8.5
The Great “Girl Gamer” Debate
Oh Maxim, you really have caused a bit of a stir haven’t you? With your “Gamer Girl” competition you have got the internet, well, Twitter up in arms. Supposedly people are surprised that you are trying to find a good looking girl to be your gaming correspondent to go to events. I’m actually pretty surprised at the reaction.
Now readers, don’t automatically think I’m a sexist because I don’t have a problem with it. You see, what you have to remember is what kind of a publication Maxim is. When you flick through the pages of Maxim you are greeted with image after image of beautiful women and also good looking men trying to sell you clothes. Maxim knows exactly what readers expect to find inside their magazine so when they say they are looking for a “gamer girl” did you really expect them to actively pursue someone who wasn’t absolutely stunning? If it was a broadsheet newspaper running this competition then I’m sure I would feel completely different about it.
I have more of a problem with the term “girl gamer” and the idea of it being a fetish for us gaming males, that we will be instantly turned on when we see a woman holding a controller or telling us why the AK-47 should be the gun of choice in Call of Duty. I know quite a few ladies whose hobby is gaming, just like me; they will get home from work have some food and unwind by having a few matches of Battlefield, or will get engrossed in Mass Effect 3.
I certainly don’t look at them any differently because they don’t have a penis, in fact most of these ladies have a deeper gaming knowledge than me and when I speak to them I don’t automatically think “she likes games, I must try and sleep with this woman”. And a lot of people do think like that, just going through video game forums and seeing the way that women are treated makes me feel physically sick. I couldn’t care less if you are a man or a woman if you share the same interests as me then we can chat and that’s what it should always come down to.
I know a lot of people will probably read this and explain why they have an issue with it, that’s great, please do, I’m all up for healthy debate and we are entitled to our opinions and I’m not going to tell you that your opinions are wrong because they won’t be. You see the reason I wanted to write a short piece about this was mainly because of Twitter and the fact that it isn’t a medium where people can express their opinions on a matter fully.
Usually you will tweet something in under 140 characters and unless you carry on and send a further five or six tweets you can’t back your opinions up it can make you come across as a bit of a douche, I have done it on quite a few occasions! I want to open up the floor, find out what people’s opinions are on this subject, use the comment box, if you agree and want to add in your thoughts please do and if you disagree then even better, tell me why you do.
Where. Do. I. Start?
Well, anyone who knows me will also know I have a very strong opinion on girl gamers. So for the purpose of this reply, I am going to draw an arbitrary distinction – “Girl gamers”, and “female gamers”. Think of it like when Chris Rock did his stand up routine about ‘black people’ vs ‘n***s’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3PJF0YE-x4)
“I know quite a few ladies whose hobby is gaming, just like me; they will get home from work have some food and unwind by having a few matches of Battlefield, or will get engrossed in Mass Effect 3.” I do too. I call them “female gamers”. they are normal, sensible gamers, who happen to squelch rather than dangle. I have no problem with them, and do not treat the any different than I would a male gamer. The problem is not female gamers, it’s GIRL GAMERS.
Girl gamers have one thing that female gamers don’t have – a bad attitude. They have a chip on their shoulder, and are determined to rub it in all of our faces. I’m talking about the kind of girl who, her Xbox Live Bio, says “Urgh, don’t add me just because I’m a girl, I don’t want your babies”. But then she dresses her avatar in the sluttiest merch possible, and sets her gamertag to “cutie jess” (or something). That’s like me saying, “let’s keep this interaction non platonic, then turning up shirtless and demanding people call me “big willy”.
Girl gamers consistently whine about how their squelchy parts single them out as a gamer, and proceed to immediately and brazenly flaunt said squelchiness with no shame, and an air of sickening arrogance. I see it on twitter, Xbox, Facebook and PNS all the time. And it pisses me right off, they are just a set of attention whore-pricks.
Now, why is this rant relevant to your article? Well, I think that media outlets doing things like this make it worse. And I hate it enough as it is. That’s why I rant so much about the likes of Jessica Chobot, she is the epitome of this despicable disposition. If the girl-gamers are North Korea Chobot is Kim Jung Il. She is the Hitler to their Nazi.
So THAT is why stuff like this pisses me off, because it throws fuel on the already blazing fire of bad attitude that girl gamers seem to live off.
*by non platonic, I mean platonic. I was typing quickly because I was mad. – Credible Hulk.
Joey – i’m completely agreed on the Maxim thing. It’s what I would expect to see in that mag. Which is fine, just like you see good looking TV Presenters on Sky Sports, it’s what people expect to see in that form of media. I don’t care as long as the content is presented in an accurate and professional way that doesn’t misrepresent women.
