tech.gadgets.video.geekculture.gaming.kittens.
Girls for the win!
I was finally able to get the router working long enough to get on WoW for a few hours yesterday, and I made a group to go into Uldaman (a level 41-51 instance). With me was one of my regular playing partners, a guy we’ll call “Stan.” He surprised me by making a reference to the fact that I was a woman, which I hadn’t told him before; I guess one of our other playing friends had leaked it out. He was totally fine with it, made some little side comments that were amusing, but not rude or derogatory in any way. Unfortunately, this is not always the case…
I play a male character, and I play one for a reason: like it or not, girls are treated very differently in video games. I try not to make sweeping generalizations about boys playing WoW, but what I’ve witnessed in-game and on the Internet lately has made me rethink my stance a little bit.
Allow me to point you to a post from Joystiq. I realize that it’s rather old, but I came across it today while looking at another page that referenced it. The article talks about an entry from The Escapist, a rather excellent online publication. It was a not-too-surprising post about a girl who has faced some annoying backlash from coming out as a female to her WoW mates. Some of the reactions in her story seemed a little over the top, but what digusted me were the comments in the Joystiq article:
2. Hilarious, more like “shitty”. I saw that article a few days ago and cringed at the lines about her owning me. Yeah ok.
To offer a counterpoint, I find that most girls on the internet are stupid attention whores just like this one.
Protip to Miss BUTTS: Wax your top lip, you look like hulk hogan.
Oh, and don’t forget:
12. I believe that a lot of women play games online but almost all of the ones i’v encountered have been quite pathetic. Most have been in Halo 2, which, from experience, leads me to believe that women have horrible hand-eye coordination and no sense of tact. I once played a woman in NBA2k4 she had her ass handed a 60 point drubbing so apparently women have no idea how the game of basketball is played either. If any women want to prove themselves, which i’m sure some women’s rights, PC nutcake will want to, dude819 on xbox live would love to serve you.
There was some defense put up for her in the comments, but the overwheming feeling I got from the entire thing was hostile. What the hell is wrong with people? Is it because most of the players are probably 14? Or is it because hidden safely behind their mask of anonymity they can say whatever misogynist garbage spews from their brains?
Just because you get owned by a girl in a game doesn’t give you the right to say that she’s “on the rag.” lern2play, n00b. Oh, and grow a pair while you’re at it.
</rant>
UPDATE!
Issue 17 of The Escapist is all about gals and games. Good reads!
No related posts.
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They are weenies who are 14 or who act like they are 14 and if brought to face who they were actually playing would crap their pants before they said any shit to anyone. All the adults 21+ playing WoW that I know are nice, chilled out people just looking for a little fun for some hours after work. One of my closest friends is gay and plays it, I wonder if someone outed him that these stupid 14-year-olds would assert the same comments.
To quote a poet:
“…had to strong arm a hoe This is not a hoe in the sense of havin’ a pussy But a pussy havin’ no God Damn sense, try and push me…
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The only explanation is that these posters are pre-pubescent and haven’t yet figured out that girls are not, in fact, made up entirely of cooties. Soon, they shall discover that in addition to cooties, women are also made of boobs. At that point they will learn just how rare and precious the combination of the X chromosome and the gamer gene really is.
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Well, I don’t play WoW, but I do play City of Heroes/Villains, and I have to say a lot of the people I enjoy playing with are girls. I think one of the reasons is they like to talk as much as play, which is one of the reasons I like the game, the community. Now, I’m not saying all girls are like this, nor am I saying that all guy gamers just want to level ASAP, just about the ones I play with.
Also, I do have quite a few female avatars, and I’ll admit that part of the reason is cause they look better than the male ones
, but my main reason is because it fits that particular character best. I put a lot of thought into my 50+ alts. (I don’t suffer from Altaholism, I enjoy every minute of it ) -
#5 written by Daniel 5 years ago
I wish it was only the sub 14 year old boys that act that way. I work with quite a few guys that just don’t believe that women can hack it in business. Yes, I’m talking about married men, 30+ years old, with children.
Anyway, I started playing WoW a few months back and have played with a slew of people that said they were girls and watched many people treat them differently because of it, lame.
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A few of my friends started new WoW characters a few days ago and were inducted into our guild immediately, because, well, we’re friends, and that’s cool. There was this guy in the starter area that saw us hanging out together, and then started to challenge a duel with all of us, begging to join our guild, and generally being really annoying. When we ignored him, he said something to the effect of “wat eva, you alls are probably girls.”
Yeah. WTF.
It happens all too often unfortunately.
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#8 written by Robert(Bob) Smith 5 years ago
I assure you not all male players are like this. I play WoW in a guild where most members have at least one level 60 character… our best healer? A lady… our best PvPer? A lady… Heck, my main is a level 60 hunter, and the person who has helped me hone many of my hunter skills (not to mention track down some of my pets)? A lady. Since we use Ventrillo while we play, I’m actually pretty sure they are ladies. *Smiles*
On a related note. My major in college was Systems Analysis, and there were many who held the thought that the females in the program where not as good (or skilled) as the males. The culmination of the SA program was the Analysis class for the first half of our senior year, and the Design class for the second half. These were four person team projects and at the start of each semester, you were given the chance to pick one person with whom you’d really like to work, and one person with whom you really wished not to work. There were four of us in the class who were members of Omega Rho (SA honorary), and each of us picked one of the other four as the person with whom we wished to work. Our team consisted of the four Omega Rho members and we not only out performed all the other undergraduate teams, but all the graduate student teams as well… I was the only male on the team.
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#9 written by Scott B. 5 years ago
I would like to offer the perspective of a 15 year old in this discussion, because many of you think that being around 14 is equal to being a sexist, immature brat. I have encountered these type of people, but I would like to point out that there are many younger gamers that can be mature and would not like to be thrown in the stereotype that the previous posters have used.
Another reason that this “14 year old” stereotype is overused is because older men can be just as sexist, as daniel mentioned above. Please, the next time you meet a 14 year old online, don’t assume that they are immature, and the next time you meet an immature person online, don’t assume that they are a 14 year old.On a note to female gamers, I am very sorry that you are forced to put up with the immature people that do happen to exist in our gaming society, and I hope that you are still able to have a enjoyable experience on the web.
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Let me say that I’m sorry you have to deal with that kind of crap just cause you are a woman. You’d think in this day and age things would be different. If I played WoW you’d be welcome to roll with my crew any day.
I’m honestly not surprised by the second comment as it seems to come from a console gamer. I’m not sure what it is, probably the younger age demographic on consoles as opposed to PCs, but the number of idiots on XBOX Live astounds me. I’ve been a PC gamer for a long time and I’ve never seen the amount of ass-hatry as I have on XBL. I stopped using the voice chat and pretty much gave up on Halo 2 because you can’t seem to get away from ignorant little pre-teen spoiled brats. Generation Y is apparently being brought up with no concept of manners when dealing with other people… which of course will become amusing when they enter the real world and find out they can’t just say that kind of thing to anyone and get away with it.