Sexism, what sexism? - A Gamer Girl's Thoughts

[squallina]

Please note: This is just my opinion, and isn't a fully researched essay on the subject. I'm not including dating sims, adult games, or visual novels in the discussion. If you have any comments, corrections or counter-arguments, feel free to comment below or contact me via twitter.I don't want this to turn into a rant, but I have a feeling it might

Comments

[babael]

I agree, this is one of the few reasons that despite wanting to pick a female character I don't. I play monster hunter and some of female hunter armor is pretty similiar to what a stripper would wear. -_- That and once guys find out your female, all of a sudden all if your experience in the game is null and void. I play as a dark skinned male character and I can't count the times that I was initially shown respect since they thought I was male, then when they hear my voice all of a sudden I don't know what I'm doing. >.> I also get the akward conversations and fake ebonics, because we black folks don't speak regular english. >.> This is why I mainly play via local connection with people I know. -_-

Kudos for participating in gaming forums, that's a beast in it's self.

[ertla]

Hello fellow dark skinned male character.

then when they hear my voice all of a sudden I don't know what I'm doing

I have serious difficulties getting audio to work properly on my PC - I just can't get teamspeak, raidcall or any equivalent to work properly. Sometimes I can hear others, but somehow no one can ever hear me. Perhaps it's the off switch on my microphone ;-) I just can't seem to overcome this problem in any mixed group of gamers ;-)

[squallina]

This is so sad to hear. We should all be allowed to enjoy what we love without being ridiculed for who we are when it has absolutely nothing to do with our experience or gaming capabilities. We should also have the option to appropriately clothe the characters we want to play as.

[flying_sideways]

This I feel is one of those topics that will forever be shelved in the 'Never-going-away-just-yet' section. In order to generate some form of market, most games - not all - have the need to be a bit sexist (or really sexist, but why quibble over that?). I'm not saying I don't get annoyed about it, a lot of games I play have that brand of sexism but I don't stop playing them because they're good games. And in my experience, it isn't a taboo topic (to me and my friends, who by the way, can be complete jerks regarding women and gaming~ and to people I meet in events). It just rarely gets attention from where I am and in my opinion, it should be kept that way

[squallina]

I guess we all have different experiences to draw upon and different reasons why we feel the topic should or shouldn't be discussed

[flying_sideways]

I've had my share of forums and prevalence of sexist topics. And yes, my comments are often not taken seriously when they know I'm a girl. But there are RARE instances when people do read and start talking about sexism in games regardless of the poster's gender. You know, no snide remarks because actual females join the conversation

[mana_runigha]

You make such a good point with Raiden and put my thoughts about his character into words. I've not seen anyone discuss that aspect. It's a wonderful example in showing that straight male gamers are a priority for developers.

[squallina]

Not only do I really like Raiden as a character, I also think he makes for a great case study because he's one of the rare examples that broke away from male hero character stereotypes (which are present even in the exact same franchise), received a lot of hate because of it, and has been subsequently changed to better fit in with the stereotypes he was breaking.

Kojima is, to put it nicely, a man with a lot of interesting ideas but whose delivery needs a lot of work before the West can take what he does anywhere near as seriously as he himself does. That said, he's done some really daringly different things in the industry, things which have half the people who play his games convinced that he's a genius and the other half thinking he has no idea wtf he's actually doing. I think Metal Gear Solid 2 is one of the best examples of what he can do and I sadly feel like he's been playing it safe since then, gauging fan reactions and giving them heroes and nostalgia over trying to really mindscrewingly challenge them again

[jadziabryn]

I hate it when men say "But but male characters are totally sexist toooo!" A power fantasy character is not the same as a character turned into a sexual object and nothing more thank you VERY much. Hell back when World of Warcraft was developing the Blood Elf race, the male were actually slim and NOT muscle bound. Every female player I talked to about it LOVED that. Most of the guys? Complained. The model was changed to have more muscle before it went live. The female version? Stayed stick thin. No males had complained about THAT. /eyeroll

[squallina]

I love this comment. You've introduced a lot of new things to the discussion (which, yes, does need to continue happening if we're serious about change) and made some very valid points about them!

Not being into WoW myself, your comment is the first I've heard of the Blood Elf controversy. As an outsider, my opinion might not weigh much but from a purely aesthetic point of view, I much prefer the thinner male Blood Elf designs. I also agree that in a game full of beefy male characters, having one race that's a little different in a way that makes contextual sense is a really good thing. It's a shame Blizzard didn't see it that way.

While reading up on the subject, I found this picture, with a caption saying they're from early versions of Burning Crusade. Do the male Blood Elfs really look bulkier than that now

[jadziabryn]

No wall of text apologies! Though now I must apologize for taking so long to get back to you on this.

With regards to the picture, yes I'm pretty sure male Belfs at least have wider waists than that now. I'd go check but I stopped playing a while ago. Blizzard seems utterly convinced male characters must be big hulking brutes and their female counterparts should be slim and "pretty", even when they're aliens.

Lara Croft, pre reboot was an intelligent, resourceful woman who kicked ass and seemed to really enjoy doing it. So yeah, the reboot being all about her being "broken" so she can "learn to be strong" and of course so that the player can "want to protect" her kiiiind of makes me want to vomit. It doesn't sound like a game I'd enjoy playing either, since it's mostly about combat and horrorporn.

Sometimes the state of the world just makes me tired. :/

[firesplace]

Interesting post! Saw your note in the women-gamers group, and came here. =)

I was watching the Halo Spartan Ops films this weekend for the first time. I was impressed at the mixed-gender crew you see in the very first scenes, but was a little disappointed when they played up the fact that the commander was female the moment that character was introduced. Yes, the mistaken identity routine was worth a chuckle, but why does it still have to be a shock when a powerful figure turns out to be a woman?

In general, of course, there's a decent balance of genders among the Halo characters (if not among the Xbox Live players), and that is to be applauded. But I'm looking forward to the day when we simply don't notice the gender of folks in powerful roles, any more than we'd notice eye color. As long as it's still a surprise for us to see a female leader in our games, I think there's going to be the problem of sexism.

[flying_sideways]

"But I'm looking forward to the day when we simply don't notice the gender of folks in powerful roles, any more than we'd notice eye color. As long as it's still a surprise for us to see a female leader in our games, I think there's going to be the problem of sexism."

In a nutshell.~