[Growing Pains]

"Today, videogames are for everyone. I mean this in an almost destructive way. Videogames, to read the other side of the same statement, are not for you. You do not get to own videogames. No one gets to own videogames when they are for everyone."

About damn time, too. These recent fiascoes simply being the last gasps of a sick culture is the best we can hope for.

When I started this blog 8 years ago, this crap still happened on the regular but there was barely ever a ripple of kickback when it did (or else outright denial that it was even happening). The fact that in the past few years it seems there is more controversy erupting amid the gaming world whenever a high profile example of misogyny crops up and more guys willing to stand up against the loud pockets of anxious dudebros still running amok, has to be some sign of progress.

Related Reading:
The Extinction Burst of Gaming Culture
Why Are Gamers So Angry?
GamerGate's Original Sin
We Cannot Allow This to Become Gamer Culture
GamerGate is Running Out of Heroes

[This is Why I Love Geekery]

  So some dude name Joe Peacock posted a rant complaining about too many cute girls 'faking being geeks' nowadays. I won't bother to even address how many ways his article is crap, since Joe Scalzi did it for me, but the part of Joe's rebuttal that really stood out to me and truly sums up why I have so much affection for geek culture despite it's warts was this:

"Many people believe geekdom is defined by a love of a thing, but I think — and my experience of geekdom bears on this thinking — that the true sign of a geek is a delight in sharing a thing. It’s the major difference between a geek and a hipster, you know: When a hipster sees someone else grooving on the thing they love, their reaction is to say 'Oh, crap, now the wrong people like the thing I love.' When a geek sees someone else grooving on the thing they love, their reaction is to say 'ZOMG YOU LOVE WHAT I LOVE COME WITH ME AND LET US LOVE IT TOGETHER.''

Any jerk can love a thing. It’s the sharing that makes geekdom awesome."

 THAT is exactly why I embrace the 'geek' label, and will wear that term proudly til the day I die. The exuberant love of sharing our passions with each other without fear of being judged for 'caring too much' or 'taking it too seriously' is such a great and fun part of geek culture, and why I believe that all our geek communities can only get better by accepting more different types of people in them. I echo what Joe says at the end of his essay:

"Anyone can be a geek. Any way they want to. That means you too. Whoever you are."

Related Reading:
How Geek Gatekeeping is Bad for Business
Confessions of a 'Fake Geek Girl'
Geek Masculinity & The Myth of the Fake Geek Girl
The 7 Most Ridiculous Things About Calling Out 'Fake Geek Girls'

[Gaming Also Brings People Together]

It seems a common cliche in the media for the past few years to talk about how online gaming destroys various people's lives. Since the days of EverQuest almost every mention of MMORPGs that you see reported is a tale of dysfunction being presented as if it's normal for players of these games to be damaged by them. I think the fact that that MMORPGs also bring players together and can build new friendships and communities should be brought up more often in response.

MMOGamerChick posted one of these stories about how playing WoW changed her life for the better. It's a good read. =)

[BBC: Guns, Girls, & Games]

A great BBC radio documentary has just been released, that includes interviews from the gals at the blogs 'Fat, Ugly or Slutty?' and 'Not in the Kitchen Anymore':

"Does the world of video gaming have a problem with sexual harassment?

Women are one of the fastest growing groups of people playing video games and in the US they now make up 42% of gamers overall. But life can be tough for them in this male-dominated world.

For Assignment, James Fletcher reports on recent harassment controversies, the women and men campaigning for change, and whether big gaming companies are doing enough to address the issue."

Listen to it here!

Related Listening:
[CBC Radio] Women and Gaming: Smashing Stereotypes

[What About Jaina's Story?]

Just as a random thought I've had, since the end of WotLK:  Does anyone else find it strange that the woman who has had a history with two major characters in the Warcraft storyline (Arthas and Kael'thas) had almost ZERO plot involvement with their stories in either BC or WotLK? Jaina never got a mention, cutscene, or any closure after the death of Arthas... she's never mentioned at all, and we're never shown her feelings about the whole thing.

