Girl Nerds into retro gaming? Who's out there?

[Dr. Ivo Robotnik]

I know far more about classic games than pretty much all of my male friends (well... except the ones here, of course~ ). But then I have an... um... slightly unconventional history, and I'm not sure I'm really representative of the general female populace. :'D



To be honest, this is why I don't understand lots of guys getting annoyed at girls "gaming for attention" as Aeolus puts it above. They only have themselves to blame for making it such a huge, earth-shattering deal when a girl plays videogames. If girls were allowed to play videogames without becoming a circus act for many people, those who only dabble in the hobby for attention would quickly drift away to something else. So if you don't like girls putting on the OMG GIRL GAMOR mantle for attention, why not... um... stop giving them attention?

Pretty much, aye. Though I wouldn't say 'stop giving them attention.' Ignoring people is rude, after all. Of course, now I'm being deliberately obtuse, but whatever, I'm tired, live with it.

But yeah, I heartily dislike it if girls use their gender to garner attention in gaming, and I heartily dislike it if guys misspend attention because they find out someone's a girl. Get over it, and just game on with people you enjoy gaming with.

[Slacker Magician]

Filthy women and their gaming for attention. No really, I'm offended; if you like playing games there's no need to specify your gender and that, indeed, you're playing games. And they always just say the most popular or generic of things, it's never "HAI GUYZ IM A GURL AND IM PLAYING DRAGON QUEST 1 ON THE NES!"

Shut up and get off my goddamned Internet; you're hogging bandwidth I could be using for... I don't know. Podcasts or something.

Yep.

[Gare]

The base concept of this thread is interesting. I'm not a female gamer, but I'd like to see more of them.

Now, before any of you cretins take that as a "hur dur he wants gurlfrend" post - my reasons for saying that is that, despite what's been said, female gamers are still treated as an anomaly. The moment someone in a game is discovered to be a girl, attitudes towards that person change completely. More female gamers might change this trend and make behaviour a bit more natural from these inestimable morons. I just like to game, and if others like to game too, yay them, be they male or female.

Yeah, pretty much what I think about the issue as well. The weird part is how easy it is to be misunderstood as a creeper in such a situation. When I ask a female gamer about her favorite games, I do it not because she's female, but rather because she's a gamer, like myself.

[foggy_han]

*posted something but changed my mind*

[curryking3]

I detest the underlying message in this thread. Girl gamers are no better than guy gamers

[rabidmedia]

*Sigh*.... I knew some of you would go the "I'm a Sexist" route, but the fact remains, I just wanted to spark conversation. I don't value Girl gamers or Guy gamers better or worse than any other, and I'm definitely NOT looking for a girlfriend here. It just interests me that there are not nearly as many Female gamers as guy gamers, although there are plenty. to Ignore our gender is just as bad as singling out gender (as well as race, age, and ethnicity...) The point of this thread is to give girls and guys another place to speak their opinions (as you all are doing!) I know there are some intelligent people out there with an opinion or two on the matter, I'm just the guy with big enough balls to bring it up. I think it's a good thing that we are different, and there is no denying that race, gender and age effect our interests, this is based on the world we live and the standards the media present. there will be those who follow the trends, and those who rebel against them. as for me, I'm just trying to life my damn life, here.

[foggy_han]

*Sigh*.... I knew some of you would go the "I'm a Sexist" route, but the fact remains, I just wanted to spark conversation. I don't value Girl gamers or Guy gamers better or worse than any other, and I'm definitely NOT looking for a girlfriend here. It just interests me that there are not nearly as many Female gamers as guy gamers, although there are plenty. to Ignore our gender is just as bad as singling out gender (as well as race, age, and ethnicity...) The point of this thread is to give girls and guys another place to speak their opinions (as you all are doing!) I know there are some intelligent people out there with an opinion or two on the matter, I'm just the guy with big enough balls to bring it up. I think it's a good thing that we are different, and there is no denying that race, gender and age effect our interests, this is based on the world we live and the standards the media present. there will be those who follow the trends, and those who rebel against them. as for me, I'm just trying to life my damn life, here.

Sorry if my posting was a little strong back there. I was not thinking on your post when I wrote mine
but was basing it on other opinions that were posted. I do not think "gender war" makes sense at all.

