Comments on: Are Women Respected In Gaming?

By: Burbie52

Burbie52 — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 15:04:11 +0000

LOL Godz!

By: Godzprototype

Godzprototype — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 14:49:15 +0000

A gamer is a gamer. But chicks do rawk! My eye’s aren’t broken yet! If I just got pown by clearly a woman that loves gaming as much as I do, well that always made me feel good whether or not I lost didn’t matter. I got to play with a bad a$$ chick. Call me whatever, she’s a killer. I wanna be on her team!

By: tbaby

tbaby — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 15:24:32 +0000

Great article Burbie! Yes the world of gaming should be blind to race, gender, etc. I know I am not a hard-core gamer, but I do love to play and I have definitely experienced my share of prejudice or discrimination when it comes to being a girl gamer. Some of my best games are my basketball ones which are dominated by male players. It is funny when I play them online and they lose because many of them talk so much trash or send me hate messages after I beat them. On the other hand, some of them try to sweet talk me too LOL. But yes I agree, that any kind of discrimination in the world of gaming is unacceptable. We all should be able to enjoy gaming EQUALLY!

By: RayBladeX

RayBladeX — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 04:52:45 +0000

Random fact on this article: Jared Rea was BuggieTechnica , an ex-HCM for Home. Anyone remember him?

Some people in this world shouldn’t be allowed to commentate, be put in front of a camera, or even operate one.

Keep in mind this is one bad apple out of the thousands or players, organizers and fans of this community.

By: johneboy1970

johneboy1970 — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 21:41:37 +0000

Ha! Your sister is awesome! Good job at being a brother, Rinja!

By: Terra_Cide

Terra_Cide — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 20:52:36 +0000

This is why teams like Ubisoft’s all-girl pro team, the Frag Dolls, are such a big deal and it helps break down a lot of those preconceived notions. It’s a step in the right direction -- all across the board -- to break down the stereotype of who a “gamer” should be, regardless of their age, gender, or skin color.

By: HearItWow

HearItWow — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 20:41:53 +0000

I’ve got to side with Grimm on his comments. Any number of groups could have written this article. Just replace “woman” with “black,” “hispanic,” “jew,” etc. and you can find examples of ignorance lobbed by socially retarded individuals.

Leading by example goes a long way toward fixing this, but it also takes a willingness on the part of everyone involved to stand up for someone who’s treated unfairly. It’s one thing to make a single comment that crosses the line in the heat of the moment, so that’s not the problem. Reasonable people will realize that they’ve gone too far and apologize.

The real problems are people like Aris on the Capcom show, who think that their crude commentary makes them cool. Those are the people who need to be shut down and moved outside of the polite gaming community until they learn to behave. Anyone who sits by silently while someone like that operates is part of the problem, because you’re giving support through your silence.

We don’t tolerate that kind of behavior in professional sports or any other aspect of life, because it’s cruel and needless. Gaming should not be an exception to that rule.

By: Grimm

Grimm — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 19:06:05 +0000

Very good article!
This discussion of the difference between crap talk in good fun and open hate speech on-line is one that needs to be more widely addressed in our gaming communities. Personally i feel its time that we find a way to discourage the hate and lead by example. Time to make fun of the haters in a comedic way, maybe on you-tube??, as to show them how they are perceived and in-fact acting.
On a side note, a recent article that ran on “The Penny Arcade Report” discusses sexual harassment that went on live during a Capcom backed streaming reality show called “Cross Assault”. This is a good read. If Those were my players… they wouldn’t be my players any more.

By: Kid Fleetfoot

Kid Fleetfoot — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 18:16:13 +0000

I don’t know. Is this about women and preconceived notions or is it also about incompetent players like me. I don’t play online by the way.

When it comes to sports game I’m not very good in large part because I don’t practice and also I don’t think I’ll ever do well at pushing all those buttons partly due to age (maybe) and health.
Thank goodness some games have a manager or coach mode (PS3 The Show took it out in the exhibition mode. BOO! HISS!)and NBA 2K12. Games with this option allow allow one to basically just watch if they choose. Build your team and like a “real life” manager let the players play.

