"Gamer Girls"; amazing, or just like everyone else?

[JUST HORRlBLE]

Kitalpha Hart

It's usually a hit or a miss with me for one or the other, though there are some that I like both. x3

Yeah, I didn't expect this. xD  

[Ittarius]

I kind of agree. I personally play games, always have. I grew up on video games, man. I don't go around gloating about it, though. I don't hide the fact that I do or anything- I do mention it when people ask about the things I like to do, because, well, I like to so it makes since to say that I do. Although, I am a pretty huge nerd in general, and I'm NOT girly, so I've earned a bit of a rep for that. I think more than anything, guys see me as just being part of the group- at least, that's what I like to think. But with anything that I really like, I can get a little obsessive over specific games and such, so from time to time I wont shut up about games... Not so much the fact that I play them as much as whatever game it is that I'm into at the moment.
I rarely ever use the term "gamer girl" on myself, though. It just sounds like you're trying too hard to be into video games rather than just enjoying them like a normal person. Also, it implies that you're JUST into video games and not really anything else that could be considered "nerdy" or "geeky". I don't really think I'm special in that light, though, because I realize that there are loads of girls just like me in those respects. And for that matter, a lot of guys, too. Although, girls seem to get labeled as being nerdy faster than guys for doing about the same amount of gaming or anything else, which I think is a little unfair. I guess guys just naturally play games, whereas a lot of girls seem to see it as a more male kind of activity, so they don't really. But since it's so deeply ingrained into my system, I think most people that don't play video games at least a little are kind of lame... But that's across the board- guys and girls.
I dunno if that made sense, but yeah.  

[Zephyrkitty]

I'll be completely honest: I've been playing games since I was eight and tended to hang out with the nerdy kids all through school as part of that, and I've never met any of these girls who play games trying to woo all of the nerdy guys or going on about how great they are for being a girl who loves games. The only time I really see gender emphasized is in cases like this guild where the focus is on a community for women, and I'm pretty sure that's not what you're complaining about.

What I have seen is the terrible sexist part of the gaming community who immediately tries to discredit girls who express interest in games (or nerdy hobbies in general, see the idiot nerd girl meme), get angry if you suggest that the portrayal of girls in games is less than perfect, claim that girls are "flaunting their gender" when they talk over a microphone or mention that they're female so people use proper pronouns, and complain about being friendzoned. I don't think that being a girl who enjoys video games is anything special, but there are parts of the community that clearly do!

I'd also argue that a lot of the behaviors of gamer girls that people complain about are more typical of people who are new to a hobby and really excited about it. Which doesn't really bother me that much; being a stupid newbie is part of the process for getting into everything but you grow out of it over time. Telling them that they aren't allowed to be excited about things or that they can't label themselves just makes us seem really elitist and unwelcoming; there are better ways of getting them past that.

I also think 'gamer' is too vague a term to be useful at this point (someone who plays video games is a gamer, whether they play 30 hours or 30 minutes a week, and whether they play every triple-A game, stick to one or two genres, or just play smartphone and flash games). But that's a different discussion.  

[Warm Soul]

I don't have an XBOX or have a microphone for my PS3, so I don't flaunt my gender and such. But besides my PS3, I do play a ton of computer games, like Evony. I correct them to use the right pronoun occasionally, but it isn't too often now. I tell them once and they tend to stick to it. It's the inactive alliance members that keep screwing it up. So when they talk, I just do a little '*she' here and there in a discussion. I want them to know who I am, at least just a bit, but I don't brag about being a girl and playing. I've played video games my whole life. Usually pokemon games, but still games! I've seen people correct others about what a gamer girl is. I keep seeing this two-pannel art in a siggy, with a girl (subtitle is "slut with a controller") in one and another girl in the second (subtitle is "real gamer girl"). I don't understand some people nowadays. Girls have been flaunting their gender and its just like, really? I understand correcting people, but so many people think they are super awesome because they play games. I like the term gamer girl, but I don't like some people who have been claiming it.

