"Girl Gamer Syndrome"

[ultrachicken]

Guys often will jump for girl gamers, and this can have benefits. If the girl in question is an attention whore, she gets (pathetic) people hitting on her all the time. If she's just looking to exploit the circumstances, then she gets a lot of guys offering her help in the game, or just being nicer.

Of course, it doesn't always work out well for the girl, because there are plenty of shamelessly sexist pricks online who just jump at the opportunity to make fun of the girl, but from what I hear the adoration is more common.

 

[])rStrangelove]

Really, there is plenty of poon out there with your name all over it, it just doesn't manifest itself in WOW, star-craft or on the xbox..

Still it makes some sense. If you're after girls who like to go out & party you search in discos, if you're looking for girls who love fast cars you go to places where a lot racers hang out.
Gamer-girls can mostly be found online. If you try to find them in a supermarket where they get their midnight snack for the next WoW session, your chances to notice them being gamers are a lot lower.

 

[D Moness]

This, so much. I find myself now worried to actually mention online I'm a girl lest someone immediately assume I'm just there to get the loot.

Though ironically enough a lot of female characters in mmo's going like "i am female gimmie free loot" are irl guys just trying to swindle desperate boys.

There are attention seekers at both sides. Honestly enough i can not be bothered to care about that(except that i posted >.<). I am just busy enjoying my games

 

[Chocomint]

I think it's dumb to advertise it as if it makes you awesome and special, but the same goes for anyone who posts "yes I am a _______, so deal with it" in a chat/profile/sig. It's usually easy to ignore though.


eta: And I guess I shouldn't browse the forums when I first wake up because I've accidentally reported my own post. Whoops.

 

[fates_puppet13]

most girls who do that are not playing games because they enjoy them and more as a social symbol.
typically most girl gamers tend not to flaunt it, with the exception of 2 who are valve fangirls which is cool and all that.
but then there are these untold legions of girls who claim to play games because they know link's name isn't zelda

 

[TehWinged]

It's a double-edged blade. You get the girls who play and actually know how to conduct themselves in an acceptable manner online, then you get the annoying ones who don't understand that they don't need to insist they're a girl fifteen freaking times.

 

[hailfire]

to be perfectly honest I was under the impression that only about three girls in the world played video games: FDchick, Kathleen de Verre,and that girl from critical miss (who I was recently informed is a fictional character). I am pretty surprised and a little suspicious to hear that you are a girl gamer, and that you even have multiple girl gamer friends. that means either there are six girls who play video games in total, or you are one of the original three I mentioned and your friends are the other two. please respond to explain which one of these options is true.

 

[dancinginfernal]

Has anyone else ever noticed how many girls lately seem to think they're a "special snowflake" just because they play video games? It's really prevalent on Facebook especially. Statuses like "Yes I'm a girl, and yes I play video games <3". Or "lol I'm such a nerd, playin COD text ittt." Seriously, do they expect guys to just jump all over them like the fact that they play video games makes them hot suddenly? I'm not a guy though, so I guess that's why I'm posting this. Thoughts?

I have encountered this before. I also hate it. It's not attractive, it's annoying.

The best way to interact with other gamers is to act like they are gamers, girls or otherwise. I'd vastly prefer if girls like that acted the same way.

 

[TheTurtleMan]

Honestly I have no problem with it so long as they aren't bullshitt'ing and actually play games on a regular basis. If they only say that because they think it will make guys interested then it's the same thing as lying about your job or car you drive, you just don't do it.

However, it changes if they are annoyingly overt about how much they game. Generally I just ask myself, if this were a guy doing the same thing, how would I feel?

 

[Robert Ewing]

It's just one last desperate ploy in order to acquire male attention.

More specifically the attention of teenage boys that THINK they fall under the category of 'nerd', but all they've done is play CoD and some Final Fantasy XIII once. They are football playing, self grooming, nice smelling jocks that play video games sometimes. It's sickening -.-

Sad to say... It's successful... Men eat the gamer girl shit up.

 

[Vegosiux]

Note the difference between 9 and 10.

 

[Farther than stars]

I guess in the end it comes down to how you want to define yourself as a person. And you define yourself by what sets you apart from other people. And since female gamers are still in a minority, I guess in a way that makes them more "special" (for want of a better word) than male gamers.
Then again, I knew a girl who scoffed at the fact that I liked to play "hardcore adrenaline-filled masculine games" (I'm conveying tone here, not actually quoting her), but she herself played tons of Facebook and browser games, so I guess in the end it's where you draw the line that determines how much playing video games because part of your personality.

 

[bob-2000]

Ok, I've seen this a lot. They are not obnoxious because they are women; they're just using their vig-vaj as an excuse to be narcissistic. There are tons of women who game, but are cool about it. Don't let these few attention whores corrupt female gamers as a whole.

 

[Bete Noire]

to be perfectly honest I was under the impression that only about three girls in the world played video games: FDchick, Kathleen de Verre,and that girl from critical miss (who I was recently informed is a fictional character). I am pretty surprised and a little suspicious to hear that you are a girl gamer, and that you even have multiple girl gamer friends. that means either there are six girls who play video games in total, or you are one of the original three I mentioned and your friends are the other two. please respond to explain which one of these options is true.

