The term 'girl gamer'
- Thread starter sploatee
- Start date
Putting yourself onscreen reinforces you as a person and helps establish a connection between you (otherwise a disembodied voice) and your audience. It's just being media savvy / basic awareness--unless of course you're a woman and suddenly it means you're an attention whore who therefore needs to accept getting inundated with relentless comments grading your attractiveness. It's bullshit and everyone knows it's bullshit.
Like most things in life - intent is generally the key aspect to this. Claiming "it's always fine" or "it's never fine" is generally the accepted way of the internet unfortunately (yay extremes sticking out); but it is not generally a way to accurately assess a situation.
Also, note that we immediately assume that someone is in one camp or the other in terms of their motivations - when I think people can be both. You can have women who love games who also like attention (cuz, well, they're human?) and will not be above using their sexuality to get a certain level of attention. You can have people who flaunt their sexuality in an attempt to manipulate people who end up becoming hardcore video game players. You can have really shy women who accidentally wear a tanktop on stream (cuz, it's the summer or something), and be shocked at the attention they receive. Hell, half of the very "feminist" (that word has a lot of different meanings IMO) women I know are absolutely about using their sexuality to get stuff from men, and the other half despise the first half for doing so and "getting all of them stuck with that stink."
I don't like the "people are in one camp or the other" mentality; in all honesty, I think people tend to fall into both at some point in their life or another.
Also, note that we immediately assume that someone is in one camp or the other in terms of their motivations - when I think people can be both. You can have women who love games who also like attention (cuz, well, they're human?) and will not be above using their sexuality to get a certain level of attention. You can have people who flaunt their sexuality in an attempt to manipulate people who end up becoming hardcore video game players. You can have really shy women who accidentally wear a tanktop on stream (cuz, it's the summer or something), and be shocked at the attention they receive. Hell, half of the very "feminist" (that word has a lot of different meanings IMO) women I know are absolutely about using their sexuality to get stuff from men, and the other half despise the first half for doing so and "getting all of them stuck with that stink."
I don't like the "people are in one camp or the other" mentality; in all honesty, I think people tend to fall into both at some point in their life or another.
But it's been repeated multiple times throughout the thread that the reason some women self identify with "girl gamer" is because the gaming community is not as inclusive of women as it should be.
Yes but she wouldn't be worthy of your respect if she's showing her face...
BasilZero
Member
GG Well played!
Seriously, using her as an example? Watching her for a few seconds will tell you that she is a troll! I mean she's got a yard long cleavage showing and her FAQ section says "BOOBS? Please do not ask me repeatedly to show my boobs. There are a lot of female streamers that show cleavage, I am NOT one of them."
never said to use her as an example but early we talked about her so here is her stream. and yep she is a genius troll and makes tons of money with it.
I personally can't watch her more than 10 minutes, she is annoying and that chat is a fucking disaster.
Dr. Black Jack
Member
This, so hard.
No one gives me or my friends shit when we talk about being Bros of War. Seems pretty hypocritical to call out certain female gamers for emphasizing their gender and not call out when certain male gamers do the same damn thing.
Like Opinionatedfish said, this image should end the conversation. In any hobby, whether that be playing video games, card games, sports, film watching etc. your specific background should never factor in. I don't care that you're a girl playing games, I just care that you play games. I'm in the Air Force and I don't care if an Airman is a woman, just that she's a member of my service and if she can do her job and perform to and above standards.
This Steam profile image points out the annoyance of those who purposefully bring attention to their gender, position etc. that otherwise has nothing to do with playing games. Why would I care that you're, in this pictures case, an Earl? My interest in another person who is into gaming starts with what kind of games do they like to play, seeing if they're similar to my tastes so further conversation can be sparked; not if they're the same gender, race, or come from the same background as me.
that's every chat with 500+ people.
Do you see any disconnect in the fact that you claim to not care, but at the same time if someone identifies with their gender it upsets you?
Shining Sunshine
Banned
It's just a label. I don't feel it is derogatory, but there are some females that feel like it "womanizes" them, despite the term really coming from other females that use that term to gain more viewers.
