"Girl Gamer Syndrome"

[Sudenak]

Let's put it this way.

Girl gamers have to deal with guy gamers. Sometimes, girl gamers get dragged down to the level of guy gamers and thus end up thinking they really are rare.

Y'wanna know why?

Every day that I play an online game, such as TF2, as soon as my gender is discovered it becomes the center of attention. Usually to undermine my skills or throw down sexist jokes. The 'no girls on the internet' joke is thrown down the most. If a girl just assumes they aren't being retarded pigs, she might believe that it really is a big deal that she plays games.

The simple fact is that there are plenty of girl gamers. Some keep quiet about their gender, as if it's some major offense that they aren't male. Others are loud to the point of being obnoxious. The majority of us are just chicks, and you should just roll with it.

And until girls are allowed to say "DICK OR GTFO" "LOLOLOL GUYS DON'T PLAY GAMES" "GET BACK IN THE GARAGE WHERE YOU BELONG" nonstop 24/7 all the time and receive a slew of giggling high-fives for being so funny, I don't think guys have the grounds to be upset about any of the socially odd girls their behavior has invented.

Just remember: those girls don't think it's a big deal; they know it's a big deal because guys won't stop banging on about it.

 

[Kriptonite]

Regular Gamers who are also Girls don't really go out of the way to label themselves as 'Gamer girls' - just gamers.

I'm going to have to agree with you. Video games, generally speaking, are made for people, not genders. Yes, there are certainly titles geared towards women, but games are for people. Females are, shocker alert, people. Some people are gamers, some are not. Female gamers are gamers first, well, true female gamers, and "Female Gamers" second. Just like I am a male but I don't consider myself a "Male Gamer" I'm just a person that has a passion for gaming. I hope I didn't come off as an ass, that wasn't my intention. I'm just sick of all this male/female bullshit. Men and women are just people. It's sad to see that certain people still see gender first in a medium such as video games.

 

[Sincendiary]

I've been ignoring people *in* game's gender for ages, I played Everquest which is where the female elf seductress who is really a dude in it for the loot and the trollolol was invented and where the early evolution of the WoW princess existed. I didn't care if you were a dog, monkey, cat, evolved fish of some sort, if you could not break mez and use /assist I was your friend.

That said, I am generally more interested in anyone's conversation if they are talking about games I am currently/have played/want to play. I am more likely to be friends with someone who plays games, male or female.

When I met a girl and found out she liked a game, we'd talk about it and this did make her more attractive to me because...well, common ground, it allowed them to display intelligence in general and smart women are attractive, etc etc.

My wife plays games, she plays female characters in MMOs, but rarely actually confirms she is a female. For all the stupid harassment reasons mentioned before, if you're not actually in our guild or something like that, probably never will know, and then she spends a lot of time telling them how she's very happily married and how her husband *loves* firearms and mixed martial arts.

 

[Stublore]

It's odd really, and I guess it as with everything else comes down to circumstances.
Back when I played WoW, there were several girls in the guild, also in Warhammer, but they never ever acted "girly" or got special attention because they had different body parts to the guys.
They never expected anything just because they were girls, and got chewed up if they made mistakes like everybody else.
Perhaps it's different in shooters?
Or perhaps it's just those who make a big deal of their gender, are not really gamers.
They are seeking something else, perhaps the attention?

 

[targren]

Females are, shocker alert, people.

Now that's just crazy talk!

But no, I'm Professor Emeritus of the Old School, damn it. Playing a Hunter on WoW doesn't make one a "gamer," AFAIC. And I demand a gamer girl. I will only marry a woman who can beat Battletoads without save-scumming. That's my Atalanta's footrace [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atalanta#Footrace].

 

[Stublore]

...
Or "I'm a girl go easy on me." Or my personal favorite.. *Sarcasm* "Oh you shot me your so mean to me, shooting a girl."
...

To that, I bloody shoot up the whining brats until they rage quit. Pft. Just because you have boobs doesn't give you the excuse to be a poor gamer.

Tbh honest that would make my mission to hunt her down and shoot her as many times as I could in the game. If you don't want to get shot, fucking play better!!

 

[Zenn3k]

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 won't even consider dating a girl unless she plays anymore.

Sick of having to defend it to non-players.

"Why won't you spend every single second of your day with me!? Skyrim?!?! You don't love me anymore!!!!!"

It gets old.

 

[Cowabungaa]

Eh, give it some time. Videogames, like all things technological, have been attributed to boys for decades. Videogame enthusiasts who happen to be girls going all "ZOMG LOOK AT ME IMA GIRL GAMER!" are just showing that typical knee-jerk reaction of people going against the current social standard.

And knowing that society can move pretty slow, it'll be a few years before that'll die down. No biggy, just calm down and keep gaming.