Hey, I can't speak for the original poster, but out of the top of my head, and in my closest circle of friends there are 4 of us who are hard core gammers, who play MMOS (the other three are WOW fanatics, I'll stick to COH and now SWTOR, thankyouverymuch) -- and I'm not even counting the other female gamers I know that game card games and roleplaying games.

We are more than you were lead to believe. We are b0r--oh wait, nevermind.

However, this attention thing and the whole "girls often throw the first stone" thing made me think of something.

Have you noticed how most of the times, if a girl is easy and sleeps around, she will very quickly get labelled a "slut" by other girls, and judged harshly for it -- but guys don't care that much on the girl's sleeping habits (unless she's their girlfriend, of course)?

 

[thedoclc]

It's just one last desperate ploy in order to acquire male attention.

More specifically the attention of teenage boys that THINK they fall under the category of 'nerd', but all they've done is play CoD and some Final Fantasy XIII once. They are football playing, self grooming, nice smelling jocks that play video games sometimes. It's sickening -.-

Sad to say... It's successful... Men eat the gamer girl shit up.

You do realize that your post contains an implicit definition of a real gamer or real nerd as someone who doesn't smell nice and doesn't play sports and is, essentially, a loser.

That's just as absurd as "gamers are violent" or "gamers are all awkward" or any of these other nonsense stereotypes. Gamers have no defining trait except liking video games. Period. I smell some very sour grapes.

On topic...I think most "gamer girls" are asserting identity in an environment which is unfair for them. They have guys either fawning on them (which most women do NOT really want) or else being jerks. They want to game and hang out, and instead get a bunch of extra crap on top of the normal grief.

The problem is we men. You want to know how most women in a "geek" hobby want to be treated? They want you to stop being a douche, have some dignity, and show them the same respect you would anywhere else. All my female friends, exes, and gf in "guy geek" hobbies or academia have complained about the guys acting strangely. Several bitched about VG's. The MtG or RPG or Warhammer players -hated- whem guys acted differently just because someone with XX's showed up. Being on the web gives people anonymity and removes some of the social pressure which mitigates it in a face to face environment. It's the same behavior, just made worse because it's the web and lacks the norms of face-to-face interaction.

And, bro? If she wouldn't be into you outside of gamer culture, she won't be into you in it.

As for the rare exception, whatever. If she wants that environment, that's her business.

 

[Jun_Jun]

I'm rather annoyed at this whole hate on 'girl gamers' lately (I will say now I'm female), while I know most people just treat me normally or are quite pleasant whenever I jump on mulitiplayer games I do get some...'special' cases that just baffle me,

Spoiler

last night I jumped on a random expert campaign in Left4Dead2 (we were on the bridge finale in the Parish), now usually whenever I jump on Expert campaigns it does take about 2 or so hours of play so usually I chat to team mates and have a bit of a joke, seeing as how easily frustrating it can get to get stuck in a certain chapter. (etc. etc.) As soon as I joined I said 'Hey everyone' as my character was already dead I waited patiently, eventually everyone got wiped and we decided to take another crack at the bridge. As soon as I spawned in the saferoom I climbed up the ladder (inside the saferoom) only for my team mate to gun me down (note for those who don't play l4d2 friendly fire on expert in this game is fatal he killed me instantly), I didn't know what to think so I had a bit of a laugh and asked what was that for, he just replied with 'ok I get that your a 'gurl gamer' stfu', I argued that I was just trying to be friendly and stuck around for my respawn the next round, he shot me down again, and again and again, I know most of you are probably thinking wtf why didn't you just leave? but I just thought that he was having a wee tantrum and he would get over it, but it went on for like 30 mins he didn't think to kick me from the game (he was with a mate who refused to do anything)he just wanted to harass me. I eventually made him ragequit and leave after he figured that if he kept gunning down team mates and running off on his own he would never finish the finale. But I just couldn't believe it, I could not understand his thought pattern, I'm guessing he was probably a bit young or something along those lines because I cannot imagine anyone over the age of 20 acting in such a way I mean, wtf!? I just don't know why someone would harass someone else and waster 2 other peoples' time based on gender I'm guessing he thought I was crap at the game because obviously my small female hands cannot grasp the keyboard and mouse correctly... derp :B

Also I'll add that I do not flaunt being a 'gamer girl' by going omg! I'm a girl playing a FPS omg! everyone add mee!!
I just like to have a friendly chat with teammates during long campaigns and make friends sometimes
(also just peeking through the first page and yes I do get the occasional creeps that can be a bit..forward I usually just laugh it off and let them know that I'm engaged, which is true if they keep creeping I usually block them)

 

[ms_sunlight]

It's always fun to call them out on their bullshit. Ask them some questions any self-respecting gamer would know and watch them fail horribly.

Public humiliation, the one cure for attention whores.

Okay, what is the gamer's shibboleth then? What questions can only gamers answer?

Seriously - we don't all have the same platforms, we don't all like the same genres and we're all different ages. I'm a PC gamer and I mostly play RPGs and action games. I'm not going to be able to answer questions about Halo.