I could understand not really involving her in BC, since Kael'thas' crush was pretty one sided, but come on; Jaina and Arthas were pretty serious about each other before Arthas went all evil.

Its disappointing that Blizzard didn't think she was important enough to give her a role in either of the two important plotlines in the game that she had the strongest personal connections with. I think it was really a missed opportunity to flesh out one of the least developed WoW faction leaders.

[This is the Deal With Twilight...]

I posted a random one-off question a long time ago asking why the heck these mediocre books are so popular. And I think Cleolinda has hit the nail on the head:

"I started thinking about romance myself, and I think I've figured it out: the key component of romance is tenderness. Because something can be totally sexyhot without tenderness; it's tenderness that creates the "romantic" atmosphere, the one that a lot of guys tend to turn their noses up at--because tenderness requires you to be vulnerable, to open yourself up and say, I want you, I need you, I am incredibly blessed to even be touching you right now. (Maybe that's where the honesty comes in after all.)

So if you buy your girlfriend a dozen roses at the supermarket and toss them at her on Valentine's Day all, "LOOK, here you are, now SHUT UP until next year," you are doing it so very, very wrong, and she probably feels it. It's not about hearts and flowers and chocolates and money spent, and in fact all that ephemera is a convenient way to dodge actual tenderness, because you can feel like you've done something without putting any real feeling into it. And Twilight? Is all about the freakin' tenderness. It's larded with tenderness; feeling drips off the pages and oozes from the film stock and romantics eat it up and then turn around and line up for more. I mean, that slow dance at the end of the first movie, he is crying while they're eyesexing, for God's sake. That's like--the emotional equivalent of--I don't even have an adequate pornographic metaphor for that."

So yeah, the books are failures on a literary level... but it's not the story that the fans love so obsessively. It goes a lot deeper than that. Which actually makes me disappointed that a story that celebrates so many dysfunctional and dangerous relationship aspects has managed to hit this nerve that so many women have.

[Penny Arcade Debates PUA]

A discussion between Tycho and Gabe from Penny Arcade on whether or not PUA is misogynist manipulation is being discussed over at Pandagon. Tycho is being remarkably perceptive about this issue, given that a TON of guys in the gaming community have misogynist tendencies that they revel in pretty regularly:

"I’m fairly certain the purpose of this course is to make you a better predator of women. Check out their offers of “in-field training,” as though you were going to hunt antelopes from a jeep in the Goddamned Savannah."

Gabe's response? This jaw-dropper:

"I think you’re being overly dramatic. Girls have been using their “feminine wiles” to manipulate men since the beginning of time. Do you really think the mind games girls play on guys are any better or worse than this stuff. The only difference is that this sort of thing comes naturally to women. Guys are in a tight spot because in very real terms, we have nothing they want."

Wow. There are no words for how seriously screwed up Gabe's beliefs about human relationships (and female sexuality) are, if he seriously thinks that. I thought it was supposed to be us FEMINISTS that believed all men were worthless slobs? However, once again, it's shown that it's actually the PUA/anti-feminists who perpetuate the myth that men have so little to offer as individuals that they have to bribe, trick, and force women into wanting to have anything to do with them.

What a horrible way think of yourself. Of course, I quickly stop feeling sorry for guys like him when they then start blaming all womankind for their own personal self-esteem issues. Seriously, if Nice Guys(tm) would just get over their entitlement complexes and see women as individual people instead of hive-minded ambulatory vaginas, they'd become a lot more attractive to the opposite sex. Just sayin'.

ETA: The second part of the Pandagon discussion, dissecting one of the pro-PUA letters that Gabe recieved in response to the debate, is here.

[Marvelfail]

So, Marvel has decided to appeal to the 'female side' of their fanbase by releasing a selection of 'juicy' and 'shiny' lip glosses!

