Woman gamers?

It got to the point here where the two teen daughters went out and got jobs and built their own computers so they wouldn't have to share with me, which was great cuz then they already had their own set ups and only had to upgrade by the time they moved out into their own apartments. Some families have a t.v in every room. We have a computer in every room.

another fem fatale here...have been gaming for a while now and spend most of my waking hours on the pc checking out any new games i can get!!!

sweet......there were almost no prettys to play with when i started up....sure glad you are all here now.

I'm another female player.

I started back in the late 80ies (I think), on my NES, translating the english riddle texts of the first Zelda game into german with a little dictionnary beside me. Before that I did those little Game&Watch LCD games.

Btw, I dont like first person shooters, but I know / heard of loads of female players who prefer first person shooters over almost anything else.

I wanna see people freak out when I start using TS.

I was quite suprised by the number of fems on GW altough Ive found some are merely transvestites hoping to get cheap items for being "cute", my advice is, if you meet any females in Ascalon, check they dont have penis.

The only person I really talk to regularly on GW is a fem, I think shes in her 30-40 because she wont reveal her age.

Another female gamer here.
I will freely admit that I'm a huge nerd though. I've been playing games and writing software since the 1st grade. I write software for a living now so most of my friends and co-workers are also huge nerds (male and female). And, of course, we are all avid gamers.

I think it's funny how being computer savvy is considered "cool" now, but back when I was in High School it definitely wasn't. I used to hide the fact that I loved working on my computer at home so my friends wouldn't think I was a dork.

Anyways, I play a ton of online games. I'm currently active on EQ2, CoH, WoW and GW. But one of my personal rules is that I never talk about my real life identity in game. I always roleplay the characters that I play. I think its safer that way and I avoid getting involved with weirdos.

Very true, and it's the main reason why you won't see me on voice programs like Teamspeak. I can kinda live with the men that toss those.. unnecessary comments .. at me, but when they do it verbally, I'll pass.

But anyway, I've been playing online since.. Tribes 1 / Starcraft. At least, those were my first two online games and I primarily played the Starcraft RPG's in the custom mission section and vs. the computer with friends, rather than playing PvP. Same with Warcraft 3. But Tribes 1 was good fun, and the characters, animations and audio were hilarious

I've worked in a computer store for a year and a half, so I picked up quite a bit of knowledge on computers, hardware and other cool ee-leek-tronik gadgets.

Well I have to stay it's exciting to see female gamers. I myself, being a male, love the fact there are so many female gamers playing. I've always tried getting my wife, even before being married, to play games and try them out. But she persistantly keeps away from them and does not want to play. I think it would be awesome to have 2 PC's and playing the same game together. Instead she either watches tv, reads a book, takes a nap, or goes to bed when I play. I love my wife, but gosh darnit where were you girls before I got married. *sigh It's good to have you all and I look forward to playing with you.

I'm female also.

I love playing almost any kind of games. First gaming experiences came from
some 70's console (Philips or something), but I really started playing when I got
the good old Nintendo back in early 90's. <3

Now being totally addicted to GW... have played approximately 5-7 hours daily.
Mostly playing with henchies since it's usually too difficult to find like-minded
gamers. Or it's just me being too lazy to search them...

(edit)
Phantom: I've got the exactly same problem as you do, except that it's my
boyfriend who isn't willing to play. He used to play before we met but now he
has ignored the whole thing. I wonder what went wrong...

I wonder how many out of that figure play 'The Sims' and nothing else... and how many are, as someone else said, mothers or sisters buying games for young 'uns. :/

I guess it's time for me to chime in as well. I play GW (and sometimes WoW or even Lineag 2) as my duties as wife and mom allow, which isn't all that much, and I'm sure some of you know what I mean!

Really, at the end of the day whether you're a true female in RL or a person playing a female character this should not even matter. This is a roleplaying game. Roleplaying can be much more than playing a druid. Either way it will be nice when women are treated a bit less like we are all walking prostitutes in the game

Women that play games are purddy!