The bigger issue i have with ‘Girl Gamers’ are females who essentialy force themself into the gaming world to get the attention of guys. Their motive to game is more to gain attention from needy guys than to actually enjoy a gameing experience. Lets face it not all gamers are as good looking, witty and socialy skilled as us lot – so some of them do literally fall in love with any girl they see holding an Xbox controller……. Or licking a PSP…..
Good job I don’t “read” maxim otherwise I’d totally jack off over the chosen “girl gamer”. But I’d only say that if I was a sterotypical “guy gamer”.
I actually don’t read Maxim and I try to ignore the media when it comes to gaming. ESPECIALLY The newspapers.
Hmm…
I agree that there are the “girl gamers” who whine that they are singled out and flaunt it. It’s annoying when gender is used for gain. But…
Like it or not we are singled out. (At least when online) The first thing I hear (99.9% of the time) when a male notices my gamer tag and/or hears my voice is “Are you a girl?” “Is that a girl?”
Just saying. So there’s a difference between a “girl gamer” and a “female gamer”
Is there a difference between a “boy gamer” and a “male gamer?”
As a PC gamer all the female gamers I’ve met I know in real life, which I think is something to do with not having things like mics constantly attached in public multiplayer games. They’re all nice and I don’t think they have a problem being singled out. At the same time what I think maxim is actually doing is just looking for another model and using the “gamer” tag to drum up a particular audience, like Joey said.
The problem is because females are in the minority then they will then get broken down into other sub-categories…not that it’s necciseraily right. If people say “gamer” you think of a male, that’s where people need educating to understand all sorts of people play games.
I’m sure we could group people into “boy gamers” and “male gamers”. Those who pounce on females when they hear their voice on the ingame chat could be put into a “boy gamers” group for example.
Male or Female, there are goign to be dickheads / assholes who game. It would just be nice if they all dissapeared!
@Megan That’s fine, and I agree. I don’t say that it is good or right that female gamers are singled out. What I don’t like is that bad attitude of girls who INTENTIONALLY feed off of this on a clear ego-trip.
Female gamers like yourself are great, and I have no problem with, and have a lot of fun gaming with.
Yes there are male gamers and boy gamers, I would say a boy gamer is the kind with the gamertag “xxx 3L1TE__SNIP3R xxx”.
Ant your magnum opus at the start is exactly what I was trying to convey on my facebook comment, but would you not say this also applies to other things as well take for example the current trend of what is refered to as “geek” or “nerdy” kind of a western otaku (likes sci fi, cult cinema, comics and games etc) i’ve been a geek for years before it was the in thing to be but the same goes for this particular group there is your geniune geeks and then there are the posers (male and female) that use it as an attention boost ahh look at all these buffy fans who love me dressed as spike or all this anime fans that are giving me loads of attention as i’m cosplaying a japanse school girl!!
Back to the original point Joey is making this is just an effort by the mass media to use the stereotypical image of a gamer/nerd of being that lonely, socially inept person who sits in there bedroom at there computer looking at porn wishing there was a woman that looked liked Zena that liked playing world of warcraft!!
I feel this is another case of beautiful people syndrome. They wanted a pretty girl gamer. Nothing more. A size 6 6ft tall supermodel to show to the world that she is in fact a girl and yeah she games. This is not a real representation of a female gamer.
I understand about the girl gamer you’re all on about, and though I agree I also disagree.
My gamer tag is sparklefinger (silver tag). People say that is a girly gamer tag and that I ask for attention but it wasn’t chosen because it was “girly” it was chosen as its a nickname that stuck.
People say I need to change my tag so I don’t get attention by why should I have to?
I have had hassle because of my tag and because I am female, from simple things such as get back to the kitchen to dirty pictures and even as bad as a whole lobby in cod ganging up on me and to kill the female until she leaves. Why should I deal with that? I’m going to end up being defensive.
That being said nowhere in my gamer tag does it say I am a girl and not to message me. You want to add me that’s fine, you want to add me just to hassle me that’s fine also, you’ll be reported but that’s your choice.
I’m a gamer and i’m a girl. I don’t care if you’re a gal or a guy and you want to play games then I am happy to play. I just don’t want hassle is all.
I spend a lot of time on forums and chat to lots of people that do not give a toss that I am a girl and we play games and there are no problems… Why can’t everyone just be like that?
