Hello Ladies and Gentlemen. Before placing your comments/opinions below, please be sure to read this to the end because not only am I going to explore the gamer's world through the eyes of women, but I want to point out several areas that we gamers tend to recognize yet seem to ignore. Are you ready? Choose your character, and let's start our journey!
Firstly, I am a woman. I grew up basking in the glory of the Gameboy Color (GBC). But Nintendo wasn't the only system that my siblings and I shared: there was PlayStation, Xbox, hand-held consoles; the list is endless. I still remember one of my greatest moments when I squared off against by brother's friend: the game was Halo 2 and the location was Lockout.
(Halo 2 - Lockout) #BATTLEROYALE
It was my first time playing a first-person shooter, so my older brothers set up a handicap at the beginning of the match: "give us two minutes to teach her the controls, no kills while we teach her". To win the match, one of us had to be the first to get 30 kills. Things started getting dicey when we kept racing to the center of the map. First time playing, I won. Now when ever I asked my brothers if I could play online with them, they'd toss me a controller and sign me in as "Guest" (you had to pay for accounts, it was cheaper to just borrow theirs or just use "Guest"). So what's my point? Well, it's simple: women can play too. Video games are not strictly a "male thing"; it just happened to be that most games are directed towards a male audience. But---you know---the present says otherwise.
Alright, now you know: women can play video games just as good (or even better) than men. How does this happen? Well, what do you do when you draw or play a sport? You practice. I just happen to start my gaming experience early. But here's the more pressing issue that I personally want to focus on: women's gaming experience.
This story comes from my personal experience when I do online multiplayer campaigns (usually Halo or Assassin's Creed, which ever series) and also the endless hours of scanning YouTube clips to analyze strategies to pass certain missions or for when I go online. There is only two ways other participants can identify my sex: the first is if there is a gender option available in the game. Recent Halo games have this option (the armor and the voice used in the game are changed). The obvious second choice is if I used my headset to communicate. I must say in an incredibly and brutally honest manner: you men are horribly rude, sexist, and twisted; so much so that any women would feel degraded and would want to abandon the gaming world for good. And this isn't just males who are already late into their twenties or beyond, there are some younger than 16 who I am pretty sure should be in school learning how to respect the people around them. There are ways to avoid this problem and I will explore this later, but I want to examine this experience.
Numerous times, I have encountered players who tend to trash talk the opposing team. There's a lot of swearing, threats (friendly ones that only pertain to the game), and other various types of trash talk. I have absolutely no problem with this. By all means, carry on insulting each other. After all, I myself along with some of my women friends take part in trash talking the opposing team. It's funny, hilarious, and makes everything that more entertaining. However, most of the time I can't even get around to swearing, much less some form of communication.
Because I am a woman and still quite young, my voice over the headset sounds incredibly childish. Therefore, I am either judged because I am a "child", or for the few who have correctly identified me as a women, degenerated and magically become the source of all their degrading insults and stereotypical sexist norms. I will not be listing or quoting any of these insults as examples, because anyone can easily find this on YouTube and it just irritates and angers me to no end. In fact, any women would feel the same, and I know that some men out there can either feel the same or relate in some way.
This issue isn't something that can be immediately changed. But I do want to ask you gamers out there to do something: tone it down. Swear and do whatever you do while you play a game, but if you come across a woman playing video games online (whether it be their first time or a veteran) respect her. She might actually be on your team. And who knows, maybe she's actually a kick-ass woman who happens to be new to online gaming but have played other such video games. Maybe, she was actually that nice veteran player who helped you upgrade your items and saved you on that difficult five star mission. You'll never know because most woman have retreated and taken off their headsets (or just muted) to silence all the insults. At least I have.
The reason that I just stated previously is my reason for never talking with the online community; that and I never got around to fixing my headset. But why in the world would I fix my headset if I'm only going to be greeted by these people? I don't have to take your verbal abuse. I have other ways of enjoying myself and still be able to communicate with other players. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about: Gaming Etiquette.
Gaming Etiquette is one of my major ways to communicate without having to suffer a barrage of attacks for being a woman gamer. Etiquette varies from game to game, and the people who I have run into who have kept this up are true MVPs.
(Assassin's Creed: Unity Co-op Mission)
Recently, I have been playing co-op missions on Assassin's Creed: Unity. (Please, no spoilers for Syndicate. I like to 100% complete each game before moving on to the next in the series. It's my way of savoring video games). I am near the end of the story and have equipped the strongest armor, weapons, and skills. I'm merely playing each mission to complete my collection in the game. One of my higher ranked missions paired me together with a player who may not have been far in the story. (The levels of your teammates are displayed). I wanted to complete the mission as fast as possible to get my reward, but this player kept using the wrong tactics. I wasn't sure if this person was new or simply messing with me. Either way, here's what I did:
I made sure my character was always within my teammate's sight and guided him through the level. If he was running the wrong way, I would patiently wait for him to regroup using his map (because there are items to collect on the map). If my teammate was caught in a fight, I joined and made sure his health bar didn't drop too far. If he took a hit and had to be revived, I made sure to dispatch any near by enemies first in order to make a clean recovery for my partner. A few times, I was actually saved and to give a quick thanks I used the stealth controls in order to make my character crouch, which happens to be the closest thing to bowing and means thanks. Gaming Etiquette, people. Once the mission was complete, we got our rewards. I've run into the same player several times; the great part is that their equipment has improved with time and they seem to have picked up using the stealth controls for a quick way to say "thanks".
So my fellow gamers (and those new to video games), now you know ONE of many reasons why there doesn't seem to be much women in the world of gaming. We mythological beings called "gamer girls" do exist. But we do not openly express this because of judgement. Some do identify as being a "gamer girl" and may not actually been exposed to such comments, but they are still judged one way or another. I will end with this message to both sides of the field. Ladies: own it. If you are a hardcore gamer like myself, flaunt it and don't be ashamed.
Video games are for everyone and for all ages. There is no law or restriction that says other wise (except for the games that are rated, I like to see them as recommendations). If you play online and don't want to hear the other team, then mute them or take off your headset. Gentlemen: I can only say the same for you that I say for the women out there. However, instead of encouragement I'd like to leave you with a warning: tone down your sexist and twisted insults toward women. You may think that your comments are empty, but they matter to the rest of us. Besides, how do you expect someone to treat you with respect and manners when you can show respect to the people you meet.
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