The "Fake Gamer Girl" idea needs to die now, please

GamerMonkey said:
Warning: rant ahead.

If I see one more person complaining about "Fake Gamer Girls" who are only pretending to like games to try and win themselves a gaming boyfriend, I am probably going to start lobbing bricks.

Seriously? SERIOUSLY?!

Anybody who thinks most girls are pretending to like games to impress the boys needs to grow up. Yeah, I'm pretty sure there are some out there, just like there are girls who walk around in high heals and short skirts because they think they have to in order to win men's hearts. Most of us just really like games.

Apparently I'm a fake gamer girl because I've never played Call of Duty. Yeah, well, I didn't like Tom Clancy's Rainbow 6 on N64, or Goldeneye, so I'm fairly certain CoD has nothing to offer me.

Oh, and because I'm fairly useless at many games, that makes me a fake as well. Never mind that I found all 96 exists on Super Mario World and my best Tetris score on the original Gameboy version is 177, I have to crank the difficulty down every time I hit the planes of Oblivion so that makes me a fake.

I get it. All the scary girls with their girl cooties are coming for your games and it's like, totally unfair. I mean, look at these girls who earn money streaming live because they have bewbs when teh menz (who are actually really good at the games) don't get any people watching them.

Grow up. The future's coming people and it's doing so because the vast majority of people who play games aren't guys like you.


*runs off into the sunset lobbing bricks*
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Sounds tough! I've never experienced any issues like that first hand but that's probably because I'm not into MMORPG type of games. But I have seen quite a few sexist youtube videos made by those immature complainers about "fake gamer girls". Those videos are irritating, but I try not to take them personally. It's not my issue if they're a bunch of whiny babies after all. I hope you follow Morvack's advice and find a good online gaming community that doesn't really care about gender.
 
There is no difference between being a fake gamer girl, and feigning interest in any other thing that is perceived as an interest for the opposite sex. You see it as a problem because it affects you now that gaming is becoming more popular and the whole "geek-chic" phenomenon has swept the nation. My advice is (lovingly) to get over it. It will pass. It can be annoying, but you can't do anything to change people. All you can do is ignore it, enjoy your games, and find a group of people who have the same interests regardless of gender.
 
I agree with Morvack. From the comments I read it's not that boys don't like girls playing their games but it's more just the fact that they hate girls who just do it for attention, and not necessarily to date boys who like video games. Desperate attention grabbing like this is unsightly for anyone, regardless of what community they are trying to pander to and no matter their gender for that matter.
 
My whole take on it is this:

I'm a gamer and I'm a girl, I just hate people that do things for attention/view/ratings. If you're going to play a game, fine, but don't do it when all you show are the tat-tats. (There was actually someone that has videos on youtube where she plays a phone/handheld game and the camera is focused on her tits and the too-bright-to-see screen. It's obvious what she's trying to do, especially with the lude comments and flirts she makes. This personally bugs me because it fuels to the trolls and idiots that ALL women do this, if they're a "true gamer girl.")

As for the person that says that a person is a fake gamer, if they're feminist, let me set this straight right now:

Just because some people - no matter the group- are the vast majority of something doesn't make it true. I'm a girl and I can see the point some people make about some aspects of video games. They want representation, I get that. What I don't accept are the methods some people go to by spreading lies and then extremes that has nothing to do with a game or company.

No matter your stance on something, I rather you do things ethically. If what I see what you're doing is wrong, I'm going to call you out on your mess; I only hope that someone will do the same courtesy for me. If you really want to debate why some people are upset with something, please, by all means do. I'm willing to listen, but DON'T for the life of you, say that:

"All I am saying is that the so called "gamer girls" will not play video games cause they agree with the feminists. At least I think they do."

Because there will be people that think some things are injustice and want realistic stance on something.

(My example: Tera. The community is great, for most people, but then you have idiots on Global - which isn't surprising for ANY game - that makes idiotic and misogynistic comments. As well as the game itself having women parade around in lingerie for battle armor. Do I complain? Yes. Do I stop playing because of that? No. I send in suggestions and ideas on how to improve upon the game like:

"Hey, why not have optional armors and such for ALL genders? Skimpy thongs for the guys and fully clothed/metal armor for the girls!"