(I play computer games about twelve hours out of the week, and try on other devices about four. Family hogs the television which hogs the PS3. ;_ wink  

[Eclairl]

Hmm...that's an interesting subject since I am a quote on quote a "gamer girl". Yea I admit I have bragged about playing a game but usually after beating it cause I feel accomplished and want to suggest the games to others so they can try them out. So far I've been into puzzle games and my boyfriend loves them as much as I do cause they give you challenges.  

[Lady Silly Goose]

Broken Heart Production

I'm a gamer girl and I'm proud of it. I don't flaunt it. I honestly don't see why any girl or guy has to flaunt what they've got. Pride and flaunting what they've got are two different things.

That being said let me explain the type of gamer girl I am:

I don't just play video games: xbox, ps3, computer... ect..

I also rp online, play d&d, and many other board and card games.

Heck I used to be a rep for a gaming company. I've been to a few gaming conventions (card,board,rpg's ect.. nonvideo) And as a gaming company rep, I taught at least 800 people how to play at least one game in a span of 3-4 days/nights.

I pride myself in being a girl--because that is what I am. And I pride myself in my gaming: because I love gaming.

Aside from the occasional: "You're a chick you can't play this game very well.." I don't really have an issue with the guys. And honestly? Ya I can't play it very well until I've learned. n///n;;

But the term Gamer Girl or Girl Gamer. When a girl prides herself in it and calls herself that, I don't see what the problem is. Some girls are good at Roller Derby, others are better at games.. I'm the latter.. So why can other girls show their pride for other things but not games?

Also the big deal about being a gamer girl is the history. "It used to be mostly just guys who were into games--especially stuff like D&D. We were far and few between, so to associate ourselves with other girls who liked games and sometimes to separate ourselves from the hormonal geeky & nerdy guys.., we called ourselves girl gamers or gamer girls.." (That's something that I was taught from a fellow gamer girl a few years ago, and she is quite older than me.. I think she was my grandmother's age--and she was really cool and knowledgeable too.) 4laugh

From what she had said to me, and thinking on it now, it kinda is like what my understanding of this guild was meant for: connecting with other girls with similar interests.

And then it has evolved into something big: more girls are gaming now. And why not? Why do mostly the boys get to play? Why can't we play too? there isn't an answer. And that's why more girls are gaming. And there are different types of gamers as well as different mediums. I'm an all-rounder gamer girl. 4laugh

Hope that clears whatever hasn't been said..  

[JUST HORRlBLE]

I used to be one of those types who took pride in what I do, playing games, since boys when I were younger were always like "oh my god you're a girl and you play games? That's awesome"; I thought that was weird but it made me feel special. But I never really flauted it out to get attention; if video games came into a conversation I would totally talk about what games I loved, but never went like "oh yeah, I'm a girl who plays games, that automatically means I'm badass". I may be explaining it wrong, but that's basically what I'm trying to say.
There's nothing wrong with saying you're a girl who plays games, I just don't really think having your own special title is really necessary. I play video games, I record them and upload them, and I'm not absolute crap that gets 12th place in every possible game; I'm not the best at every game, but I'm not the worst either. I take pride that I've beaten Haunting Ground over 12 times and know the whole game from beginning to end; I don't take pride that I'm a girl and that I play games.
Like previously said, if I was the only one who played games and was a girl, maybe. But all of my sister's play games, my Mom plays games; I was playing Pokemon when I was 4, and watching it.
I guess some girls are just like "Oh this is more of a boy thing but I do it anyway so yay me!" Those people who run into sexist jerks a lot who are like "You can't play because you're a girl, or you're a girl so you automatically suck", well, those people suck. Lol. But I don't think that's much of a reason to think you're special if you don't suck and play games. But like I said, I guess it's just 'cause it's common for me.
My sister's call themselves gamer girls because they know two guys who are like "Oh my god, you play games like COD? You're badass"; but I play that too and I don't hear that from anyone. I ask my guy friend, he says chicks like that are annoying ( but the more "Hey I'm amazing and sexy because I play games and I'm chick, hit me up" type ); I ask my boyfriend, and he says he doesn't care if a girl plays games or not.

