How women are treated as gamers

[Aimealamort]

I've always had a curiosity about how women are actually treated in online games, and akasha's post today Voice Chat Can Really Kill the Mood on WoW renewed my curiosity.

how many posters here at the warlock's den are women? I'd like to hear about your experiences playing as a woman, good or bad. Do you really notice a difference in how people treat you when they find out you're female? also, do you find yourself purposing hiding the fact that you're female, and if so, why?

i've read a few articles, a couple things on websites about how women are treated online, and most of it is appalling. an interesting example came from a site that was linked through a group on facebook for women wow players. many comments on it showed that it wasn't just one woman with the same experience: a popular raiding guild found out that one of their best players was female, and immediately asked for links to pictures for proof. does anyone feel the same way, that proof needs to be provided? do you think its because of the women that do take advantage of their sexuality in game? do you feel that the typical stereotypes that are brought up about women gamers are true?

men, i'd like to hear your opinions, and your experiences on gaming with other women. are you surprised when you realize a fellow player is female? do you find yourself treating women differently? if you do, why do you think that is so? also, what do you think about how some women are treated, either bad or good?

p.s. i'm female, but fairly new to the gaming community, so i'd like to hear your experiences.

[Som0]

I'm a male as far as I can tell (sure hope I didn't live a lie all this years)
But I had a friend who pretended to be a female online in WoW , boy did that work well for him , people treated him differently than others who didn't know he was a "girl" , he recived a lot of gold and items just by asking and people always were there to help him out.
I pearsonlly don't care if someone I play with is a woman or a man , suprising to see woman play cause they are a rare breed , but still nothing worth any special treatmeant IMO.
But I have seen people go insane over girl gamers , the possibilty of combining your 2 greatest hobbys is just overwhelming ;)

[ebin603]

I have a RL friend who i play with on my server. She plays a priest and never has to quest/grind alone. If she needs anything at anytime, someone is always there to help. Makes me question my gender. lol

[ggreen67]

I've played a lot of games and do not recall ever asking anyone there gender.

I'm with Som0. Don't see why it would matter.

[Ravynn]

Well, as a female, perhaps the oddest thing that has ever happened to me is that someone is a pug mara run finally asked me if I was gay. I was like, "Um excuse me?" "Well, you type with punctuation and emotes, so I thought you might be gay b/c that's something a woman would do." So I asked, "So, the thought that I might actually be a woman never occured to you?" "No, girls don't really play this game....wait you're a girl?" The rest of that convo ended in the usual a/s/l requests to which I replied that I had a bf and how about we just kill the Princess and be on our way...lol

Have I gotten special treatment because I am a girl? Sure, I've been in groups where the guys found out, and they let me have drops or gave me extra pots or something. Guess they thought I needed them or something. lol I gave them a tip and the refused that too. I certainly don't expect to get special treatment b/c I am a chick. If I mess up and pull a mob during a raid, I fully expect to berated by the raid leader.

On the other hand, I do get the random trade window of someone giving me gold just b/c I was a lowbie, or random pots or such. No words were spoken except for a big TYVM! from me to them.

WoW is my first mmorpg ever. I have loved every minute of it (except for the bad ganking days) and I don't feel that it was because I am a woman. I consider myself to be a good looking woman (what woman doesn't though? lol), I have a great job, a house, and a wonderful boyfriend. I don't believe that I fit any of the "typical stereotypes" about female gamers, but then again I don't know all of them either.

Som0 has an excellent point about some guys going nuts about girl gamers--my boyfriend (who also plays) has been told by numerous guildies that he's the luckiest man alive because he's got a girl who got him addicted to wow (instead of the other way around), who loves to play as much as he does, and still likes to watch Thundercats, He-Man, and She-Ra. LOL

[Anneliese]

I'm a girl with a female character. But I've never really noticed any kind of special treatment, really. My guildies know i'm female from ventrilo, but they pretty much treat me the same way they treat the other men. A couple people make jokes once in a while about sending pics but it doesn't bother me. Some girls get more attention, but those girls you can tell are trying hard to get it.

[Wiggins]

I'm male, age 23, and frequently have been guilded with younger, and older women. It's really refreshing to know that both sexes can enjoy this game. In fact, I wish my girlfriend would take an interest :-P

But honestly, I've found more of the mature, levelheaded, and kinder players tend to be female. May I just add that this is only in my personal experience, I'm sure some of you ladies out there are ruthless, heartless PvP'ers ;)

I must say, that I enjoy female and male mixes in guild situations. Some examples of why are as follows:

1. Most of the whiny, less tolerable players tend to be the 13-17yr old crowd, and male. And some of the 30-50 yr old males who act like the aformentioned age bracket ;)
2. I've found (only in my personal experience) that it keeps the consistent sexually slanted toilet humor to a dull roar. I admit, I love raunchy, tasteless humor most often, but sometimes it just gets so boring when it just spills from some players...females i've guilded with have helped keep that down because really, you'd be surprised how a player would react to a female taking offense to something rather than one of his guy buddies.

and the third? anything to know there's a woman out there who can beat your *** in pvp, and probably does, and you don't know it...but it happens...it's kinda humbling, aye guys?

cheers, and may the women of wow play on!

[Akasha]

Well as most people know, I'm female, but I can't say I have really been treated any differently when people have found out. Then again, I avoid pugs like the plague so only really spend time with people I know fairly well already. The most I get from males who find out for the first time are, "omg can you talk to my wife/gf please? Tell her how fun it is to play!"

Back when I played on the US servers (oceanic now), I used to get a lot of attention based on my accent - one guild used to want me to give boss instructions and vocally lead the raid just so they could hear me talk.

I've gamed alongside other girls since I started though. Back in EQ it wasn't as common, but I can remember at least 5 off the top of my head that I knew. And again, I tended to stick to people or groups that I knew already anyway, so that was only within my "click".

I've probably received some of the "unwanted" male attention when they've found out, but because people like that register lower than cleaning my bathroom in my memory meter, I couldn't say for sure. I only want to deal with people that have a brain and can use it - so any a/s/l or "photo please" aren't worth my time. Then again, maybe I should go find some and then send them a photo of my big fat belly that moves ... "you touched me over the internet and look what happened!!"

[El Tanakh]

As a guy i can say that women are more phrone to be in my top 10 of drama queens, right after me in second and a RL friend in first
No, seriously, I do have more patience with a couple of firends that are female, but thats only coz they got childs to attend. Besides that, in my experience girls tend to be more polite and articulate than the average men, with better game mechanics understanding and a very good class mastery, but maybe its just luck.
About different treatment, well, it does happens, a guild firend gets from time to time BoE epics and rares, but it does not happens to every woman, she is especially *charming*

[Dreddlok]

Originally Posted by Aimealamort

I've always had a curiosity about how women are actually treated in online games, and akasha's post today Voice Chat Can Really Kill the Mood on WoW .

...... do you find yourself purposing hiding the fact that you're female, and if so, why?

My toon's ponytail and "jumper bumps" make concealment difficult.

I've never felt excluded or put down, but getting hit on quite a bit by 13yr olds (refer "jumper bumps" above) can be a bit of a drag.