Sexist gaming moments (that's sexist not sexiest)

[GamingAwesome1]

Simply dividing games between "girl games" and "regular games" is sexist.

Instead of drawing boundaries between "games for men" and "games for women" maybe making just "games for people" would help smooth out this problem.

Yes I'm male, just to clarify.

 

[Flos]

All caring will do is make me have to put effort into something other than gaming and masses of work. I haven't got the time to care about being a female gamer. If I was paid to care about being a female gamer, that'd be great, but I'm not, and getting paid takes precedent over most things.

For someone who doesn't care, you sure won't shut up about not caring. In the time it takes you to explain that you don't care (and, by golly, you've taken time to explain that you don't care), you could care. But then that might require effort and a leg to stand on. D:

Maybe it's because this thread is for discussion, did that ever cross your mind?
And it takes no more than a few seconds for me to type and post, it would take years to assert being a female gamer in the male dominated world! I don't care about being outnumbered by men, but I do care about having an opinion and not letting men think they're the superior race just because.

I'm not sure how you define discussion. I certainly don't define it as, "Oh, this is a place for me to state my opinion and cop-out of any and all counter-arguments by saying I don't care." That's the image you give off by saying it over and over and over again, right before stating your opinion. You obviously care, you're just too lazy to do anything about it because that would require work, or you're afraid to fail.

An opinion should have a leg to stand on, otherwise it's worthless. You obviously 'care' that the gaming industry is dominated by men, but you don't care enough to do something about it. So you're a whiner. Fair enough, don't pretend you're something you aren't.

Do you read what you type? "I don't care about asserting myself, but I do care about what men think." Funny thing is, you can change the way men think by asserting yourself. But you don't, because you don't 'care'. That's some half-assed opinioning, comrade.

:O

People like you are the reason nothing gets done promptly. When something actually gets done you'll just piggyback on the glory by saying, "I was there! I was a girl gamer suffering through the sexism of the 2000s!"

"I don't think men should think they're better than women at videogames."
"Why?"
"Because {SOME ARBITRARY REASON}."
"Well, they do. What are you going to do about it?"
"Oh, nothing."
"Nothing?"
"Yes, you see, I don't care enough to do anything."
"Why?"
"Because I only work for money and Cthulhu forbid I support my ideals with actual action. That'd be too much work!"
"I would like to subscribe to your newsletter."

 

[Livi70590]

But hey, men what do you think of us as? Other than pleasure objects?
(note my sarcasm)

People? Seriously, the problem is that people make a big deal out of female gaming leads when it shouldn't matter at all. Games like Okami where you are never informed if Amaterasu is male or female, and it doesn't matter. That's the way first person games should be, never telling you of your gender.

 

[EgoDeusEst]

Can't I be rich and successful without half naked sluts roaming around my apartment in nothing but a thong?

No. For every 100.467US$ you make IRL (tax excluded), one stripper appears out of thin air at your current residence.

To be honest I wasn't bothered by all that. Except for when they blocked my path, in which case I had to smack a ho or two.
I focused more on the funny parts in the game, instead of being offended by everything.

EDIT: Typo fix'd.

 

[thrubeingcool13]

Okay, why do we female always end up as the sidekick? The majority of games have a female sidekick, where's the male sidekick to the female lead?
Honestly, it doesn't really bother me.

basically what id put it down to is say atleast 90% of gamers are male, the games are going to be targeted more towards men hence they'll have the buff good looking hero guy for you and a spunky, dangerous yet sensual female to accompany you, it just makes more sense marketing wise

I repeat, honestly, it doesn't bother me.
The strange thing is when you have games with strong female leads (Wet is going to be the most up-to-date reference, but I guess all you guys bought it just for the view )

What does annoy me is the whole MOST GAMERS ARE MALE.
WHY are the majority of gamers male?
The worst thing is when they make 'Girl Gamer' magazines that market stupid, badly designed games to the female population because they think we don't want to play a good FPS or RPG, we'd rather play something to do with dancing or cooking, right?
No. Just no.

I'd have to disagree that Wet is an up-to-date reference, unless you want to imply that all women are vulgar and obnoxious...

 

[TPiddy]

Can't I be rich and successful without half naked sluts roaming around my apartment in nothing but a thong?

No. For every 100.467US$ you make IRL (tax excluded), one stripper appears out of thin air at your current residence.

To be honest I wasn't bothered by all that. Except for when they blocked my path, in which case I had to smack a ho or two.
I focused more on the funny parts in the game, instead of being offended by everything.

EDIT: Typo fix'd.

I thoroughly enjoyed the game, just felt that the strippers in your apartment was completely unnecessary and sexist, and that's what this thread is about. It didn't hinder my enjoyment of the game or make me stop playing it...

 

[TPiddy]

I think sexism in games isn't really as important as sexism in gamer culture and the circular argument that keeps it that way.

Girls don't play games because developers don't make games aimed at girls because girls don't play games.

Most of the games that are geared toward a female audience are almost condescending in their pink-paletted social-simulator shallowness. If your local game store has a "games for girls" section, it will probably include games like Horsez, Babyz, and Bratz, and feature a variety of mindless, cutesy gimmicks packaged together in a single box. I have never seen a game aimed at girls that also attempted a story or deep characterization.

