaline, of course it's going to draw snide remarks from the male population of these games.

Give it time, and these attitudes will slowly erode, and males won't batter an eyelid when a girl comes online for some good clean fraggin'.

 

[N1ghtNinja]

One of the people I regularly play TF2 with is female, although I cant say Ive ever heard someone say "OMGz Ur A gIrL, pix Plz" to her.

So? That's power right there - you show them your boobs and they worship you. Is it that bad? I know you are all like "What is on the inside is important" and "I want them to respect me for who they are, not for my boobs", but seriously, that's unused potential if you ask me. And do you really think that guys judge only women based on looks?
Half of my friends like my simply because I am tall (most people in my town are around 5,6 and I am 6,3). And a lot of guys liked Arny back in the day, simply because he was muscular and looked like a badass.

 

[1FoxyLady1]

im a 14 year old girl gamer and i have to agree with you guys, on the whole girls dont play video games. From experience with my friends they simply think there are much better things to do. I cant understand this being an avid cs player who often stays up till 2 on fridays and saturdays scrimming with my clan. And as for the "worship" thing, there are four main responses i get from boys when i talk on the mic.

1. OMG ITS A GIRL! I DIDNT KNOW GIRLS PLAYED CS! OMG OMG OMG (mostly preteens as you can imagine)
2. Your not a girl. Your a boy. Girls dont play cs. Your just a preteen fag whos balls havnt dropped (this repeatedly until muted)
3. Go back to the kitchen where you belong u slutty piece of shit (u can imagine the response this gets)
4. Cool a girl. (proceeds to act normally, if not a bit more polite)

So yes i am an example of a girl who loves computer and console games but i am one of few. If your one of the guys who is no. 4, be polite and the girls will love you. If your a no. 3 on the other hand you can go f*** a tree

Btw games i love - CS, COD4, Portal, Doom, Duke Nukem (grew up on this lol), Pyschonauts, Halo series, Gears of War and pokemon

 

[Dectilon]

"I have found some older data that suggests that 16% of the game is female, which is closer to what I've heard (and if you have played any type of MMO (EQ2, City of Heroes, WoW, etc, you damn well know half of the people playing are not women). I think you may be confusing the guys that play female characters. You can check it out here: http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/archives/001369.php"

I can't now remember where I've seen it, but the figure I've read about had a much larger test group (close to 10k) where the final figure was 36%. But since I can't remember where I read it...

It's often been said that girls (isn't it interesting, btw, that female gamers are generally refered to as "girls" while male gamers are generally refered to as "men"? ^^) prefer games where social interaction is a key element, something no one can deny is a big part of MMOs and WoW in particular.

"This is the 30000 topic about this. Think of something else pls.
Now....."

...as opposed to every other topic 'round here? : )

Go make a "favorite persistant world"-thread. I don't think that's floated to the top for a while : P

I'm more interested as to why you cared enough to make that post. Do you feel your masculinity is threatened in some way? ^^

 

[Necrohydra]

Couldn't let this slide by...

Many of my daughter's girl friends liked computer games, but none of them had the kind of gaming obsessiveness you often see in boys. Only one of those girls likes action/horror games. But all of them (including the one that likes FPS) loved playing adventure games TOGETHER, working cooperatively to solve puzzles. I know it's a cliche that girls prefer cooperative play to competitive play, but my observations certainly support that. Do boys ever play computer games that way?

My friends and I are competitive as all hell, and it's been that way ever since I can remember playing games with friends. Didn't matter what the game was: racing, puzzle, shooter, platformer...if it had options of playing together, we competed. Even when we were SUPPOSED to co-operate, there was a competition going on. There was SOME way to compare ourselves to each other. Kill count, Score, Time completed, number of X object grabbed, number of times died, there was always something to compare each other to. Heck, I remember playing 4 swords on the gamecube. We spent an hour killing each other over and over again over gems in one dungeon. But that's for another time..

My friends, you might ask? Mostly guys. Though, we knew some girls who'd play. They weren't as cut-throat, but they'd compete just the same. I think it has a lot to do with personality. I'm a pretty competitive person. Used to be more so in the past...I've tried not to be so cut-throat in recent years.

 

[mshcherbatskaya]

This is not about gaming but it seems similar, so I'll toss it in. At the motorcycle dealership where I bought my bike, they now carry a full line of women's and girl's dirt bike gear in color combos like baby blue and silver, and pink and cream. The sizes go from adult women's sizes all the way down to suits for 4-5 year old girls. At first I was like, "God, why does everyone always go with the pink whenever they make stuff for girls?" but then I thought, "Wait, what they are basically telling everyone is that they expect every kind of girl, tomboys and girly types alike, to participate. Now that's cool." The reason they started carrying the line is that the dirt bike meets they go to have more and more girls, and in the youngest divisions, it's pretty much 50/50 girls and boys.

I expect that we are going to see more an more girls start with "girly" games like Sims (and Spore I wonder?) and then get curious about Halo or Half-Life or WoW, so they check it out and - hey, this is fun! I'm curious to see how much of this shows up as a "pink helmet" factor of some sort unapologetic, ass-kicking femininity, and how much of it will be "one of the boys."

