love RPGs and shooters. fav games include splinter cell, rainbow six, bond, zelda(s), mario(s) among others
have my own website called http://www.guysgirl.com where i like to teach girls about video games, sports, fitness and beauty which just so happen to by my passions
I wrote this the other day and KNEW I wasnt going to to post it here. Why? Because I knew I would get ripped to shreds by a select few. Upon getting so much response and support for it on other sites, I changed my mind.
So to the few that want to rip anything I post to shreds just because Im a girl, Ill be smiling at your comments. The following is what I wrote about Women in Gaming.
:)
When I decided I wanted to start writing about my passions, sports and video games, I knew that there are going to be people out there who obviously know more about the categories than I do. But something that troubles me is when I post a video game article on "video game sites", I get completely torn apart by all the males that seem to know everything there is to know about the industry. Every video game player always thinks they know more about video games than the next person. Insults about my gender quickly follow any post which always seem to include the line "go make me a sandwich". These statements no doubt anger me to the point I want to shove that sandwich they speak of somewhere that is not appropriate to state. A sense of anger would overwhelm me when I would read comments about my posts.
After numerous hateful comments, I started googling the behavior towards women in the video game industry and found out I was not alone. Though not everyone is an ignorant chauvinist, cruel comments and "ganging up" on females during online video game play is quite rampant. I have recently become a strong supporter of women's future in the gaming industry when I ran across a video about the original women in gaming. To be honest, I had no idea that women have played key roles in many classic games since the 80's. Women like Donna Bailey (programmer of Centipede) and Carol Shaw (first video game designer) that are talked about in the video seemed to comfort me. I thought about how much these women have been influences and broke into a completely male dominated industry and paved the way for women to have a future. Though the gaming industry is very slow to adapt, more and more of Corporate America is opening their doors to women.
Thankfully Web 2.0 has come along and open the door to social communities where girls can gather and not feel so hated and alone in the video game world. Sites like GrrlGamer.com, GamerVixens.com (still in beta) and WomenGamers.com are all sites that create a welcoming atmosphere. I look forward to the day of posting a blog article to a "hardcore gamer" site and having a legitimate debate with someone about the topic without being terrified to check the comments.
When I feel frustrated about the way other women are treated, I watch this video and it makes me hold my head up and be proud for writing about what I love and what women have done for the industry that I love so much.
If the video doesnt work (not sure if embed button is compatible with that particular video site) click the following and it will take you my blog article where the video can be viewed.
[url]
http://imaguysgirl.blogspot.com/2009/01/women-in-gaming.html[/url]
I never got ganged up on here once because I was a female, at all. Reason why, I don't make gender a issue, never will either. I am a gamer, nothing more nothing less. I play games because they are fun,
No, we'd rip it apart because it sucks. buuuut it doesnt, so congrats on generalizing a community you apparently dont know as well as you think you do. :D
The video was really a nice watch. Your writing however seems a little disjointed. You are talking about the lack of accessibility with blogging on the interwebs for women gamers, but at the same time trying to talk about famous female programmers.
As a female gamer myself, I feel like you do have some valid points but it is a little confusing. I also feel like "girl gamer" websites tend to be more harm than good for their audience. If women gamers want to gain the respect and admiration that their male counterparts have, they need to do it without posing for the camera and instead using their intellect.
You said it yourself, that one day you would like to be able to post on hardcore gaming websites, well start with that! You're already doing it on Destructoid, so keep at it. Infiltrate these websites and get to know the community. That's the best way to earn their respect and get on the same page as them on gaming issues. It isn't about being different, it's about coming together and realizing that we are all the same; we all love video games, period. Sorry, I'm rambling now, but it's been fun :)
im glad that some girls have not been ganged up on because they are a girl. Ive never been a "feminist " type, but from what Ive experienced and what others have told me they have gone through, it is rather rampant.
I love playing video games and always look forward to playing with everyone, females and males alike.
well put djduffy. respect is never given, its earned and thats how I need to go about it.
