Jimquisition: Gamer Guys

[Imp_Emissary]

"Guys leading me on with their muscular buns and slick calf muscles."
"using their supple, smooth bodies and elegant nipples to sell themselves on sex appeal"


Jim....it's time for you to come out of there.

(<3)

Jim could never fit in there. He's too.....Awesome! Yeah, awesome....
<__>

Anyway, xD Ya killed me again Jim! You really don't do thing half way, do you?

Thank God for you Jim. [sub](And I don't just say that because it makes me look like a Geek Boy. I also really mean it. ;D)[/sub]

 

[Lieju]

Yeah, my cousin only plays LoL and COD these days. He's a faker.

So I think that the resentment of newcomers will play out. Admittedly, the gender-politics angle is going to complicate the process, but when the benefits of a broader user base begin to be realized (like a wider variety of games) I think this attitude will fade.

Yeah, but the thing is, I've been playing video-games for 20 years. But since I have boobs people assume I only got into the hobby recently and only play Farmville.
Pretty much all fandoms have that whole 'you're not a true fan, GRRRR!' attitude to some extent, but when it's some gender or race that's always doubted, it gets sexist/racist.

 

[KindlySpastic]

Leave it to Jim to kick in the openest of doors. I mean, did this really have to be said? Is anyone who is sensible enough to consider your (in this case implied) arguments on their own merits likely to hold these views in the first place? I wonder how much of a difference this kind of video makes.

Don't get me wrong, it was enjoyable all the same.

 

[WindKnight]

While I loved this video, and I fully appreciate this problems exists. I have to wonder, who has actually experienced it?

Male or female, where and how did you experience a "Fake girl gamer" insult?

I can't say I have but that said, I rarely engage in talks ingame and I don't otherwise socialise with people I'd consider ignorant

There was a hilarious case where the editor of a gaming website had a guy be a shit to her because she was wearing a Bioshock Infinite t-shirt. When he tried to tell her how she'd obviously never played the game, she responded by telling him how it ended.

 

[PoloniumFist]

Holy shit, Jim. My sides are in orbit!

Lost it at "THIS AFFECTS ME! THIS FUCKING AFFECTS ME!"

Oh man, very well done. Good show. Great episode.

 

[Azaraxzealot]

Once again, the problem is not the fact that fake gamer PEOPLE are annoying, it is the fact that they DO actually ruin our culture. Remember what happened to Metal in the 80s when it got all popular with the poseurs? Yeah, exactly. The influx of poseurs in gamer culture IS actually ruining the culture itself because their numbers allow them to sway the industry to their shallow opinions (such as "MAKE MORE DUDEBRO SHOOTERS!"). This is what happened to Metal (leaving all the good Metal to be made in Europe and to struggle in the underground in America) and this is what is happening to geek culture now.

So you are COMPLETELY missing the point when you think it's about us just being butthurt for some arbitrary reason that I don't know what you think it is. The point is that these poseurs ARE hurting the culture, and once they exhaust themselves and get bored of it, they'll leave, leaving it devastated beyond recovery and putting us back in the underground with them making fun of us.

History shows this is what happens when an underground culture becomes popular then gets kicked out of the popular scene.

 

[IronMit]

While I loved this video, and I fully appreciate this problems exists. I have to wonder, who has actually experienced it?

Male or female, where and how did you experience a "Fake girl gamer" insult?

I can't say I have but that said, I rarely engage in talks ingame and I don't otherwise socialise with people I'd consider ignorant

There was a hilarious case where the editor of a gaming website had a guy be a shit to her because she was wearing a Bioshock Infinite t-shirt. When he tried to tell her how she'd obviously never played the game, she responded by telling him how it ended.

ooo. link? please.

 

[rbstewart7263]

While I loved this video, and I fully appreciate this problems exists. I have to wonder, who has actually experienced it?

Male or female, where and how did you experience a "Fake girl gamer" insult?

I can't say I have but that said, I rarely engage in talks ingame and I don't otherwise socialise with people I'd consider ignorant

There was a hilarious case where the editor of a gaming website had a guy be a shit to her over her because she was wearing a Bioshock Infinite t-shirt. When he tried to tell her how she'd obviously never played the game, she responded by telling him how it ended.

It does happen but It still boggles my mind how this is gamings version of "starving children in africa". lol honestly though Im a guy so I dont know what its like to be harassed online like that. probably infuriating but nothing to slit wrists over. thats just me though.

 

[Kenjitsuka]

The Master from Buffy, season 1.
Oh joy!!!

What to expect next week?!

 

[hazydawn]

I notice that you were both unable to rebut anything he said. I guess that means it's all true.

That's sarcasm, right? Because if it's not you have some warped logic.

