Why 'girl gamers' don't exist

[Shrygue]

via Games Radar (http://www.gamesradar.com/gb/ps3/game/news/article.jsp?sectionId=1006&articleId=2007031610299312019&releaseId=20060314132311609002)


GamesRadar's female voice steps up to bring the stereotype down

With the launch of Nintendo’s seemingly more ‘girl friendly’ DS and Wii, and gaming award ceremony’s adding categories like Girls’ Choice Award, women picking up a joypad is apparently becoming more mainstream. But what is this obsession with women being a different gaming species?

Despite the acceptance that more women are playing games there’s still a great divide – one where male gamers fit into many categories and women get just one: girl gamer. The girl gamer is often seen as a casual gamer, dipping in and out of sunny, happy titles where any skill needed is thin on the ground; gameplay kept to a minimum.

As a ‘girl’, a gamer and member of the GamesRadar team I’m here to dispel these myths. I may not be one of the PES regulars in our office every lunchtime but I know what I like when it comes to games. Read on to see just why girl gamers don’t exist.


Leave feedback via comments.

[Basil Zero]

..........

does it matter?

geez why do we always have to bring up gender in VIDEO GAMES, real life already has problems

[Totalitarian]

I like some of these 'feminine' games. Does that make me a girl gamer?

[muffinman]

I like some of these 'feminine' games. Does that make me a girl gamer?

it totally does :p


neways does it really matter what groups gamers are put into it?

[10shu]

hope next year they also do a black choise award. and a gay choise award... oh and also a black lesbian choise award...

why only girls should be put into videogame guetto?!

[IM back!]

this is so irrelevent

[Shadowblind]

Girl gamers only like "sunny titles?" Since when has gears of War been considered sunny? In multiplayer they're usually at least one per every few games.

[eatnooM]

Girls are people. Gamers are people. Stereotypes are stupid. :)

[Chameleon]

I don't think about stereotypes but the people who are grouped into them keep bringing them up, so how they expect us to get over the stereotypes if we are constantly reminded of them

[Solidus Snake]

Does it matter if you are girl or boy? I think it doesn't matter.

We're all Gamers ;-)

[JKKDARK]

Girl gamers only like "sunny titles?" Since when has gears of War been considered sunny? In multiplayer they're usually at least one per every few games.

You are totally wrong

[The King]

yea it dont matter if ur a guy or girl all that matters is that u know how to play and good because a little chalange dosent hurt no one

well thats wat i go by

[DarthPaul]

Lol!! They're calling Wii and DS girly! Just what I told to my lil' bro! PSP/PS3 Forever!

[I_Highway]

Well, that's a fact in the industry: most of gamers are male. Maybe 51% , but this is already majority.
It is really more common find guys who like videogames than girls, but it has never been said that there are no girls at all playing.
Some women just don’t like competition, don't like to learn a lot of useless stuff like what does each button. They just want to have some fun. That's why The Sims and Miis are so popular among them: they can have fun, create new things, watch things happening.
Of course there are and there always have been girls playing regular games, and we are aware of it (and proud, and happy for it), but, just like I said in the beginning, they are fewer then men. It's not about segregating, it's about a niche the industry is trying to fill, and has some tatics for it. I believe some girls (like some "older than Atari" people) just need "Girl games" to figure fun in regular kinds of games.
Then, new people will be "girl gamers" no more, and start to be "gamers".

[Steely]

Lol!! They're calling Wii and DS girly! Just what I told to my lil' bro! PSP/PS3 Forever!

Wow, you must feel really special and manly.

[IM back!]

Wow, you must feel really special and manly.

:rofl:

nuf said :)

maby not...

staryotypes are stupid...

...ya.

[Basil Zero]

Does it matter if you are girl or boy? I think it doesn't matter.

We're all Gamers ;-)

thats exactly what i 'm talking about:thumbup:

[Adrenalin]

although girls who play games can be really interesting, who cares about some random person's opinion on the net.

[matthewmcg]

women play games! next youll be telling me that they drive cars, read the newspaper and work as policemen! propostrous! outragous! tally ho i say old chap!

[UchihaSasuke]

women play games! next youll be telling me that they drive cars, read the newspaper and work as policemen! propostrous! outragous! tally ho i say old chap!

WTF is wrong with you?

[eatnooM]

WTF is wrong with you?

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sarcasm

I'm a helper! =)

[mesosade]

Girls are people. Gamers are people. Stereotypes are stupid. :)

nice saying, need to write that down :D

[gdf]

it doesn't really matter, but i would agree that lots of girls i know don't enjoy gears, but prefer to play things like loco roco or mario. these aren't gamers as such, they are more casual.

[mesosade]

well quite a few people choose not to play gears of war because of the mindless violence so it's not really all based on gender.

[Arun70]

i´m also more the "mario"-type of gamer... am i a girl now? ;-)

[gdf]

all gamers enjoy mario, but casual gamers are more stereotypical to their gender, men=sport/violence, women=platformers/party. more hard core gamers play the same games, whether male or female.

[diceone]

so you can't be a hardcore gamer if you play mario 12 hours a day?
and define "hardcore" gamer?

does that mean some adept halo 2 clan member that lives for the FPS clan match?
or does it mean a amazing loco roco player who knows every in and out of that game?

GDF I'd say you suffer from a bad case of media buzzword usage and stereotypical gender labeling.

"Hardcore gamer" sounds like "extreme skater"...
thanks, but I will define myself by something other than Mountain Dew soda commercial standards.

I think the reason women aren't as present as men in the gaming world, is because most guys suck the fun right out of it.
The majority of the males I run into in the online/xbox live game world are annoying, obnoxious, ignorant, sexist, racist, and too busy trying to mouth off and compete and be a know it all.
They live to call people noobs, and make everyone else suffer at the hands of their "skills".

sounds like a real awesome place.

thanks a lot GUYS.

[Wally]

Girls are too busy partying or putting make up on or doing their hair to play games :)

[zidanerick]

Girls are too busy partying or putting make up on or doing their hair to play games :)

I dare you to tell Nikki That! :P

Nah some of the female players i see on halo 2 and PDZ can kick my ass, and im not exactly crap on FPS

[tsimehC]

LOL! I venture out of the emulation forums and this is one of the first topics I enter...

...not a good sign of DCEmu's community. *goes back to the emulation forums heads down*