Girls/Women and video games
 

When I was a kid in the late 90s/early 2000s, girls were already playing video games, but it was still a highly male dominated hobby. I was in 3rd-4th grade or so when Pokémon first came out and took the world by storm, and LOTS of boys took their Game Boys to school to battle and trade, but I don't remember a single girl taking her Game Boy to school or her GBA in the early 2000 either. And the few who seemed to be into games were the more tomboyish girls.

As for my teenage years, the girls who seemed to game the most were the ones who had male siblings. The ones who didn't either didn't play games at all or just stuck to games like The Sims and Singstar. Those were the "girly games" back when I was a teenager. If you were a guy and openly claimed to own and play The Sims you'd hear jokes like "lol that's a game for women! Might as well be playing with dolls!"

When did girls/women start getting more into video games? And nowadays, even if the gap seems to be smaller than ever, I think the difference is still noticeable. Look at the top players in competitive games and it's like 90% male or so lol

Females tend to play games like Animal Crossing, casual games, Pokemon, or slice of life games.

The concept of the "Grrrrrrl gamer" who plays RPG's, fighting games, or first person shooters is very rare, and some of those female streamers you see online only do it to receive money/donations from people watching them. Females have traditionally never been into videogames, and as you said, most games are in fact male.

Also the female gamers you see online on forums or social media/reddit/youtube, etc are again a rarity and only like the 5% of females in the world who play games.

Post kinda sounds like one of those tricks guys use in games, etc to attempt to make women reveal themselves, huh?

And oh please, esp at you, Cubed, who tends to believe you know all about "the females" or "the blacks," etc when you aren't in any of those shoes and often sound like you would barely even leave home if work would allow you to just stay put and not get out much.


Since there aren't too many of us around here anymore (oh I can't even imagine why), guess it's up to me to be one of the few voices to legitimately respond that won't be just some guy repeating or offering speculation on what women are only believed to be like or not.

Point blank, women don't often tend to make themselves known in those spaces that men have a habit of thinking they own and assuming women aren't present. Let's not ignore the reasons why women are more inclined to stay incognito.

I did mention it recently in conversation and some nitwit immediately goes "do you have a figure like an 8", which I ignored... because please bro, asking stuff like that, there's a good chance I'm old enough to be your mother.


Primarily, I'm a WoW player, and have played since 2010. I've mained a pair of Rogues since the start. No, I don't play healers or casting classes as those are boring to me. I like 'live by the skin of you teeth' quick decision making DPS, I thrive on that. I really can't stand slow casting or slow weapons.

I can't speak for what the retail environment is like for women, since I don't play there, though I've heard plenty of stupid behavior out of men toward them over the years. Friend and I (both in our 40s) joined a new private this year, where I recreated my beloved Rogue pair, and have happily found via guild chat that there appear to be plenty of women there, even those older than us.

I've occasionally scrolled through a women's WoW player FB group, recently seeing a bunch of people mentioning their age, and there are FAR more women 60s+ who play it than I'd have expected. Women are there, but often just enjoying our games without annoying uninvited BS.

And all this "blah blah girls do this to get free stuff" when half the time, if not more, it's probably men playing female characters tricking men into giving them stuff. Free stuff hasn't been my experience. Yes, when we joined the new server we found their AH prices are atrocious and there were and are charitable players who did offer a little gold to obvious newbies trying to get started, but that's as far as it ever went.


Frind and I do have our "cute" more family friendly game we hit now and then when we need a break from WoW, or when it's having a free week. (We also play that one retail, so its costs, so we spread the cost out.) I'm sure Wizard 101 prob doesn't suit much of the audience of this forum and would get snubbed as a "girls" game as it was designed for kids and families originally. Mark my words though, appearances are deceiving and that game can be a bitch. Friend and I again tend to play just us two, so some stuff that's more designed for a team of 4 can be a challenge. I'm actually mad at it and kind of put off on playing it right now because the stupid boss at the end of our current world is proving impossible to get passed. This crap is making WoW look EASY.