 

[feauxx]

snip

Did you just use a whole lot of words to basically say girls are lying, manipulating, untrustworthy extortionists while simultaneously insulting men for being spineless weaklings who's willpower evaporates the moment they see a girl, making them vulnerable to be wrapped around any girls evil little finger?

Yes, he did. Ignore him.

I notice that you were both unable to rebut anything he said. I guess that means it's all true.

I just broke his wall of text down to the gist, which was at the core just insulting. I don't waste my time rebutting an insult. I suggest you don't guess anything from that.

 

[Lilani]

Nope, you might want to read it more carefully.

All I've done is point out social trends. With trends you cannot say "this applies to all people" merely enough for it to create the current problems.

In short, enough girls manipulate guys, or are used to manipulate guys, especially those socially awkward enough to constantly immerse themselves in deep escapism, that it makes guys paranoid. Most guys get burned by this, especially nerds, and then stop falling for it but become paranoid, which presents a barrier when you see women becoming genuinely interested in geek culture.

The point isn't so much that this is "right" but that you have to understand why it exists, it's actually the result of a defensive mechanism more than a sense of elitism when you get down to it. That's the crucial problem with Jim's analysis.

Rather than QQing about it on the internet, I think the real solution here is simply time. Girls will break into geekdom and be accepted once geek-boys learn to be a lot less paranoid about it. Screaming about elitism isn't really relevant, this isn't a "No Girls Allowed" sign hung on a clubhouse, but people who have been trained to believe that any girl who is interested in them must have some angle.

Please also note that on a lot of levels this is more insulting towards your typical gamer than girls if you really want to read insult into it, as a key element is people who are by and large social outcasts to begin with. Again not all hardcore gamers ARE totally maladjusted nerds, but enough are for this trend to exist.

Well, ignored and shunned unless they want something. Take a look at the whole "Camwhore" thing that has become infamous on the internet, where the whole schtick is for girls to get to know geeky guys entirely by remote with no chance of meeting them and convince them to give them things. Do all girls do this? No, but it's happened enough geeks have reactively become paranoid, and always look for the angle here, and think "is this person just trying to get to know me so I will do something for them".

Speaking in terms of stereotypes, the cute girls shunning nerds is only part of it, as the cute girls also stereotypically try and get the geeks to do their homework, cover for them, or take a fall for them. Are all girls this manipulative? Of course not. But again, it's a trend that has bred paranoia among those who are on the fringes of society to begin with. When you become rejected for being a geek, it becomes unusually for those who rejected you (which are average people, not just the exceptional ones) to seek out your company unless they want to temporarily make use of you.

... and again, it doesn't matter if it works when it comes to the booth babes and stuff, the intent is obvious and by being obvious it again contributes to that paranoia.

My entire point here is that your dealing less with geek elitism more than being defensive.

The point is that it's an understandable reaction and not something people are just going to shelve in the compatively short time we've seen girls genuinely interested in geek culture. A lifetime of being shunned and rejected does not go away overnight, nor does what decades of social trends have done to the psyche.

The thing is that girls are not being "vetted" out of elitism but as a defensive reaction, something that I think needs to be understood without mockery before you can even seriously address this kind of issue.

It's also not nice, but girls are the comparative newcomers to this arena, and like any newcomers to anything instant acceptance isn't going to happen.

As I've said a few times here, the point isn't so much that it's right, but rather me presenting the issue as it is. As I've also pointed out I think it's the kind of thing that will go away with time, and only with time, all the internet ranting in the world won't help.

It might not be much of a relief, but if current trends continue I'd imagine we'll see gaming be a lot more co-ed by 2030. I think it will take a few generations of youthful interest to adapt. Those who have been beaten down into certain ways of thinking aren't going to change overall, and rather tend to make individual exceptions. However if things continue the way your going you'll see kids coming up from the beginning with both boys and girls being genuinely interested, you'll also increasingly see a trend for "geekdom" to be less shunned, and over time you'll see assimilation even if this doesn't comfort anyone now.

I understand what you're saying here, but does any of it make it okay to gatekeep or assume the worst of every female who appears to have nerdy inclinations you come across? Do you really think the male sex has the market cornered on being manipulated and mocked by females? Please. Growing up, most of the grief I got for any nerdiness or awkwardness came from other girls. The ones who most often took advantage of my naiveté, and eagerness to trust and make friends with them? Other girls. The ones who mocked and spread the most rumors about the games me and my friends played, or the art we did in class? Other girls. The ones who had the sharpest insults and turned the most people against me? Other girls.

Now I'm an adult, and I'm over all that. I don't distrust every girl I encounter who claims to share a few of my interests, or claims to want to be my friend. In fact, I get excited when I come across someone like that. And if they are taking advantage of me, then I'll find out sooner or later and I'll deal with it as necessary.

