A question to all girl gamers...

[Not G. Ivingname]

...What got you into gaming? Were you raised with it or played it with your brother(s)? Or did you just start to get into just recently with things like popcap and the Wii? I am not trying to be sexist or anything, I know lots of girls that are interested in it, but the majority of "gamers" are still men, and I am just wondering what brought you to such a "Boys club" that spends millions on jiggle physics.

 

[Chancie]

My dad always used to play PC games when I was little (Duke Nukem, Doom, Unreal, American Mcgee's Alice, etc.) and I always watched. Always. He had some games that I actually got mad at him if he played without me. xD

Though, for a while, I didn't have that much interest in playing them myself. I just preferred to watch because I figured I wouldn't be very good.

Kingdom Hearts came out. I was dying to play it. My parents got me a PS2 and Kingdom Hearts was the only game I had much of an interest in playing until about 7th-8th grade, when I took an interest in Final Fantasy itself and the survival horror genre.
It took off from there and I like a crapton of games now. :3 More than I think I can count, really. xD

 

[PixieFace]

I just always liked playing games. I mean, I was playing the first Doom and Duke Nukem side by side with Jump Start (does anyone remember those games?) before I was even five years old. I played the SNES, too - Castlevania, Jurassic Park - but mostly PC games. It just seemed natural to move onto more mature titles like Half-Life, Vampire the Masquerade, Knights of the Old Republic when I was in middle school, or thereabouts.

And I do play cutesy Popcap and Wii games from time to time, but I FAR prefer FPS and RPG games since that's what I grew up with. I used to play them with my older brother a lot, too, and I've got good memories of competing with him (and winning!).

Rofl, a little blonde girl in a dress cackling whenever she head shot'd a monster in Doom. Yeah, I guess the image is a little unexpected but I had a great childhood nonetheless.

 

[InvisibleSeal]

I have an elder brother who was the first to get into games (pokemon, RTS games and the early FPS games like doom). I was 3 years younger than him so I suppose I followed his example, though I was always playing point and click games.

He was definately why I got into gaming, and we still share some games, though he's more into FPS games than I am, and I tend to prefer RPGs.

EDIT: To be honest, I don't usually buy "mainstream" FPS games - it's probably his influence that made me play them against him so often when I was younger. If I hadn't, I'd probably be awful now! Nowadays, I'll only play if they stand out, or if I play someone else's.

 

[EeveeElectro]

Er... My brother and sister used to play. I remember a game my sister used to play that proper scared me. We shared a room, so she played it at night. One level was set in a graveyard and I had a massive phobia of them back then :/ can't remember the name of it.
We only had a PS1 =( We were more casual, but my brother and I grew up to be a little more hardcore.

 

[Erana]

One of my earliest memories involves, "No, daddy, don't kill the sheep! Please!"
My father liked FPSs, and in retrospect, he was terrible at them. Ever since I was a little girl, though, I've always had an inexplicable interest in video games, and I think he's why. My sister liked gaming too, though; we always played together.

 

[megalomania]

I love how accidentally pejorative these threads seem sometimes!

I would imagine that girls get into gaming the exact same way that guys do - friends or family.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Thank god, I'm not a female but I thought this was another "Women are oppressed in gaming thread"

Top work OP for creating a good girl directed thread, I sure am sick of the aforementioned threads.

There are a lot of those kinds of threads here?

 

[SnipErlite]

snip

You know I never realised you were female. Huh. Weird. Seems kinda obvious now.

Wait, why am I even in this thread? [sub]I was curious[/sub]

I'll leave.

 

[LogieBear]

My first ever videogame that i ever played was 'Legend Of Zelda - Ocarina Of Time' I was 4 and my uncle was playing it and allowed me to have a go.
I had no idea what I was doing, but forever now im hooked on playing games because of that one moment.

But your question is kinda odd. What gets men into games? everyone has different reasons but I don't think sex has much to do with liking a videogame
Not that I dissaprove of your question though haha, nice to see someone who asks =P

But yes now im an avid MMORPG, RPG and FPS player and also an anime lover.
I really can't see myself anyother way =D

 

[EeveeElectro]

snip

You know I never realised you were female. Huh. Weird. Seems kinda obvious now.

Wait, why am I even in this thread? [sub]I was curious[/sub]

I'll leave.

Haha. The basic assumption on this site is that everyone is male unless proven otherwise. When I first joined, I got addressed as 'him' a lot. Now I'm hoping people know me, or look at the 'Emilee' and realise.

I know you joined this thread because you thought us girls would be secretly having pillow fighrts and mud wrestles in pyjamas, but decieving you by saying it's a thread...

[sub]...I always know...[/sub]

 

[Caenis]

Well, first, you have to make sure you understand that the "majority" is not a big one anymore. There are some estimates that suggest that up to 40% of gamers are women.