That way, everyone is happy. There's no: "Take out all this crap because it's degrading! EW!" Who does that help? If you satisfy one group and alienate another, you'll lose every time.)

P.S. A true feminist is someone wants equality. NOT someone that bashes another person and wants to be treated like they're the only ones that matter. People are people. If one person feels like some comments/actions shouldn't fly, that comment/actions shouldn't fly for everyone or vice versa. (I.e. A girl can hit a guy, but yet it's frowned upon for a guy to hit a girl. No, either don't lay your hands on one another or do so without problems.)
 
Men's views of "fake gamer girl" and women's views of "fake gamer girl" are so wildly different it's almost funny.

Men: Girl who plays games to either get male attention or just attention in general, might be flirty or overtly sexual, and/or was seemingly flirting with men but turn them down when they show interest
Women: Probably been called this because they couldn't answer the most inconsequential trivia question about a game they've professed to like, is always second-guessed when they say they like games that don't fall on gamer-chic mentality ("What do you mean you like FPS more RPGs?"), or they were wearing a sexy outfit for cosplay because they liked that character but wouldn't flirt with people who thought the sexy outfit was to flirt with them

The difference of course is that there are male gamers who also play games for the attention or to get themselves girl friends but they're never labelled as "fake gamer boys" and there are male cosplayers who dress sexy without needing to prove they know the game they're cosplaying inside out, right down to the most useless trivia.

It would be nice if the experiences of these women with the bad side of the gaming world wasn't reduced to, "You're over-reacting," and "Just enjoy your game and forget everything else," as if these experiences don't taint their enjoyment at all, not when it's so prevalent and experienced by a wide variety of women and can lead to abuse besides.
 
@petrushka - *Claps* Thank you for pointing that out, petrushka.

It kills me that only a certain few guys just view this, where others think that the women are THERE FOR THEM! Cosplayers don't go to these conventions to get hassled, so stop it. I find it gross that it's the woman's responsibility to not get those response by wearing something else.

So, tell me, if your favorite developer decided to change the outfit of a sexy looking character, would you call foul? Would you say that it's not her "official" outfit because she's dressed differently? There are going to be a select few that wouldn't mind and the majority that would because it's not "the original". So, to trash talk a person that's trying to be accurate to the character is just distressing.
 
I think the majority of the male gaming community welcomes girls and treats them as equals. I feel like most of these opinions are made by 12-14 year olds that want to seem edgy and rebellious. It's unfortunate that there are people that think this way. Some girls are very obsessed with their gaming, but minority indeed are just there for the attention. I think the way to end this is just to end the "gamer" stigma. It should be a part of who you are, not your whole personality.
 
I mean there's people who pretend to be part of the subculture to get attention- there's always going to be people like that in any subculture. I personally ignore them because they're shallow and don't appreciate the subculture for what it is and only use it as a tool to get attention that they crave. So why should I give them what they ultimately crave?

I'm into video games, do cosplay and appreciate the subculture for what it is but I'm not an FPS kind of gal, does it bother me that I'm not an FPS gal? Hardly. If people call me fake for disliking the genre then that's their issue. I have health reasons with my balance and inner ear that prevents me from being able to play FPS games like a normal person. I'm no stranger to them and do keep up with gaming news, but my interests have always been with RPGs/MMOs. It doesn't make me any less of a gamer. Now what would be insulting to me is if someone lumped me together with someone who only played Candy Crush Saga or something. (Nothing wrong with it, but to me casual games like that doesn't make someone a full on 'gamer' in the hardcore sense.) I've played a wide variety of games and know most games by a quick glance even if I haven't played some of them because of my interest in the genre as a whole.

I mean what should differentiate someone who's real and someone who isn't is whether or not they actually genuinely show a love for the culture as a whole. If someone wants to show their appreciation of a series by dressing up in a sexy version of a character, whatever- their right and choice. I'm more into canon versions of characters if cosplaying. As to the industry as a whole, I mean the Western companies are wising up to the fact that they have a growing population of females that are into the culture. There's been a shift in extremely popular MMOs like WoW and RPGs like Skyrim where there's less dental floss armor for female characters. Even fantasy books/series had made a huge shift from metal binkinis to more realistic armor/clothing.