So the way I see it, this "defensiveness" and the results it brings which you seem to think are somehow deserved are just childish pains that some just can't seem to let go of, and are now taking out on people who do not deserve it. Yeah, people are going to make fun of you and take advantage of you in life. As a kid, and an adult. That happens, no matter what your interests or hobbies are. But you're going to have to decide which person you are more okay with being: the person who trusts until they are given a reason to be untrustworthy, or the person who distrusts and pushes back until they arbitrarily decide they have "proof" enough to trust in someone.

Don't try to tell me your scars are special, or that it somehow gives you the right to treat me like shit. I grew up, and I got over those girls. Now it's time you did the same.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Snip

Close, but that sounds more like a disagreement of opinion. I mean if you said you like Bioshock: Infinite and said Sonic employee agreed, declaring their undying love for that game, and then you ask "Whats your favorite Vigor?" They look down at their shoes and say "Oh no, these aren't Vigors, they're Nikes." THAT is a example of the Hipster Gamer.

What I don't get is why Jim is so eager to defend the hipsters? Sure, it doesn't harm us true gamers if some guy or girl says they like something when they really don't, but is that the type of message we want to send? That its okay to lie? That walking around saying things that are blatantly untrue is totally fine so long as whats being said is something we agree with? Where's the line? At what point do we say no they're not just trying to fit in, they're lying and we need to call them on their shit. How would any one of us feel if we met someone who loved Dungeons and Dragons but didn't know what a d20 was? Or loved baseball, but didn't know what that bat thingy was for? Embracing rhese obvious liars strikes me as finding it funny when people posted on their facebook last 4th "Happy 2013 B-day America!" or "Wait wiat, Louie Armstrong played jazz and walked on the moon?!"

Its not cute. I don't care about the attention. Its lying. Its being dumb and we should not reward it.

(Sorry, totally went on a rant after the Snip. My bad)

 

[rasta111]

What's this? The walls are shifting around me and there's a light, I'm being pulled toward it, someone help me...

*poof*

Oh Jim, you truly are a champion of gaming, a fine warrior on a great crusade. Hear this lowly ones, we must fight this oppression, with Jim Sterling as our champion we surely cannot fail. THANK GOD FOR JIM...

*puff of smoke*

phew... What happened there then? Look at this... That portal must have greater reach than we had thought Mr. Sterling, next time, take that into account please... ^^ =p

*loud boom*

... That was... Uncomfortable... Must've only been half-way back there... How's that for satire Jimbo?

I may have been playing a little too much Spelunky recently. Though I do love how every time there's a fight over who gets stuck playing as the girl but no one can ever be bothered to unlock more characters... But I digress.

 

[Playful Pony]

Jim, that was fucking orgasmic... I can still feel it, all the way down my spine. Thank GOD for Jim!

 

[Zykon TheLich_v1legacy]

I'm sure there was a point to this, but then Jonathan Holmes appeared, and nothing else mattered.

 

[tklivory]

Thank you, Jim. Though this issue has more awareness these days, it is still a problem. I'm glad there seem to be so many people who seem genuinely convinced that this is not a problem anymore, but I would venture a guess most of these respondents are male who truly do not personally have an issue with this (which is fantastic).

I see this problem online, in video games, in comic books, in certain genres for movies and books... In many places. Someone wanted examples, and I gave up mentally cataloging all details of what's happened to me because they all just became more of the same over time.

Is it better than five years ago, ten years ago? Yes. But in the meantime, over the course of several years, I have opted to give up on any multiplayer outside of Assassin's Creed, physically going to video game stores, and engaging in conversations with people I don't know well about the things I love and am passionate about. I've been asked "oh, your boyfriend plays it, right?", "Well, yeah, but most girls pretty much play only Final Fantasy, don't they?", and "Oh, well, you just liked Avengers because of the actors, right?" more than once, from several different people.

And I have a pretty easy time of it compared with many of the other gamers I know who happen to be female, since I work in IT. I literally do not know a female gamer of my acquaintance who has not had condescension or antagonism directed towards her for playing in that playground (oh, unless they 'just' played Farmville or SIMS - those are fine for a girl to like. It's worse for those whose primary enjoyments are FPS or Sports games.)

By this point, my habits have been formed, and it would take a lot to convince me to change them simply because "it's better now." I hope the next generation of gamers who happen to be female reap the benefits of this time in which more guys respond with "What? This is still a problem?" than "Well, of course girls don't really mean it!"

But please don't dismiss the experiences of those who have withdrawn from a community because you haven't seen it yourself. It's out there. It has hurt people. And dismissing it should not be your first instinct.

 

[Havoc Himself]

I understand that he is being sarcastic, but I really do hate people of both genders who think that just playing Call Of Duty and WoW makes them a hardcore gamer. I'm just like there is so much you are missing out on on!! Go play some of the hundreds of amazing games that are out there! I know you will find something you enjoy.