Roberta Williams was one of the most important PC names in video games for a long time. The only person I can think of that was more central than her was Richard Garriot.
Hm, interesting topic there.
I think it is necessary that female gamers participate on so called Hardcore blogs because... well first of all it changes the image of gamers being a)fat b) male and c) total nerds with no social life. And this is of course about equality between the two sexes...
no seriously she's right those 'grilgamer' sites do more wrong then good I think... they stigamatise more of you then make us accept you... though as I've seen with my girlfriend's experiences on Halo3, the general male population on XBLive is great at getting girls to quit online gaming... so now I have to play on my own :-(
she does still play guitar hero online, but refuses to use a headphones while doing it, and I really can't blame her...
great that you're willing to 'fight back'!
this was a pretty acceptable blog, so I'm thankful for it as it gave me some good stuff to read and a pretty interesting video to check out, never knew women were so important in the history of videogames :-)
Content over creator. I think if the content comes from a genuine place, and doesn't seem contrived, it'll be accepted regardless of the voice or "stats" of the author.
I personally like to see things flavored by the author's specific background and experiences as who they are. Maybe I'm in minority, but I'd love to see more writing and community input from "girl gamers" here on Destructoid. If we're all writing from inside our amazing bubble of gaming meta-culture, we're more likely to stagnate creatively, I think.
Separately, I'm not so sure about the gaming industry being "slow to adapt". I work in QA for mobile games and tech, and from a hiring PoV, I'll take any tester that seems like a solid candidate. Though the women in our office are mostly not deep into gaming culture (though we do have one hardcore WoW player that is female), we manage to have a pretty warm work environment that everyone's pretty comfortable in.
Not much to do with the topic at hand, but I had no idea that a woman designed Warlords - as such, I shall now begin a marble sculpture of her likeness.
This was a cool post. We do need more female leads in good games. Good thing Bayonetta is coming out. Also the only way you would get ripped to shreds is if you wrote about finding females, and if you were me.
good write up, we just had a similar blog written yesterday about the hazings of women on this site.
i don't hate women or women gamers and love when i get a girlfriend who can kick my ass at street fighter and enjoys playing games with me. i say it again. i love a chick who can kick my ass.
The only real way to get ripped to shreads here is to either to write a failblog (bad grammar, terrible pacing, etc., etc.) or be a troll. As you did neither of these things, you are safe. *thumbs up*
i love (some) women.
didnt a chick direct assasin's creed?
its kinda silly to degrade women in the game industry, when a majority of storylines are driven by females?
And a decent chunk of the industry is aimed at the softer gender.
I dont think anyone is gonna trash you for being a girl, now if you were black you might have an argument.
I'll tell you the same thing I usually say when someone brings up the "grrls need respect toooo" argument. If you don't make it an issue, most people won't either. And those that do just need to STFUAJPG.
Unfortunately, the moremainstream gaming becomes, the more immature smartasses start popping up. I've never really insulted for playing games, but most guys generally assume that I only play things like Mario Kart and Wii Fit, and are really surprised when I can direct them on the best strategy for a certain objective in Call of Duty.
And even though the vast majority of other users here on Destructoid are guys, I've never gotten much trouble when posting blog articles.
"Good thing Bayonetta is coming out."
That's the absolute last thing that women need to further their representation in games. For a "strong female lead", all Bayonetta really represents is the ultimate sexual fantasy for men. What we need is more characters like Samus, where it doesn't matter that she's a woman. She still kicks alien ass up and down the galaxy without having to show off her cleavage.
This has never been an issue, I have never once felt put out as a gamer because im a girl. Afraid to break it to you but from what i have seen its more of a girl on girl issue. I've seen more of women making life hard for other women than men,which is sad.
Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just speak your mind. We respect differing opinions on the site, so have at it. Be smart, funny, insightful, clueless, or cute -- but back it up with substance. Keep your cool, keep it fun. We only ask that you act respectfully and above all: don't be a troll and ruin it for everyone else. Don't bring down gamers or we'll, you know, gently shoot you in the face and stuff you into a flaming mailbox. Each comment is your opportuntity to make this community awesomer. Is that even a word?
