Gaming Girl Power on the Rise

[GreenHerring]

I find myself in agreement with Zallest. As a male gamer with a decent social life, even I get sick of the aforementioned male idiocy in pre- and post- game lobbies.

And while I definitely do appreciate (despite having heard of) the increasing volume of female gamers, I tend to think it doesn't solve a few of gaming's more general PR problems - i.e. "games are for social rejects," "games aren't a legitimate pastime," et cetera. The study itself only notes an increase in young female gamers playing from "the confines" of their homes.

 

[Jumplion]

In most RPG's it gives you a choice of your gender, what you look like etc. But in something like an FPS, -especially- historical shooters, but even in the majority of shooters that aren't historically themed, you play a male and only male.

I completely missed that... but I used to play a MMORPG and played female characters just for the sake of not having to look at a male ass as i ran around and "saved the world" with 1,000,000 other people.

but the point of playing a FPS isn't so you can have a totally sexy model as you "pwn noobs". The point is to "pwn noobs" so why should people care? Also if you ask me personally I'd say you're doing them a favor because knowing most nerds this scenario would occur
Male shut-in:"Oh emm gee, you has female model! are you bez girl"
Female Gamer: "Ummm...."
Male shut-in:"ASL ASL ASL ASL?!? PIX PLOX OMG!!!"
-Female Gamer has left the server-

Metal Gear Online has a choice of a Male of Female character (though technically not an FPS) but I've never had any problems with them playing though I did hope they would be based off the FROGS model.

As for the topic, not much to add really. This topic has been done again and again, we can't keep on reporting every time there's a 5% increase in women playing games.

 

[OverlordSteve]

Holy crap! Girls play Video games! This is so completely surprisng!

 

[Simski]

Things like these are what makes me want to be more sexist :/

Seriously, I don't give a crap that girls play games.
It does however annoy me when girls get undeserved attention for doing so.

 

[GreenHerring]

Things like these are what makes me want to be more sexist :/

Seriously, I don't give a crap that girls play games.
It does however annoy me when girls get undeserved attention for doing so.

Fair enough, but you must admit that gaming is much more often associated with the Y chromosome.

 

[GothmogII]

Well, in defense of the historical based games like all those WWII ones, there were no girls in direct combat like those games put you in.

Mhm, I do understand that in the case of history based FPS, although that isn't -entirely- true, many women have over history been quite active during wartime. Just not as such on the frontlines (Although there are many reports of women fighting alongside the men in ancient times right?). Maybe the upcoming Velvet Assassin would be something to look out for in that regard?

In most RPG's it gives you a choice of your gender, what you look like etc. But in something like an FPS, -especially- historical shooters, but even in the majority of shooters that aren't historically themed, you play a male and only male.

I completely missed that... but I used to play a MMORPG and played female characters just for the sake of not having to look at a male ass as i ran around and "saved the world" with 1,000,000 other people.

but the point of playing a FPS isn't so you can have a totally sexy model as you "pwn noobs". The point is to "pwn noobs" so why should people care? Also if you ask me personally I'd say you're doing them a favor because knowing most nerds this scenario would occur
Male shut-in:"Oh emm gee, you has female model! are you bez girl"
Female Gamer: "Ummm...."
Male shut-in:"ASL ASL ASL ASL?!? PIX PLOX OMG!!!"
-Female Gamer has left the server-

As for that...well, okay, maybe a lot of people don't mind playing exclusively as male characters in FPS'es. But I'm sure a lot of others are asking 'why not?' I mean, let's take something like Team Fortress 2, where's the harm in doing gender swapped versions of the Team eh? It doesn't have to be gameplay changing, but it does give the choice. And, as to the 'attractiveness' of the female char. models...well, why do they -have- to be sexy? Or oversexed even? I think I would almost bust a gut laughing at the addition of a female Heavy that looks basically like the Heavy in drag xD Just an example, jokingly of course.

 

[Jumplion]

As for that...well, okay, maybe a lot of people don't mind playing exclusively as male characters in FPS'es. But I'm sure a lot of others are asking 'why not?' I mean, let's take something like Team Fortress 2, where's the harm in doing gender swapped versions of the Team eh? It doesn't have to be gameplay changing, but it does give the choice. And, as to the 'attractiveness' of the female char. models...well, why do they -have- to be sexy? Or oversexed even? I think I would almost bust a gut laughing at the addition of a female Heavy that looks basically like the Heavy in drag xD Just an example, jokingly of course.

That makes me wonder, how'd the rumor of the Pyro being a female start up anyhow?

