Issue 45 - OMG Girlz Don't Exist on teh Intarweb!!!!1

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Sand Monkey Deluxe

Bob, I am male and I don't put up with it. I find that I'm better off for it too.

And I think that Qwertzwerker is being sarcastic. I hope.

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Espen Ruud

I found the article to be mostly entertaining wheras I have never been in a guild with girls. I totally believe that she would get the attention though, since WoW has a large bulk of younger generation players. There is of course the sexists too, that can't come to grip with the 21st century.

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Mr Butterscotch
http://www.thelairofthemonkey.co.uk
Great article - a sad read though, I would have liked to think things had changed since those days. Online gaming is still male dominated, and so women have to put up with a lot of crap there. Then again, anyone does really. It's par for the course when there's so many children that play, and the annonimity allows for every kind of slur imaginable...

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Jon

Great Article, I read it and I agree in a sense with it, but even back when I played the original Diablo

I knew alot of girl gamers that were in my clan with me and they were all really good, but there will always be instances where girls are not fully accepted yet that they can play games, but I will admit that there are alot of times where girls are some of the best gamers.

Love the Article, my first one that i've read on the Escapist but I am quite impressed.

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: martin

my girlfriend is a gamer
we have lans together and everything
(shes also damn hot)
her idea of a romantic occasion is a all-night lan. love the gal so much

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Ixis

Whicked article. My only scrutiny is the notion that "girls don't exist on the internet" is about as valid as "all boys believe girls don't exist on the internet." For sure, any girl who ventures forth into the realms of online gaming where flocks of high schoolers lay will get that reaction, however from my experience solely gaming with people of drinking age and higher, I find myself grouping with males, females, homosexuals, transgendered people, people of different religions, races, cultures and creeds.

You kind of have to pick and choose who you hang out with online as you do offline. As an interesting sidenote I find myself (as a male) in the reverse situation online when I talk with female gamers and comic art fans (sites with lots of bubbly anime girls and bright colors belched out all over the place.) In fact whenever I've met a girl in the real world of whom I've talked with online they usually are surprised I'm male (they say it's because I type like a girl, whatever that means.) And then they usually don't pay much attention to me or divert their attention to other people in the area of whom they now (which is parallel to a passage in your article.)

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Jacob Scott
http://people.csail.mit.edu/jhscott/
I have been reading Summer of Code [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0688128165?v=glance] mailing list post) I went back to my notes.

In the first chapter of the book, Cialdini says, about conduct that seems mindless,


In fact, automatic, stereotyped behavior is prevalent in much of human action, because in many cases it is the most efficient for of behaving, and in other cases it is simply necessary.


I offer this quote as an explanation of, and not a defense for, the behavior you detail. As women games become more prevalent on MMOs, I think it's safe to assume that this sort of thing will decline - indeed, I see above you mention it already has, in less than a year (from original publication).

Given that you clearly understand this problem, have you given any thought to how you might solve it?

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Gp

Whenever someone says to me that there a girl, and makes an attempt to act like one, I just go, "yeah sure whatever" and let them have the benefit of the doubt. I don't care. I'll treat them how they want to be treated.

Of course, 6 months down the line, they reveal they are a guy and I'm grouped in with the bunch of people my age drooling over a girl-who-is-actually-a-guy.

I know some genuine girls from the internet though.

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: feralknights
http://feralknights.livejournal.com/
I actually tend to play female characters on games like MMOs mostly out of asthetics-- I'm on Final Fantasy XI a lot, and I'd rather have my character be something I'd like looking at rather than all the guys out there that think it's so freaking awesome to run around in a pair of armored panties thinking they're the greatest thing ever. (note: It's horrifying.) (note, the sequel: No, I do not play a mithra.)

I did run into the situation where I'd get free stuff, a lot. The time that blew me away the most was when I once had someone waltz up to me at an Auction House and start talking to me out of nowhere. Nice guy, friendly enough-- the male/female thing never came up. Then out of nowhere, the guy requests a trade and gives me 500,000 gil just because, and I quote, "I like your avatar's haircut".

Totally blew my mind, that sure did.

Anyway, a ton of my gamer friends are female-- in fact, the better portion of my MMO-gaming friends are females! (and I've met them in real life, and yes, they are indeed lookers) I have to admit, I suffer the geek archetype of having a hard time vocalizing with the other gender, but on the flip side of things I actually have no problems at all socializing with girls when it's a topic such as gaming (MMO or otherwise), manga/anime, or other related interests.

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Jamie
http://www.livejournal.com/~cassitra
I applaud every single word in this article. It was linked on the www.livejournal.com wow_ladies posts. Yes, it's a livejournal community for girls only. They also have a WoW guild called Daughters of the Horde, and Daughters of the Alliance. I also play WoW, and love it. I've encountered almost everything you have. The first time I talked on TS, it was awful. Then that certain guild had to "warm" up to the idea of having a girl do more damage than them, to raid more, to do better, to succeed. The guild I am in now, however, doesn't mind, and I love it. =) Good luck in WoW and in life =)

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Slycne

Yes a follow up to this would be quite interesting... =D.

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Mits of Marduke
http://www.marduke.org
Remarkable.

I find this hard to believe that a girl/woman would have such a hard time existing on the internet in this day and age. I've had female gaming friends since I started online gaming in 1999. As a matter of fact one of them helped me start a multi-gaming guild because we worked good together keeping the members active and growing. We're both now in our mid-40's and have never had male/female issues.

I believe it stems from the fact that the average age of our members is 30 and we are hesitant to permit anyone under the age of 18 join.

Another factor might be that our female members do not hide the fact that they are women with names like "Xena, Bright Eyes & QT".

Teleios, if you want a fresh escape from non-existence, come join us in Guild Wars.
Good gaming.
.