Gaming’s self-fulfilling prophecy

Every year, like clockwork, the media can be counted on to do one thing: trot out another “revelatory” story on girls who play videogames. Needless to say, News.com.au did not disappoint.

Girls who play games. It’s always reported as though it’s fresh news, and it’s always portrayed as though there’s a desperate need for the XX chromosomes to stand up and be heard.

But is there? This quote from the article stood out to me:

Ms Jenkins, who now works for Xbox Australia, said she was keen to have more women making great games that anyone can play.

She also looks forward to when gender becomes a “non-issue”.

“Then you’re not a girl gamer, you’re just a gamer, and I can hardly wait for that.”

Jenkins wants to be known simply as a gamer, not given the label of “girl gamer”. And what is the headline of the article?

Top effort.

Do articles like this really serve to assist “the cause”, or do they get in the way? From what I can see, as long as people make a big deal of girls playing videogames — because,  really, is it that much of a big deal? — they’ll always be seen as the outsider.

I e-mailed the article to my girlfriend Amanda, herself no stranger to gaming. Her response:

That’s bizarre, I had no idea there were actually gender issues in gaming and that girls were actually getting bullied by guys for being a minority. I’m not sure what Jenkins meant by women making games anyone can play though, can’t anyone already play all kinds of games? I mean, if a guy is going to stop me playing Gears of War just so he can live out his malehood fantasies in which women don’t go to war, I’d give him a swift kick in the nuts. It’s a fucking game.

I think an article like that, and forming little girl-gamer groups, is probably driving a bigger wedge between the genders, actually. They’re segregating and making a point of showing they’re a different group from the other bloke gamers, whereas if they’d just left it alone maybe the chauvinism would have just gone away by itself as gaming becomes more trendy for chicks (it kinda is going that way I think).

Your thoughts, babe? And have you actually seen sexism going on?

My response:

I guess much of it stems from the notion that gaming is a boys hobby. True, the large portion of games featuring blood, guts, and female characters with big boobs and legs up to here do little to dismiss that idea, but to me gaming has never been an exclusively male activity. If you can pick up a controller and play a game, then it shouldn’t matter what gender you are.

I’ve not seen sexism occurring first-hand, but I imagine it does happen. Teens on Xbox LIVE would no doubt (perhaps jokingly) try the “A/S/L?” line on a female gamer over voice chat, but if it extends to a male kicking a female out of a game because she can’t play “because she’s a girl”, then that’s another matter entirely. It’s juvenile at best, and discriminatory at worst.

The thing that irks me about this article, though, is that it doesn’t bring anything new to the table. It’s the same “girls play games” angle that people used last year, and the year before, and the year before that. Even those instances weren’t anything revelatory. And I agree with you: I think these articles do continue to drive a wedge between the genders, rather than bring them together. These articles constantly put a spotlight on females for no other reason apart from the fact that they’re females. And to restate a tired point, why should it matter what gender you are? Gamers are gamers.

As long as females are singled out by the media simply because they play games, the gender divide will persist. That’s what I think, anyway.

Girls who play games. Seriously, what’s the fuss?