Zomg! A girl on the Internet! OMG…a girl who likes to play games? Marry me! Be my friend! You’re not real! Girls don’t play games! Girls can’t be on gaming forums! No way can a girl be hot and play games AND be talking to me! OMG…the world is going to implode!!!!
Yes…we’ve heard it all. And yes…most of us are tired of hearing it. It’s the same thing over and over and over and OVER again. If it’s not the would-be stalkers who follow us from board to board it’s the love/hate/lust Private Messages we get or the constant Friend requests that come our way or the millions of replies we get when we post in a thread.
Don’t get me wrong. There are some girls out there who like the attention, there are some girls who want to be noticed, some girls who go out of their way and seek this kind of attention from guys…but NOT ALL females are like that.
Most females just want to be accepted, to be seen as equals on the playing field that is called gaming. Yes…we can kick your butt in some games and yes, we can get our asses handed to us in others. It’s give and take, most of us are all on a learning curve. Some are born gamers, some are learning how, most of us have fun doing it.
I do have to admit that chatting on the forums have gotten a lot easier and a lot less “stressful” then it used to be. I get a lot less “Omg…a girl!” postings then I used to and I don’t know if that’s because the males out there actually believe that I’m a female gamer or if they are harassing some other female member or if they are actually coming to realize that gaming isn’t gender specific anymore.
Yes! Gaming is for BOTH men and women. Chances are you’ve run into several females gamers, whether it’s on a gaming forum or online while gaming. It’s becoming more common place and for that, I thank God. It’s nice to know that there are female gamers out there who aren’t afraid to admit that they like gaming, that they can be just as “nerdy” or “geeky” as the next guy when it comes to games, computers, and the Internet.
When my mom was growing up…gaming was non-existent for either gender. It wasn’t until my parents had kids that gaming started to be something fun, something people did in their free time, and something that the family could do together.
“Often times there would be nights that we would play video trivia together on the TV or on the computer. And there were times that you and your brothers would play Pac-man, Mule, or some other game together in the afternoons. You guys even taught me how to play Q-Bert and then in the later years, Tetris.”
So for me and my family…gaming was never a gender specific activity. It was more of a “what kind of gamer are you” then a “you can’t play because you’re a girl.” Growing up like that, it made becoming a member of GameSpot difficult because I was throw into a world of “OMG…a girl who plays video games, quick take a picture! We’ll never see another one on here for as long as we live!” Suddenly I was in a world where guys didn’t believe or want to believe that a female would like gaming and be good at it too.
When I asked a couple of girls that reside in both Gamer’s Perspective and GameSpot what it meant to them to be a girl gamer…they felt the same as I did. That it really isn’t a big deal. Gaming is normal for us although, more times then not, we are seen as Tomboys because we like something that was predominately seen as a male activity.
What about the games themselves? I think it’s safe to say that most women have similar points-of-view when it comes to them. A lot of us wish that there were more females in the starring/main role…in most shoot-em-up games, Role playing games, and action games the main character is a male and the supporting role is filled by a woman, IF there even is a supporting cast.
There’s also a desire for more distinction and character detailing for the female characters. Most women characters are all built the same…leggy, tall, big breasted, and skinny (hello DOA, Rumble Rose, Tomb Raider, etc). If you were to take a good look at men in all sorts of games, you would see that they all come in various sizes, shapes, and looks, but the women all boil down to the same basic profile and that’s something we as female gamers would like to see change.
So what does it mean to be a female gamer these days? To be honest…it’s pretty normal for most of us. Gaming is being seen as a gender neutral pastime more and more and that’s causing a more level playing field for us in the forums as well as in gaming. We’re all growing by leaps and bounds, who knows where we’ll be in another ten years. So the next time you see a female gamer out there…give them a little respect. Who knows…some day gaming may become a female dominated activity and you’ll be the one dealing with the “Omg…a male in our forums!” posts. ;)
Agree? Disagree? Let us know at mail@gamersperspective.com or join us on our forums.
By JessR Contributing Writer Gamer's Perspective
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