Lets talk about Girls that play video games

[targren]

Of course we can. Otherwise, that would make yelling at developers for appealing to their wider audience of hormonic[footnote]Shut up. If that's not a word, it damn well should be![/footnote] teenage males profoundly hypocritical.

I think you mean hormonal.

Actually, I was going for a portmanteau of "hormonal" and "moronic."

And you cant really get pissed at female gamers for not being hideous.
Are you not allowed to be attractive and female and play games? Tis silly.

But that's not what we were talking about. BEING attractive is one thing, and not the one under discussion. USING that attractiveness to "appeal to a wider audience," as it was stated, is another entirely, the latter falling soundly into the realm of "attention-whoring."

 

[Phasmal]

And you cant really get pissed at female gamers for not being hideous.
Are you not allowed to be attractive and female and play games? Tis silly.

But that's not what we were talking about. BEING attractive is one thing, and not the one under discussion. USING that attractiveness to "appeal to a wider audience," as it was stated, is another entirely, the latter falling soundly into the realm of "attention-whoring."

Yeah, but it doesnt say `appealling`, it says `being more appealling`.
And some people will find the same video, when done by an attractive lady as opposed to an attractive man more appealing. That's not the attractive lady's fault. You can be more appealling by just looking a certain way, and if they're not rubbing anyones face in it, then nobody should care.

 

[targren]

And some people will find the same video, when done by an attractive lady as opposed to an attractive man more appealing. That's not the attractive lady's fault.

You can be more appealling by just looking a certain way, and if they're not rubbing anyones face in it, then nobody should care.

Tell that to the TvW woman and everyone who's spent the last four weeks following her lead complaining about female character design in video games.

The phrase "What's good for the goose is good for the gander" has never been more apropos.

 

[Phasmal]

And some people will find the same video, when done by an attractive lady as opposed to an attractive man more appealing. That's not the attractive lady's fault.

You can be more appealling by just looking a certain way, and if they're not rubbing anyones face in it, then nobody should care.

Tell that to the TvW woman and everyone who's spent the last four weeks following her lead complaining about female character design in video games.

The phrase "What's good for the goose is good for the gander" has never been more apropos.

I'm sorry, I fail to see how those two things are related.
Though you raise an interesting question, why do dudes like sexy characters and will defend them to the death, but if a woman should use her appearance to benefit herself in this community she's an attention whore?

 

[targren]

I'm sorry, I fail to see how those two things are related.
Though you raise an interesting question, why do dudes like sexy characters and will defend them to the death, but if a woman should use her appearance to benefit herself in this community she's an attention whore?

A good question, and they are related.

Threads like this one, calling a female out on attention-whoring, are a direct result of the complaining. By going on the offensive, the feminism brigade has brought the "battle of the sexes" back into the forefront. If the whole charlie-foxtrot hadn't been boiling over for the past month, the OP would never have been made in the first place. It would have been passed with "Nice rig. Hot chick." and life would go on. But now we've got both sides looking for ammunition, and hypocrisy like this is in plentiful supply.

 

[Phasmal]

I'm sorry, I fail to see how those two things are related.
Though you raise an interesting question, why do dudes like sexy characters and will defend them to the death, but if a woman should use her appearance to benefit herself in this community she's an attention whore?

A good question, and they are related.

Threads like this one, calling a female out on attention-whoring, are a direct result of the complaining. By going on the offensive, the feminism brigade has brought the "battle of the sexes" back into the forefront. If the whole charlie-foxtrot hadn't been boiling over for the past month, the OP would never have been made in the first place, but now you've got both sides looking for ammunition, and hypocrisy like this is in plentiful supply.

So it's people who want better female representation in video games faults?
Let's not start on that here, because I can already tell you and I are probably on different sides of this fence.

 

[Fappy]

If I am reading recent discussions in this thread correctly I am being told that people who get fame/fortune or who somehow intentionally profit from their natural beauty are all attention whores. Wow, that's pretty damning to quite a few professions.

 

[targren]

So it's people who want better female representation in video games faults?
Let's not start on that here, because I can already tell you and I are probably on different sides of this fence.

Clearly, since I never actually made any mention of blame.

Just consider this question, a mirror of your own. You don't need to respond, of course, since I share your suspicion. Just consider it "food for thought."

Why is sexualization of non-sentient, non-existent imagery unacceptable, but a real life girl tarting herself up to be more appealing something that needs to be defended?

