Poll: Why do female gamers like the Zelda series so much? *now with more political correctness!*

[ADDLibrarian]

It's damn good.

This.

 

[RaDeuX]

Because there's obviously something wrong with being the opposite gender and liking something.

Never said it's wrong for anyone to like or dislike Zelda. From what I've seen and heard from other people, a lot of gamer girls like Zelda.

 

[Blair Bennett]

As one who is possessive of a vagina herself, I can honestly say it's got nothing to do with the whole fair-haired elf archtype, or the fact that there's the whole "now I'mma save the Princess" thing going on, at least not for everyone. There is not going to be a single, solitary aspect of the games that acts as insta-appeal for any demographic, let alone females. I enjoy the games because they're genuinely fun, and don't typically rely on the same concepts as a lot of the industry seems to, though they have become rather formulaic. Personally, I would have to say that it has more to do with the fact that more people grew up with it than what's in their pants.

However, if I were to act as the armchair psychologist for roughly the fourth time today, I would say that - at least in terms of female interest - it has something to do with how Zelda actually played a relatively active role is the games. Some of them, at least. Take, for instance, Ocarina of Time. Sheik is, in and of herself, an icon of female empowerment in gaming, and so is Zelda by extension. In an era where all that was expected of us was that we save the princess, quite a few were surprised to find that we didn't do quite as much rescuing as was expected.

 

[Retosa]

Erm....get their fanfic on? I know not all girls write fanfic but...I dunno I'm poking at the dark...or more accurately
"I'm attacking the darkness..."

Nice reference.

Anyways, who cares? Really. I know girls who like lots of games. Games are fun. Let's all just play some awesome games and enjoy ourselves without worrying about it. I know girls who kick ass at all sorts of games, and enjoy all sorts of games.

Also, I'm male, and I fucking love Zelda. I think I'ma go be a creeper on that Sonic forum and marry Zelda.

/scarcasm

But seriously, the Zelda franchise is awesome, and fun.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

There are no gamer girls. Using urbandictionary to support your point is like quoting from Encyclopedia Dramatica. It doesn't fucking work.

Having two X chromosomes doesn't make you any more likely to enjoy Zelda than anything else.

There's no such thing as a gamer girl. You mean girls who are gamers.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=gamer+girl

You're new here so I can understand you thinking this is true. But why should there be a distinction between male and female gamers?

You have a higher post count than I do, so I can understand why you think I'm wrong. Because there are biological differences between the two genders, both physically and mentally. The latter has the potential to affect the types of games they want to play.

And so with that you'd accept that generally people of a certain gender all enjoy the same things, with few exceptions? Your logic is difficult to follow. As a male I wouldn't be surprised if another male didn't like, say, Call of Duty, because I realise that opinion isn't determined by genetics or gender, so why should it be accepted fact that most 'gamer girls' will enjoy a particular series?

I thank you both for you logic.

Logic backed up by a group of anonymous users that have little understanding of sociology, right?

That kinda backfired there didn't it? I mean seriously, you lost all your credibility when you posted Urban Dictionary as a source to support your argument. There are girls who play games yes, but the "Gamer Girl" is a made up stereotype that has no basis in reality. The Gamer Girl is the squeely attention whore claiming to be a gamer. So if you were referring to that demographic in your OP I apologise, if you were referring to female gamers in general you should rephrase it as female gamers.

 

[RaDeuX]

As one who is possessive of a vagina herself, I can honestly say it's got nothing to do with the whole fair-haired elf archtype, or the fact that there's the whole "now I'mma save the Princess" thing going on, at least not for everyone. There is not going to be a single, solitary aspect of the games that acts as insta-appeal for any demographic, let alone females. I enjoy the games because they're genuinely fun, and don't typically rely on the same concepts as a lot of the industry seems to, though they have become rather formulaic. Personally, I would have to say that it has more to do with the fact that more people grew up with it than what's in their pants.

However, if I were to act as the armchair psychologist for roughly the fourth time today, I would say that - at least in terms of female interest - it has something to do with how Zelda actually played a relatively active role is the games. Some of them, at least. Take, for instance, Ocarina of Time. Sheik is, in and of herself, an icon of female empowerment in gaming, and so is Zelda by extension. In an era where all that was expected of us was that we save the princess, quite a few were surprised to find that we didn't do quite as much rescuing as was expected.