There has not been a time where I look at the PS4 streams and see that term being used by a female streamer.
There has not been a time where I look at the PS4 streams and see that term being used by a female streamer.
Me being upset is when someone brings unnecessary attention to it. When I say I don't care what gender they are I mean it doesn't factor into what I think of them as someone who plays games. I don't mean as soon as someone identifies what they are I get upset, that's ridiculous. I'm merely putting words to the image jello44 posted below.
It will be a great day when girls are free to like video games and not worry about dudes accusing them of being attention whores.
Like I posted before, so what if girls use games to pick up bf's by pretending to be something they aren't? Again, Nice Guys. These dudes pretend to be these great gentlemen, sensitive, romantic blah blah blah to attract girls because they're "better" than other guys but really they're just PUA.
Should real nice guys get their reputation ruined by these assholes? No because these are genuinely nice men and are in no way similar to the others. So, with that being said, should actual girls who enjoy games and play them for a hobby really be deemed to be the same as these girls who are the opposite?
No, we shouldn't.
Like I posted before, so what if girls use games to pick up bf's by pretending to be something they aren't? Again, Nice Guys. These dudes pretend to be these great gentlemen, sensitive, romantic blah blah blah to attract girls because they're "better" than other guys but really they're just PUA.
Should real nice guys get their reputation ruined by these assholes? No because these are genuinely nice men and are in no way similar to the others. So, with that being said, should actual girls who enjoy games and play them for a hobby really be deemed to be the same as these girls who are the opposite?
No, we shouldn't.
Should people get upset that you mentioned you were in the Air Force?
Keirnoth: or I could be making a point!
I don't know, if they have some bias against the military maybe. I brought that up as an example of another field where someone's gender or affiliation doesn't factor into what they do. I don't see me mentioning it as being unnecessary at all; now if I continued to laud my service and mix it with my gaming sensibilities then certainly I would expect someone with the same view as I stated earlier to be upset.
Basketball
Member
gotta give Kacytron credit shes pretty much unfazed by the chat nonsense
Dr. Black Jack
Member
That wasn't a snarky one liner. It was a rhetorical question to emphasize a greater point.
Oh interesting.
Explain to me the social stigmas Air Force gamers experience, that would cause someone who doesn't care about your service to be upset if you identified yourself as an Air Force gamer.
Some Nobody
Junior Member
lol. Are there still dudes who call themselves nice guys anymore? I get more positive reactions when I call myself an asshole.
You may have misunderstood my post, let me clear it up. I only said the unnecessary call of attention to somones background is the problem. Clearly what I deem unnecessary and what you do, or anyone else for that matter, is subjective. For me, I do not think just having a user name "Girl Gamer" is the problem, I was referring particularly to the overt amount of attention one gives to it; such as the "Earl Gamer" image where instead of just stopping at the name there is the profile description going into how they wish to be treated and what they don't want to hear or see due to identifying their self as an Earl. That point is made again in the contrast picture I quoted where both girls are clearly girls, but one makes big deal out of it and the other does not.
I follow a gay guy on Twitch who did a stream with his boyfriend, entitled "Boyfriend Stream." Is that unnecessarily flaunting his background and just asking for homophobic remarks?
Ok, but the Earl Gamer image is a troll, not a genuine profile. The girl gamers comic is a comic, not a genuine portrait of two people. Who in real life are you actually talking about, if your beef isn't with people who happen to use the term or have some derivation in their handle / screen name?
I don't know anyone personally that I can name, but I have in my life seen women/girls in groups who game who make a big deal about being a woman and a gamer. You're right, the Earl thing was simply a troll account, and the image is a bit of an over exaggeration, but their both valid to point out how these people look. I've given my view on this topic and have explained why I feel that way, not looking to derail continuing with this.
QuantumZebra
Member
That's part of my point. Same way gay gamers refers to themselves a gaymers - the gaming community at large is definitely not as inclusive of LGBT people (moreso than women quite often)