Pro gaming: boys/men vs girls/women

[steelyglint]

I would say it's most likely caused in part by larger variability in skill level (or components of skill like reflexes and hand-eye coordination) among men than among women. Competitiveness and willingness to accept the costs of being a hardcore gamer probably also play a part.

Even if the average skill level (or competitiveness, or dedication to playing a game for 5000 hours, and so on) is the same for both men and women, a higher variability among men means that there will be more men at the highest tiers.

If you're interested in learning more about the statistics behind what I'm talking about, I suggest reading this article:

http://nsm.uh.edu/~dgraur/niv/TheMostDangerousEquation.pdf

It includes a discussion of the differing variability between men and women, though not specifically relating to gaming.

 

[Stasisesque]

http://www.fragdolls.com/

Oh please. These are mascots, not professional gamers in the sense of being competitive at the highest level. Look at their accomplishments: it's immediately apparent they are not great. 17th place placements across multiple major tournaments in their #1 game? When you consider how relatively weak Ubi games' competitive communities were, and that this team had actual financial backing from Ubi, the lack of achievement is glaring. Fact is, no one would pay the slightest attention to this bunch if they were not wimmenz.

http://girlzdestruct.com/

This is a legit example of women who are actually good at some games which have serious competition scenes. However, they are the exceptions. It's obvious that even considering the overall sex ratio among players, there are much less women that are really good than there "should" be if men and women were really the same.

Just two off the top of my head. They exist, they just get little publicity - much in the same way men's football outstrips women's in terms of press.

Inferior play isn't interesting, therefore little publicity.

Oh, I actually cannot stand Frag Dolls. They're the game world equivalent of those "models" at car shows, but they are decent gamers - professional tournaments aren't exactly something you can just walk in to. Regardless of where you place, getting there is an achievement in itself.

However, oddly, Girlz Destruct I had never even heard of before doing a Google search for professional female gamers/groups. Yet, they're good gamers - have great accomplishments, are women, and the press surrounding them is nigh on nonexistent.

Last point, I don't know whether you're referring to football or gaming.

I couldn't say whether men or women are "better" at gaming, and I honestly couldn't care less about whether gaming is a boy's toy or a unisex toy. There are professional female gamers out there, not as many as male of course, but to say women don't compete at the top level would be false - such was the reason for my Google Fu.

 

[random_bars]

Women are less competitive.

 

[EinTheCorgi]

pro gamer: definition/A person who plays video games in which he/she knows where all the weapons spawn knows the most over powered classes or knows all the glitch/secret spots.

 

[FamoFunk]

I think games until recently have been aimed at Men, I still think that's pretty true even if they know a lot of Girls game.

 

[Chiasm]

If we did, all those playground games I used to play as a little girl would be national sports right now.

This would be amazing, If rock paper scissors can have a world championship. Why can't patty cake, hopscotch, and jump rope. Even dress up could if you think about a competition where your given a time limit to come up with the best costume of a given theme with a grab bag of clothing.

I think you just stumbled upon something...

 

[Nutcase]

Alana Reid aka Ms.X of Girlz of Destruction, one of the best woman FPS players in the world:

"When I see guys play, they're very good at tactical and strategic [techniques] and timing multiple items. I can't say I've seen a girl who can pull that kind of thing. I really think it has a lot to do with the mental differences between the genders."

 

[hurfdurp]

I'm also waiting for female Daigo, it would provide an added zing to everyone's defeat . It doesn't really seem to be a highly accepted field even for men currently, so women not breaking that barrier quite yet doesn't surprise me.

 

[Legion IV]

Due to a lot of different reasons I got led to thinking about this:

"Why are men at the top of the food chain in gaming?"

Because afaik, girls aren't competing at the highest level. Is this because girls are worse gamers purely from a physical point of view, simply because more guys play games (increasing the chances of the very best being a boy..), girls not bothering to go that far with the game or something else?
Let's have an objective discussion about this, no "my girlfriend pwnz me in halo". I'm wondering about the HIGHEST level of play, professional

I read about a female starcraft player called tossgirl, about how she played against boys after the girl division in GSL got removed or something like that. She hasn't won anything big against boys, but at least she was competetive. She played like, a lot, though. Just as much as male pros, but still couldn't quite cut it.

It wasint the GSL the gsl is a very recent starcraf tournament. tossgirl qualified for the female WCG tournament and showed good standings in first few rounds of other tournaments. The next year tossgirl got into her first major tournament which was hosted by Ghem TV. She was able to get into the top 8 of this tournament twice and by doing so she soon obtained her Progaming License. From there she was picked up by the STX Soul progaming team where she has remained since.

Tossgirl was always alright but she isint that good at all compared to other great players. Shes popular just because shes somone of the oposite sex. Fun fact though almost every high level player she has beaten on televised matches they guys have retired soon afer. Not all the time mind you but its happened. I could go on i love the Starcraft progaming scene. As for your thread and discussion all i can say is. I guess guys show a bigger intrest in games and play it more and in turn become better. Anybody can be good as long as you practice non stop and if your a Starcraft progamer thats minimum of 8 hours a day.