Sarah
I would have to fully agree. With both Joey and Ant. Ants reference to Chris Rock is spot on too.
Though saying that I don’t think I’ve ever met a “girl gamer” in person. Maybe they only exist online because in real life they aren’t really THAT into games?
My girlfriend is, unsuprisingly, a girl and also an avid gamer, probably more hardcore than me even (I have other hobbies too that need time and attention… she does not) and would fit nicely into your “female gamer” catergory. She never uses her sex to sell herself as a gamer online or anything like that.
There is a similiar comparison that I could draw with men/boys too. The equivilent of the “girl gamer” to me would be the dicks you get online constantly cussing each other, being unnecessarily obscene etc and only ever playing things like C.O.D or Fifa.
I’ve spent far too much time trying to work out why the whole Maxim thing annoyed me when, generally speaking, I’m not that fussed about what people do in the name of their companies’ bottom line.
It was the wording, on one hand you could say “bravo” they were up front and honest about wanting someone stereotypically attractive but on the other I found it insulting that someone’s looks were more important than how well they communicated. The whole priorities thing was felt more keenly because I identify myself as being a “gamer”; had appearances not been mentioned in the advert I’d probably have passed it by unnoticed, kudos for the publicity machine there.
As for the whole “girl gamer” thing, having never been slagged off or even received special attention for having tits and enjoying games (at the same time no less) it’s tricky to comment, I guess there are arseholes everywhere! :)
As much as I want to say that this is a tired argument and that all sane people can agree there is very loud minority sexist gamer guys and enabling girl gamers who ruin everything for everyone. The sad fact is its not as cut and dry as we want it to be.
As a former girl gamer I can honestly say from the moment you have a picture on twitter/xbox the amount attention (good and bad) you receive can make any woman paint all men they meet online with the same brush.
Be it outright rude sexism or ridiculously high amounts polite well mannered do gooders who are nice people…but mainly looking at tits, it is scarily easy to comprehend how some women become addicted to the attention or simply become defensive. Just imagine what it must to to your head and morals having people tell you your great everyday just for simply existing?
Its a shame some women out-rightly ‘play the game’ in the most exploitative disgusting ways imaginable to us ‘normal’ people, but their life is just filled day in day out of contact from the most lowest form of pond scum around and I can totally understand why the light at the end of the tunnel would be dim.
The fact is guys we will never truly understand what its like to be a girl gamer or vice vesa, but given half the chance if someone threw money at you based on your looks, most of us would say yes.
I may have doomed my fiances online experience by making her gamertag AlmightyBeaver :/
@Otter – That is a genius Gamertag…
Glad to see people getting involved in a discussion without it resorting to name calling and other typical comment garbage when theres a topic that can have so many different thoughts flying around!
@Ryan I think your last sentance sums a lot of it up pretty well, none of us will know what the others are thinking (except Ant, Ant knows all!!) and hell, I dressed up as Sheperd for cold hard cash…and because I’m beautiful.
There’s certainly nothing wrong with having a “girly” gamertag / username for anything, if it speaks volumes about you or that’s what you have been called on t’interwebs for a while then it’s all good. It is the immature guys who think that they have the god given right to attempt to harrass someone for that, or generally for being a woman!
I do know the kind of person Ant is talking about though and I’ve seen them floating around online and try to avoid them as best as possible.
oh and @James – Xena…
Joey she is beautiful!! you can’t deny it its further confirmed in Battlestar and in Spartacus…..DOH i’ve just fallen into my own stereotype!!
Everyone should check this out! http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/harassment
Well, first… I’m a gamer..and also at that, a girl… I Don’t have a girly xbox live username.. mines :Devourful it’s nowhere from girly.. Also, My avator isn’t at all slutty..It’s covered head to toe..with halo master chief armor..just saying not all girls are like that..
Hey Judie,
Thanks for joining the discussion. Of course not all gamers that are girls are slutty/girly/flirty etc. The topic was based on whether it was right of Maxim to stereotype ‘girl gamers’ in such a way via a competition. It stated that you had to like games, and be sexy to win.
Of course, women come in all shapes and sizes, and gamers in this example were (possibly) being judged on their looks, rather than gaming knowledge alone. It’s the age old argument – one I personally don’t usually involve myself in.
There are those, though, who do see it fit to be that stereotypical ‘girl gamer’ with the girly tag and the sexy pose avatar. It’s just one of those things, and if that’s how they chose to represent themselves then so be it. They just shouldn’t really complain if they get unwanted male attention…
Anyway, thanks for joining our site! Glad to have you on board :)
Jenn