 

[Phasmal]

Why is sexualization of non-sentient, non-existent imagery unacceptable, but a real life girl tarting herself up to be more appealing something that needs to be defended?

Silly, I never said I was against sexualised characters.
I am against almost all female characters being sexualised. Diversity, is what I'm after.
I'm all for sex-positive characters, but its skewed massively at the moment.

 

[targren]

Silly, I never said I was against sexualised characters.
I am against almost all female characters being sexualised. Diversity, is what I'm after.
I'm all for sex-positive characters, but its skewed massively at the moment.

What do you mean by "diversity?" It doesn't seem any different from any other media. With the possible exception of intensity, since characters who don't actually exist can be, and are, more 'flexible' when it comes to proportional exaggeration.

 

[Vegosiux]

I am against almost all female characters being sexualised. Diversity, is what I'm after.
I'm all for sex-positive characters, but its skewed massively at the moment.

Well, going to pick up on that and toss my 0.02? in with yours; it's skewed, yes, and that's especially bad since there's just so many ways to make a female character sexy. *gasp* Unthinkable, I know, but while I like a nice rack as much as the next guy, I find glasses and mismatched eyes a lot sexier. Yeah, I'm weird like that...

Bottom line is, big tits and a tight leater body suit aren't the only way to make a female charatcer sexually appealing.

 

[Phasmal]

Silly, I never said I was against sexualised characters.
I am against almost all female characters being sexualised. Diversity, is what I'm after.
I'm all for sex-positive characters, but its skewed massively at the moment.

What do you mean by "diversity?" It doesn't seem any different from any other media. With the possible exception of intensity, since characters who don't actually exist can be, and are, more 'flexible' when it comes to proportional exaggeration.

I mean, more characters that are more than just titties who are always posing like they have no spine and they are checking themselves out.
This is thread derailing.
In my opinion the game industry/community's problems are pretty damn obvious.
I'd rather leave it there, because I'm perfectly happy to agree to disagree.

I am against almost all female characters being sexualised. Diversity, is what I'm after.
I'm all for sex-positive characters, but its skewed massively at the moment.

Well, going to pick up on that and toss my 0.02? in with yours; it's skewed, yes, and that's especially bad since there's just so many ways to make a female character sexy. *gasp* Unthinkable, I know, but while I like a nice rack as much as the next guy, I find glasses and mismatched eyes a lot sexier. Yeah, I'm weird like that...

Bottom line is, big tits and a tight leater body suit aren't the only way to make a female charatcer sexually appealing.

That's true.
And sexy dudes aren't that hard to make. More dudes in chainmail bikinis for everyone!

 

[Aurora Firestorm]

I identify publicly as female in the gaming community because I'd like to meet other females who game. Not because I'm a lesbian (nothing wrong with it; I just don't swing that way) but because I'd like to make some friends, at least some of which are female, who like video games also.

It's that simple, really. Also, I'd like to meet some guys, some of whom in a romantic sense, who also play video games. So yeah, advertising can help, depending on where you do it. Also just to show solidarity, since we're a minority in some genres.

 

[TheCrapMaster]

Well i usualy just play online games with my IRL friends while talking on skype, and one of those is one of those legendary "shes". I never realy gave it much thought about that she was a girl playing games when we started playing online games me and my friends.

But we sure have noticed when we refer to her as a...well a "she". Exampel: "get to top base, she needs help over there!!!" 60-70%% of the time the reactions are the random team mates go crazy and starts treating her like a X factor that is dealt with by either flirting, ask why the computer is in the kitchen or start playing horribly by going out their way to help her when its just stupid.

We try to call her by her nametag to avoid these incidents, they get kinda old, but seeing shes a friend and we want to type something fast we screw up and type "her/she". Tho sometimes we pester her and reavel this just to annoy her.

So if i were a girl gamer and not out to get some sweaty nerds like me over ...well me, i would try to hide this fact.

PS: Sry for bad gramar, not to used to type in english

 

[nightwolf667]

Let's not? Seriously, it's better for everyone.

I often reveal my gender when gaming because I don't like to lie or pretend to be something I'm not. I'm not a man, I'm a woman and I shouldn't have to pretend because it makes someone else more comfortable. I like to think that friendship goes hand in hand with honesty. It usually doesn't net me any extra attention, though. But sometimes it does and so what? It's natural and if the guys change their behavior because they think I can't "handle myself", that's ultimately on them.