Thinking about it... true, I don't remember much in the way of girls owning a Game Boy. That doesn't mean we didn't have an actual game system at home though. Maybe most of us just preferred gaming that way instead of some tiny screen, which was originally not even in color. If it was in color for my age group I might have had more interest, but I preferred a regular tv screen for playing.

I had the original Nintendo and the replacement model of it later. I still own them and all my games, though they're stored away in a closet. Three of the TMNT games among them.

My sister owned the original Sega so we had that, too.

So WHEN did we get into games? I dunno... back when the original NES came on the market? Or maybe it was via the Atari.

I don't really have any interest in game systems today as I prefer computer-based stuff, and saved up for a pricy new PC two years ago, partly with our games in mind.


That's not really a good scale at all to measure whether or not women exist in games.

No, women more often don't tend to care that much about that particular aspect. BUT. There is also the factor that it's also one of those "glass ceiling" situations that are male dominated and women who do have interest are often not finding a environment that's welcome to them. So no s*** women are less inclined to participate.


No male siblings here. Nor cousins we were close to. At best, as kids, a neighbor who a few times wanted me to come check out his new game, then I'd get stuck bored sitting and watch him play, never getting a turn. :trolleye: Good metaphor there somewhere.



Edit: Have one of my most recent screen shots. Haven't quested through Howling Fjord in some years. Beautiful zone. While being geared up as best as I can is one of my top priorities, the immersion is one of the biggest reasons to play. If someone can't be in awe of that kind of world and only wants to "be best," then why even indulge that need on an MMO.

https://i.imgur.com/wlYG6Qs.png

My god, get your head out of the sand.

There are girl gamers who play all kind of games you sexist macho pigs. Of course when I say girl gamers I am including trans girls since they are REAL women, genital preference does not mean they are not women, they are women and play all kinds of games. Trans rights are human rights.

Now if we go by genital preference then yeah, women who are born with a vagina do seem to prefer mobile games, fashion games, pet games etc. Only the more hardcore women with vaginas at birth will venture into other genres like Animal Crossing and Pokemon. And yes women who are born with a vagina that play other games on stream are usually THOTs that have OnlyFans and just do it for the money.

Now trans women who are women and while some mightn ot have the genital preference at birth since they are born with a penis (hut are still women) some do get a vagina later in life if they do a complete transition. But regardless if they do or not they are still women. But with that said, They weren't born with one so in this case trans women (who I must point out again are real women because I know some of you are transphobic in this forum) but trans women do play other genres that women with a vagina at birth don't. but they are real women so yeah to answer your question there are women who play video games.

You coulda' saved yourself some time trying to redirect the conversation, Mr. Trump, and just said you wanna blow Bubba

This kind of stuff was stupid even when sites like "The Nerdy Bird" popped up like 15 years ago acting like "Gamer Girls" was this new and novel thing. Chicks have been playing video games since forever. My wife probably plays them more than me.

Thanks for the clarification, Indigo. :thumbsup:

At the arcade I knew 2 girls that would come occasionally (one with her guy and one alone) that would be good at Street Fighter.

Once I got older and hung out with fellow nerds and geeks, I met several girls that were hardcore 'gaming for hours' types that would tackle the Resident Evils and Zeldas of the world. And they've been gaming since the 8-bit era. And every girl I ever dated was a gamer to some degree. I mean, I simply wouldn't work with someone that either wasn't into gaming or actually hated gaming.

I think back in the day girls just kept gaming on the downlow to avoid getting made fun of or whatever. I know girls in my school days acted like they didn't even know what a NES was and the girls I'd see at arcades did not go to my school, but I can't honestly believe an entire school has zero girl gamers. They probably kept that to themselves.

I think it's been shown over the years that Cubed rarely leaves the house and seems to base all of his 'knowledge' of the outside world on tv shows and whatnot. So if he sees 'the blacks' or 'the females' act a certain way on tv, he automatically assumes everyone must act that way in real life. He doesn't get that a lot of it is overly exaggerated for the sake of entertainment.

Not sure if Cubed is on the spectrum or just trolling. I'd say spectrum because how else can he never break character after a decade or so?

Didn't Cyber slow down a lot on the trolling in the last several years? He seemed to have become more normal since the pandemic days. But I guess he's now back to his old self?

