arstechnica.com— Exactly who is playing video games these days? The ESA has released its 2008 Essential Facts pamphlet, and female gamers now outnumber teenage boys.
Jul 21, 2008View in Crawl 4
How about we ask those people what they define as 'gamer'? I define 'gamer' as someone that plays a lot of different games on a regular basis...games such as Halo 3, Call of Duty, DW: GUNDAM, Tomb Raider, Lost Planet, TF2, Half-Life2,UT3, Burnout 3-Burnout Paradise. Any female that thinks they can be classified as one that does nothing more than play UNO or any of those pathetic arcade games is not a gamer and never will be a gamer in my eyes.
Rather than participating in the petting "Do they? Don't they? Are they hot? Are they people?" argument, I thought perhaps I'd give an example of what kinds of games girls play.Personally, I don't consider myself a "gamer". I never really cared if I was "a gamer" because games are just something I do for fun. I think at least 2/3 of my girlfriends play some kind of game at least once a week, whether it's a PC game, PS2, XBOX, XBOX 360, a Wii, or even an older system. Now that I think about it, I do not know any girls that own a PS3, but I only know one person who owns one in the first place. I started playing games when I was a kid, and the NES was out. So yes, I grew up on Mario, Zelda, and Metroid. Then I played DOS games on a PC, the one I remember playing the most was Castle Wolfenstein. Then I got an SNES... and when I was 11 I saved up my allowance and some birthday money to buy an N64. In fact, a few of my friends (mostly girls around that age) had N64's too and we actually traded games. I went through a period of time where I didn't really play games until I was about 16 or 17 and played the PS2 bit, but I didn't have my own console again until I was 18 and got a PS2. Also, I started playing PC games on the laptop I got when I started going to college (Oh yes, when I should have been writing papers. But who wants to write a paper?) Then at age 19 my boyfriend and I went in on a Wii because Nintendo was actually doing something different as far as gameplay rather than just improving the graphics or making games "more realistic". The only thing disappointing as far as I'm concerned was the lack of good 3rd party games in the beginning. The Wii is what it is. It has its advantages and disadvantages just like any other console.I personally like all kinds of games. I still love older games, like NES or SNES, and I still have my N64, which I still use to play Mario 64 and Golden Eye. I like RPG's and Action RPG's because I like a game with a mental challenge. It seems to me they are pretty popular with "girl gamers". I do like an FPS occasionally, as well as platformers, and I've dabbled in online games. I played World of Warcraft until I realized I was paying 17 bucks a month to grind and felt stupid. The one kind of game that turns me off is online FPS's like Counterstrike and Team Fortress 2. I like TF2 and Counterstrike as games, but the online environment makes them no fun. AND you can't just turn off the sound, because then there's no "Team" in "Team Fortress". I haven't played these two games since I got too frustrated. I don't know if other girls feel that way or not, but that's why I quit playing them.Girls I know play everything from Twilight Princess to Grand Theft Auto IV. In fact, I loved San Andreas and Vice City and know plenty of girls who agree with me there.I doubt anyone has read this far, and I'm sure nobody cares what I specifically play, but the point is that our generation grew up with games. Most of those little girls with N64's I traded games with still play games in some form. Most of my female friends have some kind of console, and I don't mean a computer they use to play solitaire, and no they don't all have Wii's. In fact, two of my girl friends that have Wii's have multiple consoles. Does it make them any less woman? No way.
Er, right. I didn't realize that I was playing World of Warcraft - the Bejeweled edition. I think most people just aren't used to recognizing how many girls play mmorpgs because we're all dressed up as men. Would you tell anyone you were a girl if every time you grouped w/a teenage boy you had to read through mispelled comments along the lines of "tittEES = cool!"
