Videogames are a large hobby of mine and have been since I was about 3 on my dad's Megadrive(I'm 20 now). I will admit though that I don't take much part in online communities except in Guild Wars, but even then the only people know I'm a girl are the ones I was in a guild with; I dropped lucky and found a pretty decent guild with nice people in it who weren't preoccupied with whether or not I had vent. When I go online I turn off 'Local' chat because I'd rather just get on with the game instead of having to sift through lines and lines of drivel to find something worthwile to answer. What also doesn't help the typical view of being a female gamer are the women and girls who feel the need to pronounce they're a woman in every game they play and then get annoyed when they don't get special treatment. I used to know a girl like that and eventually I stopped talking to her, because she got on my nerves so much complaining that all men are sexist and she's gonna quit playing Gears of War eventually. These are reasons I play single player games more than anything; so I don't have to put up with cybersex requests and insults (I've endured both on Guild Wars), as well as the fact I'm more interested in games with immersive stories rather than wondering if there's a multiplayer before I buy it.
The way women are sexualised in games doesn't really bother me. I tend to play RPG and fantasy games the most, and not much in those games is correct to reality anyway. In fact if I'm honest, I'd rather see a woman wearing something like Bayonetta's outfit or some of the more impractical Final Fantasy gear rather than covered head to toe in armour with no discernable gender, because the latter bores me.
Most people I know pull faces when they find out that when I say I'm a gamer I don't mean a casual gamer and I don't play things like Wii Sports or Mario. And the old arguments appear; "Aren't you a bit old for that sort of stuff?" "Girls shouldn't play videogames, why aren't you out getting hammered every other night and pulling random hot guys with us?" (That is a whole other discussion...). My answer for these people is simply that I enjoy playing games, from Final Fantasy and Mass Effect to Bioshock and Left 4 Dead. I refuse to touch Call of Duty though... I've tried it, and honestly, unless you're big on using online communities then there's no point playing; it's incredibly boring for me, but that's just my opinion. I don't mind that most people I know don't approve of my love of gaming, because I know there are places I can go and people I can talk to where it's a common interest, like here for example.
The way women are sexualised in games doesn't really bother me. I tend to play RPG and fantasy games the most, and not much in those games is correct to reality anyway. In fact if I'm honest, I'd rather see a woman wearing something like Bayonetta's outfit or some of the more impractical Final Fantasy gear rather than covered head to toe in armour with no discernable gender, because the latter bores me.
Most people I know pull faces when they find out that when I say I'm a gamer I don't mean a casual gamer and I don't play things like Wii Sports or Mario. And the old arguments appear; "Aren't you a bit old for that sort of stuff?" "Girls shouldn't play videogames, why aren't you out getting hammered every other night and pulling random hot guys with us?" (That is a whole other discussion...). My answer for these people is simply that I enjoy playing games, from Final Fantasy and Mass Effect to Bioshock and Left 4 Dead. I refuse to touch Call of Duty though... I've tried it, and honestly, unless you're big on using online communities then there's no point playing; it's incredibly boring for me, but that's just my opinion. I don't mind that most people I know don't approve of my love of gaming, because I know there are places I can go and people I can talk to where it's a common interest, like here for example.
