Girls/Women and video games

[Prowler]

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

[CyberCubed]

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.

[IndigoErth]

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.

Originally Posted by Prowler

Look at the top players in competitive games and it's like 90% male or so lol

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. 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.

[Roseangelo]

My god, get your head out of the sand.

[sdp]

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.

[IndigoErth]

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

[Andrew NDB]

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.

[Prowler]

Thanks for the clarification, Indigo.

[Coola Yagami]

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.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by IndigoErth

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.

Originally Posted by Roseangelo

My god, get your head out of the sand.

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?

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

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

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by Prowler

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.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

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.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by Prowler

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.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

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.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

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.

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

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

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.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by Prowler

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.

[DarkFell]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

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

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.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

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

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