Hey, finally a far less biased analysis. Cheers!

 

[RaDeuX]

There are no gamer girls. Using urbandictionary to support your point is like quoting from Encyclopedia Dramatica. It doesn't fucking work.

Having two X chromosomes doesn't make you any more likely to enjoy Zelda than anything else.

There's no such thing as a gamer girl. You mean girls who are gamers.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=gamer+girl

You're new here so I can understand you thinking this is true. But why should there be a distinction between male and female gamers?

You have a higher post count than I do, so I can understand why you think I'm wrong. Because there are biological differences between the two genders, both physically and mentally. The latter has the potential to affect the types of games they want to play.

And so with that you'd accept that generally people of a certain gender all enjoy the same things, with few exceptions? Your logic is difficult to follow. As a male I wouldn't be surprised if another male didn't like, say, Call of Duty, because I realise that opinion isn't determined by genetics or gender, so why should it be accepted fact that most 'gamer girls' will enjoy a particular series?

I thank you both for you logic.

Logic backed up by a group of anonymous users that have little understanding of sociology, right?

That kinda backfired there didn't it? I mean seriously, you lost all your credibility when you posted Urban Dictionary as a source to support your argument. There are girls who play games yes, but the "Gamer Girl" is a made up stereotype that has no basis in reality. The Gamer Girl is the squeely attention whore claiming to be a gamer. So if you were referring to that demographic in your OP I apologise, if you were referring to female gamers in general you should rephrase it as female gamers.

The whole idea was to prove that such a subculture exists. You aren't going to find many academic sources to prove that a certain subculture exists.

 

[jawakiller]

Cuz he looks like a goddamn girl and he acts like one too. Haha, only 1/2 kidding. He's too girlie for me though. I mean, grow up already kid. Be a man and shit. Get the girl for a fucking change... All I'm saying is thats why I never took the newer games seriously.

 

[Kiefer13]

Because it's enjoyable, I assume.

Y'know, the same reason anyone likes anything.

 

[Ladette]

http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Gamer

Behold! I have found out what a gamer is! This random info I found on the internet totally backs up my opinion! It may not be an academic source, but because it's on the internet and I support it it must be correct!

 

[Jim Grim]

And so with that you'd accept that generally people of a certain gender all enjoy the same things, with few exceptions? Your logic is difficult to follow. As a male I wouldn't be surprised if another male didn't like, say, Call of Duty, because I realise that opinion isn't determined by genetics or gender, so why should it be accepted fact that most 'gamer girls' will enjoy a particular series?

Most guys like CoD. What's your point?

I'd have thought my point was fairly obvious, allow me to try again. Peoples opinions on games, or hell, on most forms of entertainment, has very little to do with gender. People aren't born with a series of likes and dislikes, they aquire them as they grow older, thus gender has very little to do with the way they view things. You can't just simply say that all girls will like a certain thing purely because they are female, that's stereotyping. I'm surprised you expected everyone to accept this idea without question, unless you were simply attempting to be contentious which would make you a troll.
Also your simple, one sentence reply did nothing to adress the points I made in my post, which only strengthens my suspicion that you are trolling. If you are not, you really need to come up with a stronger response to support your assertion.

Most forms of entertainment? Have you ever seen a purikura station? Those things are infested with young females. What about Twilight (the one with the glittering vampires)? Those are also infested by preteen girls.

Ok, while I have no idea what a purikura station is, I'm guessing Twilight is popular with pre-teen girls because it is because the protagonist is specifically designed to be someone they can relate to, same gender, perhaps slightly older, but basically living in the same society as them. Zelda is about an elf boy who wordlessly fights monsters and such. I'm struggling to see your point here, I wasn't even aware of the fact that Zelda was supposedly so popular among any particular gender, certainly it wasn't designed to appeal to a demographic the way Twilight was, and even in that case I think that the way people form opinions on things like that is more to do with the way they were raised, rather than traits they were born with, and most girls in society are raised in a certain way. Perhaps your original post could have been worded differentyl, then it wouldn't be so easy to attack. At the moment it just smacks of the worst kind of generalisation, and your later posts, (specifically using encyclopedia dramatica as a source,) do little to help this.
Apologies for any grammatical errors or lack of clarity, I've been up all night.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

There are no gamer girls. Using urbandictionary to support your point is like quoting from Encyclopedia Dramatica. It doesn't fucking work.