"With a branded line of make-up from Marvel, girls will be able to feel as if they are going from ordinary to extraordinary just like the super hero characters in the stories."

Orly?

Anyway, Shakesville points out that on the website, there are tons of costumes available for guys to be their favorite comic character. But... not any for girls. I wonder why?

"There is a very good reason there are no costumes mentioned here for girls. Can anyone guess what it is? It starts with an I...regular series here on Shakesville...that's right, it's Impossibly Beautiful for the loss!

See, with the costumes of men superheroes, we see muscle pads, inflatable bodies, and (this is crucial) covered bodies. Had a look at any of the costumes on any women capes lately? How do you make costumes drawn to make the heroes look like silicon-stuffed strippers fit actual women? Well, of course, you don't, because (back to the male gaze here), who'd want to look at some fat woman in a costume meant for a stripper, am I right?

Not to mention, what kind of seriously advanced structural engineering would you need to make a real woman look anything like the titanic-breasted figures put forward as "women" in Marvel's books? Not to mention, what kind of sick fucking company would make their hypersexualized women's costumes available for girls?"

Yerp. But of course, the only reason women complain about the design of women superheroes is because we're uptight harpies, amirite? It couldn't possibly be because it actually makes being a female comic fan a lot more uncomfortable than it has to be. Just look up the common complaints woman comic cosplayers make every damn year about getting harassed at comic cons for dressing as their favorite superhero... I'm assuming because they're TOTES asking for it by dressing like a sexdoll character, right? Nevermind that 'sexdoll costume' is the ONLY OPTION THEY GET. Seriously, if the tables were reversed you'd have geek guys up in arms about it all the time. Because it sucks when your favorite superhero is constantly splayed out like a softcore prop.

[DC Universe Online is Female Friendly!]

Reasons:

1. Characters don't die, they just get knocked out!
2. Lots of Character Customization!
3. Wonder Woman is in the game!
4. It's Casual-Friendly!
5. Intuitive Interface Design!
5. Their Support Classes Aren't Boring!

If you can't figure why those things are considered gender specific design choices, you aren't alone.

[What's the Deal With Twilight?]

  My personal feelings about this series' popularity are summed up in this comic and in the hilarious book reviews by Cleolinda.

  I mean, vampire romances are legion. There are lots of far better written stories out there with characters that are not TSTL (too stupid to live) abusive, shallow, and mary sue-ish. Yet, just like with Eragon, magazines went ga-ga over it (calling it the next Harry Potter? Seriously?!) and it's fans squee over it's mediocrity with frightening intensity.

  Is it just because its fans have never read a good paranormal romance, or are that many people's idea of 'romance' really that screwed up? If Edward wasn't a vampire, would the reactions even be so intense? Because if you remove all the paranormal trappings (and rainbow glitter) the relationships in these books are just plain dysfunctional, and only get worse as the series goes on.

  In an environment where there are so many better paranormal romantic books out there as alternatives, why is Twilight singled out at the one most worthy of all this praise? I just can't understand it.

Extra: A fun podcast about fandom in general, Twilight, relationships, feminism, and a slew of other things. =)

[The Relationship Dynamic in 'Braid']

A fascinating discussion on the time-bending game Braid, and how it deals with the old Princess/Rescuer plot device. What message is the story trying to convey? It's not exactly clear, but very thought-provoking nonetheless.

(Spoiler warnings in effect for those who haven't played it yet.)

