Girls + Gaming != Null

(If you don’t get it, the title reads “Girls plus Gaming does not equal Null.” I like to use mathematical/programming statements sometimes, because they’re usually so concise.)
I’ve always known that land of video games is stereotypically designated for guys-though I and many other girls can talk the talk and (oftentimes) beat them down, guys naturally just look askance at us should we wish to chip in on a gaming conversation. I have experienced this many times- so often, in fact, in my senior year physics class, where I’m the only girl, that they have given up on my gender identity and assume I am a guy to feel more at ease. But I have another, more recent example, from this past Saturday, at a college mixer:

—awkward conversation between people who don’t know each other—
Guy 1 to Guy 2 and 3: Hey, are you guys bringing any game systems with you?
Guy 3: YEAH- me and my roommates have already delegated them out. Ahaha. I couldn’t live without my Xbox.
Girl 1: -uninterested- I can’t play video games.
Me: Oh, I’m bring a PS2.
Guy 2: …
Guy 3 to Guy 1 and 2: So which games are you bringing?
—etc—

Yes, I got the stare. The stare that means, “Are you from another planet? Women belong in the kitchen!” (Okay, I’m exaggerating, but you get the idea.) While in many other areas of the world, the gender line is slowly becoming erased, with video games it’s still fairly prominent. If girls say they play video games, guys assume it’s something like Tetris. Maybe if they’re a bit more open-minded, they think it’s something like Final Fantasy- which is true for many people, me included. And Final Fantasy’s a good game, a renowned RPG series, but now many guys label it as an “easier” game or, as my male friend put it in a recent (as in this morning) message, a “weird asian game,” that is somehow not on par with more “manly” games, as in shooters and Real Time Strategy (RTS), simply because of its popularity with none other than the female population. But what’s wrong with being an RPG fan? Many guys are RPG fans. Oh, but, as they shall protest, they are OLD-SCHOOL RPG fans. They don’t just play the recent, mainstream, pretty stuff like FFX. No, no, they’ve been around since SNES RPGs, like Chrono Trigger and Earthbound; it’s not the same thing at all. …As if girls haven’t touched an SNES console. That was the first system I touched- Street Fighter II, if I recall, when I was 5.
And it’s not like girls only like RPGs. My favorite game is actually Soul Calibur II, a fighter. I know girls who are good at shooters, even those that prefer them. I have been told by my boyfriend that a lot of girls are good Starcraft players (thank God he’s open-minded about this), though I admittedly have not explored RTSes very throroughly. Girls can and DO play video games too, alright? I’m so fed up with the chauvinistic attitude in that area…well, I’m fed up with chauvinistic attitudes in any area, but this one more so.
There’s only one perk: when you beat guys in a game, as I have many a male at SCII, you can feel content knowing that they are crying on the inside from being beaten by a girl.

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Published:
08.14.07 / 4pm
Category:
Gaming