Avoiding the banhammer only requires common sense: spamming, trolling, racism, NSFW stuff, and other forms of sucking will not be tolerated. If anyone is griefing please report abuse. Be good. Don't suck!
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Rather presumptuous isn't it?
As a female gamer myself, I feel like you do have some valid points but it is a little confusing. I also feel like "girl gamer" websites tend to be more harm than good for their audience. If women gamers want to gain the respect and admiration that their male counterparts have, they need to do it without posing for the camera and instead using their intellect.
You said it yourself, that one day you would like to be able to post on hardcore gaming websites, well start with that! You're already doing it on Destructoid, so keep at it. Infiltrate these websites and get to know the community. That's the best way to earn their respect and get on the same page as them on gaming issues. It isn't about being different, it's about coming together and realizing that we are all the same; we all love video games, period. Sorry, I'm rambling now, but it's been fun :)
I love playing video games and always look forward to playing with everyone, females and males alike.
well put djduffy. respect is never given, its earned and thats how I need to go about it.
That's all it takes to be respected. If people still don't respect you, you're in the wrong place.
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I think it is necessary that female gamers participate on so called Hardcore blogs because... well first of all it changes the image of gamers being a)fat b) male and c) total nerds with no social life. And this is of course about equality between the two sexes...
no seriously she's right those 'grilgamer' sites do more wrong then good I think... they stigamatise more of you then make us accept you... though as I've seen with my girlfriend's experiences on Halo3, the general male population on XBLive is great at getting girls to quit online gaming... so now I have to play on my own :-(
she does still play guitar hero online, but refuses to use a headphones while doing it, and I really can't blame her...
great that you're willing to 'fight back'!
this was a pretty acceptable blog, so I'm thankful for it as it gave me some good stuff to read and a pretty interesting video to check out, never knew women were so important in the history of videogames :-)
thanks for that ;-)
Content over creator. I think if the content comes from a genuine place, and doesn't seem contrived, it'll be accepted regardless of the voice or "stats" of the author.
I personally like to see things flavored by the author's specific background and experiences as who they are. Maybe I'm in minority, but I'd love to see more writing and community input from "girl gamers" here on Destructoid. If we're all writing from inside our amazing bubble of gaming meta-culture, we're more likely to stagnate creatively, I think.
Separately, I'm not so sure about the gaming industry being "slow to adapt". I work in QA for mobile games and tech, and from a hiring PoV, I'll take any tester that seems like a solid candidate. Though the women in our office are mostly not deep into gaming culture (though we do have one hardcore WoW player that is female), we manage to have a pretty warm work environment that everyone's pretty comfortable in.
Wow...
i don't hate women or women gamers and love when i get a girlfriend who can kick my ass at street fighter and enjoys playing games with me. i say it again. i love a chick who can kick my ass.
The only real way to get ripped to shreads here is to either to write a failblog (bad grammar, terrible pacing, etc., etc.) or be a troll. As you did neither of these things, you are safe. *thumbs up*
didnt a chick direct assasin's creed?
its kinda silly to degrade women in the game industry, when a majority of storylines are driven by females?
And a decent chunk of the industry is aimed at the softer gender.
I dont think anyone is gonna trash you for being a girl, now if you were black you might have an argument.
And Mistic, I don't think DJDuffy's your type...
And even though the vast majority of other users here on Destructoid are guys, I've never gotten much trouble when posting blog articles.
"Good thing Bayonetta is coming out."
That's the absolute last thing that women need to further their representation in games. For a "strong female lead", all Bayonetta really represents is the ultimate sexual fantasy for men. What we need is more characters like Samus, where it doesn't matter that she's a woman. She still kicks alien ass up and down the galaxy without having to show off her cleavage.
At the current stage, Samus could be Cthulhu and I don't think anyone would care, so far as lasers still kill things, all is well in Wonderland.