Poll: Girl Gamers: offended by stereotypes?
- Thread starter gmergurl
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In my experience, it seems that more and more people are being sucked into the gaming trend. Now we have people of all ages, male and female, from all over the world getting into gaming.
I think the main issue as to this "prejudice" against women that game is that, for a very long time, gaming was considered a male-only thing. Hence the odd stigmas toward females.
With that said, I am not offended by these stereotypes mentioned above. Annoyed, possibly.
I think the main issue as to this "prejudice" against women that game is that, for a very long time, gaming was considered a male-only thing. Hence the odd stigmas toward females.
With that said, I am not offended by these stereotypes mentioned above. Annoyed, possibly.
To number 3-
There is a line. Farmville? NO! Wii Sports? NO!
But anything else above that, yeah, that's gaming.
There is a line. Farmville? NO! Wii Sports? NO!
But anything else above that, yeah, that's gaming.
That's pretty much what I was going to say. I am a 22 year old female gamer, who has been playing since I was about 3 years old. I have a lot of gamer friends that are guys, and I not only hold my own against them when we play Mortal kombat/Street fighter etc, but I can beat a great number of them. My gender does not affect how well I play.Azaradel said:
I'm not offended by any of these stereotypes at all. I either laugh it off or shrug it off/ignore it. In my opinion, I don't see a point getting defensive over it.
Although I can relate to this: "I can hardly go into Gamestop without being "attacked" by sales reps (all male) who see me browsing (reading boxes and such) and think I don't know what I'm looking for, or flirt with me. It just gets awkward when I'm with my brother or boyfriend."
The brightside is that it only happens when I go into a new Gamestop. At my local Gamestop they already know me so it's all good.
Although I can relate to this: "I can hardly go into Gamestop without being "attacked" by sales reps (all male) who see me browsing (reading boxes and such) and think I don't know what I'm looking for, or flirt with me. It just gets awkward when I'm with my brother or boyfriend."
The brightside is that it only happens when I go into a new Gamestop. At my local Gamestop they already know me so it's all good.
I'm unsure men wanting to have sex with you is a stereotype. Unless you're also a glamour model perhaps?
Attack of the show is by far the most guilty of this. Morgan Webb of Xplay actually tends to know what she's talking about. It fits the stereotypes of the shows: X-Play is professional and informative and still fun. AOTS is more about geeky culture and tends to be trashier.gmergurl said:
I went for the "Im a guy and thats offenseive" option but I think pitiful and pathetic comes closer to it- this attitude alot of the community (im guilty of it too) seems to have towards women and gaming is a childishness that we should of grown out of by now.
I feel the need to add a few points to these, despite agreeing with the stereotyping being wrong. For the "Female gamers are ugly" - Male gamers are generally assumed to resemble sheldon off the big bang theory or comicbook guy off the simpsons. People just assume gamers are ugly due to the fairly inactive nature of gaming. Granted, being "victimised" within your own circle must suck.
"Not really female" - To be fair, you get a lot of men pretending to be women (especially on MMOs, either to gain something from desperate men online, or for their own gratification. Why it matters what your gender is or why they have any right to know, let alone receive proof is a different matter entirely.
And the last Is "Not a real gamer" "Suck at video games because of your gender", while these are stereotypes and are largely incorrect, there is no smoke without fire.
I have met many women who I've gotten friendly with and have greatly overstated their interest in gaming or ability at it. When someone tells you they are an avid gamer and then they turn out to play the sims once in a blue-moon and check their farmville once a week, it can be a bit disappointing if you were hoping to sit down and play some sort of co-op game.
Likewise, it's annoying when people brag about "kicking your arse" and such, and having completed all these difficult games, then you're having to tell them that they are using the wrong shoulder button and other very basic things.
These things are annoying regardless of gender, however my personal experience has been predominantly with women doing this.
Of course despite everything else, some people just like to be arseholes. Not honestly sure I had a point to make here, just felt like playing devils advocate a little.
"Not really female" - To be fair, you get a lot of men pretending to be women (especially on MMOs, either to gain something from desperate men online, or for their own gratification. Why it matters what your gender is or why they have any right to know, let alone receive proof is a different matter entirely.
And the last Is "Not a real gamer" "Suck at video games because of your gender", while these are stereotypes and are largely incorrect, there is no smoke without fire.
I have met many women who I've gotten friendly with and have greatly overstated their interest in gaming or ability at it. When someone tells you they are an avid gamer and then they turn out to play the sims once in a blue-moon and check their farmville once a week, it can be a bit disappointing if you were hoping to sit down and play some sort of co-op game.
Likewise, it's annoying when people brag about "kicking your arse" and such, and having completed all these difficult games, then you're having to tell them that they are using the wrong shoulder button and other very basic things.
These things are annoying regardless of gender, however my personal experience has been predominantly with women doing this.
Of course despite everything else, some people just like to be arseholes. Not honestly sure I had a point to make here, just felt like playing devils advocate a little.
I hate it when the guys get all obsessive over a girl who likes games it makes it so I cant even talk to the girl if we have stuff in common without looking like I am part of there incessant badgering to be honest I feel bad for some girls because of this it must get annoying after a whiles.