Also didn't he make a post earlier this year complaining about Indians in movies or something? LOL

eh idk. I haven't noticed a change. He does seem obsessed with the passage of time. I think maybe he stopped blurting out his Cybercubed-isms at random and only does so if the topic actually comes up, but he is still very much his 'I saw it on TV so it must true' self.

Like I understand tv shows and movies rely on recycled stereotypes, and stereotypes come from some form of truth, but there are always thousands of exceptions for every stereotype. There are hard-working legal Mexicans, black people that don't talk or act ghetto, not every black woman has a short fuse, not every Asian excels at math, not every (insert race here) eats only (insert whatever food is tied to that race) etc etc etc and pertaining to this topic there are hardcore girl gamers out there. Most even have vaginas.

Well, it's not a problem exclusive to Cubed, I'm afraid. Most people are ignorant to some degree, even without malice. You won't find that many people in life with holistic views on a global scale.

I don't sense malice from Cubed, just ignorance. He's somehow incredibly naive while still thinking he's the smartest guy in the room.

Kinda like a certain dumbass in office that is somehow stupid enough to bankrupt Casinos. That's more flat out stupidity than innocent ignorance though.

I'll never forget that time he made a thread asking whether we considered ourselves intellectuals and he claimed to consider himself one because he craved knowledge... this coming from a guy who has openly admitted many years ago that he doesn't read books. :lol:

I thought you were a lot more perceptive than that. This is disappointing.

Cubed is definitely a gimmick/troll but somehow I doubt it's all an online persona. He reached 100k posts on IGN back in 2006 and also must have had 50k posts or so on Serebii. That's a lot of online posting and dedication to an online persona.

I suspect some of his more annoying behaviour such as repeating himself often and such are genuine behaviours from him. He might very well be on the spectrum. I mean, think about it, how many normal and socially well-adjusted people would spend 24 years of their lives trolling the internet every single day? It's not like he even makes money out of it.

That's what I'm saying. He would have broken character by now. Even that OrokuSaki guy sometimes breaks character.

Primal Rage, Mortal Kombat, and Killer Instinct kept me entertained. Sure I probably sucked at playing them, but some of the OSTs, graphics, and Fatalities were legendary in the 90's.

You mean the guy who LARPs as Shredder? The funny thing is, he's apparently older than me and closer to your age.

I love that guy. How long has he been a member on here for?

Yeah, I remember sometime ago he was talking about setting up something or building a PC or something or other and he was posting as himself, not as Shredder. He seldomly drops the act, Cubed never does.

Oroku Saki is the real Shredder, I've never seen him break character.
CyberSai on the other hand has broken character a couple of times in his decades long career. Granted I know this because our fates have intertwined through different forms, ToonZone, Serebii, IGN, Neogaf, ResetEra, The Technodrome, twitter, reddit, /vp/, /v/ I'm guessing as well though hard to tell there since it's anonymous but his style is too recognizable. Although his powers are beyond mine as he also has quite a legacy in GameFAQs which I never posted in and I'm sure there's tons of other forums I never joined where he is a legend in. His style is to be studied as he has even gotten me to take the bait a couple of times.

I dunno, man. But I'm pretty sure he's been around here for nearly a decade by now.

He is funny and harmless, indeed. But someone who's like 40 years old LARPing as Shredder in a TMNT forum in every single thread... that's something.

I knew Cubed from IGN since 2004 or so. I was 14 at the time and he was 19. I saw him in the TMNT board which wasn't very active since it was dedicated to TMNT games, except for a thread or two where people discussed the latest 2k3 series episode. I remember him being quite popular among other users there.

He was the first user to reach 100k posts on IGN back in 2006. Then created a new account and would occasionally go on The Vestibule to troll iirc. He also had a Samus avatar at some point.

He also was a big user on Serebii and wrote +18 Pokémon fanfics. I remember reading the infamous A Day Inside May around 2006 or so. :lol::lol::lol: And I also vaguely recall him claiming to be a popular guy at university and even a jock at some point :lol::lol::lol:

Someone should draw Fanart of Cubed as his Pfp FW Shredder with May from Pokemon at his side.

