If we feel the need to "genderize" terms we are doing nothing more than engendering differences between social groups. I don't play Farmville because it's an absolutely terrible game without any plot beyond "raise a good farm." I also rather enjoy World of Goo a game without any traditionally "masculine" elements.Gildan Bladeborn said:I take issue with this oversimplification, and not just because all the games used as examples of "hardcore" ones that appeal to male audiences are games I bloody hate (or entire genres I bloody hate in the case of sports titles). For me, the distinction between hardcore and casual games is quite easy to make: Does your game have a narrative structure that gradually unfolds as the player makes progress in the game? If yes, it's not a casual game. If no, it is. Unless it revolves around competitive multiplayer, in which case I will still think of it as merely an 'advanced' casual game since there is ultimately no purpose to your actions in game beyond "shoot some dudes for points" or what have you, but I recognize that others don't see those that way.
No, no it doesn't."Hardcore" equals masculine. "Casual" equals feminine. It's just that simple.
I agree with you completely, this has to be one of the most generalizing and sexist articles about gaming I have read in a while.NamesAreHardToPick said:Empowerment RIP.
This article's not feminist, it's reinforcing and expanding gender stereotypes. Games about guns, blood, engines, sports... the article says these things are for BOYS ONLY in case anyone missed the memo. There's no option that a man might enjoy Plants vs Zombies over Call of Duty. There's no option that a woman would enjoy playing these games, or could be capable of doing so with the same skill and intensity as a man. All of the sexualization of beating an opponent can only have legitimacy if you're clearly dominating, gestures like teabagging and claims of "rape" are a dickless backfire if you're making them against a player who's clearly an even match. I've seen my share of women who positively glory in laying out a male opponent in an online fight specifically because of the emasculation it implies.
My wife has played a lot of hardcore games very seriously - Monster Hunter, Demon's Souls, MMO's, etc. If anything she invented competition in Monster Hunter where none existed, since the game is essentially co-operative. She's diplomatic to her teammates in-game but you should hear her rants about members who don't have the equipment or talent to be useful in her hunting party. In Demon's Souls she dreaded player invasions to her game and detested the kind of players who enjoyed attacking others, but saw quitting the game or playing offline to avoid these fights as cheating... with fighting to win being the only option, she played it to the hilt and enjoyed her victories. This is the kind of self-realized woman that could never exist in some gender-neutralized environment safe from anything hurtful or unfair.
Gaming *at all* is a step towards gender-neutrality. The men aren't out there doing "real man" things... racing muscle cars, fighting, working-out, making money, or engaging in sexual conquests. In comparison there's no level of testosterone you can bring to a videogame that isn't entirely impotent. The women aren't cooking, cleaning, knitting, or raising children. Regardless of how they choose to play, they are stepping outside of their traditional domestic servitude and materialism to pursue their own pleasure. If anything, women have a chance to engage in these "hardcore" activities on even terms with their male counterparts. A 105 pound girl tackles as hard as everyone else in a game of Madden.
It's nothing new, in fact, it's been done since the dawn of time. At least we speak English, where it isn't woven into the fabric of the language.Le_Lisra said:It annoys me that everything has to "genderized" like this.
There is a catch to this though.Rowan Kaiser said:There is one term which contains an identification which can compare with the term "hardcore gamer." It encompasses regular Call of Duty players, FarmVille fanatics, Bejeweled addicts, and your raid healer in World of Warcraft. It stands as entirely distinct from "non-gamer" or "person who happens to play games." It is a statement of frank identity, instead of a loaded, coded and confusing claim of maleness. It is, simply, "gamer." A person who declares that they are a gamer, that playing games is a part and parcel of who they are, implies as much or more about their relationship to the game industry as "hardcore" does. Why not use it instead?
I am sorry, but that this kind of stupidity is classified as science is beyond me. The conclusion is not connected to the study at all. All it says conclusively is that the child is confused by a fuzzy, pink gun and the request to classify that object as a gender. What it really tells you is that the kid can NOT classify it, but since it knows it is supposed to (someone told him/her), they 'cheat' by looking at the cover for the 'right' answer.Social psychology studies have found that children recognize what toys and games go with the "proper" gender based on the form of the toy more than the content. Guns are for boys and tea-sets are for girls, yes, but what happens when you show a child a fuzzy, pink gun? They look at the cover, and say it's a toy for girls. Plants vs. Zombies is that pink, fuzzy game; its content is a hardcore game, but it looks like a casual game, thanks to its marketing, its bright, 2D graphics and relatively simple grid.
It is. Observe: Brotherhood of men. It means unity of all human beings, not just brothers and men.pneuma08 said:It's nothing new, in fact, it's been done since the dawn of time. At least we speak English, where it isn't woven into the fabric of the language.Le_Lisra said:It annoys me that everything has to "genderized" like this.