Having two X chromosomes doesn't make you any more likely to enjoy Zelda than anything else.

There's no such thing as a gamer girl. You mean girls who are gamers.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=gamer+girl

You're new here so I can understand you thinking this is true. But why should there be a distinction between male and female gamers?

You have a higher post count than I do, so I can understand why you think I'm wrong. Because there are biological differences between the two genders, both physically and mentally. The latter has the potential to affect the types of games they want to play.

And so with that you'd accept that generally people of a certain gender all enjoy the same things, with few exceptions? Your logic is difficult to follow. As a male I wouldn't be surprised if another male didn't like, say, Call of Duty, because I realise that opinion isn't determined by genetics or gender, so why should it be accepted fact that most 'gamer girls' will enjoy a particular series?

I thank you both for you logic.

Logic backed up by a group of anonymous users that have little understanding of sociology, right?

That kinda backfired there didn't it? I mean seriously, you lost all your credibility when you posted Urban Dictionary as a source to support your argument. There are girls who play games yes, but the "Gamer Girl" is a made up stereotype that has no basis in reality. The Gamer Girl is the squeely attention whore claiming to be a gamer. So if you were referring to that demographic in your OP I apologise, if you were referring to female gamers in general you should rephrase it as female gamers.

The whole idea was to prove that such a subculture exists. You aren't going to find many academic sources to prove that a certain subculture exists.

Explaining why you used a source that wasn't accurate doesn't make it accurate.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Because they make good games... how is this related to gender?!

 

[RaDeuX]

And so with that you'd accept that generally people of a certain gender all enjoy the same things, with few exceptions? Your logic is difficult to follow. As a male I wouldn't be surprised if another male didn't like, say, Call of Duty, because I realise that opinion isn't determined by genetics or gender, so why should it be accepted fact that most 'gamer girls' will enjoy a particular series?

Most guys like CoD. What's your point?

I'd have thought my point was fairly obvious, allow me to try again. Peoples opinions on games, or hell, on most forms of entertainment, has very little to do with gender. People aren't born with a series of likes and dislikes, they aquire them as they grow older, thus gender has very little to do with the way they view things. You can't just simply say that all girls will like a certain thing purely because they are female, that's stereotyping. I'm surprised you expected everyone to accept this idea without question, unless you were simply attempting to be contentious which would make you a troll.
Also your simple, one sentence reply did nothing to adress the points I made in my post, which only strengthens my suspicion that you are trolling. If you are not, you really need to come up with a stronger response to support your assertion.

Most forms of entertainment? Have you ever seen a purikura station? Those things are infested with young females. What about Twilight (the one with the glittering vampires)? Those are also infested by preteen girls.

Ok, while I have no idea what a purikura station is, I'm guessing Twilight is popular with pre-teen girls because it is because the protagonist is specifically designed to be someone they can relate to, same gender, perhaps slightly older, but basically living in the same society as them. Zelda is about an elf boy who wordlessly fights monsters and such. I'm struggling to see your point here, I wasn't even aware of the fact that Zelda was supposedly so popular among any particular gender, certainly it wasn't designed to appeal to a demographic the way Twilight was, and even in that case I think that the way people form opinions on things like that is more to do with the way they were raised, rather than traits they were born with, and most girls in society are raised in a certain way. Perhaps your original post could have been worded differentyl, then it wouldn't be so easy to attack. At the moment it just smacks of the worst kind of generalisation, and your later posts, (specifically using encyclopedia dramatica as a source,) do little to help this.
Apologies for any grammatical errors or lack of clarity, I've been up all night.

So did you want me to point to an academic source on the studies of female gamers? There aren't a lot out there, and isn't really needed to prove that a certain subculture exists. Though that existence can sometimes be very subjective depending on the circumstances.

I was only responding to your statement that entertainment mediums have nothing to do with gender, which I find incorrect.

What I was originally asking was whether or not there are certain attributes to the Zelda franchise that are considered admirable by female gamers. I'm pretty sure you stated your opinion already.

