165: The Frag Fraternity?

[Rachael Griffiths]

The Frag Fraternity?

"The only contact I'd had with anybody from TFF was a few conversations over MSN Messenger and the TFF forum with Sally. Sally, one half of the couple who runs the event, assured me that she was going to look after me. TFF LANs currently run every six weeks in the Barnsley, South Yorkshire, with attendance varying between 25 and 40 people per LAN.

"Unfortunately, from the few conversations I had with her before the event, it appeared that there would be a distinct shortage of female gamers attending: a possible six out of around 40 people."

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[Blayze]

Well, well, well. Look who we have here. A pleasant surprise to see an article on here by someone I've met in real life, Opheliac. Glad to see more confirmation that you enjoyed yourself, and that you thought it was worth submitting an article to The Escapist. We must really be that awesome.

And for anyone who wants to see the peanut gallery that is TFF (Or at least those who were at the LAN Rachael is talking about...), take a look.

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p98/iMess/Fotos/TFF-Group003.jpg

 

[lesterley]

I participated in a LAN event in Chicago back in 1999. I was the only woman in an office building packed with about 40 guys.

I also had the biggest computer of anyone there - which I had built myself!

We played some Unreal (which I was good at) and some Counterstrike (which I was terrible at).

If any derogatory statements were made about me, I definitely didn't hear them. Maybe I just got lucky?

Leslee

 

[drunkymonkey]

Heh. The LAN centre I occasionally frequent is stocked with 11-15 year old white males mostly, and a lot of their mouths are a more than a little bit rotten, when it comes to, y'know, people who aren't 11-15 year old white males. I doubt you'd get the same nice feeling if going to a LAN centre that opens everyday, although maybe it has to do with geography, too.

EDIT: lovely article, btw!

 

[sammyfreak]

Never really liked long LANs that much, spending a night playing Counter-Strike or something like that with friends is always (often) fun but the weekend things of large calibur tend to wear me out.

 

[mikekearn]

Some have even been specifically targeted by their male counterparts during online play.

This is actually something that can be beneficial if the game has teams. For example, if there is a chick on my team in Halo 3, we can have her trash talk in the pregame lobby, get people angling for her blood, and pick them off easy as pie as they stupidly try and go for the "easy" target.

While I do wish there wasn't such a big divide in the preconceived notions of male versus female gamers, so long as there is, I'm going to be making use of it to benefit myself and my team.

 

[P-Dub]

Nice one you little welsh diamond you!!

Its always nice to see a girl at a LAN, my girlie would quite convincingly kick my ass at MOHAA and RA2, girlie gamers have nothing to fear but the immature asshats who frequent CS servers and scream ASL! at the first opportunity, luckily for all of us, none of those exist at TFF.

Yes i was the one making the welsh jokes, and no they werent meant seriously, my only regret of that LAN is not bringing you some of my migraine pills (industrial strength fully researched by me )

I cant wait to see you at the next one. I wanna see what you got in games...

Dubz (The loud one)

 

[Anton P. Nym]

It's amazing how many of the problems of network play disappear in LANs, at least at the ones I've attended (and the one tiny one I held). Admittedly, these were LANs held in private and were invitation-only so much of the "riff-raff" were weeded out from the start... but that too is part of the Joy of LANs. Indeed, at the Halo LANs I've attended the number of female participants has increased each time though women are still in the minority.

So there's hope yet that the gender barrier will be broken in LANs.

-- Steve

 

[Blayze]

It's amazing how many of the problems of network play disappear in LANs,

Not really. People generally tend to behave when the people they're trash-talking can single them out and punch them in the face.

 

[Grubnar]

"What makes the subject even more interesting is the fact that the apparent split between male and female gamers in the U.K. is 45 percent female and 55 percent male."

I find that difficult to belive. In fact I would like to know how the writer of this article came up with those numbers.

 

[FSK405K]

The more women who attend LAN parties, the more men who will use deodorant.

 

[42manZ]

I totally support women going. I mean, I'd never go to one, but I support women going to them.