 

[Simski]

As for that...well, okay, maybe a lot of people don't mind playing exclusively as male characters in FPS'es. But I'm sure a lot of others are asking 'why not?' I mean, let's take something like Team Fortress 2, where's the harm in doing gender swapped versions of the Team eh? It doesn't have to be gameplay changing, but it does give the choice. And, as to the 'attractiveness' of the female char. models...well, why do they -have- to be sexy? Or oversexed even? I think I would almost bust a gut laughing at the addition of a female Heavy that looks basically like the Heavy in drag xD Just an example, jokingly of course.

That makes me wonder, how'd the rumor of the Pyro being a female start up anyhow?

Because of the flowery purse seen at one of the lockers.
The bag was associated with the pyro as all other characters had more easy to pick out stereotypical things at their lockers.

If you ask me, the bag was put there as a way of mocking the fact that no-one knows anything about the pyro for sure, something just there to confuse you.
The idea that the purse is proof that he's female is just laughable.

 

[Blayze]

That makes me wonder, how'd the rumor of the Pyro being a female start up anyhow?

Edit: Beaten to it. Never mind.

Seriously though, every other month someone runs out of things to say so they fall back on the old stalwarts. "Girls play games" is one of them, and it's a "topic" that needs to die in a fire.

 

[Mariena]

I'm with the rest here, and even as a girl, I am getting ridiculously sick of this "news". Yes. Girls play games. Big freaking deal. What's that you say? The majority of the girls that play games are only playing games like The Sims and Rosie's Little Flower Boutique? Who would have thought!

.. Once the majority of the girls play "hardcore" games, like the shooters, RTS games.. and all that. That would be news, and music to my ears.

 

[GreenHerring]

So is a jock strap, but you don't need to make everyone aware that a woman is doing and/or using something generally associated with men.

Those aren't two totally different things at all. [/sarcasm]

When I hear that someone at, say, Ubisoft enjoys a round of WoW, I'm not going to make a gigantic deal about it. It challenges expectations and is rather interesting, though, so I'm probably going to remark about it. Maybe even mention it in a forum.

 

[mshcherbatskaya]

a study, titled "Girl Power: Understanding This Important Consumer Segment," released by the marketing research company this week.

The reason these stories keep popping up has nothing to do with a secret cabal of feminists who are determined to cram Girl Power (oh my god, so co-opted a concept if it ever did actually have anything to do with female empowerment at all) into every crack and crevice of the gaming media, and everything to do with the game industry's ongoing struggle to deal with it's utter failure to reach 50% of its potential market.

Seriously, for women who play games, this news is like, "um, yeah, that's great but--FUCK! FUCK! GODDAMMIT! You piece of...! gah! Shit! I hate these things...oooooookaaayy....YEAH! Gotcha! You little fucker! Christ! ...soooo, you were saying? Oh yeah, girls are playing video games. Yep, I kinda figured that out on my own."

Well, maybe that's just me. I tend to swear when I play. Like, alot. Maybe the pre-teen girls are a little less foul. When their parents aren't around, anyway.

The ones who are skipping a little happy dance around the board rooms are the marketing people who are, quite frankly, running out of new 15-35 year-old males to sell stuff too. They are patting themselves on the back for...progress or something, and at the same time trying to generate media buzz in hopes of making gaming mainstream, Seventeen-Magazine-fashionable.

It's a lot easier to survey a bunch of pre-teen girls than it is to build the sort of smart, original game that would bring non-gamers of any gender to shell out money for a console or new pc.

 

[Phoenix Arrow]

Doesn't this report seem a little patronising to anyone else?
It sounds like girl gamers are being treated differently to guy gamers, in a negative way. Maybe I'm reading to into it but that just seems a bit strange to me.

 

[mshcherbatskaya]

Doesn't this report seem a little patronising to anyone else?

I practically expect them to praise me for going potty in the big girl potty. And seriously, 13 year old girls texting is news? Using iPods is news? Who in their right mind needs research to tell them that tween girls are more than comfortable with consumer electronics and internet technology, and why do they still have a job?

 

[Eldritch Warlord]

those in the tween category (age 9 to 12) are turning to videogames for entertainment with greater frequency.

Why does tween mean that? Why can't we say pre-teen?

Tolkien made up the word tween for hobbits to describe the ages of 20-32, their equivalency to human teens (13-19).

 

[GCM]

Out of curiosity, how many girls here? I'll just have to take your word for it.

I'm sure there are girl gamers other than those who play Will Wright games and Nintendo stuff, but honestly, I find it rather rare. Rather REALLY rare. Maybe it's just me not expecting it, but on the voice chat for Team Fortress 2 (something I REALLY don't expect girls to play), everyone's a guy. The kids are harder to tell, but I still think most of them are guys.