I don't know; just, when women fight so hard to be equal, why do they need a special title like "gamer girl" when guys aren't called "gamer guy". I guess that ties into something completely different though.

In my definition, a real "gamer girl" is a girl who plays hours of video games, and get very sucked into the game and find it hard to pry themselves away; they accept the challenges of games and can't pull away until they've won. Then when they finally win they shout "HELL YES" at the top of their lungs. Lol. People who get really into their games, I guess ( even if it's beyond necessary ); but don't find the need to give themselves such silly titles in the first place.





Sorry for not responding to a lot of you in a while; I stopped receiving notifications and kept forgetting to check, so this is just in general towards anyone since I only skimmed bits and pieces of what was said because I'm a lazy reader. ^^" xD  

[Zephyrkitty]

Warm Soul

I don't have an XBOX or have a microphone for my PS3, so I don't flaunt my gender and such.

Out of curiosity, how is using a microphone "flaunting your gender"? You're talking to someone online in a way that generally gives away your gender, but that's not flaunting and no one freaks out over a guy using a microphone.

Broken Heart Production

I used to be one of those types who took pride in what I do, playing games, since boys when I were younger were always like "oh my god you're a girl and you play games? That's awesome"; I thought that was weird but it made me feel special. But I never really flauted it out to get attention; if video games came into a conversation I would totally talk about what games I loved, but never went like "oh yeah, I'm a girl who plays games, that automatically means I'm badass". I may be explaining it wrong, but that's basically what I'm trying to say.

You're kind of proving my point, though. Newcomers to the fandom will say and do stupid things; that's part of being a newbie in a fandom. Ideally you either get bored and leave the hobby, or learn what to and not to do and adjust your actions accordingly. You used to be really proud of the fact that you were a girl who played games but later realized that it isn't anything special, and these girls will post about how much of a nerd they are and will eventually figure out that it's not that important when most of the people playing the game are nerds.

Broken Heart Production

My sister's call themselves gamer girls because they know two guys who are like "Oh my god, you play games like COD? You're badass"; but I play that too and I don't hear that from anyone. I ask my guy friend, he says chicks like that are annoying ( but the more "Hey I'm amazing and sexy because I play games and I'm chick, hit me up" type ); I ask my boyfriend, and he says he doesn't care if a girl plays games or not.

And again, we're getting into something I don't really see. I've seen a few cases where someone says that some girl participating in some nerdy hobby was faking and just there to pick up guys... but every time I've seen it it's been a guy complaining about girls invading his precious fandom. I've never actually seen girls doing this (aside from dating sites, and then it's present for both genders). It takes a decent amount of time and effort to beat video games or make costumes or whatever; it's probably a good guess that someone putting in that much time has some interest in the game on its own merits.

And I'm not sure why someone would focus on picking up nerdy guys without any genuine interest in the hobby when you consider how some of them react to girls.

Broken Heart Production

I don't know; just, when women fight so hard to be equal, why do they need a special title like "gamer girl" when guys aren't called "gamer guy". I guess that ties into something completely different though.

That's more othering than a special title. It's assumed that gamers are male, so people want to specify that the exceptions to the rule. It's really stupid - last I heard close to half of people who played games are women - but I think we're both in agreement there.

Broken Heart Production

In my definition, a real "gamer girl" is a girl who plays hours of video games, and get very sucked into the game and find it hard to pry themselves away; they accept the challenges of games and can't pull away until they've won. Then when they finally win they shout "HELL YES" at the top of their lungs. Lol. People who get really into their games, I guess ( even if it's beyond necessary ); but don't find the need to give themselves such silly titles in the first place.

