132 réponses à ce sujet

[Trapper_920]

I never thought too much about it but I have used the term myself. It seems like more of a reminder or an honorary because girls do game.

Online gender can get lost easily when speaking in text. I've had to tell people I am a guy on several occasions.

[Maria13]

Personally I loathe the term... I much prefer 'girl gamer', it sounds younger!

[Aravius]

Maria13 wrote...

Personally I loathe the term... I much prefer 'girl gamer', it sounds younger!

I would love to be called a girl gamer to make me sound younger. Unfortunately I am a woman gamer. My husband and kids all game. The only issue in our house is that my husband and I use the same computer to game on.

[ms_sunlight]

Addai67 wrote...

No. It's just a descriptor. If you don't like it, don't use it, but don't waste your time raging or trying to control other people's expressions.

Look, the thing is though, the phrase is not just a descriptive term for "gamer who happens to be young and female"; it has a whole load of history and accumulated cultural baggage.  You know, just like "Essex girl" means more than a young female who comes from Essex and "Valley girl" means more than... you get the idea.

[ms_sunlight]

Aravius wrote...

Maria13 wrote...

Personally I loathe the term... I much prefer 'girl gamer', it sounds younger!

I would love to be called a girl gamer to make me sound younger. Unfortunately I am a woman gamer. My husband and kids all game. The only issue in our house is that my husband and I use the same computer to game on.

Seriously, as soon as you can, get your own.

I am not going back to sharing a PC with my husband.  No way.

[Turnip Root]

No but I tend to loather girl's who game because 99 percent of them play nothing but the Sims or World of Warcraft.

[Addai]

ms_sunlight wrote...

Addai67 wrote...

No. It's just a descriptor. If you don't like it, don't use it, but don't waste your time raging or trying to control other people's expressions.

Look, the thing is though, the phrase is not just a descriptive term for "gamer who happens to be young and female"; it has a whole load of history and accumulated cultural baggage.  You know, just like "Essex girl" means more than a young female who comes from Essex and "Valley girl" means more than... you get the idea.

So what?  I detest picking apart people's language because of this or that implication.  Starting a whole thread about the concept just popularizes it that much more.

[slimgrin]

Turnip Root wrote...

No but I tend to loather girl's who game because 99 percent of them play nothing but the Sims or World of Warcraft.

I'd be lucky to find a girl in my neck of the woods who games at all.

[Turnip Root]

slimgrin wrote...

Turnip Root wrote...

No but I tend to loather girl's who game because 99 percent of them play nothing but the Sims or World of Warcraft.

I'd be lucky to find a girl in my neck of the woods who games at all.

Not that I play the game but girl's who game will always play for some sort of social element.  So you'll seldom find a girl who is into games' with a focus primarily on single player.
They usually will choose World of Warcraft since the guy's who play the game are so hopeless they'll be ecstatic if some blood elf whispers something dirty through their microphone over ventrilo.
Girl gamers will usually say something lame, old, or stupid like "LEEROOOYYYY JENNNKINS!" but all the guys will still laugh since they're so desperate even though if it were a guy who said it he would be chastized for recycling a no longer funny internet meme.
Getting a whole bunch of faceless losers over the internet to drool over you since you're the only chick in a sausage fest guild is a good way for a girl to forget about being lazy, sedentary, 45 percent body fat or greater, and borderline type-2 diabetic.

Or they'll just play the sims since it's just a dollhouse game and it makes sense for girls to want to play with dolls.  A guy who plays it on the other hand...time to turn in your man card bro.

Modifié par Turnip Root, 18 juin 2011 - 03:07 .

[ObserverStatus]

Busomjack!

[ms_sunlight]

Turnip Root wrote...

Not that I play the game but girl's who game will always play for some sort of social element.  So you'll seldom find a girl who is into games' with a focus primarily on single player.

You do realise that posting the above comment on the website of a company that creates single player games means you're statistically likely to be proven wrong very fast?

*snip*

Oh.  You're a troll.  Sorry.

Modifié par ms_sunlight, 18 juin 2011 - 03:22 .

[Turnip Root]

ms_sunlight wrote...

Turnip Root wrote...

Not that I play the game but girl's who game will always play for some sort of social element.  So you'll seldom find a girl who is into games' with a focus primarily on single player.

You do realise that posting the above comment on the website of a company that creates single player games means you're statistically likely to be proven wrong very fast?

*snip*

Oh.  You're a troll.  Sorry.