I don’t care for shooters so I have little to say about them.

However when it comes to games that have fighting scenes and a storyline, I don’t understand why there can’t be a “let the computer play” option. The player chooses weapons, etc. and hopes for the best. Kinda’ like manager/coach mode in sports. Let the player have the option.
Whether this would work online I don’t have a clue.

In sports games there’s always the option of setting the control in center and let your team do it’s thing.

As for all the male or even female hotshots who scoff at the watch or manage/coach modes in sports or fighting games, let me tell you I might be too old to play sports but I’ll bet I was a hellva’ lot better than some of you coach potatoes in real life sports. Not that I played organized sports, I liked playing with my friends. But I was indeed pretty darn good at baseball. So stuff it as to scoffing. Go ahead it in basketball though.

Bye.

By: RayBladeX

RayBladeX — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 11:25:12 +0000

This is very common in most “Boy’s Club” type communities (sadly).

With videogames, there isn’t much a woman can do as opposed to men, but it’s certain genres (like fighting, sports or FPS) that have been usually be geared toward men, so it’s usually men who are into these.

On a competitive side, nobody likes to lose, so it hurts a man more when they’ve lost to someone (whether a woman, child, or to a “cheap” tactic).

People just need to respect (and accept the idea) that someone different (gender, age, sexual orientation, religion etc) might come along and beat them at their own game.

By: Lord_Rinja

Lord_Rinja — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 08:07:35 +0000

Hi Burbie. I read that article on Game Spot a week ago and both personally and professionally, all of the sick comments those guys made were completely uncalled for. As an artist, it can be stressful enough when you are trying to craft a vision for a game and it seems like some people feel they are entitled to make changes to your hard work just because they have a controller and an opinion. The women in that article was just flat out harassed and maimed for trying to come up with something a little different. They were not being forced to agree with her vision and instead of voicing their opinions intelligently, they chose to take her vision personally and immaturely attacked her simply because she was a woman.
A few years ago, a friend of mine (a girl) and I used to get together with our PSPs and DS’s and get in a few rounds on some of our favorite fighting games. We even hung out at China Town and would shop for imports, get a bubble tea and then game on the bus ride home. She was really good and in those games, we beat the hell out of each other. I remember the countless rounds of Bleach and Jump Ultimate Stars that we played. The only time I would get upset is if I messed up my combo or performed a move incorrectly. She was actually one of the best, most even fighting game matches I have ever played. Also, she was a master at Gradius and other top down and side scrolling shooters. However, I would never get mad at her for beating me in a game. In fact, I admired her skill and respected her for it.
Like anything else in life, this is a mixed bag. I know plenty of gamers that graciously accept women into their gaming groups. Also, I have met complete idiots that think just because someone is female that they can’t game.
Here’s a good example:
Seven years ago, my sister was at a party and everyone was playing a game involving Halo and alcohol. All of the guys wanted my sister to play because they thought they would get her drunk and probably try to have their way with her. Little did they know that I bought my sister an Xbox years back and I used to school her in games like Halo, Unreal Championship and Doom 3. As a result, she got really good at first person shooters. By the end of the night, she came home and left a house filled with a bunch of hung over, couldn’t hold their liquor, defeated and shamed jackasses.

The moral of this story is that people are complex and sex has nothing to do with a person’s brain nor talent. It’s true that sexism exists in this industry but it’s all in the mindset of the individual, not the sex as a whole. I’m actually thrilled that more women are gaming these days. It makes finding common ground in a complex world that much easier. At the end of the day, gaming is suppose to be fun. To all of the sexist idiots out there, keep your opinions to yourselves and keep your negative, gray cloud ideals out of our enjoyment.

By: Crystal

Crystal — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 02:28:12 +0000

I’ve had the exact same thing happen in RDR many times. Its come down to not using my mic anymore, i also use a male character. Same thing goes for Black ops. The minute they hear my voice everyone gangs up on me. Its stupid.