I've played games off and on my whole life. From Atari (I was quite young, but did play with my parents a bit) to Commodore 64 (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, anyone?) and all the way on up to PS3 now. I play a whole variety of games too. From Katamari and LBP, which are family friendly titles, to Borderlands, Bad Company 2 and Modern Warfare 2.

I just like games. Period. Can't tell you why, just as I can't really tell you why I'm the kind of girl who doesn't want her boyfriend to buy her diamonds. It's just me.

Speaking towards the "oppression" of female gamers, I think assuming that we started because of a brother or father, or that Wii and Popcap games were our intro is part of the problem. We don't have to be gentled into gaming. But we do want our tastes (which don't always include flowers and the color pink) to be included.

So, to the person tired of the "oppression" threads, give me a break. While I don't want to project a victim mentality (I'm certainly not a victim), that viewpoint is valid. If you're a game maker, a marketer, or you just want to play with some kick butt chicks, then ignoring those kinds of threads is not going to suit you well.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

My first ever videogame that i ever played was 'Legend Of Zelda - Ocarina Of Time' I was 4 and my uncle was playing it and allowed me to have a go.
I had no idea what I was doing, but forever now im hooked on playing games because of that one moment.

But your question is kinda odd. What gets men into games? everyone has different reasons but I don't think sex has much to do with liking a videogame
Not that I dissaprove of your question though haha, nice to see someone who asks =P

True... Never really thought about that in that way. However, it seams that so many guys are into gaming and that the subject matter a lot of the time (big beefing space marines walking around with guns with chainsaws attached to them/women only wearing the amount of cloth that goes into an average sock/etc.) I thought it was just a natrual thing to be into video games when you are a guy, like football or something. Though considering that I only got into it with the PS1 with games like Sypro, and all the current comments so far, it seams it just happens based on how much access one had to games.

 

[Thelonesun]

My sister is a hardcore MMORPG player, but likes the casual games a fair bit, though once when I was playing SSBB she took out a controller, plugged it in, and proceeded to kick my ass as Peach. Which was totally unexpected.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Well, first, you have to make sure you understand that the "majority" is not a big one anymore. There are some estimates that suggest that up to 40% of gamers are women.

I've played games off and on my whole life. From Atari (I was quite young, but did play with my parents a bit) to Commodore 64 (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, anyone?) and all the way on up to PS3 now. I play a whole variety of games too. From Katamari and LBP, which are family friendly titles, to Borderlands, Bad Company 2 and Modern Warfare 2.

I just like games. Period. Can't tell you why, just as I can't really tell you why I'm the kind of girl who doesn't want her boyfriend to buy her diamonds. It's just me.

Speaking towards the "oppression" of female gamers, I think assuming that we started because of a brother or father, or that Wii and Popcap games were our intro is part of the problem. We don't have to be gentled into gaming. But we do want our tastes (which don't always include flowers and the color pink) to be included.

So, to the person tired of the "oppression" threads, give me a break. While I don't want to project a victim mentality (I'm certainly not a victim), that viewpoint is valid. If you're a game maker, a marketer, or you just want to play with some kick butt chicks, then ignoring those kinds of threads is not going to suit you well.

I am sorry if I offended you, I was just curios about the subject after watching http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8ZVZRsy8N8 .

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Thank god, I'm not a female but I thought this was another "Women are oppressed in gaming thread"

Top work OP for creating a good girl directed thread, I sure am sick of the aforementioned threads.

There are a lot of those kinds of threads here?

Well there was this point where like 5 of them cropped up in a very short space of time.

Wow... didn't know so many guys looked down on girl gamers.

 

[Caenis]

Well, first, you have to make sure you understand that the "majority" is not a big one anymore. There are some estimates that suggest that up to 40% of gamers are women.

I've played games off and on my whole life. From Atari (I was quite young, but did play with my parents a bit) to Commodore 64 (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, anyone?) and all the way on up to PS3 now. I play a whole variety of games too. From Katamari and LBP, which are family friendly titles, to Borderlands, Bad Company 2 and Modern Warfare 2.

I just like games. Period. Can't tell you why, just as I can't really tell you why I'm the kind of girl who doesn't want her boyfriend to buy her diamonds. It's just me.

Speaking towards the "oppression" of female gamers, I think assuming that we started because of a brother or father, or that Wii and Popcap games were our intro is part of the problem. We don't have to be gentled into gaming. But we do want our tastes (which don't always include flowers and the color pink) to be included.

So, to the person tired of the "oppression" threads, give me a break. While I don't want to project a victim mentality (I'm certainly not a victim), that viewpoint is valid. If you're a game maker, a marketer, or you just want to play with some kick butt chicks, then ignoring those kinds of threads is not going to suit you well.

I am sorry if I offended you, I was just curios about the subject after watching http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8ZVZRsy8N8 .

You didn't offend me much (though I do wish guys realized that some girls think Popcap games are dumb too...). The "Oh God, not another thread about oppressed girl gamers" from the other poster did.