[Kotaku vs. the Boy's Club?! LOL]

From an otherwise halfway decent article on gaming journalism's need to grow up, in which, Brian Crescente shows that he's either completely in denial, or confused as to what the term 'sexist' even means:

"What needs to stop is the boy's club, in which women are only featured as sex objects. Forget being offended by it; I'm just sick of it -- if I want titillation, I'll go to porn or, you know, an actual woman. Maybe I'll read Esquire, where they at least pretend to respect an actress's work before showing off her calves. See, it's not just that gaming journalism is obsessed with sexy women, it's that the obsession takes such an awkward form. The practice is found all over the industry. Some examples:

• Porn Stars Love Video Games! Popular site GameDaily interviews porn stars about whether their boyfriends can play video games, and which game characters they'd like to get with. In the interest of service journalism, each micro-interview is smaller than the photo of the porn star above it. (No male stars, natch, but then again who ever wanted to hear something from the mouth of a male porn actor?) GameDaily also wants you to read "Babe of the Week" and "The Most Outrageous Boobs in Gaming."
• Strip Halo 3: Porn stars get naked on video while playing a shoot-em-up with ugly guys.
• Shooting Range: Industry leader Electronic Gaming Monthly sent a team of girl gamers to a shooting range to test their real-life skills. Am I picky for being annoyed that they were chosen for hotness?
• Digital Lust: Now folded, Gamestar Magazine was an unapologetic tits-and-games mag. These "behind the scenes" photos from a holiday gift guide shoot looked so much like the start of a soft porn gallery, I felt surprised when I scrolled to the bottom and saw the model still had some lingerie on.
• Gaming's kinkiest costumes: "Got a fantasy? Chances are there's a game to match," promises this gallery from Games Radar. The copy is full of "then go talk to a real girl" asides, which only make it sadder that the site is so desperately reaching for the never-touched-a-girl audience.

The industry is addicted. Like a GOP presidential candidate, they're too afraid of losing the base to appeal to normal people with reasonable options. No wonder they're losing attention to mainstream coverage (who says GQ can't review video games?) and sites like Penny Arcade, a biting comic and review site in which a pre-teen girl -- the niece of one of the authors -- is the maturest, most capable gamer. Gawker Media's gaming site Kotaku, says editor Brian Crecente, goes out of its way to stop boy's-club coverage. Both sites have enjoyed years of rising traffic."

 Anyone who's spent five minutes at Kotaku knows it hardly "goes out of its way to stop boy's-club coverage". In reality, it's one of the most popular and unapologetic offenders, down to the very commenters themselves. Shame on Nick Douglas for just taking that claim from Brian at face value, instead of actually fact-checking to see if it was true.

[Elspeth Tory: Entering the Boy's Club]

  A neat little interview here on MTV Multiplayer, interviewing Assassin's Creed dev Elspeth Tory about how she got into the industry and her experiences in the gaming world: 

Multiplayer: One disadvantage [of being a female in the gaming industry] I can think of is that people can doubt your abilities. When I was interviewing Morgan Webb, she said that guys still come up to her and ask, “Do you really play games?” And in Jade Raymond’s case, people were doubting her work experience…

Tory: There’s a real difference, I find, between what you experience internally, in the company, and what you feel from the outside on the forums, which are ridiculous. The stuff on forums is ridiculous. It’s so misogynistic, and it’s awful. And so I really try to separate myself from that. I find at least internally, the industry itself, when we talk about the actual companies and our working environment, I feel it’s a lot better, and I feel there’s a decent amount of respect going on there. But when you want to step outside, it’s exactly what you’re saying. Experienced producers like Jade, who was a programmer, is a huge gamer, really somebody who knows what she’s talking about. And people say, “Are you just a marketing tool?” And it’s just like, “What are you talking about?” So I think on that level, I don’t know if that’s calling it the industry, or just the demographic who are playing are just not getting it.

Multiplayer: So it seems that you’re saying with gamers — or outside the industry — there’s the negativity, but within the industry, it’s not like that at all?

Tory: Totally. Things have not gotten better outside the industry. For me, the important thing is in my working environment everybody gets taken seriously, and I am not in any way impeded in my progression. So that’s really important to me. On “Assassin’s” I started getting more exposure. You do an interview on GameTrailers, and you start getting comments. I was told to never go look at the comments, because they’re appalling!