Drawing lines between "real gamers" and "fake gamers" gets difficult really quickly, though. Some examples:

- A girl gets really absorbed in Angry Birds and plays it on her phone whenever she has free time. She clears all of the levels, goes back and gets three stars on all of the levels, and shouts 'HELL YES' when she finally gets three stars on the last level. Does the fact that she obsesses over a casual and/ore phone game disqualify her from being a gamer? Which games count and which don't?
- A girl likes video games and plays them when she can, but has other priorities as well. She doesn't play games for hours and hours, and while she might get attached to the game she's fine with quitting after a little while for other things and might not play games daily. Is she not a gamer because she doesn't play enough? What constitutes 'enough'?
- A girl who enjoys playing games, but isn't worried about completing all of the challenges. She'll beat the Elite Four in Pokémon, but isn't too worried about completing the pokédex. She'll play PS3 and 360 games, but doesn't need to collect all of the achievements or trophies. Does her lack of interest in 100% completion disqualify her from being a gamer?
- A girl who gets totally absorbed in her games and will work to beat whatever the game throws at her, but doesn't shout 'HELL YES' after finishing something difficult. Does her not screaming over games disqualify her? How much do you need to scream before you count as a gamer?
- A girl enjoys games, but has trouble with some of them and gets help from her friends. Help varies from getting tips to playing multiplayer games together to sending useful characters or weapons between games to just watching someone else play the game. Does she not count because she can't beat everything completely on her own? What help is acceptable and unacceptable (and if watching others play games is bad then how do LPs factor in)?

Trying to decide who does and doesn't count raises more questions than it answers, and probably eliminates a decent number of people that should be considered. It's not really worth it.  

[JUST HORRlBLE]

Yeah, I was saying that people who are new to that kind of thing it's understandable, but my sister talks about how she's played video games since she was like, 6; and she knows our sister's play games too, her Mom has played some before too. She's not as big on it though. But yeah; she's not new to girls playing games; she's like, 14 so that's like, 8 years of gaming. But she also has two friends who gawk that she's a girl and plays game so that makes sense as to why she would think she's amazing at least a little bit. But I don't think being new to games has anything to do with it.
I think I wasn't making my point correctly; I took pride in how good I was at games, but not because I was a girl. I did for a short time feel pride because I'm one of the only girl LPers out there, but I never called myself a "girl gamer" or a "girl LPer" or anything like that. I just was like "wow, there aren't many other girls who do let's plays, I feel pretty special." The end; that was it. Lol.




I don't remember what I said that made you say this, lmao.
Pulling a response out of my butt because I'm too lazy to check, uhh... I don't know, men are weird. Just suddenly some guys get more attracted to girls who do certain crap. My ex liked tom boyish girls, but that didn't mean he only dated them; he liked that I played games, and liked playing them with me, but wasn't all "oh glob you're so hawt you play games". Lmao. He actually hates the term "gamer girl". xD
I don't know why anyone would fake their interests either. Lol.




Maybe people think the only types of games girls play is those really weird ones with princesses and stuff, so when they're on COD which is more "manly" they don't imagine girls on it.




I never said what game they have to play though, or what console; just a game. Lol.
Okay, replace actually playing with the want to play. I think you're taking what I said a bit too specifically and seriously; I didn't mean it had to be exact like that. Then almost no one would be gamers at all. xD
And nah, it doesn't matter how much they finish of the game, just playing them in general.
Well to be fair, everyone screams at a game at least once, from rage or happiness. But again, this was taken too specifically.
I also never said anything about that either. I had said that a gamer does not need to be good at everything earlier, so yeah.  

[Anaaaeu]

I hate it when people brag about it like it's something special. Specially when they specifically say that they're "different so what?" when their entire point is exactly to be seen as something different and better. Same with girls that say they don't dress girly and feel special about it, etc.
I know many "gamer girls". Most ones I know are into LoL and stuff and the guys play with them just like they do with each other. They don't think we're awesome because of it or anything though sometimes they are surprised when they find out we play COD or something (mostly FPS games). I've met guys who said they would marry gamer girls but it's only joking. They don't actually pay attention to it. When we're talking about games they see us as equals.