Girl vs Guy

[Ranmaru]

sHi there. Lately I saw some heated arguments about the female playerbase and their skill. I wanted to give my piece on this. I am here to seriously give an opinion. If preferred, I can make a quick topic and anyone who would like to discuss further (if the topic is locked) can discuss further there.

I encourage females and males to give their opinions.

"Are girls as interested in videogames as us?"

Sure, but I have only seen a few. I'll give examples:

Super Smash bro's melee. Casually (at home) there were a few that played. Some were newish to it, were meh. One was strictly a roy player, which was interesting. I'd say it was mostly casual. Now, competitive. I have seen a few compete. Let's see. One in Pittsburgh, was new to it. To me, that seemed like a girl going in 'hard' (I think) because she knows she is at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to experience/skill, and melee there is a ton. Only two I know that play well competitively, one that I had a 1-2 bout and lost. ;-; The other pwn me. (I'm sure there are a few that people may know by name and scores alone) Now, my girlfriend has played it, and competed. But mostly due to the social environment, not due to winning. She is a good lowbie though. I'm sure there are more girls that play Brawl, I don't know much of them tho. I'm sure there may be some high level brawl girl players. I have played with a few girls on LoL as well, and some had done well. I don't have any high level 'examples' because I don't think I'm even near a middle level yet. I still am in the 'practicing' mode, and I haven't played LoL since PSO2. xD

Skill Level

Most girls I have seen, have sadly been at the casual level. For me, it would be interesting to play with a girl at a higher level than that, but not to date. The problem... that occurs is when that girl BEATS us. WHOOOOOOO WEEE. Embarrassment. Yes, I'm being honest. Although, I'll take that loss. I'll just lose a little pride. Well I don't really have a problem with losing. You know why? Because I lost for a reason. Because that girl, outplayed me. Same as when I lose to a guy that outplays me. Would I stop playing with that girl or all who witnessed that? No. I'd just recognize that she can outplay me (and maybe consistently depending on how close the match was). Plus, I'd strive to improve in my own way. Some guys may just get really mad and try to create excuses as to why he lost to a girl. If you have done that, shame on you. The reason I want to play a girl with a higher level than casual, is to experience near 'losing' to her. Why? Because it would be fun to be at the same skill level with a girl. It would be fun to be at the same level, because then we can TALK about game theory, deep game theory. You can't do that with a girl who is entry level or is just playing casually.

Interest

Now some reasons for why girls play 'casually' may be because they aren't as interested in 'winning' and may just want to have fun regardless of skill. Or would rather spend time playing RPG's, something that just takes time instead of skill. I tried to get my girlfriend to play LoL, she was interested in at at all. My friend tried to get his girlfriend to play Starcraft, same reaction. My girlfriend MIGHT play PSO2. She doesn't like grinding though so... :/ There you go.

=======================

So. I do think girls have the ability to be good at videogames. It's just that I don't think we notice because female players are a minority. How many times have I been beated by a girl at a game? I'll say uniquely, two, three times? Yes, I have lost to my girlfriend in melee. I consistently beat her tho, but she has improved. (Doc vs Icies) I don't play much fighting games, not good at them. Other games, I can't really recall at the top of my head. Pokemon? Yes, actually. I don't do well with pokemon though. (I haven't spent that much time)

Also, when I see "Yeah all girls suck at games anyways" I kind of see it as a whiny retort to noticing that not may girls play at the level we'd like, from my POV. More like, a justification for why men dominate *coughareronerycough* the game.

=========================

Another thing. Girls, if you know you are a good player, just show us by example. Either giving records of your good scores, or playing with us males in any game you'd like, or we'd like. I don't play much of the new games tho.

Anyways, if this gets locked, or you would rather speak else where, PM me and we could discuss privately, or in quick topic. : D (Quick topic, everyone can go there that has been given the link, no one else can see it since it's private ;o )

[NoiseHERO]

Both have boobs.

one has a vagina, the other has a...beard.

[BIG OLAF]

Are girls as interested in video games as guys?

On a general scale, no.

On a more personal scale, however, I know (and have been/am still friends with) a large number of female gamers.