But [being in the spotlight] has been an eye-opening experience for me. The forums in general, and basically all the websites that include all of these people who are really condescending and, I don’t know… It leaves a sour taste in your mouth. You just kind of feel like we’re making progress, we’re getting more women out there, the faces of the games are changing, and I think that’s so good. And then any time you put a woman in the position where she’s talking about things, there has to be at least a good chunk of talk about, for Jade, talking about how beautiful she is. Completely irrelevant to what’s going on and her job.

Multiplayer: Why do you think people reacted to Jade that way on the Internet?

Tory: It was really frustrating… The whole fan club thing, I think that’s fun and whatever. To me it’s just when they start criticizing her intelligence or her ability… It’s very frustrating to see that when you’ve worked with somebody for two years, and you know they’re good at what they do and they’re competent. I’ve found that she’s been an amazing role model for me, and to have people sit there and just, without any prior knowledge essentially, and truly because she’s a woman and she’s pretty, to rip into her. And to sort of imply that she couldn’t possibly have any idea what she’s doing. I think that’s a bit immature. It’s the kind of thing you expect from a 12 year-old. And maybe it is 12 year-olds making the posts. It could very well be. And if that’s possible, it’s not something I should worry about, because it’s just a 12 year-old making the posts. But it’s just the kind of thing that is not encouraging and doesn’t necessarily encourage other women to go in when they see that kind of flack.

Multiplayer: When disparaging stuff comes out on the Internet, what advice do you have for women dealing with that type of scrutiny?

Tory: Don’t read the forums! [Laughs] Don’t read the forums. That’s what I was told by some people and I stopped doing that, so that’s good. That’s helping. And try and focus on the positive aspect of what you do and the end result. I think it’s tough to know what to do.

  I feel it's sad that Tory has to avoid online gaming communities altogether in order to not be brought down and upset by all the crap on them. If that doesn't show that there's a real problem here, I don't know what does. The whole 'Just be quiet and let the trolls have their way' is clearly a failed strategy. What's that's doing is driving women away from many gaming spaces entirely. And it shouldn't be this way.

  If someone starts developing an interest in something, and then gets horrified/harassed/repelled by the people they find as the majority in the mainstream communties for those who share that interest, you don't think that would affect whether or not they'd want to participate professionally in that field, and/or make it a bigger part of their life? Can someone really claim that the tone of a community doesn't contribute in any way to people's feelings and enjoyment of a particular activity? I don't see how anyone can honestly deny that the bigoted/juvenile/boy's club tone of the mainstream gaming community is directly related to the fact that there are fewer women involved in it at higher levels.

  And yet, there are still folks who claim that the low number of women who enter the gaming industry and/or who are high profile in it has nothing to do with sexism. Right.

[XFire Debate on Women and PC Gaming]

Here's the transcript!
Scroll down a bit to get past the inane banter into the actual questions.

[More Thoughts on 'What Girl Gamers Want']

Alec from Castle in the Air hits the nail on the head about this ridiculous 'What do women want from their games?' debate:

"Here’s the main reason the question of “what women want” is stupid: We all want exactly the same thing from our games. Oh, some of us may prefer puzzles, others strategic board games, and still others vicious PVP, but what we really want is fulfilling entertainment.

In games with a narrative (most video and tabletop roleplaying games, for instance), this means that we want to be heroes—reluctant heroes, action heroes, and antiheroes, perhaps, but heroes nonetheless. On the more abstract, gamey side, we all want to be challenged, usually progressively, but not overwhelmed.

Do some women want the chance to decorate their avatars in MMOs in greater detail? I can assure you that an equal percentage of men want exactly the same thing. Do some adolescent men like to drool over cheesecakes in chainmail bikinis in their game books? Well, plenty of men are turned off by such illustrations, too.