I think what we could all benefit from is a gaming culture that has stopped assuming that none, or a negligible minority, of its participants are female, and that female gamers are some kind of anomaly that somehow don't have any buying power or valid contributions to the community. Personally, I'd like to stop being asked to identify with passive female characters who can't do anything but be rescued or die at the hero's leisure, or with the hero, who I have nothing in common with anyway. If I have to choose between a female character and a male character to operate, I'd like it if the female character's abilities weren't inherently less useful and didn't involve sexual exploits. I'd like it if "games for girls" didn't immediately bring to mind pink frills, dress-up minigames, taking care of babies or animals or cooking or domestic chores.

But what I would like even more than that, is to be able to walk into any of various local game retailers by myself, take out my own wallet and use my own money to a game like Grand Theft Auto or Gears of War, and NOT be asked, "So what other games does your boyfriend like?" because they assume I couldn't possibly be buying it for myself.

This. Gamer culture is male dominated, and therefore male oriented. Gaming is male dominated from top to bottom... the game developers, marketers, animators, graphic designers, beta testers, game store employees, right down to the gamers themselves.

I believe this is due to the male species' tendency towards aggression, as most games center around some kind of violence. My girlfriend is entirely not interested in taking someone's head off with a teddy bear in Fallout 3. We are kind of caught in the middle right now, where the casual games or games that don't focus on violence seem to be targeted at kids and casual gamers in general, and as a result, a lot less effort is put into them to make them truly good experiences.

The few AAA titles that come out not built on violence (LBP is one of the few examples I can think of) are just not enough to pull in the female audience.

 

[MicrosoftPaysMe]

and I guess Ms Pac-man wearing bow in her hair could be considered sexist.

no. the bow was the only way you could tell them apart

 

[LackofCertainty]

The few AAA titles that come out not built on violence (LBP is one of the few examples I can think of) are just not enough to pull in the female audience.

LBP doesn't count as a triple A title. It sold about twelve copies world-wide.

But hey, men what do you think of us as? Other than pleasure objects?
(note my sarcasm)

People? Seriously, the problem is that people make a big deal out of female gaming leads when it shouldn't matter at all. Games like Okami where you are never informed if Amaterasu is male or female, and it doesn't matter. That's the way first person games should be, never telling you of your gender.

You have an okay point in there. As long as the writers can make a story that is gender neutral without coming off as wonky, there's no reason to give the main character a gender in any game trying to bill the main character as "you"

There are a couple problems though.

1.It is difficult for the writers to keep an entire game's dialogue gender neutral, at least for games with lots of dialogue.

and 2. Not all first person games have "you" as the main character. A lot of them have an established character, and you're just seeing it through their eyes.

 

[TPiddy]

The few AAA titles that come out not built on violence (LBP is one of the few examples I can think of) are just not enough to pull in the female audience.

LBP doesn't count as a triple A title. It sold about twelve copies world-wide.

http://www.vgchartz.com/swlaunch.php?game1=LittleBigPlanet%20-%20PS3

Are you on crack? Or did you not know that I was referring to Little Big Planet?

 

[LackofCertainty]

The few AAA titles that come out not built on violence (LBP is one of the few examples I can think of) are just not enough to pull in the female audience.

LBP doesn't count as a triple A title. It sold about twelve copies world-wide.

http://www.vgchartz.com/swlaunch.php?game1=LittleBigPlanet%20-%20PS3

Are you on crack? Or did you not know that I was referring to Little Big Planet?

Ooooo, wow. You're single line for Little big planet is real impressive when you have nothing to compare it to. Now lets compare it with a real AAA game.

http://www.vgchartz.com/swlaunch.php?reg1=All&game1=LittleBigPlanet+-+PS3&reg2=All&game2=Metal+Gear+Solid+4%3A+Guns+of+the+Patriots+-+PS3&reg3=All&game3=&weeks=100

 

[mysticite]

All caring will do is make me have to put effort into something other than gaming and masses of work. I haven't got the time to care about being a female gamer. If I was paid to care about being a female gamer, that'd be great, but I'm not, and getting paid takes precedent over most things.

For someone who doesn't care, you sure won't shut up about not caring. In the time it takes you to explain that you don't care (and, by golly, you've taken time to explain that you don't care), you could care. But then that might require effort and a leg to stand on. D:

Maybe it's because this thread is for discussion, did that ever cross your mind?
And it takes no more than a few seconds for me to type and post, it would take years to assert being a female gamer in the male dominated world! I don't care about being outnumbered by men, but I do care about having an opinion and not letting men think they're the superior race just because.

I'm not sure how you define discussion. I certainly don't define it as, "Oh, this is a place for me to state my opinion and cop-out of any and all counter-arguments by saying I don't care." That's the image you give off by saying it over and over and over again, right before stating your opinion. You obviously care, you're just too lazy to do anything about it because that would require work, or you're afraid to fail.

An opinion should have a leg to stand on, otherwise it's worthless. You obviously 'care' that the gaming industry is dominated by men, but you don't care enough to do something about it. So you're a whiner. Fair enough, don't pretend you're something you aren't.

