As for women drivers. My one friend was a very skilled driver in some racing games. One of her favorite was the Burnout series. Between her and my other friend, they were some of the top players online in that series.

But pretty much I don’t see many women saying, “dude, this is what I’m gonna do, and up yours if you don’t like it” about games, about hobbies, and even about life goals. It’s kinda interesting my highly driven sister go into college: she wants an MD, and you better not get in her way, versus the other people in her dorm, who are…not as motivated, shall we say…

Since I was old enough to hold a joystick I’ve regularly played a very wide variety of video games - everything and anything from Half-Life to - yes, I admit it - The Sims. I think a lot of fellow female gamers are just as guilty as the mainstream population in underestimating just how many women have played video games since a young age and continue to do so - it hasn’t happened suddenly, we’ve been here all along. The only difference is that the big video game companies are willing to take notice of us now they’ve realised they can make more money out of us by targeting specific games at us.

I don’t play video games because I enjoy it when I beat male gamers - I play because I enjoy beating other gamers - regardless of gender - because I don’t believe I have anything to prove. If more women in gaming thought like this, I feel there would be much less of an issue surrounding women in the video game industry and community.

It’s nice if you feel like you have nothing to prove, but a lot of people/guilds/groups/gaming cultures make it so you have to have something prove. You either accept their stereotyping/insults, or you fight against it. There are mature communities, and there are mature guilds, and there are lots of women gamers. But in much the same way that just because there are some high-powered business women doesn’t mean that there isn’t still a significant gap between the average man and the average woman’s career, just because there are some mature gaming comms and some hardcore female gamers doesn’t mean that the gaming industry as a whole is equal.

Part of the problem, I think, is firstly that these are virtual worlds that are rarely policed - or, if they are policed it is with a very different set of rules in mind to the real world. If someone came up to you in the street and screamed abuse at you you would call the police. But in games that happens all the time, and it’s just accepted. A guild within a game is run on very similar lines to a business or a charity or a boy scouts or whatever - but legislation protects people within business, charities and scouts in a way that it doesn’t in the virtual world.

I mean, what am I going to do? Sue my guild leader for kicking me out because I “am a dumb slut”? Nobody would take that seriously. But if you got kicked out of any group in the real world for that you’d be screaming blue murder.

Okay, I am stopping before this comment ends up longer than the entry

Kristen - good luck with your MD! Gaming can make a good mind-blank from studying sometimes I like your choice of games too ^^ Yay Final Fantasy!

Even when we play WoW together, there’s this double standard. At this stage in the game, burned by past guild drama, we pvp with a group of our real life friends. My char is a fury-speced warrior outfitted mostly in s3 arena gear and I do an obscene amount of damage. I’m not shocked that the players I don’t know personally treat me like a mythical beast when I run premade BGs (vent kills my anonymity but damned if I can type and pwn at the same time…), it’s when the hubby gets all gloaty about me. Obviously he thinks I’m special or he wouldn’t have married me, but there’s this weird competitiveness (yeah, bitches, she’s rare and she’s MINE) with an underlying sense of awe. It’s as if he kinda believes the hype. I mean, he tried to get me into the Sims as a segway into gaming when we first moved in together years ago and was thrown when I wanted to play Warcraft (yay Tower Defense!) instead. And just last month he installed Peggle on my box and was confused when I abandoned it in favor of CoD4.

Ugh, I feel kind of mean for picking on my guy, but I think he’s a v. good example of a larger issue. Despite the statistics and the anecdotal evidence, despite the fact that I’m the one driving the damn Warthog, there’s this denial among otherwise sensible guys that girls game. Or that girls game seriously. Or that girls have the “natural aptitude” necessary to play ‘hardcore’ games.

I’m new to the whole blog posting so I’m sorry that I ranted so long. I love love LOVE this blog and will keep coming back, though I’ll try to keep my tongue in the future.

That being said, we also have to remember that there isn’t anything wrong with games like the Sims, or simply having fun playing the Wii. It’s just frustrating when you can’t be taken seriously as a gamer just because you’re a girl. There are more of us than people seem to think. I stumbled upon this site through a girl gaming board I visit (hi Lumi!) and I’m really enjoying it. Keep up the good work!

*Girl*

/played MGS1, MGS2, Starcraft, (many “boys games” of the 90’s like MK), Diablo2, Halo, Vampire Hunter D, Castlevania, Silent Scope