Editor’s Note: Hey all, DMV here. Atheistium’s written an interesting rant on the whole girl gamer issue, which has always been a hot topic. So far, it’s been a real hit on the community blogs, so give this Destructoid veteran some love and read her story. Enjoy!
I finally want to get my issues with the “girl gamer” culture to rest. This will be my final rant on it all… finally.
For those who know me, I don’t like girl gaming leagues, clans, websites, or anything that really does out line female gamers. Why? It’s 100% bullshit. Am I the only one who has noticed that the majority of girls in this clans/clubs/sites look like models? It’s shit like this that gets me thinking. Now this is not an attack on anyone personally (I know the last link contains two members of dtoid who I like), however why do ‘girls’ let themselves become this? Now I am not a feminist. I laugh at “get in the kitchen” jokes and I do play around with sexual jokes. However sometimes when you see all girls getting certain attention just for being pretty and not for anything to do with their actual skill you start to wonder.
Now I am not saying I am some uber pro at games. I am not. I don’t play one certain game 24-7. I’d rather suck at a lot of games that be some pro at one. However you get these females who come to forums, come to places, demand attention and then when it all boils down to it… don’t game. Or play WoW…. Why are you on [insert gaming website here]? Is it because you want to get INTO gaming? Or because being a ‘geek’ is the new fashion? Apparently it is.
On the whole WoW issue, I don’t consider people gamers if the only thing they play is wow. You play one game. The same goes for people who play one games continuously. If you play Halo 2 and only Halo 2, you’re a Halo 2 player. Playing to compete is a different thing…
Sometimes you can’t really trust if your actually liked or if you’ve only got popular because you have tits. For example, myself. I managed to get number 1 blog on 1up.com for a few weeks. I was on the front page for a number of weeks also. Now was it because people actually liked my writing, or because I am female? I am not really a great writer. And some of my 1up messages are all “omg your hot” or “omg girl gamer”. I usually introduce myself as a female gamer. I’m 20 years old, I am not a girl any more.
Which brings me to another point. Girl gaming. I mean it sounds nice and all with the alliteration but the majority of females playing are woman. Over 17. The attitude of girl gamers is usually cutesy with high pitched voices.
What’s happened to this female gamer culture? Where having photo shoots and websites dedicated to your photos, posing around with a Nintendo controllers on your nipples or covering your naked body in games. Sure some of its for fun, but not all of it. You can’t say “oh yeah I took these last night because I was bored” and have an 100 image photo set of yourself in a number of poses.
People will probably argue to me “but what about the EG stunt?”. First of all, I will use a quote from my favourite philosopher Ron “Greybush” Workman “Look, I Drink.” I was drunk. If you didn’t know me and my friend Hollie (pheonix_blood) tend to do crazy shit when we are drunk. DjRome however really was not supposed to put them on screen… and the only way I could play it off was by laughing about it. Summa did not ask for permission to use them on dtoid either. However it got on live, it got passed around and suddenly I had a new form of popularity. Not popularity that I wanted.
Chobot got popular by licking a PSP, now she works at IGN. For myself who is struggling to get into the industry and to see people get in by being pretty… it’s extremely frustrating to see. Not saying Chobot got in solely by that.. but that’s the stepping stone. She WORKS for IGN.
So what does that leave to say? Blame the girls for wanting this strange popularity and friends list count? Or blame the guys for demanding it, reading it, visiting it and encouraging it. I want to blame the girls, for the material would not be out there if it was not for them. However the guys create a demand for it. Gaming is slowly phasing out as a male dominated market. It’s not.
It’s really not.
Can we just stop segregating ourselves into these clans and leagues and just play a fucking game together? Maybe girls would feel less threatened by other females if they got used to other girls being around in the first place. Why I love destructoid. There are actual girls here who GAME. Who are not all idiots and who are a laugh to hang out with. I have always mainly had male friends because of my personality and attitude but its nice to find other females I can relate to.
Anyway STFUAJPG! /end