In the end, the reason fewer women than men are attracted to all genres of gaming has everything to do with culture and almost nothing to do with “what they really want.” Almost all video and roleplaying games fail with women not because women don’t want to play such games, not because the games haven’t been successfully targeted to women, but because the games have been targeted at the hard core of a niche market. Most developers still market to the passionate minority. As soon as they start developing for people, not for “Men aged 18 to 35″ or “Women with $50,000 median income,” they’ll really start seeing a profit."

EXACTLY. Women gamers are not aliens, it's not gaming itself that discourages them from taking an interest in games, its the atmosphere of the marketing and community. The gaming industry itself needs to grow up and act like mature adults, and then they'll have better luck breaking into larger demographics.
The Wii isn't taking the industry by storm by accident.

[The Convenient Stereotype is Starting to Unravel]

MightyPonygirl brought up an interesting observation in light of some new studies that are poking holes in the common belief about 'women gamers'. For many guy gamers, that's not a big deal, but for others, they may start to feel backed into a corner:

"The culture of 'anxious masculinity' marries very well with the culture of gaming. To 'be a man' is to reject all things female and feminine: beyond purses and the color pink, anything that enjoys a female following is considered less-than and men who like the same thing are open for ridicule. Movies, music, books, and videogames — if girls like it, then liking it makes you girly. Using the videogame culture to bolster one’s masculinity means further dividing manly games from girly games — hardcore games from casual games, splatterfests from music and simulation games, and PS3s from Wiis."

I wasn't aware that some folks had started to label Zelda and Guitar Hero 'girly', but I had heard the whole thing about how the Wii is getting labled a 'girl's console' and belittled just for that by many male gamers before. To be honest, the commonplace misogyny in gaming culture is something I've written about before. It's understandable that guys that (were up until recently) considered nerdy and less 'macho' than say, sports-type jocks, would develop a culture kind of desperate to prove their (hetero) manliness to each other, even resorting to outright sexism. Once women start coming into this traditionally 'guys' space' a kind of backlash breaks out.

A recent study showed, that while men are playing 'casual' games like Bejeweled just as much as women, they are afraid to admit it. The 'casual = girly / hardcore = manly' game stereotype is alive and well, and guys are buying into it in order to protect their 'respectable (male) gamer' credentials. Why does even the hint of any kind of shared gaming interests with 'girls' (what puzzle games have to do with having a vagina, is beyond me however) equate outright hostility and shame in these guys? It couldn't have anything to do with a sexist 'girly things = stupid/emasculating things' attitude, now could it? =P

The desperation to categorize women gamers as some kind of strange, anomalous gamer-type that companies need to study scientifically in hopes of 'cracking the code' is a symptom of the fact that the male-oriented industry just can't figure out that women gamers are (gasp) GAMERS just like guys are, and it's not rocket science -- make quality games, and women (and men) will play them!

I didn't need pink consoles and Barbie Horse Adventures to start my interest in games -- I started on Apple II and Super Mario Brothers, just like the rest of the gamers from my generation. And I'm not alone -- in the beginning, games were just games, they weren't segregated by gender except by the male tone of the community. And it's the 'boys club' tone of the mainstream gaming community itself that's the biggest block to more women wanting to get into games and be more active in the fandom.

[Women and Raiding]

Even though, according to some guilds, 'girls will ruin everything' and thus refuse to even recruit them to begin with. But that's a topic for another day. =P

Patrick at TenTonHammer recently wrote a pretty decent article dealing with women gamers and guild relations. It sparked a pretty interesting discussion on it's comments page, as well. ANYway, he touches on the topic of 'serious' raiders vs two other types of gaming women:

"As it relates to gaming, there are three major groups of women. The first is serious gamers, the second is social gamers, the third is Man-Seeking-Missile (MSM) gamers. Serious gaming women dislike social gamers when they share a guild, and want to strangle all MSM gamers. These are the ones you want in your guild; they are better than most men you'll ever play with, they care more passionately about performance than most raiders, and they are confident.

