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Women and Videogames


Pic0o

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I know this has been a dicey topic on twitter and things. I am stepping away from the GamerGate taggage, because the confusion of that branding in conjunction with the trolling, just blurs the actual issue. Listen, I know men can suffer from some of these things too, but let's be real, female gamers (and other internet women) get this far more than males do.

 

Actual Issue: Women are treated differently online when their gender is made known. Disclaimer: I am a male. I have played many games with women and men. Skill is not a gender only scenario. I have seen some really good male players, likewise I have played games with very skilled women. I also enjoy chatting with people online, so I have also gotten feedback from 'communities' (loose term here) like Facebook, in conjunction with forum and the Nintendo Miiverse community. One thing that stands out for sure, is the polarizing gender line in gaming, appears to start at a very young age (school).

 

Miiverse is a great example of the younger end of the spectrum enforcing the odd reverence and creepy behavior. In this example, a female drew some art on Miiverse for a game. Plenty of people liked her art, as I did, but the comments section is where the issue came up. In the comments, many random people (all males in the creepy examples) made obvious advances toward this woman, with one (seemingly young) boy professing his love to this person. She is a random person on the internet who's gender was disclosed, so then people felt the need to hit on her. On a Nintendo gaming community integrated into the console. That would bother me, but luckily I do not have an issue with strangers professing their love to me.

 

Facebook. Dear lords, the amount of female friends who get sent pictures of penis(plural), is baffling. Seriously I am not exaggerating when I say nearly every female friend on FB has gotten unsolicited (Read: Did not ask for) pictures of cock. On the public side, anytime an attractive female puts a photo of themselves up, the creeper comments come out. There is a fine line between a complement and being a creep to someone. Personal experience, most comments about a good picture, especially from males one does not know in real life / in person, tend to be cringe-worthy.

 

Forum communities this is still a thing too. Depending on the site, females either get put on a specialist platter (still prejudice btw, that is not equality), or they are demanded to 'prove their gaming cred'. A ridiculous notion. Consider everything a man learned about women from movies is wrong. Perhaps try respecting people for who they are and not just for their gender.

 

I have been trying to keep up on this topic too, and wanted to add some words on it. These are merely my observations, I may be wrong, but I would find you hard-pressed to deny the gender scope (not only in gaming) is supremely flawed. My take-away question is how does one combat the 'women must make me feel good and abide to my bidding' that is still apparently loaded into male minds at a young age. This is hardly a USA problem, the gender divide is in most if not all cultures, ok the cultures that are still alive and active.

 

I know there are a few female gamers here on FTB. You are welcome to share any feedback or experiences, but if not, I do not blame you. If there is someone who is greatly opposed to anything I said and does not have a forum account, Please sign-up and make an intro thread. This site gets too many bots to allow a fully open registration system. Introduce yourself in the Welcome forum and we can chat.

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