Heck, AI could probably do it pretty well.

Jesus, mate, don't give people ideas :lol:

I asked Chatgpt to create a "picture or CyberCubed's profile picture from the technodrome forums alongside May from Pokemon. The result was... interesting to say the least.

I'm posting the link rather than the image because its too large otherwise.

https://imgur.com/a/vA5P0vh

I wonder why it imagined CyberCubed as what it did rather than FW Shredder. Maybe ChatGPT knows something we don't.

Honestly, I don't know any women my age in real life who played video games at any point in their lives. Maybe something like Donkey Konga or Guitar hero at a party here and there but that's it. My wife might have played some Super Mario Kart on SNES in the 90s. Maybe?

None of my ex-girlfriends played video games before hanging out with me. Luckily, I turned them all onto Mario Party. However, my sister is really into games. She likes to play Final Fantasy 14 or 15.

I don't either. The only girls I know who were remotely into video games were basically kids when the Wii was out and they all played Mario Party. And after that we had the occasional "Fortnite Party" of screaming tweens going on, but that's it.

Less about "video games" and more about "culture of the moment" I'd say.

Interesting and not suprising, honestly. Both you guys are some years older than me iirc. I think a lot of people forget that video games were heavily marketed towards boys and men for a long time.

Plus, there's also plenty of guys who complain about their gfs/wives nagging on them for playing video games too often or gfs/wives complaining their man prefers games to them.

Sadly, pointing this historic gender gap in gaming out makes people wag their fingers at you and accusing you of sexism and such. No one is saying women don't play games or anything like that. We're just pointing out that they play less than men do on average and that such a gap used to be wider back in when we were kids/teenagers.

I remember being in 7th grade or so and one of my teachers, a young woman in her late 20s asking us about music and when my turn came I told her I wasn't into bands and that I preferred video game music and she scoffed at me and nearly puked "VIDEO GAME MUSIC?! UGH!" :lol:

As for boys who didn't like video games back then? The only ones I knew who weren't into games at all, to be perfectly blunt, were the more effeminate and gay ones. The kind who only had female friends and such...

You guys should get a Gen Z gf, they now come in the mid 20s range and they're all either gamers or familiar with gaming/online/otaku culture. It's not like millenial hags that are now ugly and the few "real geeks" were seen as unicorns and treated as if they were more attractive than they actually were since they were so scarce. Now they are abundant.

https://www.economicsonline.co.uk/co...Demand-12.webp

I was still in that 'video games are for nerds and losers' era, so most of the guys I knew that were not into games were either more into sports or the 'too busy getting laid' types. Of course whether or not they actually were getting laid or it was all talk was another matter altogether.

There was never such a phase in the schools I've attended. Of course the more popular and social guys also claimed to be only casual gamers by the time they were teenagers, but I never heard something like that from them.

You would only get looked down upon if you spent your whole weekend gaming or on the internet. That meant not going out with your friends or going out clubbing and making out with hot girls and even possibly getting laid.

Ah yeah. My day was pre-internet, the NES era.

I forgot that you're about a decade older than me or close to it.

Anyway, my brother is from 1983 and he didn't go through that either. Although I did have a chat with him over a decade ago where he told me that most people he knew around his age in real life at the time (mid-late 20s) no longer cared much about games. The running theme was that they "outgrew" gaming after the N64/PS1 days or maybe the PS2 days at latest when they became young adults. Their love for games was mostly nostalgia for the Super Nintendo or the Sega Mega Drive due to those systems being part of their childhood, but those were just memories at that point. None of them probably had those systems anymore, let alone boot them up to play Mario, Zelda, Sonic or Golden Axe.

But maybe that's just the crowd/social circle he was hanging out with at the time. After all, gamers from the 80s are very common these days.

However, it is not uncommon at all for people to stop gaming for good after they reach a certain age. It's not even a "lack of time" thing, per se. But more like, people just lose interest in games and would rather have other hobbies instead.

I’m surprised no one in here is using the word “foid”.

I won't rest until other tmnt communities just refer to this place as the Inceldrome.

Remember how CyberCubed doesn't know what a "queef" is?