Women in Games

I struggled a bit with what to write about after my last few posts.  After all, I had said everything I could about women gamers.  Or had I?

 The article above talks about theoretical reasons for women gamers to be mostly social gamers.  In a way, I agree with what was said, as a general rule, women are more social than men.  However, I don’t entirely agree with what the author said because I am not the type that is interested in soap operas.  Granted, I’ll admit, I do read romance novels, but the ones I prefer are the ones with a mystery involved.  A crime to be solved, an adventure to be had, something more intellectual than just girl meets boy, girl loses boy, girl gets boy. 

 The stories I like the best though, are not romances at all.  They’re fantasy novels… the kind with dragons and elves.  Halflings and dwarves.  Or magic.  JK Rowling, Mercedes Lackey, Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman, Terry Brooks, Anne McCaffrey.  If you were to look at my bookshelves, those are the books that you’d find.  Well, then I have some that lean more toward science fiction.  Especially some of Anne McCaffrey’s, she does both fantasy combined with science fiction. 

 Back to my topic though, one thing I’ve found is that a lot of times, women who are online tend to be rather defensive about being women.  I asked one person that I MUD with whether she was actually female, and she said that I could ask a couple of other people who would verify that she was.  Odd, I prefer to take peoples word for it.  Especially when there’s nothing extra they’d get out of lying to me.  I mean I fully admit I’m female.  A guy playing a female character isn’t going to get more help from me than a guy playing a male character.  I just never saw the point.  I mean the other people live who knows how far.  Plus, I’m married.  I help when I feel I can help.  If I don’t have extra, I just don’t help.  Oh yea, unless you become my friend.  Then you’ll get as much help as I can give, all you have to do is ask.

Oh yea, and as for the misconception that female gamers don’t know as much about gaming as male gamers.  Try logging onto any game I play and you’ll find that misconception crushed.  I may not have the hand-eye coordination for a first person shooter, but I certainly can play Dungeon Siege, Diablo III, or even MUD as well as, if not better than a good many male gamers.

I don’t need to post a pic proving that I’m a female on the internet.  I am NOT a gamer’s girlfriend or sister.  I am a gamer, and I am proud of it.