Serious gaming women despise Man-Seeking-Missiles, though. At least a quarter of my conversations with great women over two years of raiding involved this in some form or another. MSMs are not universally awful players, but they all reinforce our stereotypes as men. Women are subpar players. Women rely on men to game. Women can't think for themselves. Women only get ahead using sex. Strong, sensible women recognize these stereotypes and work against them; Missiles think it's "cute" to reinforce them. That's why the hate exists."

I'd label myself as a 'serious social gamer'... I like to be effective and knowledgeable at whatever class I'm playing, but I'm I don't consider it a waste of time playing just to roll alts with friends and chat, either.
To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what his definition of a 'social butterfly' gamer is. Someone who never gets far past the newbie zones? Someone who plays without really being interested in higher game mechanics? Does he simply mean a 'super- casual' gamer? If so, then I can see how that kind of player would annoy a raiding guild, regardless of their gender. I'm not sure why such a player would even be allowed in such a guild in the first place, however.

I also agree with his description of the frustration a lot of women gamers feel when they see someone playing off the stereotypes and sexism of the guys in a guild to get attention. Sometimes I wonder if I sometimes don't do that myself unintentionally, since I have what could be considered a 'cutesy' personality a lot of the time. I think the more I got fed up with dealing with guys who took that as a cue to harass or disrespect me, the less often that aspect of myself shows in-game as time goes on.

But on the most part, my guild (I've been in the same one since before WoW was even released) is filled with great people, and is run by folks who value respect and an inclusive guild environment. I've been very fortunate, I think, because I hear some really awful stories from lots of other women who have played WoW as well. I think some quit the game entirely when they could've just quit their crappy guild instead -- a good guild makes all the difference in how much you enjoy a game, in my opinion.

I wholly agree with Easter's take on how women gamers should deal with bad behavior or sexism in their guilds:

"I think the way to get around all this gamer sexism is to take the same path I’ve been taking. Be female. Game. Win. If guys are offensive, say something about it. If you want to do something and your fellow gamers aren’t cooperating, find more cooperative ones. If your guild is full of drooling idiots, leave. Find a great one, like the one I’m in.

Don’t be afraid to cross the finish line first. To say “Excuse me, that’s wrong.” To seek out people that will encourage you to run fast and avoid people who only love you if you hold back.
You can get attention by flirting, sure, and you can also get attention by spray-painting political slogans on your butt and running naked through downtown during the lunch rush, but it probably won’t be the kind of attention that will ultimately make you happy."

Word.

[The Feminine Gamer]

This month's issue of Cerise has several articles dealing with gender roles and gaming, which ties in with my last post. Check it out! =)

[Girl Games = Stupid Games?]

Anyone else notice this trend in game marketing?

Girl in the Machine discusses the wierd disconnect with reality that so many gaming companies have when it comes to what 'female gamers' want, and the negative stereotypes of 'femininity' that so many of us blindly accept as true:

"Let's take a moment to examine how these "girl games" hurt female gamers by taking a look at the bigger picture. Masculine hegemony characterizes femininity as frivolous, idiotic, weak, and ultimately different. Now, most of us who call ourselves women may come to despise traditional femininity because of the aforementioned prejudices, which have become part of the mainstream attitude. And if the patriarchy makes femininity what it is, why not?"
"And what does this have to do with video games? We sneer and recoil at these "girl games," designed by men for women. These are stupid, we think, and by extension: those who play these games are stupid. Therefore, women are stupid. Rarely do we automatically separate intended audience from the motivations and attitudes of the creators themselves. Therefore, our own prejudices arise, and the separation of "girls" from "the rest of the world" feels unfortunately familiar. It's a social construct that molds our personal opinions in a million subtle ways until we accept things such as sexism as normal."

