Feminism... again. Follow

It doesn't make them "less" but it paints a misleading picture when someone is complaining about the lack of female-driven games for the Xbox and someone else throws out a stat that includes a bunch of people who play Farmville and Bejeweled and who will never, ever buy an Xbox.

If people don't want someone talking about what that 45% actually includes then go find out how many people are actually primarily console gamers or how many females own an Xbox or PS3. Take the Top Twenty games of 2013 and break them down by gender. Stuff like that. Isn't that a lot more useful when talking about the lack of women characters in Ps3 games than dirty "statistics" that cover anything and everything?

"45% of 'gamers' are women" is just a weak stat. It doesn't tell you enough to be useful.

So whats your solution? I see a problem but no ones offering a good solution. The best we can hope for is to educate it out but that takes time. Thats what gets me about this, a lot of people complain about a lot of problems but no one offers solutions. We cant just wave our hands and change everything, Im sure every man on here respects women and our wifes/daughters/spouses. I sure as hell do, My wife is the anit-feminist (She bought a shirt that says I make good sammiches and she knows a ton of raunchy woman jokes -.-)

But part of it too Is the whole "Its sexist/racist Only because im a different gender/color" Its like saying every white/black dispute is a hate crime. Some people dont care if your a girl or a boy they just rip in because they can or want to. Honestly I find the Online gaming scene just as terrifying as woman supposedly do, I mute everyone right away and have my mic muted unless im with friends.

There is a difference between going after someone because they are a woman, Or going after someone because they are a RIVAL (In a competitive game).

Go Play LoL/DotA2 and do bad and watch to see how people treat you not even knowing your gender. They call you every name in the book.


Edited, Jun 12th 2013 2:33am by BeanX

Hell, I'd be happy if every female villain/victim you kill in a game didn't grunt and moan orgasmically as she dies.

I think I did offer a solution. But it seems to have been missed. I'll post it again in a moment.

As for it taking time? YES! It's going to take time!!!! So what? Because it might be a long haul, that means it should be disregarded? Why? Why should doing the right thing, even if it takes years be counted out of hand because it might take longer than a day? A week? A year? MMORPGS have been around for a long time, and this idea that women gamers are second class citizens didn't start up in a day. Reversing the effect will take even longer.

I don't normally do this, but I don't have the luxury of computer time today with a bunch of appointments and three kids out of school.I'll try and get back here later tonight. But here is what I ask: I want you to read this post. Really read it and try to get where I (and other female gamers) are coming from.This is a gamers community so it fits here:

"Hey Gamer Guys, We Need To /Chat"

If you agree with the message, help pass it out to your gaming buddies. And when you're gaming and you see this sort of crap, remember us asylumite femmes, and maybe say something

She was probably dressed as Wesley Crusher.


Edit: It was a TOS costume, but my joke still stands.

Edit 2: Someone is a Will Wheaton fan.

Edited, Jun 12th 2013 1:04pm by Shaowstrike

I'd consider comments made in person to be different than those made from anonymous twits on Facebook, Twitter, etc. In cases of social media, you have the option to simply ignore/block the person and not give them the satisfaction of a response. It's not a matter of "getting over it" so much as it's a question of appropriate response when, in the case of Anita S., collecting all the tweets and posting them (and then they get reposted by other blogs) is exactly what the people who wrote them wanted to happen. They'd probably be happier with that than if she announced she was leaving the world of gaming forever -- then they wouldn't even have their toy to jerk around any longer. As is, she posts, they reply, she makes a huge deal out of their replies, they love it, she posts again, etc.

She doesn't seem like a stupid woman. I'm sure she can figure this out. That she continues to stoke the cycle suggests that she's less heart-rent by the responses and more happy to use them to advance her agenda/career.

Edited, Jun 12th 2013 8:36am by Jophiel

I don't feel like my competence as a gamer, when in groups/raids etc has ever been questioned because of my gender. Admittedly, many times gender is left out of our working knowledge of each other in virtual worls. Hell, I though Joph was an middle-aged jaded housewife for the first 3 or 4 months I played EQ with him (he wasn't yet even middle-aged). This is in stark contrast to the real world where I can think of a half a dozen very distinct and obvious situations where I was discriminated again because of my gender.

