I wasn't a gamer. You all know that. I was a comic book nerd from Comic Vine who occasionally dabled in Zelda and SSB's Melee and Brawl. I know my Batman and Spider-man and X-men and the beloved Madame Mirage front to back, up to down. But video games? A taboo area for girls. Up until a few years ago, it's been a "boys club" that a few girls sneak into every so often thanks to older brothers or Star Wars Obsessed Boyfriends. But then you get the crazy girls. And this next part is my reflection from a review of Raychel Moore's blog.
OH EM GEE, Becky, I like, totally PWNED you
Okay. Do you see this magazine? This is why I hate the clique of girl gamers. Because I don't want to see some plastic girl playing a pink video game. i mean, go google "girl gamer" on google. It looks like This. I could care less. This kind of thing only increases the distance between girl gamers and boy gamers. Boys like one thing, so give 'em Call of Duty, girls like the other, so give them Princes Debut. Eff that. Understandably, the industry wants to profit and uses gender roles to get that money. Fine. Do your thing. But don't generalize. Give me a magazine with a nerdy girl on it who plays real games.
Alright. Now that I've said that. I need to confront the issue of crazy, backstabbing girls. Now, personally, I haven't seen any on GB, mostly because Brukaoru is the only girl I've seen who has stuck around longer than two weeks. But go play WoW-- wait. no, don't do that. Watch this:
Raychel Moore attributes this to the territorial "attention whores" that troll the internet. "Who are these whores?" you ask? Well they're the girls who game to get into that "boys club". The girls who think being a girl gamer will get them points with the boys, and boost their self esteem. This usually means that when another girl joins, cat fights ensue. "THESE R MAI BOYS, BACK OFF HOE". MARTHA MARTHA MARTHA
Now, my lovely bombers, I have a confession. I love your attention, and nothing can cheer me up more than getting on the IRC and saying "i've had a bad day *frowny face*". But listen, and listen well: I'm not gonna show you my boobs, not now, not ever Casey. I don't thrive on hearing "omgz it's a girl, ToGTFO". nah. eff that. Some of my favorite compliments are when a newbie posts "yeah, Virago's a cool guy. He knows what he's talking about". That doesn't mean boys are better, it just means I don't sound like another IC9.
To conclude, I don't care if you think I'm a chick or not (yeah, you know who you are), nor will I try to prove to you that I'm a hardcore gamer (because lets face it... I'm not). But I do love video games because they're fun. Some are even artistic (more on that HERE) and make you use your head for more than just a hat stand.
So for all of you who read my lovely wall of text, I shake your hand, and give you a less than three. Especially my stalker, Ron Jeremy.
"It's going to be a while before people get over the whole "omg girlz on da videogame" thing, so get used to it =p
Also, people don't want to see ugly girls playing videogames on magazine covers. That will never happen.
"
And THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is why I think posting blogs on the forum should be optional.
Bulldog19892 said:
"Am I the only one who knew that Virago was a girl? Am I the only person who completely didn't care?"
No, and Yes.
oh and bru: JAYGE IS MAH BOI ON XBL, YOU &#*($ *&@#$( @#$*!
"
Hey now! I don't care that you're a girl either! I don't care about you at all!
....Err.. That last part was a joke... Dun kick me in my privates... please...
Anyway I totally agree with you that this whole generalization of girl gamers has got to stop. In fact, the differentiation should stop completely. You're a gamer, and I'm a gamer, it's as simple as that, and the fact that you're a girl and I'm a guy is irrelevant, or at least it should be. There's already too much segregation in the world, we really don't need more of it. So chick or dude, a gamer is a gamer and that's how we should look at it.
The posts in this blog scare me. Great blog post Virago. It's so crazy to think of "girl gamerz" using games for something other than....well, than games.
"The posts in this blog scare me. Great blog post Virago. It's so crazy to think of "girl gamerz" using games for something other than....well, than games. "
If you think that, you've never played Gears of War with a typical woman online. They either have an adoring clan surrounding them, or a posse. And if that isn't formed yet, it gets formed that very match. Not to insult all the women who do play that game, but I don't think most of the ones (that actually talk) are playing solely for the game.
I said something along these lines a previous topic, but the reply was a day late, so you I guess I didn't expect you to see it. Anyways, if you don't want attention, and you don't want 'girl' games, then what the fuck are you rambling on about? If you're content with Gears, Halo, or whatever crap you like to play, then why do you feel the need to bitch? Or do you want them to add a female protagonist.. when you just said you didn't want them to target women.
I have no fucking idea where you're going with this.. do you want companies to stop producing good-selling shovel ware games? Is that you're one complaint? Because that's just fucking ridiculous. They make money, and companies will produce them for that. Just as males, no one is forcing you to buy them. Companies will make them, because they sell, and 'real gamers' won't buy them. End of story. "
I'm guessing she dislikes her demographic being consistently exploited in terms of advertising (falsely) and it irks her that stereotypes the game communities may be attempting to reform are consistently upheld by the industry itself, and are stagnant because of that."
Jayge knows his women gamers well. I feel the same way.
Fantastic craigslist post you found. It made me smile.
Anyway, I've met a few girl gamers over the years, and they're all remarkably cool (yes, you included). My biggest complaint is that so many guys make seeing a girl online such a big deal. Boob jokes and online flirting or whatever isn't funny nor is it even fun to do, so I don't get why it's so prevalent. But whatever. I say just keep ignoring the assholes.
"What's to be discussed here is how much make-up that girl on the magazine cover is wearing. Wow."
Yeah I hate painted faces. My GF keeps it natural and clean looking. Chicks who hide their face under piles of paint tend to be busted."
Uggghh. There was this girl at my school who did this. You could see the layer of makeup, and it was so gross. Huge turnoff. It also made her look like she was on drugs....
More men are themselves lost on the path of videogames. Of particular marking is the word, "lost"
(if you were, perchance, mistaking it for "interested.")
More of us crave little save for the sweet exstasy of draining a game of its features; absorbing and molesting every last aspect of its merit until we discard it as a barren husk, nothing but a compact-disk full of spent memories.
It is the act of exploring a game to it's utter finish, not per se mastering, for that is but a trivial thing to one who may be lost. Defined, it is the act of appreciating every aspect of it's production simultaneously, gorging on whatever innovation or environment it presents.
It's when you know a game was made in Russia within less than a second of seeing it. Or it's when you find yourself commenting, most philosophically, about the role of a particular mechanic and how it compliments the art direction, or it is the act of drawing seemingly non-existent paralels between two different aspects of a game, and then in time revealing them to be a compliments to the focus of the game... somehow...
Game appreciation on a higher level. The expierence of the emotions! and the senses! Taking it in for what it is! A visual story! An memory of light and sound burned into the depths of your dreams!
Art, ma'am! Art!
Most shockingly, it is largely video games that influenced the wording of this very post.
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