How Women are Treated in Game Communities

I really wish this wasn't a big issue or hot topic, but I guess there is a reason it is.

A big factor is that being anonymous + being around people = being very flagrant for maturing individuals. I think, more than anything, it's a reflection of the way we identify ourselves and the way culture teaches us to identify ourselves.

A woman's worth, according to Western culture, is derived from the way she looks. That alone is a bad precedent. It shows that we can objectify a human being. When you objectify someone, they become less of a person. When they are less of a person, it easier to treat them less like a person.

It's such a loaded topic, and I think the media pointing there guns at the games themselves isn't the most helpful approach.

It just seems like games are symptom, not a cause, to a much larger issue in our culture.

 

Yeah it's pretty much the same deal. When me and my sister hang out we sometimes play online and whenever guys hear a girl's voice they almost immediately go ape mode. But I think it depends on how you handle things as a female gamer, you can either just make up a clever comeback or just ignore the apes.

 

I never tell people my gender and tend to not use a mic unless I am playing with people that I have played with before that I know also have a mic. Randoms usually are fine to play with at first, but after getting their butts kicked a few times they start getting all whiny and abusive. Its better to just not let them know you're female as they have an easier time accepting being beat by a guy.

 

This is quite common and unusual for these communities. The sole way a female can avoid this is either not disclose her gender, or don't talk to anyone. Just look at your game and you should be fine.

 

That's any Internet community... Games, chat rooms, etc
I think it could be a lot worse, though. The are flooded with compliments and they never have to worry about not being able to find someone to play with

 

That's any Internet community... Games, chat rooms, etc
I think it could be a lot worse, though. The are flooded with compliments and they never have to worry about not being able to find someone to play with

 

Definitely, and not just in-game. Girl gamers are being harassed even in group pages in Facebook. I'm a member of several League of Legends groups and whenever I see a pretty girl post, men immediately gather in that thread and either try to invite her to games or just harass her blatantly.

 

Well it all depends on what you are playing and who you are playing with. I play shooting games like GTA and Call of duty as well as Wow and Final Fantasy. Yes some men hate to see a girl that is better than them at a game. Oh my it is crazy when you are playing a shooting game though and you play a little better. I have encountered it a few times, but latley I have met many that love when a female plays.

 

Generally, I have found that "real" gamers don't have an issue with my being a woman. The only time I have really had a problem with it is when people who I would classify as "COD douchebags" (disclaimer: I'm not saying that every one who plays COD is a douchbag, I'm simply saying that COD is what a lot of judgmental "young men" are playing. They have their own classification of "gamer"). While playing COD online I've been harassed and cat called, etc. Though this doesn't always happen. Most people in the gaming community have been respectful or indifferent to me.

 

It's kind funny in MMOs, though. Even guys pretending to get chicks get preferential treatment, like if other players think that they will score if they give free crap to this female character. It's kinda ridiculous.

One thing to keep in mind, though, is that "harassment" in online games is not exclusive to females. Not by far. A lot of people online take advantage of their anonimity to be douchebags, regardless of the gender of their target.

 

Through a weird twist of fate, my main in WOW is a female, and it is unnerving sometimes because I know I get treated differently because people assume I am a female.

What happened is I originally planned on playing all 10 characters.. I was going to have a main ( shaman) and then just alternate the rest of the classes among various race/sex combos so that I didn´t have any repeats ( ie two male orcs etc). The problem is the shaman wasn´t what I was expecting, and playing a moonkin druid was more what I was anticipating.. which then happened to be a female.

I don´t think women get treated negatively while they are playing as much as they get fawned over and treated extra nice.

 

I think perverts is what keeps them away.

 

I'm a girl who plays WoW, among other non-MMO computer games, and I can tell you I have definitely been treated differently because of my gender. I can't say that I've ever been treated BADLY because of it, but assumptions have definitely happened and sexist and/or sexual remarks have been made.

First of all, when people find out I'm a girl they tend not to believe it at first. I'm not sure if it's because it's "rare" for a girl to play, or if it's because guys lie and say they're girls (does that happen a lot?) but a lot of people in guilds or groups are like yeah, whatever man lol. It annoys me, but I try to understand it. It's a very male dominated hobby. Once it's been "proven" - and I never seek to prove it, but there have been times where I've added good guild mates to Facebook or gotten on a voice server - I'm generally treated very nice.

I remember being a new player and the new expansion (back then it was Mists of Pandaria) and I had a guild mate who literally would spend hours of his own time just running me through things, giving me gold, gear, etc. I never asked for it, he just gave it. When I asked him why he spent so much time helping me, he said he was just happy to spend time with a girl for once on the game. For the record, I never took advantage of him, this was all his own doing and I eventually got a stronger character than him and would run him through content later

I do want to say that in the couple of guilds I've been in, there have usually been a handful of girls that play regularly. Most of them were level and item level capped, or close to it. Sometimes girls are seen as weaker players, but this hasn't been the case in my experience. Also, I've met a lot of grandmothers who play WoW. In my guilds, again, I've noticed several older women (60+) who play WoW because their grandkids got them into it!

 

I know what you mean because my girlfriend plays a lot of MMORPG and multiplayer games and she can relate to your experience. I guess it's a social concept that they ignore girls and think it's quite rare to find one playing, that is actually not the case.

 

I play with girls a lot in WOW and you are right, they are discriminated greatly. I don't understand it really, but I guess it will never change.

 

I think it really depends on the audience and the game that you're playing. When I use to play Call of Duty, it was awful. I was always harassed and just my account would be blown up with messages. It was just insane. But other games, such as Left 4 Dead, and various others, I wasn't really harassed, more of asked what really got me into video games and things like that. It just really depends who you encounter.

But I do agree it's kind of ridiculous that women are just treated so strangely in the gaming world. It makes no sense. Why not be happy that we are engaging in the games and not always being stuck with just guys?

 

Yeah, that's just how society works. There are always bad apples in communities, whether is it in real life or in a gaming community, but those bad apples always make a larger appearance compared to the rest of the community. Maybe it's because these kids can't learn to get girls in real life so they stick to trolling online

 

Haha, that's true. I have seen it, well it is kind of sad but I guess society is a bit corrupted in that manner.

 

I don't really know about the others but I have been encountering several girls whom are playing MMOPRG. It's quite popular among girls in my opinion. By the way I treat them like a man.. I mean I have no difference about womana and man.. I am always the same nonetheless the gender.

 

I don't go out of my way to proclaim my gender by making a big deal, but I don't hide it either since I tend to play as female characters a lot. I noticed that in the times I was harassed, the guys doing it with either bratty kids or adults that I tend to refer to as "frat boy idiots" that liked to bug me on my age and if I wanted to "hook up". Several clans I was in tended to have men that were in their 30's and over and gave me the most respect and I respected them back, even if I did joke around by calling them "Pops" and "Old Man( insert last name)".