05-14-2003, 10:39 PM
Hi,
First off, this post will be a response to more than one poster in this thread (and a commentary on the article on the WomenGamers site) as I am not inclined to make more than one post in a thread (or more than one post per month for that matter), so I apologize to people like Elric who get perturbed with people who do not post in the right sequence. Secondly, I am not going to answer the poll eventhough I am posting here in this thread, because I do not see how my answer will make a difference to people who are not going to take the replies seriously.
Like Pete mentioned in his response, there are people, myself included, who prefer to remain annonymous gender-wise on public forums, and as Feryar stated, it doesn't matter if you know the gender of the people you game with online as long as the gaming experience is rewarding in some way for all participants. People who want to assume that I am of the same gender as the character (class) I am playing when I meet them do not bother me. I will not bother to correct them, especially since it might be the only source of amusement I get out of the game session (in game banter seemed more prevalent in CD than in D2).
From my experiences on B.net and in various forums, I have noticed that many people who claim to be female do so to receive special attention. Because there are not many female gamers or posters on forums, many people who enjoy posing as female or who are female and flaunt this fact, do so with the intention of being treated differently which can include being immediately accepted into a clique, or not being flamed for statements they make or behavior that would otherwise be considered distasteful or unacceptable. That said, I wonder how many female lurkers will announce themselves =P.
The article at the end of Bun Bun's link and ShadowHM's observation about the absence of female hack and slashers in internet cafes has more to do, imho, with sociology more than with whether or not females enjoy a certain genre of games. The majority of American females have been socialized into having a different set of priorities than those of their male counterparts. Women tend to spend their time and money in more materialistic pursuits than on entertainment and amusement, especially in public places. Until recently, it was considered "unlady-like" or "socially unacceptable" for women to be seen playing games in a gaming arcade or even playing video games at home on a console or computer. Conversations between women discussing a (video) game in public is still a rarity. I would not attribute this to the fact that women are not as competetive as males or that they are too uncomfortable to enjoy playing "head to head" games with "men they haven't met or can't see". Back in the Diablo days, one of the best duelists I met was female (undefeated in her former clan), and she mainly played a warrior. While I do believe that socialization has a lot to do with the lower number of female gamers, I do not put much stock in the "Pyramid of Power" theory mentioned by Sheri Graner Ray, or the other ridiculous statements and claims that she made during her interview.
"...most females don't play the fighting games....Not because they are "gorey" or "yucky" because they get BORED beating on the same character over and over again for no reason they can see!" -Sheri Graner Ray
I would expect the president of a software company who considers herself a gamer would have a higher understanding of why people, whether male or female, enjoy a game than what her statement suggests. The early video games were mostly about improving personal skills-eye hand coordination, reflexes, memorizing layouts etc-which led to the thrill of getting to the next level of challenge or beating a high score. They were not about enjoying pointless violence as Sheri suggests, although the violence surely has its appeal to many fans of fighting games. Modern arcade and video games seem to put more stock in the thrill factor, because, quite frankly, many gamers are thrill addicts. There are thrill seekers and there are those who are content to live without expending the effort to find such excitement, and imho, this has nothing to do with whether a person is born male or female. In games like Diablo, the main appeal is the treasure finding, unless one plays the multiplayer version where the focus shifts to the challenge and excitement of co-op play. The storyline and quests in Diablo and D2, imo, were boring. I do not expect or want a "good story" in a computer action game and I despise quests (do you hear this Black Isle, Bioware, Blizzard?). If I want to role play, then I will play a pen and paper RPG and if I want a good story I will read a book or write it myself.
At gaming conventions, where people pay money to attend and participate in games for a weekend, the ratio of female participants is much higher than in places such as internet cafes probably because the people attending the convention have dedicated that time with the intent of playing games, whereas people at internet cafes are there because they have no other plans (and apparently, insufficient internet access or access to a computer at home). Of the people who play online games, it seems that female gamers have a higher "social" status than their male counterparts. By this I mean, they are more likely to be engaged in other social activities and therefore less likely to be found in internet cafes than male gamers.
While there are still a higher percentage of serious male gamers than female gamers, that number is decreasing. With regard to the low number of female posters on the LL, I will say that contrary to popular belief, males tend to be "chattier" online and in real life.