I've always thought all of the people doing stuff like this are ignorant. Although I do have a decent amount of women I play on Live with and it's a normal thing for me to make some sexist jokes in good humor.
I'd also say women have become far more aggressive on live because of how men act like that. I've seen quite a few times where a guy will make a remark and then get verbally castrated by the woman, and it's fucking hilarious.
I'd also say women have become far more aggressive on live because of how men act like that. I've seen quite a few times where a guy will make a remark and then get verbally castrated by the woman, and it's fucking hilarious.
Ninja'd, damn. However, I will add this.Elivercury said:
Lonely heterosexual males in a pool with other LHMs will naturally gravitate towards any estrogen in the water. I am not saying it is a good thing but it isn't exactly unpredictable or even wrong. I'm a flirt and I like to flirt, however, I temper that with the fact that I try to get a read on a person before engaging in flirting. Also, I take pains to not be a total moron.
I suppose it is lucky that I honestly haven't met any female gamers on Xbox Live because I would apparently annoy the tits off of them, if stereotypes are to be believed. Then again, there is a time and place for everything. So no, if you hit a game with me, I'm probably not going to chat you up. Reasons being that I am married and we have a girlfriend, both of which are possessive women. Other reasons include "If I'm flirting with you, I'm probably not noticing that I'm about to be shanked by whatever is behind me" and "If you are made uncomfortable, you aren't noticing the shank either and that affects our score in the game."
So on the whole, I am ambivalent about female stereotypes in the gamer population. As a male, I am more concerned that I am perceived as a socially awkward idiot/rapist who will either be too scared of women to talk or will say too much, let out a faux pas, and then have to watch his reputation turn to shit. No, I'm not trying to hijack the thread with male problems, that is just my opinion and why.
That all babbled out, I will concede that I can see those stereotypes getting old and annoying fast. I will also say that I value my fellow gamers, gender mattering not, as every gamer that shares my interest increases chances for more DLC in games I like. Every gamer that doesn't share my interests still enriches the overall experience with different perspectives and things I should at least consider with my dollar, something that improves the industry, etc etc, blah, blah, Kumbaya...
Oh and the women in my life are casual gamers so I can't afford to talk shit about the casual crowd. Gotta look after my self interests and all that.
1. When I play games people rarely, if ever, find out I'm a girl.
2. I don't care if people consider me to be a "real" gamer because they're just pathetic idiots trying to act elite by pretending that gaming is something complicated and spectacular that the layman (laywoman?) can't do. This validates their hobby and lets them feel that they haven't wasted 10 years of their fucking life leveling 6 characters to 85 (or what have you).
3. I don't consider myself to be attractive, but I see no reason to care about the assumptions of some online idiot. It's not even possible to be offended because they haven't seen me in real life, so they are clearly trolling. Now if they called me ugly after having seen me, I'd probably cry.
4. I act so spectacularly profane, aggressive and immature in online games that I don't really get trolled much, since I myself am the troll. I get carried away pretending to be male. It's really fun.
2. I don't care if people consider me to be a "real" gamer because they're just pathetic idiots trying to act elite by pretending that gaming is something complicated and spectacular that the layman (laywoman?) can't do. This validates their hobby and lets them feel that they haven't wasted 10 years of their fucking life leveling 6 characters to 85 (or what have you).
3. I don't consider myself to be attractive, but I see no reason to care about the assumptions of some online idiot. It's not even possible to be offended because they haven't seen me in real life, so they are clearly trolling. Now if they called me ugly after having seen me, I'd probably cry.
4. I act so spectacularly profane, aggressive and immature in online games that I don't really get trolled much, since I myself am the troll. I get carried away pretending to be male. It's really fun.
I play everything from MMOs (CoH more than WoW) to online FPSs. I'm not too bad at Counterstrike, but I do struggle with CoD (wonder how much of that can be put down to my connection speeds), and I'm exactly the same as everyone else in MMOs who actually bothers to learn the game, rather than powergame to the cap and quit.Fappy said:
I also obsess over the Sims because it's fucking fantastic.
Oh, and I worked in a game store for years - was never once looked over by a customer because I have tits, nor have I ever been accosted in a game/gaming shop for the same reason. Got into the odd amateur brawl with fellow customers over the last wired controller, yes - but never had to defend my honour as a woman.
This is either down to the manner in which I present myself (the contents of my pants is no concern of yours), me being so hideously ugly it permeates through my characters, or these alleged stereotypes being not so much commonplace as perpetuated by those who moan about them so fervently. I don't know which, I don't care which.
It depends, if someone is being a jerk online I'm not offended. People are trying to be offensive and I don't feed the trolls. IRL it annoys me when gamestop cashiers criticize my taste in games but I just ignore it knowing my taste is superior to those console FPS playing peasants.
I'm sick enough of hearing about girl gamers. Stop fucking calling them "girl gamers". I hate the phrase "gamer" as it is, but when people specify the sex and go on and on and on about them on forums, the whole thing gets tiresome. No, I don't stereotype gamer girls, I don't care about them, and I don't know why people still even discuss them.