I hate the Sims and have purchased games for no one but myself since UO, with the exception of Wormz:Armageddon because I went 1/3 against my boss and the loser had to buy the box.

I believe you'll find that a larger number of women are learning how to pick up toys again, something that an entire generation was taught is the domain of boys and that "grown" women should eschew. Lack of skill does not always indicate lack of talent. It could just as easily be lack of practice. And the player who is only marginally twitch could be a superb strategist; you never know until she gets some game time under her belt. Point being, the stereotypes that abound have often produced people who were not encouraged to develop quick reflexes, martial thinking, or a desire to do away with other people's digital representations.

Fortunately, many of us have shed these inhibitions.

And be careful for what you wish when you say you want more women around... many of us are raising our daughters to kick your derrieres.

The study mentioned in the Microsoft article was released by Entertainment Software Association and the facts are at: http://www.theesa.com/archives/2004/...player_dat.php

If you head to other facts and research, you'll see that the study is referencing computer/video games as a whole, and not just MMOs. According to the study, the best selling or most popular game was Sims Superstar. I didn't see a single MMO listed on the popular computer games. So I'm not sure how applicable it is to this game or other MMOs.

I have played WoW, EQ, FFXI and L2 as well. I'd say that on average my guilds in WoW and EQ were about 40% women (usually one half of a couple in the guild). Given the overall lack of community in GW, I suspect many women may be turned off by the game. I love sites like this that try to help the community grow...but I've noticed that the "community" in GW is on average of much lower quality than EQ and WoW. And for most my women friends, the community aspect of the game is what hooked us.

Anyway, I'm a girl gamer and have been for about 6 years. I've met some great friends online and have had very few experiences of random guys hitting on me b/c I'm a girl gamer. I think mostly that's a stereotype and not reality. Or maybe I'm just lucky =)

I wonder.... how many of the ppl here who say they are girl gamers are actually men? :O

ZOMG!

Hey baby...come here often?

I for one am going to start playing a male character and pretending to be a man hitting on female gamers. Give those cross dressing males a taste! muwahahah Ok so I'm at work and bored. I have nothing to reall offer this thread so i came up with that....

To address some of the statements made in this thread regarding the subject of women in gaming:

I'm female. All but one of my female friends play online games, and I have over thirty of them in different states. Why don't people notice? Because there's not much difference between a woman running around with some spells and a sword, killing mobs, and a man running around doing the same thing. What do folks expect? That you'll spot a woman because she got online to discuss her dating life while grouping? That they'd put on pretty clothes and dance in the central square? Come on, folks.

Another reason it may not be noticeable- Many women, or at least I, don't really care what gender the other person is playing. It's not really even worthwhile to bring it up in casual conversation... but does it threaten me that a man is playing a female toon? Why not? Chicks are hot, can't blame him. Actually, I think it's rather daring for them to play with gender roles a bit - it is a game, so why not? I've had a few men tell me that they envy women their ability to put on nice clothes and makeup to impress other folks, and they were as straight as anyone.

Why don't I advertise that I'm female in PVP? Well, first, what does it have to do with PVP?

Second, I suspect that if I started using teamspeak, I'd have to work a bit harder to get a segment of the male population to take me seriously using my high female voice. As it is, I easilly lead groups and win in the Arenas. Why work harder? I could lower my voice tone like many of us women in the Army do so that it rings with more 'low manly authority', but why bother when I can type? Oh, and I have to slow down leveling on at least one char for my boyfriend on most of the games so we can play together. I've outfitted him twice in this one.

I'm kind of interested what the ratio actually is, but I think that some of the gentlemen here are hugely underestimating how many women play... probably because they only notice gender when a man is trying to get something from them by playing a female toon.

Based on folks I know, I'd agree with Microsoft - 60/40 m/f, at the least, 70/30.