Xi
First off, this post will be a response to more than one poster in this thread (and a commentary on the article on the WomenGamers site) as I am not inclined to make more than one post in a thread (or more than one post per month for that matter), so I apologize to people like Elric who get perturbed with people who do not post in the right sequence. Secondly, I am not going to answer the poll eventhough I am posting here in this thread, because I do not see how my answer will make a difference to people who are not going to take the replies seriously.
Like Pete mentioned in his response, there are people, myself included, who prefer to remain annonymous gender-wise on public forums, and as Feryar stated, it doesn't matter if you know the gender of the people you game with online as long as the gaming experience is rewarding in some way for all participants. People who want to assume that I am of the same gender as the character (class) I am playing when I meet them do not bother me. I will not bother to correct them, especially since it might be the only source of amusement I get out of the game session (in game banter seemed more prevalent in CD than in D2).
From my experiences on B.net and in various forums, I have noticed that many people who claim to be female do so to receive special attention. Because there are not many female gamers or posters on forums, many people who enjoy posing as female or who are female and flaunt this fact, do so with the intention of being treated differently which can include being immediately accepted into a clique, or not being flamed for statements they make or behavior that would otherwise be considered distasteful or unacceptable. That said, I wonder how many female lurkers will announce themselves =P.
The article at the end of Bun Bun's link and ShadowHM's observation about the absence of female hack and slashers in internet cafes has more to do, imho, with sociology more than with whether or not females enjoy a certain genre of games. The majority of American females have been socialized into having a different set of priorities than those of their male counterparts. Women tend to spend their time and money in more materialistic pursuits than on entertainment and amusement, especially in public places. Until recently, it was considered "unlady-like" or "socially unacceptable" for women to be seen playing games in a gaming arcade or even playing video games at home on a console or computer. Conversations between women discussing a (video) game in public is still a rarity. I would not attribute this to the fact that women are not as competetive as males or that they are too uncomfortable to enjoy playing "head to head" games with "men they haven't met or can't see". Back in the Diablo days, one of the best duelists I met was female (undefeated in her former clan), and she mainly played a warrior. While I do believe that socialization has a lot to do with the lower number of female gamers, I do not put much stock in the "Pyramid of Power" theory mentioned by Sheri Graner Ray, or the other ridiculous statements and claims that she made during her interview.
"...most females don't play the fighting games....Not because they are "gorey" or "yucky" because they get BORED beating on the same character over and over again for no reason they can see!" -Sheri Graner Ray
I would expect the president of a software company who considers herself a gamer would have a higher understanding of why people, whether male or female, enjoy a game than what her statement suggests. The early video games were mostly about improving personal skills-eye hand coordination, reflexes, memorizing layouts etc-which led to the thrill of getting to the next level of challenge or beating a high score. They were not about enjoying pointless violence as Sheri suggests, although the violence surely has its appeal to many fans of fighting games. Modern arcade and video games seem to put more stock in the thrill factor, because, quite frankly, many gamers are thrill addicts. There are thrill seekers and there are those who are content to live without expending the effort to find such excitement, and imho, this has nothing to do with whether a person is born male or female. In games like Diablo, the main appeal is the treasure finding, unless one plays the multiplayer version where the focus shifts to the challenge and excitement of co-op play. The storyline and quests in Diablo and D2, imo, were boring. I do not expect or want a "good story" in a computer action game and I despise quests (do you hear this Black Isle, Bioware, Blizzard?). If I want to role play, then I will play a pen and paper RPG and if I want a good story I will read a book or write it myself.
At gaming conventions, where people pay money to attend and participate in games for a weekend, the ratio of female participants is much higher than in places such as internet cafes probably because the people attending the convention have dedicated that time with the intent of playing games, whereas people at internet cafes are there because they have no other plans (and apparently, insufficient internet access or access to a computer at home). Of the people who play online games, it seems that female gamers have a higher "social" status than their male counterparts. By this I mean, they are more likely to be engaged in other social activities and therefore less likely to be found in internet cafes than male gamers.
While there are still a higher percentage of serious male gamers than female gamers, that number is decreasing. With regard to the low number of female posters on the LL, I will say that contrary to popular belief, males tend to be "chattier" online and in real life.
Xi