Do you read what you type? "I don't care about asserting myself, but I do care about what men think." Funny thing is, you can change the way men think by asserting yourself. But you don't, because you don't 'care'. That's some half-assed opinioning, comrade.

:O

People like you are the reason nothing gets done promptly. When something actually gets done you'll just piggyback on the glory by saying, "I was there! I was a girl gamer suffering through the sexism of the 2000s!"

"I don't think men should think they're better than women at videogames."
"Why?"
"Because {SOME ARBITRARY REASON}."
"Well, they do. What are you going to do about it?"
"Oh, nothing."
"Nothing?"
"Yes, you see, I don't care enough to do anything."
"Why?"
"Because I only work for money and Cthulhu forbid I support my ideals with actual action. That'd be too much work!"
"I would like to subscribe to your newsletter."

Excuse me, when did I say I care what men think?
So far all I've said is that this gaming world is DOMINATED by men (and idiots, it seems).
Yes, I'm afraid of failure, because of a fear of failure I dropped out of school and had to get extensive therapy, do you really want to talk about that, because seriously, we can.
I LOVE WHINING, GOD IT'S GREAT. Complaining is what I'm best at, and not doing anything about it is what I'm second best at.
If you're so assertive and sure of yourself as a fellow female gamer why don't YOU try to make a difference.
But, what are you doing right now?

 

[mysticite]

Okay, why do we female always end up as the sidekick? The majority of games have a female sidekick, where's the male sidekick to the female lead?
Honestly, it doesn't really bother me.

basically what id put it down to is say atleast 90% of gamers are male, the games are going to be targeted more towards men hence they'll have the buff good looking hero guy for you and a spunky, dangerous yet sensual female to accompany you, it just makes more sense marketing wise

I repeat, honestly, it doesn't bother me.
The strange thing is when you have games with strong female leads (Wet is going to be the most up-to-date reference, but I guess all you guys bought it just for the view )

What does annoy me is the whole MOST GAMERS ARE MALE.
WHY are the majority of gamers male?
The worst thing is when they make 'Girl Gamer' magazines that market stupid, badly designed games to the female population because they think we don't want to play a good FPS or RPG, we'd rather play something to do with dancing or cooking, right?
No. Just no.

I'd have to disagree that Wet is an up-to-date reference, unless you want to imply that all women are vulgar and obnoxious...

Nah, I'm just saying it's a recent game with a female lead and no male sidekick.

 

[epsilon246]

Saints Row 2 had the ability to put stripper poles in your cribs. This plays up the 'gangsta' lifestyle stereotype in general, which is historically very sexist towards women. Can't I be rich and successful without half naked sluts roaming around my apartment in nothing but a thong?

Interesting fact. Those stripper poles were optional. You didn't need to put them in, therefore, you clearly put them there because you wanted them there. Just sayin'. I put them there 'cos I wanted my homies to be respectin' me, aight?

Hmm, sexism in games... Uhhh... In Sonic, the guys were all the colours of the rainbow, but all the girls were pink?

That's just amy, rouge has white fur, blaze is purple, cream is... well cream.

don't forget about Sally(brown),Tikal(red) and Wave(purple)

Yeah, Amy still the only pink one. What is odd is that the girls wear clothes but the guys don't

 

[joest01]

Girlfight!

 

[Chaos Bringer]

Being female I feel that I should be outraged by every sexist thing in gaming.

...I'm not.

Okay, why do we female always end up as the sidekick? The majority of games have a female sidekick, where's the male sidekick to the female lead?
Honestly, it doesn't really bother me.

Women are NOT an item gaming wise, i.e. games where you marry, etc. Or at least, they shouldn't be.
But hey, men what do you think of us as? Other than pleasure objects?
(note my sarcasm)

In the words of Yahtzee, most men think girls are: "Dogs you can stick your knob in."

 

[Amoreyna]

This reminds me about all the hype that surrounded the release of King's Quest IV because it was going to feature a female lead. That was a very big deal in those days of early gaming, and I don't believe that there had been a female lead yet in a game, but I could be wrong on that one. The game ended up being very popular and Sierra Online's gamble paid off.

But, if you actually played the game you would notice how girly it all was. Roberta Williams, the creator, promoted it as having an emotional, tear-jerking plot line. A lot of the game world is made up of girly things, like unicorns and fairy's etc though fortunately there are some non-girly places and characters. I suppose we can't have too much innovation at once.

I don't really recognize sexism in games anymore unless it's completely blatant and without purpose to the plot/story/character development. I've played games since when they first came out for home computers (yes, I am older then Yahtzee, it's rather depressing) and got used to the fact that women weren't considered to have any interest in games until recently.

 

[Checky_Girl]

I don't really care about sexism in games because its never really malicious or blatant. What DOES annoy me is 1. that people say that most gamers are male and assume if you are a fmale gamer that youre in some way a freak of nature (so basically the sexism of the gamers not the games) and 2. whenever there is a female lead, like in Tomb Raider or Wet, she's usually a heartless ***** with no emotions.