Sure there are plenty of joksters asking me to make them sammiches, and the games have more male heroes and also more female victims, but those things really don't impact my game. Also I'd hate to see the age old story of the handsome knight rescuing the victimized princess be condemned by our society. It would be a real blow to romanticism.

I read the incredibly mean-spirited, imbecilic comments that you included in your blog DSD. They make me sad. But as mentioned, they're trolling. They want response. It feeds them.

Anyway, game producers will only listen to the money. If you really want to make change i'd be organizing world wide boycotts of games that are notably sexist.

I had a lot of female characters during my MMORPG days and rarely bothered to correct misconceptions about my own gender because it just wasn't worth it for one-off groups. My usual "Jophiel" name on forums is commonly mistaken as a female name. I don't recall ever being actively harassed* or discriminated against. But, again, that doesn't mean others haven't experienced it. I won't say "It never happened to me so it must not ever happen". It does make it a little harder to see it as a huge issue though.

*One time some obviously young kid kept trying to ask me to cyber him until I said I was going to tell the group what a pervert he was. Then he apologized profusely and stopped. That was on my first EQ cleric and in Oasis so it had to be back in like late 1999 or early 2000.

Edited, Jun 12th 2013 9:04am by Jophiel

There's a difference between smack talk (something I excel at) and derogatory comments made in general chats or gaming forums (not here, but other sites I see it constantly) when a female gamer speaks. Smack talk I am down for. But when the go to comeback when dealing with a female gamer is about getting back to the kitchen, or that girl gamers suck, it goes from being smack talk to something else.



Elinda I have also been lucky in that regard... for the most part. The guildies I raid with know me as a competent gamer, who can get the job done without complaint or issues. But, in my history of gaming, I have also seen a lot of females not given the chance that I was from other guilds. There was actually a huge thread not long ago in the official WoW forums, where a female gamer mentioned that when she was interviewed by a few raiding guilds, the moment they heard her voice on vent, they said they didn't take females. She wanted to know if this was common. Now, it's NOT common, but it isn't unheard of either. And a lot of players posted on this thread that they would seriously do the same thing for the reasons: that they were female, that females are known to not play as well, that females cause issues with the male gamers, that they didn't want to take the time to teach their male guldies how to both concentrate on the raid progression AND deal with a female. It wasn't trolling as we know it, these guys were genuine in their belief that girl gamers were not worth their time. And while it may not be happening to you or I, that doesn't mean it doesn't happen, nor should we wave it off.


I've seen this kind of crap in specifically two games: WoW (no surprise there) and Rift. I don't even bother with gen chat in WoW, as it is junk. Rift has better chat, yet I've watched some female gamers adding input in chat and being mocked by guys. It happens often enough, that I've actually just stopped helping any players asking for it in chat, because the potential for it to erupt is just not worth my time helping anther player. And frankly, that blows.


We femmes are strong enough to deal with it, and have done so for a long time. We will continue to do so for as long as it takes. But why the **** is it so hard for you guys to just take a moment and put yourself in a female players shoes, and realize that this kind of ****, whether trolling or not, is not cool on any freaking level?! I'm not asking for you to shoulder this alone. All I am asking is that you step up and help a sistah out when it's appropriate

When trolls mock guys, they focus on things that would make guys angry. Small ****** gay jokes, etc. When trolls mock women, they focus on things that would make women angry. Don't belong outside the kitchen, go make some sammiches, etc. African Americans, Mexicans, Asians, Women, Men. The trolls choose the stereotype specific to them. Why would it be any different for women being trolled?

So far from these threads I've gathered that if I treat a woman as a princess, I'm sexist and believe she's inferior in every way, and if I treat her like I treat my guy friends that means I'm sexist and believe she's inferior in every way.

That's treading the line of asking for special treatment. People get trolled all the time.

Most recently the general-chat hate speech I hear most is directed towards Asian gamers. In general chat channels I'll ignore it. If it goes beyond the general chat - into the forums or guilds/groups/alliances I'd speak up when/if I was witness to it or leave the group/guild if it was allowed to continue. I'd do the same for women or anyone that was being harassed and hated on due to bigotry.



Edited, Jun 12th 2013 5:22pm by Elinda