  This attitude ties in with my thoughts about Age of Conan, which I think is a perfect example of this kind of attitude on the part of a game developer. The sexism and female objectification in that game is proudly displayed -- it's not a girly game, after all! It's for real, hardcore gamers! And the fact that so many people simply accept that logic as reasonable, without thinking about its implications, is very telling.

[Age of Conan: What's So 'Mature' About It?]

At MMORPG.com's forums, I keep seeing post after post by AoC fanboys gleefully holding up every example of female nudity, sex, and gore in their game reasons why 'WoW kiddies and immature brats won't be mucking up this game!' I just have to lol.
(They also mention the complexity of the game mechanics as another assurance of 'older players.' I dunno about that, MMOs aren't rocket science. Now if the learning curve is overly steep, that may make a difference, but then that also turns off plenty of older players who just don't have the patience for that kind of thing, and it's hardly a guarantee of a certain maturity range.)

It's wierdly similar to how Vanguard fanboys kept saying how all the 'hardcore' level grinds and grueling travel time in their game would ensure a 'mature' playerbase (and repel those pesky WoW kiddies), too. What it ended up doing was giving the game fewer overall players, period.

For an MMO with a smaller player population, it tends to be easier for people to blacklist asshats, because word spreads faster. Therefore, people tend to try to behave better to avoid being ostracized (in theory). World of Warcraft's greatest weakness is that, with huge numbers of players and easy server-transfer services, troublemakers can easily escape bad reputations. In other words, the large number of idiots in WoW is not directly related to it's lack of blatant T&A. =P

It doesn't help that AoC's devs can't seem to think of ways to hype their game that don't include the equivalent of shouting 'Whee! Titties!" Check these quotes from E3, by Jorgen Thereldsen, Funcom's Product Director::

"It's a mature game. Hyboria is a brutal world. It's savage. It's violent. It's sexy. There's no pink hearts and pretty fireballs. Heads will roll!"
"We have boobs in our game!"
"See? It's good to be a healer. You have a naked lady buffing you!"

And, when watching a clip of an incubus character: "You have to watch the idle animation. Watch! It will cycle into the hip-thrust animation."

(He then angled the game camera up under the demon's loincloth to try and show off it's genitals. All while scantily clad 'booth babes' handed out shrunken head 'party favors' to the audience.)

For some reason, I get more of a 'frat party' vibe than a 'maturity' vibe from this game. Maybe Funcom honestly doesn't know the difference? It seems a lot of their fanboys don't, at any rate. With every new example of T&A or violence, they get more and more convinced that only the most 'grown up' players will be playing Age of Conan. Seeing as how every other rated M game available has plenty of kids under 17 playing them, I'm not sure where they get that confidence.

Is Funcom really that dismissive of the facts showing that the overall gaming audience is more diverse now than ever? Or, perhaps like CliffyB's brother, they have only disdain for anyone that doesn't fit their idea of a 'real gamer'? Jorgen's subtle jab at women gamers by mentioning 'no pink hearts or sparkles' in their game (because that's TOTALLY the deciding factor in what games girl gamers like best, tee hee!) hints a lot to what their attitude is towards any inclusivity: it's pathetic and 'wussy'. And for female gamers like me, that's an attitude we're all too familiar with. And it's a major turn-off.

Narrowing their intended demographic to the extreme stereotype of 'gamer dudes', while at the same time intentionally alienating most women and/or anyone not into gratuitous imagery, seems really self-defeating on Funcom's part. Vanguard's community also touted how they only wanted the 'most hardcore' players in their game, with no welcome for 'inferior' players. And designing gameplay around that attitude was one of the many factors in the game's failed launch.

Upcoming games like Warhammer Online, Chronicles of Spellborn, Tabula Rasa, Pirates of the Burning Sea, etc. are all vying for players attention. Can Age of Conan afford to be so polarizing in it's design choices in this future competitive (and rapidly diversifying) market? We'll have to wait and see.