 

[RaDeuX]

There are no gamer girls. Using urbandictionary to support your point is like quoting from Encyclopedia Dramatica. It doesn't fucking work.

Having two X chromosomes doesn't make you any more likely to enjoy Zelda than anything else.

There's no such thing as a gamer girl. You mean girls who are gamers.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=gamer+girl

You're new here so I can understand you thinking this is true. But why should there be a distinction between male and female gamers?

You have a higher post count than I do, so I can understand why you think I'm wrong. Because there are biological differences between the two genders, both physically and mentally. The latter has the potential to affect the types of games they want to play.

And so with that you'd accept that generally people of a certain gender all enjoy the same things, with few exceptions? Your logic is difficult to follow. As a male I wouldn't be surprised if another male didn't like, say, Call of Duty, because I realise that opinion isn't determined by genetics or gender, so why should it be accepted fact that most 'gamer girls' will enjoy a particular series?

I thank you both for you logic.

Logic backed up by a group of anonymous users that have little understanding of sociology, right?

That kinda backfired there didn't it? I mean seriously, you lost all your credibility when you posted Urban Dictionary as a source to support your argument. There are girls who play games yes, but the "Gamer Girl" is a made up stereotype that has no basis in reality. The Gamer Girl is the squeely attention whore claiming to be a gamer. So if you were referring to that demographic in your OP I apologise, if you were referring to female gamers in general you should rephrase it as female gamers.

The whole idea was to prove that such a subculture exists. You aren't going to find many academic sources to prove that a certain subculture exists.

Explaining why you used a source that wasn't accurate doesn't make it accurate.

In that case, can you show me your findings on how the aforementioned subculture fails to exist? It's kind of a subjective topic, but I'd like to know about the sources that you told me about several posts ago.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

There are no gamer girls. Using urbandictionary to support your point is like quoting from Encyclopedia Dramatica. It doesn't fucking work.

Having two X chromosomes doesn't make you any more likely to enjoy Zelda than anything else.

There's no such thing as a gamer girl. You mean girls who are gamers.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=gamer+girl

You're new here so I can understand you thinking this is true. But why should there be a distinction between male and female gamers?

You have a higher post count than I do, so I can understand why you think I'm wrong. Because there are biological differences between the two genders, both physically and mentally. The latter has the potential to affect the types of games they want to play.

And so with that you'd accept that generally people of a certain gender all enjoy the same things, with few exceptions? Your logic is difficult to follow. As a male I wouldn't be surprised if another male didn't like, say, Call of Duty, because I realise that opinion isn't determined by genetics or gender, so why should it be accepted fact that most 'gamer girls' will enjoy a particular series?

I thank you both for you logic.

Logic backed up by a group of anonymous users that have little understanding of sociology, right?

That kinda backfired there didn't it? I mean seriously, you lost all your credibility when you posted Urban Dictionary as a source to support your argument. There are girls who play games yes, but the "Gamer Girl" is a made up stereotype that has no basis in reality. The Gamer Girl is the squeely attention whore claiming to be a gamer. So if you were referring to that demographic in your OP I apologise, if you were referring to female gamers in general you should rephrase it as female gamers.

The whole idea was to prove that such a subculture exists. You aren't going to find many academic sources to prove that a certain subculture exists.

Explaining why you used a source that wasn't accurate doesn't make it accurate.

In that case, can you show me your findings on how the aforementioned subculture fails to exist? It's kind of a subjective topic, but I'd like to know about the sources that you told me about several posts ago.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/extra-credits/2005-Gamer

This is based on the more general term of "Gamer", but I do remember it talking about "Girl Gamers", although that could've been another video on this very site. Regardless, I see you've changed your original post to "female gamers" which is more or less all I was here to make you do. I was just trying to make the distinction between, as I said, "Gamer Girls" and gamers who are female.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

The Escapist net snake devoured my post.

 

[lettucethesallad]

I'm a female gamer and I don't care much for the whole Zelda thing. Sure, it's fun, but come on people, it's not _that_ fun. Then again I'm more of a suspense/horror kind of girl.

 

[GreyKnight3445]

because girls love a guy in tights and pointy ears

 

[epikAXE]

I'm the strong, silent type. Does that mean girls like me more?

If you think your the strong silent type then you arn't, it's like Inception!