In fact, I posted a quote from TRS to show my point. You know, being "robots" to show genderlessness regarding gaming.

[rabidmedia]

ya know, there was a study conducted a few decades ago, regarding guys, girls, and Pong. apparently, it is proven that girls are mentally more equipped, in terms of raw skill, to play Pong well. a guy who just picks the game up is less likely to do well than a girl. as with everything else, practice makes perfect, no matter what gender you are.
Lets face it: there ARE differences between genders, besides the "obvious physical" attributes. I believe, cosmically, there are reasons for our many differences as far as gender, race and ethnicities. I feel that Stereotypes and Clichés exist for a reason. some may be offensive while others are undeniable truths. they exist based on previous knowledge, apathy, and ignorance or lack there of. We as PEOPLE need to realize that not everyone is the same, yet, we have the free will to change whatever we want about ourselves, or not.
...Like I said, I'm just trying to spark conversation, here. Isn't that what a forum is? what I HATE to see is severe up-tightness in people, because there is no need for it! just be happy! (^-^)

Shut up and get off my goddamned Internet; you're hogging bandwidth I could be using for... I don't know. Podcasts or something.

...dude.... harsh... that's not the spirit of the internet. and besides, I don't like podcasts. they are pointless in my opinion. as an American, I believe it is my right to type whatever the hell I want, as is yours.

[foggy_han]

Lets face it: there ARE differences between genders, besides the "obvious physical" attributes. I believe, cosmically, there are reasons for our many differences as far as gender, race and ethnicities. I feel that Stereotypes and Clichés exist for a reason. some may be offensive while others are undeniable truths. they exist based on previous knowledge, apathy, and ignorance or lack there of. We as PEOPLE need to realize that not everyone is the same, yet, we have the free will to change whatever we want about ourselves, or not.

Eh-he. Agreed.

Spoiler warning:

You get a Thanks there.

[curryking3]

*Sigh*.... I knew some of you would go the "I'm a Sexist" route, but the fact remains, I just wanted to spark conversation. I don't value Girl gamers or Guy gamers better or worse than any other, and I'm definitely NOT looking for a girlfriend here. It just interests me that there are not nearly as many Female gamers as guy gamers, although there are plenty. to Ignore our gender is just as bad as singling out gender (as well as race, age, and ethnicity...) The point of this thread is to give girls and guys another place to speak their opinions (as you all are doing!) I know there are some intelligent people out there with an opinion or two on the matter, I'm just the guy with big enough balls to bring it up. I think it's a good thing that we are different, and there is no denying that race, gender and age effect our interests, this is based on the world we live and the standards the media present. there will be those who follow the trends, and those who rebel against them. as for me, I'm just trying to life my damn life, here.

Actually, there are. Most reports will say women make up about 40 to 50% of the gaming population.

It's just they don't come online, because they are often abused through the fact they are female. And apparently most females aren't willing to tolerate the abuse. Not going to blame them. It also could be due to the the possibility a good portion of female gamers are just not playing the same games as us, or they are playing the same games and just find different avenues to talk about them. Of course, many or most female gamers do play all the popular choices that show up at E3 and whatnot, but why their participation on forums is lesser and such, I obviously don't have the full answer. Maybe it is different outside North America and Europe, maybe Japan or Korea have a little more 50-50 participation.

If you wanted to discuss the matter of females and videogaming, maybe start off with a different choice of words in your opening post, or start off with an article like these:

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-10883404
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18280000
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...rls_and_Games/
http://fatuglyorslutty.com/

A more thorough OP might have gotten a more thorough set of responses, just saying.

On the issue of ignoring your gender: this isn't actually what any sane person would recommend. It's just that the attitudes of online personalities drastically change as soon as people identify themselves as girls, or sometimes even the girls make the mistake of identifying themselves as such to seek attention. I think the former is far more common anyway. Maybe it's the demographics and too much of a small, loud minority being jerks. I assume it is. I think the key issue here is not to 'avoid identifying' yourself as a girl, but not to define yourself as one. Because a person is more than their gender, and on a gaming forum, your identity is your gaming prestige and nothing else (whatever that entails).

The average age of the gamer is apparently 37 years old too, according to one of those BBC articles. The more you know...

P.S. I am not a girl, nor do I plan on becoming one in the future