Am I embarrassed when they're "better" than me at a video game? Yeah, sure am. But! I'm embarrassed when anyone beats me at a game, especially one I 'think' I'm good at. I'm not sexist in that regard (thinking women are unable to do things as good as men, since everyone has individual skill sets and experiences).

[Ranmaru]

OHHH another example. ITG. And yes I have been beaten by a girl in that as well, more than one. I need to practice that ALOT more.

Also keep in mind that I don't play as many recent games as other 'young'ins' do. I'm more interested in games like Rainbow Six Las Vegas 2, Blur, Lumines, Smash Bros, Naruto Clash of Ninja, etc. ANd of course ITG/DDR. I will try out fighting games tho.

[Leviathan]

Girls have the same ability to be as good and even better at things than guys in anything.

I can bet that girls would be more interested in video games if they weren't questioned about their knowledge. (Keeping records for games, really?) It's basically the same with comic books too. Guys can come into any hobby and be seen as merely interested in that hobby, but when a woman comes into a typically male-dominated hobby she is seen as a woman first and anything that entails within that hobby as second or third.

I stopped telling guys I play video games because they got all huffy and holier-than-thou when I'm not 'up to par' with what ever they play (Me: I like MGS series. Guy: That's not a real game. Real games are CoD, CoD, CoDDy CoD, CoD.) or going to stores and the clerk asking if I'm buying Bioshock for my boyfriend.

[Nitro Vordex]

So this isn't talking about a locked thread? Okay then.

I don't care either way what gender you are when you play, you can still suck. You can also be good. You can also be an asshat. Team Fortress 2 for example, I've heard girl gamers on there, but most of the guys there are all like "eh". We play the game as we were before and not be suckups. It's only like the one kid who doesn't even know how to voice chat that tries to get the girl to be friends with him and play games with him.

It's embarrassing, really.

[blace]

Females get a lot of grief over it, but can that be helped considering what predetermines a girls taste when they're generalized with Barbie, ponies, rainbows and other such things?

The game I play on PC, aside from PSO 2, has a large number of females in its userbase, each one doing drastically well and seem to be more proficient than myself and other males.

The girls I know only play casual games. Otherwise, some of the best players I've met have all been online and are reasonable older than myself though. The younger girls tend to drop the game after a few match ups, due to frustration of the games design and control scheme.

[NoiseHERO]

Men suck at games all they do is play COD.
Women suck at games all they do is play Tetris.

VIDEOGAMES ARE FOR KIDULTS! AND WHATEVER A "REAL GAMER" IS!

[Akaimizu]

I also have a number of female friends on Xbox Live. Real gamers as well. That is, just like me, they often use gaming as a thing to wind down with. Some which are also dungeon-hacker fiends.

I absolutely don't get embarrased if a girl bests me at a videogame. To me, it's an expected and normal competition just like the next person. The motto is, there's always people better than you, and any human (or inhuman with the right digits) can destroy your score.

Heck, I already know a girl who could destroy Left 4 Dead (Xbox Live) on the hardest level, because that's how she rolls. And she wasn't even 10 years old yet. I still consider her the Left 4 Dead master. I'd partner with her anytime if I have to ever face the undead.

Still, society is always slow to change, and in the past it seemed that most girls were disuaded from the videogames. 'Cept for the ones that said "screw you" to peer pressure or other pressures, this is fun. As time goes on, I see the discrepancy becoming a distant memory.

[Ghost Inside]

Ugh... Great. Yet another one of these sort of topics. <_<

So let me get this straight, if you don't play competitivey with other people you're a 'casual' player? Isn't that a nice way to divide it? <.<

I've mostly played console games through the years and those were, you know, not online. You had it in your living room and that was it. For me that meant mostly playing on my own.

There have been some games on PC, mostly MMOs, don't have a lot to say about those I do run into a lot of other girls/women though.

Aside from that I've mostly played Brood War, Diablo II, WarCraft3... Games where you don't seem to socialise much and don't have a character per se (for the former and latter anyway and Diablo II is well... Diablo II). So it was always best to pick something neutral for names and keep quiet or you'd have a whole bunch of creeps and idiots bothering you before you knew it!
And then people wonder why you don't see many girls at events when the people that do show up are that same community. Yes, gee I wonder why!