Myself though, I'm neither surprised nor shocked or anything of the sort when I meet a female gaming enthusiast. I've played games with girls for years now, my old WoW clans and my current TF2/L4D/BF3 clan is filled with girls. The giggling on TF2 sometimes...good heavens.

Sadly I don't meet many in real life. What can I say, girls I have common ground with are attractive.

Actually, "hardcore FPS" is a paradox since modern FPSs are all surprisingly easy and dumbed down so that they'll attract a wider audience.

Because Unreal Tournament or Doom were so complex and deep. Look, shooters have always been the relatively shallow, blowing-of-steam sort of genre, and honestly, what's wrong with that?

 

[tobyornottoby]

Regular Gamers who are also Girls don't really go out of the way to label themselves as 'Gamer girls' - just gamers.

I'm going to have to agree with you. Video games, generally speaking, are made for people, not genders. Yes, there are certainly titles geared towards women, but games are for people. Females are, shocker alert, people. Some people are gamers, some are not. Female gamers are gamers first, well, true female gamers, and "Female Gamers" second. Just like I am a male but I don't consider myself a "Male Gamer" I'm just a person that has a passion for gaming. I hope I didn't come off as an ass, that wasn't my intention. I'm just sick of all this male/female bullshit. Men and women are just people. It's sad to see that certain people still see gender first in a medium such as video games.

Video games -are- made for males. At least the majority of them are, the high profile ones. Just compare them to toys children play with, books they read, etc. There are clearly products made for boys and products for girls.

Not saying anything like girls can't enjoy them, and you're right about the rest, but generally speaking games are not made gender-neutral.

 

[Sincendiary]

It's odd really, and I guess it as with everything else comes down to circumstances.
Back when I played WoW, there were several girls in the guild, also in Warhammer, but they never ever acted "girly" or got special attention because they had different body parts to the guys.
They never expected anything just because they were girls, and got chewed up if they made mistakes like everybody else.
Perhaps it's different in shooters?
Or perhaps it's just those who make a big deal of their gender, are not really gamers.
They are seeking something else, perhaps the attention?

I think games with persistent worlds where you establish relationships for common gain like the MMOs you mentioned make it harder to hide one's gender so you're more likely to find out if they're not a prat and have more consequences for being a prat about anything in general so you do not associate with said prats as much.

 

[Woodsey]

Some guys on my Facebook stream sometimes make posts about CoD. Now some girls do it too.

The biggest thing I take away from it is that's there's no accounting for taste, not "what an attention whore". Who gives a fuck? Its like when nerd-nerds get pissy because 'hipsters' are 'stealing' their shit.

 

[6SteW6]

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?

Meh as long as you aren't entitled or flaunt it while we are playing. Geeks the 'in' thing right now and chicks watching TV see all the attention celebrity 'Geek' chicks receive and think they want in on it. Ignore it it will die down and we can all go back to our consoles and sexual frustrations in peace.

On a side note, my wife always said she didn't play games, she would happily sit and watch me play but she said she could never do it. I stuck a controller in her hand and she just owned. Now THATS sexy. Nothing like a reluctant geek with secret gaming powers

 

[Fappy]

Some guys on my Facebook stream sometimes make posts about CoD. Now some girls do it too.

The biggest thing I take away from it is that's there's no accounting for taste, not "what an attention whore". Who gives a fuck? Its like when nerd-nerds get pissy because 'hipsters' are 'stealing' their shit.

First it was Weezer kids... now its hipsters. Who will dress like generic nerds 10 years from now?

 

[Hyper-space]

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?

Ahh...that old nugget.

I remember back when I was playing World of Warcraft how some girls (and guys pretending to be girls) would beg for gold and hundreds of guys would fucking line-up, thinking that it would somehow get them laid through the power of the interwebs.

 

[Fappy]

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?

it's because most girls who are gamers aren't particularly attractive

I was unaware.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

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?

it's because most girls who are gamers aren't particularly attractive, while the ones who say "Yes I'm a girl, and yes I play video games <3" tend to either be attractive or belong to a "clique" where it's generally thought of as uncool to play games.

EDIT: and yes, those girls DO deserve special recognition.

So they deserve special recognition just because they are attractive? Whut.

:|

 

[iFail69]

I know plenty of girls who play video games. Most of them will admit that their girls when the topic comes up, but otherwise they stay gender anonymous. One of them stays gender anonymous even if the topic comes up

 

[toolateforsundown]

Personally, this annoys the fuck out of me. When I used to play an MMO, I would start flirting like crazy with every one I ran into until they shut up (lesbian, by the way; that creeps straight girls out most of the time). But then again, the whole "special snowflake" thing museofdoom referenced just makes me hurl, so what do I know?

I know plenty of girls who play video games. Most of them will admit that their girls when the topic comes up, but otherwise they stay gender anonymous. One of them stays gender anonymous even if the topic comes up

That's what I tend to do. Unless one of the annoying people pops up, then I gay all over them. It's really fun XD