No, it just means this is where the other 1 percent likes to hang out.

[Lord Phoebus]

If it makes you feel better the word girl originally referred to a young person of either gender.

[Chromie]

ms_sunlight wrote... "Valley girl" means more than... you get the idea.

Did some say Valley Girl?!

[DragonRageGT]

Turnip Root wrote...

No but I tend to loather girl's who game because 99 percent of them play nothing but the Sims or World of Warcraft.

Plus, 99% of them are male!

[DragonRageGT]

Ringo12 wrote...

ms_sunlight wrote... "Valley girl" means more than... you get the idea.

Did some say Valley Girl?!

I love a Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch!

[whykikyouwhy]

Chiming in on the main question -

I personally don't loathe it. Sure, it carries a lot of social scars - it can be demeaning, both by adding a gender modifier, and by the choice of the modifier itself. But unfortunately, gaming has long been viewed as a male-dominated past time, therefore "gamer" has been synonymous with being a guy. It was a given.

Years ago, when I haunted the arcades, I used to get a lot of sh*t when I would play Street Fighter. Guys would challenge me just for the sick thrill of pounding my character with a spinning pile-driver, or what have you. As a girl, I was not immediately welcomed into the fold. I think that sort of attitude is changing though. Guys are recognizing that we can hold our own, and as such, maybe the "gamer girl" term will fall out of fashion.

I do like when women can embrace the term though and own it, like the crew of Team Unicorn. There's a certain "yeah, this is what we do. We game, and we'll bust your *ss while we're at it" attitude that is pretty refreshing. It would be nice if we didn't need to attach gender to it, yes. And I guess all gamers could join the effort to not categorize their fellows in that manner. You know, the whole "change starts at home" sort of thing.

[Ryllen Laerth Kriel]

Well it could be worse, you could be a "Gamer Squirrel Girl" because female squirrels sometimes play games too.

[Turnip Root]

Usually if a female gamer makes a big enough deal about her gender to designate herself some sort of special title like "gamer girl" or worse "girlz, gurl, grrll" it probably means she thinks the fact that she's both female and a gamer makes her special somehow.
If you're a female and you play games, fine. Don't think you deserve special attention because of it though.

[whykikyouwhy]

Turnip Root wrote...

Usually if a female gamer makes a big enough deal about her gender to designate herself some sort of special title like "gamer girl" or worse "girlz, gurl, grrll" it probably means she thinks the fact that she's both female and a gamer makes her special somehow.
If you're a female and you play games, fine. Don't think you deserve special attention because of it though.

I don't know that all women are necessarily designating themselves as "gamer girls" - the term probably did not originate from a woman.

The women who do use the term to describe themselves or their friends however are probably doing it not so much to say they are "special" but to take ownership of the word and spin it on its head. A lot of women still feel like they need to prove themselves in the gaming communities, or they are made to do so in order to be taken seriously. So, they embrace the term, show that they have just as much chops playing sword-wielding or gun-toting characters and that's that. I don't think it's meant to call attention or detract from their worth when they label themselves as such.

So too, to address you earlier posts, I find it unfortunate that your experience with women who game has been so limited as to give you the impression that all we do is play the Sims or WoW, and for the reasons that you mentioned. Speaking for myself, I play a game for the story and the *ss-kicking awesomeness. And I don't play MMOs - I'm not looking to be drooled over. I'm just looking to have fun in a fantasy realm.

[Addai]

woundedheart wrote...

Addai67 wrote...

So what?  I detest picking apart people's language because of this or that implication.  Starting a whole thread about the concept just popularizes it that much more.

And responding to that thread popularizes it that much more. 

See, if I cared about that....

The point.

[Turnip Root]

Oh yeah, I forgot girls like to play Portal as well. They don't actually play it because they enjoy the gameplay. They play it because

"OMG! THE STILL ALIVE SONG AT THE END IS SO CUTE! I LOVE IT!"

"ROFLMAO!  THE CAKE IS A LIE!   HAHA!  LOOK AT ME!  I CAN PARROT NO LONGER FUNNY INTERNET MEMES!"

Modifié par Turnip Root, 18 juin 2011 - 04:58 .

[DragonRageGT]

There's a kicking azz Brazilian girls' Counter-Strike team and some Korean girls back in 98 really kicked our GT team on Starcraft.

My niece can kick azz in a video game too and in RL as she fights Mai-Tai. Well, used to. She's just given birth to a future gamer boy!

They have the power and I just love them!