A problem with Video-Games: This one's for the ladies
January 19th 2012 02:01
Category: No Category
Wow, has it really been 6 days?! My deepest apologize for the wait time, but I am back now and ready to tackle an issue that has been on my mind for a while. Where are the girls of gaming?
To start things off I think that it would be fair to state that I, myself, am what many my consider a "feminist." I think that a person should not be treated any differently because of how they are born;l be that race, sexuality, sex, social class, language, nationality, or anything else that you could not choose as you were conceived. It is just down right immoral to predetermine how to treat someone base on something that is entirely outside of their own control. So, by hitting this point about where it comes from I think that it may skew this logic a little bit. If you are indeed offended that I hold everyone to the same standards of everyone else, I apologize.
Where was I? Oh, yeah, Girls in games. I feel that women are not represented well in games today. This not only has to do with the backwards, rage fueled online community of gamers talking over very rational people, how games are perceived in the first place, but also with how women are precised in games. The latter seems to branch into a gigantically bigger category that also stirs my staples, so I will save it for next time.
First off are the assholes who seem to make it their job to make gaming a "boys only" club. We have all run into them online, if you are a lady with a headset then I imagine that it is almost a daily occurrence, the-"OH MY GOD THERE IS A GIRL PLAYING GAMES"-fourteen-year-old. Usually sandwich jokes are tossed about and the child will ask if they can see naked pictures of the afore mentioned girl gamer. Admittedly, the sandwich and kitchen jokes can be funny when they are shot off cleverly and kept to a minimum. These are just jokes and should be used sparingly though. What I think what really crawls under my skin and others that want this to be a more accepting medium of entertainment is the initial response of the "OH MY GOD THERE IS A GIRL PLAYING GAMES," being that there is a preconceived notion that only males like to play video-games. The knee-jerk response of "OH MY GOD!" is like someone blowing a foghorn because they didn't realize their gum was winter-mint and not spearmint, it is just straight-up unnecessary. Boys, and I do mean boys, relax. Girls exist, and yes some do indeed play games; it's not that Earth-shattering. The point of the game is to have fun, no matter who you may be.
Next, lets take a look at our old enemy, the way games/gamers are perceived. It is safe to assume, being that you are here, you are level-headed and well adjusted member of this community of gamers; that doesn't mean that you are looked on by others that way though. When games and gamers are looked at by the vast majority of people out there we are looked at in the same light as the above mentioned fourteen-year-old, but that fourteen-year-old had to have a preconceived notion of what an average gamer is. In walks the sweaty and anti-social nerd stereotype, meek Asian geek stereotype, and eight-year-old shooter fan with a headset stereotype. All of these are in hyperbole, but the sad thing is that is what a great deal of people think of when they hear the word "gamer." (I have been over this once before...sorta) Because all of these stereotypes revolve around males it makes games seem like something a female should not do at all, if not it may make them feel unwelcome. Because the main target of games has been males it is now just preconceived that it is just for guys. That has been the case for a long while, but now some girls are getting back into the medium, and what do they have to look to for their fun? Sims, Pet simulators, Nancy Drew, and Super Princess Peach...anybody else see a small piece of the pie being cut out for the fairer sex? I understand targeting a market, but this seems a bit overkill. So, you can play games and not feel embarrassed or harassed if you are a little girl who loves cute things and playing house, but once you give up your dolls you have to give up your games too.
Maybe another reason why females don't get into games is because female leads are few and far between. I am not talking about the boobalicious ladies of Dead or Alive, or Soul Calibur, but rather I am talking about strong female leads that are dynamic and interesting. I don't mean to bash the hyper-stylized ladies of the pixilated world, because we have always idealized what perfect humans should look like. Rather, I am wondering why that is almost the only option for a female character. Sex/object of desire, or not in a game at all. Just recently some more females have been sprinkled into the mix, but that is not enough to really make a huge difference. Personally, I sometimes choose my character to be female in an RPG setting, not because I am dissatisfied with being a guy, but it gives the character another story altogether. Females have different experiences than males in the real-world, and people treat females differently altogether depending on the situation. So instead of the only female being the token reward after killing the dragon or a set piece to be knocked off to "deepen" the male counter. Why not have them be the hero in more than in a game that has been programmed enough to allow both a male and female to have basically the same ending?
Girls should be more welcomed in the gaming community and we should see more female protagonists that give us depth because when you think about it they are half of the entire population.
"Awww yea, this shit I can get into."
Where was I? Oh, yeah, Girls in games. I feel that women are not represented well in games today. This not only has to do with the backwards, rage fueled online community of gamers talking over very rational people, how games are perceived in the first place, but also with how women are precised in games. The latter seems to branch into a gigantically bigger category that also stirs my staples, so I will save it for next time.
Much much bigger
"Dude, I can't believe that she plays Unreal so brutally."
Take your time deciding
Girls should be more welcomed in the gaming community and we should see more female protagonists that give us depth because when you think about it they are half of the entire population.
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