Awe, thanks honey! I love you too! I am glad I found someone who lets me be me. *MUAH* Don't forget to install Diablo 2 back on my laptop tonight, k? :D
odguardianJul 22, 2008
How about we ask those people what they define as 'gamer'? I define 'gamer' as someone that plays a lot of different games on a regular basis...games such as Halo 3, Call of Duty, DW: GUNDAM, Tomb Raider, Lost Planet, TF2, Half-Life2,UT3, Burnout 3-Burnout Paradise. Any female that thinks they can be classified as one that does nothing more than play UNO or any of those pathetic arcade games is not a gamer and never will be a gamer in my eyes.
cloud7654Jul 22, 2008
Buried for inaccuracy. Those sound effects were nothing like the ones in the Zelda games.
ludnaeJul 22, 2008
Rather than participating in the petting "Do they? Don't they? Are they hot? Are they people?" argument, I thought perhaps I'd give an example of what kinds of games girls play.Personally, I don't consider myself a "gamer". I never really cared if I was "a gamer" because games are just something I do for fun. I think at least 2/3 of my girlfriends play some kind of game at least once a week, whether it's a PC game, PS2, XBOX, XBOX 360, a Wii, or even an older system. Now that I think about it, I do not know any girls that own a PS3, but I only know one person who owns one in the first place. I started playing games when I was a kid, and the NES was out. So yes, I grew up on Mario, Zelda, and Metroid. Then I played DOS games on a PC, the one I remember playing the most was Castle Wolfenstein. Then I got an SNES... and when I was 11 I saved up my allowance and some birthday money to buy an N64. In fact, a few of my friends (mostly girls around that age) had N64's too and we actually traded games. I went through a period of time where I didn't really play games until I was about 16 or 17 and played the PS2 bit, but I didn't have my own console again until I was 18 and got a PS2. Also, I started playing PC games on the laptop I got when I started going to college (Oh yes, when I should have been writing papers. But who wants to write a paper?) Then at age 19 my boyfriend and I went in on a Wii because Nintendo was actually doing something different as far as gameplay rather than just improving the graphics or making games "more realistic". The only thing disappointing as far as I'm concerned was the lack of good 3rd party games in the beginning. The Wii is what it is. It has its advantages and disadvantages just like any other console.I personally like all kinds of games. I still love older games, like NES or SNES, and I still have my N64, which I still use to play Mario 64 and Golden Eye. I like RPG's and Action RPG's because I like a game with a mental challenge. It seems to me they are pretty popular with "girl gamers". I do like an FPS occasionally, as well as platformers, and I've dabbled in online games. I played World of Warcraft until I realized I was paying 17 bucks a month to grind and felt stupid. The one kind of game that turns me off is online FPS's like Counterstrike and Team Fortress 2. I like TF2 and Counterstrike as games, but the online environment makes them no fun. AND you can't just turn off the sound, because then there's no "Team" in "Team Fortress". I haven't played these two games since I got too frustrated. I don't know if other girls feel that way or not, but that's why I quit playing them.Girls I know play everything from Twilight Princess to Grand Theft Auto IV. In fact, I loved San Andreas and Vice City and know plenty of girls who agree with me there.I doubt anyone has read this far, and I'm sure nobody cares what I specifically play, but the point is that our generation grew up with games. Most of those little girls with N64's I traded games with still play games in some form. Most of my female friends have some kind of console, and I don't mean a computer they use to play solitaire, and no they don't all have Wii's. In fact, two of my girl friends that have Wii's have multiple consoles. Does it make them any less woman? No way.
picklesncheeseJul 22, 2008
Er, right. I didn't realize that I was playing World of Warcraft - the Bejeweled edition. I think most people just aren't used to recognizing how many girls play mmorpgs because we're all dressed up as men. Would you tell anyone you were a girl if every time you grouped w/a teenage boy you had to read through mispelled comments along the lines of "tittEES = cool!"
babywookieJul 22, 2008
I wish that there were more bitches playing real games (no faggy s**t like WoW) online. I always very much enjoy putting them in their place.
paradisepythonJul 23, 2008
Awe, thanks honey! I love you too! I am glad I found someone who lets me be me. *MUAH* Don't forget to install Diablo 2 back on my laptop tonight, k? :D
jsnllndJul 28, 2008
lol@ men vs. woman wars and video games, srsly wtfd00d?ahhh the epic threads of our digg lives. hahaha