Also, I think game companies really want to appeal to potential girl gamers because, hello? Can you say HUGE UNTAPPED MARKET? But every time they try, they fail. My suggestion? One article on kneeslider.com asked what women wanted in motorcycles and gear, and all the responses boiled down to better quality, better design, and more customizability and options. Sounds a lot like what everyone wants in a game, doesn't it? So I would say to game developers, "If you want more women to play your game, make a better game."

 

[Andalusa]

Girl gamers do live and roam this planet (shock) and any girl who find the colour pink attractive is a freak.
I love to play on just about any game a console can offer. In fact I'm beating my brother on most games we have, I don't sit on the 360 all day but I do enjoy playing.Halo 1, 2 & 3 are on the list of games I play as are Forza 1 & 2, Assassin's Creed, Gears of War and others. Most games I play involve killing people and I thoroughly enjoy it, I despise games such as the Sims and Viva Pinata and believe that someone should take a very course scouring pad to them.

 

[Dratharr]

PC Gamer (UK) did an article about this a few months ago and they found that differences between how male and female eye sight has evolved makes a difference. A man's eye sight is more developed for focusing on objects straight infront of the person but is lacking in periphial vision but female vision is better for focusing on items anywhere in the field of view.

Anothe tid-bit they brought up was the only game where half the players were male or female was The Longest Journey.

 

[miawallace]

Possible reasons for women not being into gaming...
1) Gaming lends itself better to things which men tend to be into, like violence, highly competitive anything, car racing, sports etc. If you look at the non-computer games little boys play there are usually about a million computer games relating to them, whereas for games little girls play there's the Sims and that's about it. I don't know if this is a socialisation thing or what, but for whatever reason a lot fewer women enjoy pretending to shoot people, crash cars etc. Also, because most people who spend money on games are men, games are targeted at them, hence the killing and sports and also scantily clad female characters. I tend to avoid playing female avatars since they always end up with armour that wouldn't even keep them warm let alone protect them.
2) The vicious circle where girls don't play games, so they don't introduce them to their friends, little sisters etc. Having a boyfriend who's into gaming isn't the same, since most women would automatically categorise gaming as 'guy thing I'd find really boring' along with watching football, watching youtube videos of people getting injured, drinking contests and so forth. Related to this, I think it's harder for women to get into gaming since people tend to assume we're not interested, and if we play like noobs at first it's assumed that it's cos we have vaginas rather than cos everyone is crap when they first start playing.
3) For whatever reason I think women are much more reluctant to 'waste' hours on end gaming. the percentage of women who are into casual games is very high, I think because we are happy to while away 15 minutes or so playing Bejeweled, but not an entire weekend on some more complex game. This is partly because we still end up doing most of the housework and childcare but also most women just want to go out and do stuff rather than sit around on the couch. (You know how your girlfriend is always wanting the two of you to go out and do things?)
4) Internet cafes are usually gross.
5) A way too high proportion of male gamers have very limited social skills, especially around women, which can be seriously off putting. Lots can act like normal people, but there's a few too many who react to female gamers with either a) you're into gaming?! that's so weird!! or b) will you marry me?
We just want to play, okay? We're not in this to find boyfriends or discuss gender politics.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

None of my female friends play games. None have even tried. They just all say no whenever they are asked. Is this because games genuinely don't appeal to the gentler sex or is it more of a social conditioning thing. Before i get people crying out to me "My g/f sister cousin soforth plays games, your an idiot" I'm talking about the general whole. Personally I think it comes from a society that still clings to the archaic ideas that it is bad for a female to be competitive. Any thoughts on the subject?

Before you can even take the whole male/female stereotypes into account you gotta introduce gaming to non gamers, star with simple games...and try to match the game with the person while keeping it simple.

If you do planed events with your friends plan out a gaming sleep over and get out the library or rent some titles.

As for stereotypes meh there over rated non gamers are fickle things party games and multiplayer co op games would eb a good way to try and entice them to at least try, action adventure/action titles would be a good 2nd like DMC, Onimushia, RE, Otogi, Castlvina, ect these and some RPGs would be a good follow up to general fun titles like Mario,Zelda,and party games.

In a group tho I would focus more on multi player games.

Also Odd world strangers wrath is silly and cute(but dark) game, the humor can get stale(a lot of gay prison jokes) but has a varatiy of gameplay styles it might be cute enough to get some interested in checking out games.

 

[MadameNokturna]

Im a female gamer myself,and i have been one all my life. Guess it comes to growing up in a family of gamers..all my cousins,friends and family have always played digital games, and i remember getting a gameboy and a ps1 exactly when they were on for sale. Since that day ,ive always loved games, especially First person shooters,rpgs,and platformers. But yes indeed,there are a lack of female gamers,probably because at this age (im 18) , most girls are too busy trying to chat men up at bar s here and there to actually care about anything that doesnt have to do with their sex appeal (i know for a fact since some of my female friends admit it themselves). Oh well,their loss tbh !!