@knives: I don't think men are inherently better at games than women. I think, in my personal experience at least, women and men may be better at different types of games or different tasks in games themselves. My husband will have me help him do certain things in games, for instance in Watch_Dogs I helped him with the shell game. He needed an extra set of eyes and I ended up being able to diagnose the tells a little bit better than he could. I ended up being right with my choices more often, pretty much 100% after the first round. I also help him with puzzles in other games, like Assassin's Creed II and Uncharted 3. I'm not saying he wouldn't have figured them out by himself, he just had me come over and I helped him out with the problem. But, he is better at fighting games than I am (besides Divekick of all things) while I would say I excel at the mechanics of something like an RPG. We also both play shooters together, and while he is better when it comes to vehicle sections (dear god I suck at those) I tend to prop him up through other sections. I remember the final boss in Gears of War III was a chore mostly because I was reviving him all the time. He called me the MVP of that fight. :)
So, while this is mostly anecdotes, which mean almost nothing, I would say that I would be able to accept that men and women may be better at different game types or tasks, but not a blanket statement that men are somehow better than women with games in general. That's just crazy to me.
There are studies that show men are better at performing certain mental tasks than women; for instance men on average have better spacial awareness of women, meaning they can better imagine a 3D object and all its dimensions and properties in their heads. And I think it was women are generally better at like calculations or something like that? I actually was a participant in a Johns Hopkins study on something similar back in 6th grade, which is why I remember it.
However, this kind of data you ahve to be very cautious with, because then at that point you ahve to ask, why are men better at these things than women? It could be a pre-determined, natural difference in brain structure, or it could be a difference in brain structure caused by the fact that boys are more likely to play with legos when they're younger, as an example. Even physiological differences in brain structure can be caused by environment, as opposed to genetics, and all this complexity makes it so hard to argue, which is why I am extremely wary of ever using genetic differences (such as having an X chromosome instead of a Y chromosome) in an argument over brain functions.
@nmc2008: the reason it's a big deal is men de facto have their own space already because of how hostile certain environments can be to women. now that's not to say there aren't environments that are hostile to men as well, and that's not cool, but let's face it, there are a LOT more of those for women than men.
Such as? I am curious, I mean I feel like things can become out of control pretty much anywhere for anyone and anytime.
Fucking creepers who won't stop staring at them like starved wolves in front of a fresh kill. Rape comments, awkward come-ons, kitchen jokes, you name it. Social retards who don't know the first thing about healthy interactions with women. It won't get better until they learn that their behavior is unacceptable, and that won't happen until more women enter the scene.
I see. You know, I was always curious if there are any female creepers, I only see that word being thrown at dudes 100% of the time. Anyway, I don't like saying this but there are female equivalents of all those things you listed, the difference is that nobody cares. *shrug* At least you(I feel like you're a lady for some reason though I am not sure, if I am wrong then I am sorry) have people who try to fight against it, which is good but if some dude came and said "Man these damn girls keep making rape comments at me" do you know what would happen next? I am sure you do. Again I don't like doing this but I feel like I have to. Shit is rough all over.
Nope I'm a straight white guy, I just support equality. Like I said, there are equivalents on both sides; for instance domestic violence is far and away female-on-male, and what's worse is it's largely ignored. I don't support that, it's shitty and needs to stop. However by and large, men have it a lot easier overall, especially in the realm of video games and competitive gaming. However I'm not some facebook/twitter SJW, I rarely post on the subject because I think it's pretty simple, either a person supports equality or they're a closed-minded idiot who's not worth talking to and wouldn't listen even if I gave them the time of day. However I do think it's important to spread awareness of institutional discrimination, and it didn't seem like the IeSF was getting any attention for its policies so I figured I'd put the word out.
It seems like they did in fact get a lot of attention and have mostly taken good feedback. As I said before I don't support gendered brackets, but it's better than what was there before.
@nmc2008: the reason it's a big deal is men de facto have their own space already because of how hostile certain environments can be to women. now that's not to say there aren't environments that are hostile to men as well, and that's not cool, but let's face it, there are a LOT more of those for women than men.
Such as? I am curious, I mean I feel like things can become out of control pretty much anywhere for anyone and anytime.
Fucking creepers who won't stop staring at them like starved wolves in front of a fresh kill. Rape comments, awkward come-ons, kitchen jokes, you name it. Social retards who don't know the first thing about healthy interactions with women. It won't get better until they learn that their behavior is unacceptable, and that won't happen until more women enter the scene.
@jadegl: Personally I'm in this for the long haul. Things are going to change, but not without discomfort for people who enjoy the status quo. There's no real way to avoid it, and things will get better faster the sooner people have to face their prejudices.
@nmc2008: the reason it's a big deal is men de facto have their own space already because of how hostile certain environments can be to women. now that's not to say there aren't environments that are hostile to men as well, and that's not cool, but let's face it, there are a LOT more of those for women than men.
@rollingzeppelin: @jadegl I disagree with the idea of allowing voted-in segregated tournaments. I only support equality, and separate but equal never is. Women are not a side-show attraction to be put on display. Sure it might make people uncomfortable, but that's what we call growing pains. They're never going to get more comfortable unless they're pushed into uncomfortable situations, and you know what, if there are men who don't like their boys' club intruded on or there are women who don't want to deal with the potty-mouth boys, that's just supporting the backwards status-quo and does nothing to change how things are for the future.
If they want to voluntarily segregate themselves they can go ahead and stay in their treehouses with their secret passwords, but I don't think any legitimate organizations and tournaments should condone that kind of exclusionary attitude or behavior, and I won't support any that do.
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