Oh, and last thought: What aspect of online gaming do some of you gentlemen think couldn't possibly be attractive to females?
Divinitys Creature: Why is a woman playing such a foreign concept? What's so weird about the idea that women might enjoy games?

Hope this starts more discussion. =)

i once saw some woman who ran a company related to gaming ( can't remember if her company made games, or was a mag or what) where she actually said that she was wanting there to be more games made for women. she then proceeded to talk about how women want to play crap like Barbie games and shopping games and such. WTF? i guess i'm not really a woman then, because i'd rather chew off my own arm than play something like that, or *shudder* Sims.

Another gaming female here.

FYI I didn't say anything like that! I dunno if you confused me with someone there.

To clarify, I was amused my Jana's post about the internet - the men are men, the women are men and anyone under 18 is a federal agent LMAO. So I was just trying to bring in a little humor along those lines. You might wonder - if people are playing opposite genders in game maybe they do on the forum too.

Oh, lol, sorry Divinitys Creature. I misunderstood. Connecting it with the joke makes a lot more sense. Interesting indeed... =)

I haven't read the entire thread yet, but I felt a need to put my two cents in...

I don't think I've ever, in the real world anyway, met a woman who plays games on a regular basis and actually enjoys 'em of complete free will! I remember for a little while though my sister was playing the original UT & CS, funny... she thinks games are stypids now.

Anyway, for me, witnessing that with my eyes these days would be surreal. I would indeed love to witness it thou ;-)

Another female gamer! It's true tho, a lot of girls don't like games, i don't really get why not.. i'm not sure what all the other girls do instead of me whilst i sit and play gw and WoW for hours on end.. I have got a few female friends who play games tho, then again, I'm on a computer animation degree, so i guess it's where you find those kind of people
Anyway, I've been playing games since the age of 5 and i don't intend to stop My whole family plays actually, great at christmas cos we have fantastic UT Lan matches

My wife started playing GW after watching me play it. =D

Wow, I'm rather late to the thread.

I'm another girl hopping onto the train mostly because I wanted to fling my $0.02 in on the topic of voice communication programs. I've never really actually been bothered by the fact that people can instantly tell I'm a girl on TS or vent, but it also has to do with the fact that I'm fairly careful about which servers I go to.

That said, voice communication is one of the things that make this game last for me. I've never ever encountered any comments about my playing ability in relation to my gender, and I don't ever expect to, as I don't hop on random channels. My guild certainly jokes about everything under the sun, and everything beyond it, also, but judging me and my abilities based on the fact that I'm female is one of the things I will never expect to see.

So.. what I basically wanted to say is something along the lines of "don't be too scared of vent and/or TS." This isn't aimed at anyone in particular (and not specifically to you two ladies who mentioned it ). With the right group of friends, vent/TS becomes not only an invaluable and crucial method of communication in PvP, but also a tremendous convenience that definitely grows on you. I actually remember multiple times when I was having more fun in vent than in game because I was laughing so much at people's antics..

And after all, no words can ever truly describe Narcism's singing. ^^

<3 Narc.

I remember i used to see a few girl in school computer labs play UT and Quake 3 on LAN... and man.. i am telling u .. they can railgun u 6 football field away with quad damage!
so.. go figure

Female gamer here, too. Started before Meridian 59, both door games (BBS) and MUD/MUSH/MOO, and pretty much everything that has hit the shelf in the MMO genre excepting WoW (which I refused for being cookie cutter instead of truly advancing the genre).

Beta's out the ears, PvE, PvP, whatever.

Most female gamers I know don't really have the need to announce themselves. They aren't about the politics of 'women in gaming', they're just into gaming.

YMMV.

My niece plays a lot. Me and my friends started her off now she's a master gamer. She wants to work in the gaming industry when she graduates college.

I started playing Adventure on the DEC main frames in my then boy friend's graduate research lab, and I have loved to play computer games since.