Stuff like this won't change overnight, but my best way of dealing with haters so to speak is to prove my worth in a game rather than complain about it. Actions speak way louder to words to many people. I've proved my point in WoW over the years by raking my way to the best raid spots in many servers as a female dps when most females in said raid teams were healers. In Guild Wars 2 I helped create a successful guild on one of the best WvW servers in the game.

People who truly loves the culture for what it is will always outshine those who attention monger because they're the ones who keep game communities running by contributing in forums, games, ect. I know that I'm a gamer, not a gamer girl, a gamer. The fact that I'm female is irrelevant. I know my worth in my skills and love for games and that's good enough validation for me.
 
Hahaha, this was a great read! Thanks for that.

I understand where you're coming from, certainly. But I think most of us men are coming around to the idea that women might actually enjoy video games as well. I mean, there are plenty of examples of women just pretending to like video games in order to gain something, whatever it might be. But there are tons of girls who just enjoy games as well, I know.

I think part of it is also men are scared of women becoming increasingly more skilled in the crafts... I mean, no man want to get beat by a girl. Same goes in video games.

Please do not lob bricks, you might hurt someone who does not disagree. ;)
 
Haha. Well, it used to be a male dominated kind of entertainment because it was generally aimed at boys and men. For years you'd see advertisements with boys playing the systems and never girls. It wasn't until the 90's that there was a start in a growing shift. My mother initially purchased consoles for my brother to play and he played platforms and FPS games for the most part. It wasn't until I started to browse game sections when we went to Toysrus and video stores that I'd pick out RPGs and the like and made the argument to my mother that video games are like movies/books. She conceded and so my brother and I ended up sharing consoles and I got him into RPGs as a result.

I think Pokemon was a major breakthrough game for both genders because even though the main character was a male, there were tons of cute Pokemon that appealed to girls as well. Then with more RPGs entering the market, it appealed to females as much as males because of the engaging storylines. FPS games on the other hand continued to appeal more strongly to males, I think it wasn't until like 7-10 years ago that women really started to get into them.

That being said, yeah I can see some guys feeling disgruntled that women are becoming more and more prominent in gaming, but at the same time, it's entertainment that appeals to both genders regardless how much companies in the past aimed it at males. It's something that doesn't require physical strength but rather dexterity and quick thinking, a trait both men and women have.
 
You want to be a true gamer girl Come over to dota where we dont give a horses buttox if you are girl boy or a donkey as long as you can come thru for the team and not feed the enemy. I have seen some crazy good dota players who were girls, there is a DotA team in china that is ALL girls and they do very well. The games you play neither makes you an expert or a faker, its how you play the games you do like that says what you are here in the gaming industry :)
 
Haha that rant made me laugh. I am not a gamer girl per say, I am just a girl that enjoys playing games. Does the whole team have to watch out for me? Um, heck yes, most of the time. But I still play and I have fun and I think that's all that matters? I don't know.
I try not to label. I am too indecisive.
 
I've never been harassed whilst playing games. I don't own a mic, mainly because the gaming community consists largely of 13 year old boys who I have less than 0 interest talking to, but also I just don't think anyone really cares wether I'm a girl or not.
I told one of my Xbox Live friends I was a girl, and he started telling me he loved me, which was weird, lol. But I wouldn't let one strange experience depict my overall experience of being a gamer girl. My guy friends think its cool that I'm a gamer, but they're not any more or less attracted to me just because of that.
 
If they say they're a gamer girl, than their looking for attention. Other than that, it shouldn't be anybodies business what their gender is.
 
Okay. I think this is where I roll my eyes and walk away. I think most of us have been raised in an era where we all like video games to some extent. So, there is nothing fake about anyone saying they like video games, girl or boy. I like some games better than my boyfriend and he likes some games better than me. I like playstation and he likes xbox. We game in separate areas of the house. We play jeopardy together because we are nerdy like that. So what...
 
I always wonder how it's alright for males to call themselves gamers, hardcore gamers and whatnot but if a female does it shes essentially an attention whore? Get with the times people.
 
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