By the way, that isn't a "grrrl gamer" or whatever we're calling them these days. She's hardly in the video at all, you're biggest beef with her seems to be that she's attractive and thus disingenuous (not really interested in gaming and only there for attention) because of her looks. Excuse me? I don't see how any of that is her fault, or that she gets more attention because of it. There's nothing wrong with playing games and being proud of your gender. That is one expensive computer, she must be very devoted to her hobby. It's something I would be proud to show off, even if I didn't build it myself. She has a right to be proud of it and show it to her friends/strangers through videos posted online.

Seriously, why do you care?

Also, if I had money for that mouse, I would own it. I play MMOs (TSW + CO) and the hot keys forever give me grief. They are not designed for small hands, so the idea of having them attached to a mouse would be heavenly! And save on the impending carpal tunnel.

Yes, I prefer a controller. Stretching my fingers between the shift anything past the three key hurts like frickin' hell. Does anyone else have this problem?

 

[NoNameMcgee]

snip

there's nothing wrong about the video you linked. It's someone showing off their rig, they happen to be a woman. Guys post vids like that all the time. I don't see the point of these vids, I don't see why anyone would care, and yeah probably most of the attention shes getting is because shes a woman, I won't deny that, but lets not blame her for attention seeking shall we? She's a pro gamer according to her page, its pretty accepted that she would be obsessed by hardware and such and want to show it off.

Then again I'm able to speak from a very unbiased standpoint because I don't find that being a gamer makes a woman any more or less attractive. I'm just like, ah cool, and get on with my life.

I wish we could all get over this immature notion of "OMG SHES GIRL AND SHE PLAYS GAMES"

protip: if you're someone who acts like that when you talk to one, you have even less chance of getting laid.

 

[targren]

Also, if I had money for that mouse, I would own it. I play MMOs (TSW + CO) and the hot keys forever give me grief. They are not designed for small hands, so the idea of having them attached to a mouse would be heavenly! And save on the impending carpal tunnel.

Yes, I prefer a controller. Stretching my fingers between the shift anything past the three key hurts like frickin' hell. Does anyone else have this problem?

Off-Topic: As a long-time sufferer of carpal tunnel, I (quite literally) feel your pain. I don't know what mouse is in the video (I couldn't be arsed to watch it) but if it's the Naga[footnote]NB, lest I be taken as a shill: I'm not a big fan of Razer's products. With the exception of the Naga above, I find them overpriced, over-hyped, and under-engineered. Their customer service is abysmal and their warranty coverage is worse. Their mice, though, seem to remain as their core competency, and for the moment, they seem to still be doing it well.[/footnote] (the only MMO mouse I know of) then I can say this: if you spend a lot of time on MMOs or games where you use the keypad, it's a hand-saver.

Since you say "impending carpal tunnel," I'm going to take that to mean that you don't have it yet. If that's true, then let me offer you this advice: if your hands start to hurt even when you're not stretching them across the keyboard, stop playing for a bit. I know it's tempting to play through, but if you get hit with "wrist drop" (sort of an 'acute' version of CTS), that's a warning. Seems obvious, I know, but take it from a 33-year-old man who can barely open a pickle jar on some days.

 

[knight steel]

Oh WHOOOOOO it ain't the Escapist without yet ANOTHER one of these threads.

Just for discussion, I don't care about what gender you are. And yes, gaming is a predominately male centered audience, so the female that comes by is sure to get noticed. But honestly, I don't care. Not one bit.

Couldn't agree with you more mate but i guess it's just apart of the escapist at least this might make some discussion!

 

[Spookimitsu]

As for the whole female gamer thing. I really see it as a non-issue. Anyone can play games if they wish, it makes absolutely no difference to me. It's like listening to a certain genre of music - it's a personal thing, not a gender thing.

Absolutely this. It is a non-issue, if anyone wants to attention whore themselves in the lobby between deathmatches, they should feel free to do so and more power to them.

Oddly enough I find it annoying when male gamers do this because they think they are more hip than everyone else in the room, and everyone should have the luxury of constantly listening to THEIR voice. But as soon as one female starts to speak up then we have to have these community discussions about it? It seems kind of dumb to me. Stop feeling threatened by gender, and we can quit alienating members of the community.