Guild Wars is my fourth online game, and the first in the genre that I have enjoyed. So much so, the whole family plays. My youngest who is also female, is too young really for joining us on missions, but I can put her on her own map in presearing and let her run around with her ranger's pet all she wants. Some day she'll out game all of us as she is a whiz kid on PSII.

Right now I have all female characters but I have played my share of male characters. Would be nice if the makers of Need For Speed would remember there ARE girl race nuts too ;-)

Playing games since my father bought the first Atari machine back in...uh...well, the mid-late 70's or thereabouts. Breakout 4ever! heh And I always loved board games like RISK when I was a kid.

My complete obsession with computer games didn't really happen until the mid-90's, when hubby's co-workers gave my hubby DOOM to bring home....and the rest, as they say, is history.
Even tho DOOM started me off in PC-gaming, I quickly got bored of FPS style games and prefer RPG's, fantasy-themed strategy, and combos of strategy/city building ala CaesarIII/Stronghold/DungeonKeeper/RollerCoasterTycoon.

And for the record, I do not like the Sims.

Well... the kind of male gamers who meet real female gamers "in the real world" are typically the kind who read the entire thread before making a response.

Okay, cheap shot, sorry. Let me rephrase that.

In WoW I led a guild of 80ish members. Roughly ten percent at any given time were women. I know they were women because we required Ventrilo. And this was on Archimonde (PvP server) in a fairly hardcore PvP-based guild... and every one of them PvP'd. Some better than others, but they all had the enthusiasm.

Incidentally, for the statistics-minded, half were college students who were not dating guys playing WoW, the other half were in relationships where their SO also played. A quarter of those met their current SOs after they had already been into gaming for a while (and one of them had to convince her boyfriend to try it).

Just in case the players piping up in this thread weren't enough proof for ya.

I love the Sims. I take them swimming and remove the ladder. I remove the door to the urn room so no-one can mourn their passed souls. I start love triangles and make them get into slappy wars. I make them live in black rooms with no entertainment and watch their happiness drain away.

What a great game!

I prefer D&D games and MMORPGs. I used to play turn-based strategy games, and frankly I like PvP but it's not the biggest draw of online games for me. I like the community and helping people. I hate the self-righteous, arrogant, annoying and ignorant a-holes that ruin the game for other people. They go right to my ignore, and I remember them and KEEP them on my ignore.

Oh, and my boyfriend has played video games with me for four years. We have different playstyles, but in the end we're a good team.

They just do not want us gamer guys all over them.

Ooooh... I never knew...
/worship

Computer animation eh?

May I ask what school do you go to?

Pithy...

Witty...

Funny...

I like it.

-Witt78

I'm male, but I think it would be interesting to see an all female guild pop up (based on RL not chars---but maybe both). I am not implying anything about how this guild would play, either better or worse. It would just be something I have never seen happen before and interesting just for that.

I have noticed more and more real female players in games. Even my GF is going to give it a try. A female friend of mine who has been playing muds for ages is also likely to give it a shot.

Now, with that said, I *DO* think that there are some statistical differences between the games that women like to play and the games men like to play just as there are statistical differences in the movies men like to watch and the movies women like to watch, the home furnishings that men prefer over those that women prefer, etc. But this shouldn't be confused with a statement such as "all women like X" or "Most women like X". People often think these differences are much larger than they really are.

What these statistical differences are as far as gaming is concerned, I would hate to guess. But take any two groups that differ phsyically, regionally, or culturally in some way and you will usually find statistically differences between them.

I have noticed that more and more women enjoy watching and playing sports as well. Though I don't think that this is a good thing for men or women, since there is somethign psychotic about caring so much for a team of people you don't even know that ones week is ruined if they lose a game, or that badmouthing the wrong team can cause a fistfight, or that riots break out over victories. But lot of women are into sports now and that shows that there aren't so many sharp divisions between what men enjoy doing and what women enjoy doing.


Poppin