 

[snr0n]

Really, Grubnar? Why is that so hard to believe? The IEAA (Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia) has figures on their site stating that there's just a 60/40 gender split in favour of males here at the moment (well, that's what's listed on their "top 10 player facts" page; their 2007 research actually says it's 41% females). I can't imagine why things would be so very different in the UK.

 

[Joeshie]

Really, Grubnar? Why is that so hard to believe? The IEAA (Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia) has figures on their site stating that there's just a 60/40 gender split in favour of males here at the moment (well, that's what's listed on their "top 10 player facts" page; their 2007 research actually says it's 41% females). I can't imagine why things would be so very different in the UK.

The problem with those numbers is that they often paint a misleading picture. The ESA says that the average age of a gamer is now in the 30's. Does that mean when I walk into a Gamestop I'm going to see people of all ages? No chance in hell. A large majority of the people who visit Gamestop are young people. The same is true for women. Just because 40% of "gamers" are women, doesn't mean that this is equally distributed among the different kinds of gamers. I get the feeling that what Grubnar considers to be a gamer is very different from what the ESA considers to be a gamer.

As to the original post, I can't really say that it's surprising that women are underrepresented in LAN parties. LAN parties, at least the ones I'm used to, are dominated by two genres: FPS and RTS. Neither of these genres appears to be popular with women, for whatever reason. If you want to get more women to LAN parties, start setting up games that would appeal to them.

Though, I'm not sure if the Sims can be LANed.

 

[Lampdevil]

I'm a girl and I've always wanted to go to a LAN party. Totally wanted to. The IDEA of it appeals to me, all... gaming all night and whee funstuff. But I totally SUCK at any game that would likely get played, and yeah... I'm not up for the humilliation and general shitty attitudes that I'll probably get for showing up. Maybe I'll check with my guy friends here, ask them what the atmosphere of the local events is like, and finally give it a swing... I can't get better if I don't get some practice, and I can't judge it before attending, eh?

 

[Blayze]

I wouldn't worry about it, Lamp. To be honest, TFF is a more social LAN than most. Sometimes, there's no tournaments at all. Hell, many members don't even game most of the time. Why do we keep going, though? Because it's fun. Because it's a laugh.

 

[Anton P. Nym]

Keep in mind that there is a continuum on which LAN parties can be placed; one extreme emphasises the "LAN" to the exclusion of all else, and the other emphasises the "party" until the hardware is there as an excuse to get together. In my (admittedly limited) experience, most LAN parties hover around the middle third of this continuum; the games are either present to complement the socialising, or are central but with plenty of non-gaming activities to keep the social aspect going and the gaming fresh.

Heck, some of more notable LAN memories for me come from side trips or sitting around the BBQ or kitchen table swapping lies.

-- Steve

 

[Rachael Griffiths]

Hi guys, first of all thanks for all the comments you've left on the article.

In response to Grubnar's comment the figures came from the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation). Although let's face it none of us can be entirely sure what the BBC class as a gamer. For example I know plenty of women who use their PCs to play nothing but The Sims and Patience - but I suppose that does technically does make them gamers ... I think we can all agree that official statistics do have a tendency of being misleading.

As for Lampdevil's comment - that sounds exactly like something I would have said before going to TFF! At the end of the day, who cares whether or not you think you're any good? I believe that I suck at quite a few games but at least I had some fun trying eh? And the more you do something, the better you get ...

And lastly, in response to Joeshie's comment. The two games I seem to spend most of my time playing (at home as well as at LAN I would add) is Dawn of War and Team Fortress 2. In fact give me those and a good RPG and you won't see me for days.

 

[zoozilla]

I've never been to a LAN party. I should, probably. New experiences can't be bad, right?

It seems as though LAN gatherings are a right bit friendlier than Xbox Live, where it seems anyone who is not a white, 20-30 year old male is spat upon.

 

[Joeshie]

And lastly, in response to Joeshie's comment. The two games I seem to spend most of my time playing (at home as well as at LAN I would add) is Dawn of War and Team Fortress 2. In fact give me those and a good RPG and you won't see me for days.

I honestly think that is awesome, but that doesn't change the problem that both of these genres aren't particularly popular with women.