Male gamer privilege?

[quote=Jimmydoggga 2.0]EXCUSE ME. I find this game completely insufferable too.[/quote]

[quote=Nighthawk][quote=Darcurse] 1) Put all the harassment you get in relation to all the benefits you are granted without a slither of effort. [/quote] So none, basically. Attention is not a benefit. Sure I guess sometimes in rare cases someone will carry their girlfriend (or hopeful girlfriend) and yet I've seen that happen as many times as I've seen 2 guys with no romantic interest in each other carry each other. And that also doesn't invalidate all the rest of what even you admit happens to them...It doesn't matter that the people doing it are kids (and I've seen plenty of people who aren't kids do it too) what matters is that it happens. That alone is unacceptable. And your "solution" makes no sense either, oh yeah, just "show em up" like that will fix anything. I can't believe people STILL put the onus to stop the behaviour onto the victim of that behaviour. That's just fucked up, and not ok.[/quote]

[quote=XeresAce]I can't stand this person. The way he talks and overdoes stuff irks me so much.. couldn't get past the part of the video when he's saying "Male. GAMER. PRIVILEGE" What an annoyance. @topic, I've posed as a girl in plenty of games - most of the times people were a lot nicer if they thought I was a girl, so I don't see how male gamers are more privileged... All I had to do was add a <3 or a ^_^ after every request and I'd instantly get whatever the heck I needed. :) [spoiler = I'm bored so I'll just post my opinion on all of those points the author has made] 1. You can, as with every other kind of discrimination in life. 2. False. Plenty of games I've played have a lot of fashion or cosmetic items that are generally more catering towards a female audience. Whenever a male gamer complains that "the update brought nothing of substance" the answer is more or less "It wasn't meant for you(r gender)." I never really experienced this first hand cause I'm a stereotypical metrosexual male :) 3. You don't get sexually harassed JUST because of your gender... While I can't say I've regularly experienced sexual harassment, I HAVE experienced general harassment that did not involve gender in any way. 50/50 4. You ALWAYS get asked to "prove your gaming cred" should you be interested in joining a faction/guild/group of an above-average standard. Gender has 0 influence here. 5. Bullshit. Most males do this too and they get the same kind of judgement... It's extremely evident when somebody is faking interest or is genuinely interested. The fakers get singled out and judged. Gender has no influence. (if you're a female gamer and you stream with your tits bursting out of your undersized bra and your camera purposely focused on them then I'm gonna judge.... Same for ripped males streaming shirtless with the camera being dead-centered on their abs) 6. Fair enough, reviewers tend to be male most of the time, though in my particular case a lot of the "top guns" have been females so both genders were more or less equally represented 7. Hey if I'm hot I'd probably experience all of those things... Just because there are generally more males present, and thus a higher chance for a female to get catcalled/groped/ w/e doesn't mean it doesn't happen to males. (if you're overweight and only leave your basement to go to conventions then you probably WONT get sexually harassed regardless of gender) 8. My ass 9. The actual problem here is people criticizing entire countries and nationalities because of certain gamers (i.e the French, Russians...) 10. What 11. Bullshit 12. It'll force the "YOU ARE NOT A REAL GAMER LEL" opinion, same for women. Gender has no involvement here. 13. Idk if this is true, most people here just give you the game, get your money and see you out... who the fuck would ask for whom is it meant? 14. What sort of bullshit is this... the highest percentile of gamers consists of teenaged males...ofc it would cater to my demographic if me and people like me are where all of their money comes from smh 15. Same for females. 16. Much more often than not there is an option between female and male. 17. Harassment is more or less caused by stupidity. Gender has barely any influence here. 18. Ha...Ha...Ha. This is funny cause about half of the time I pose as a girl to get free stuff from horny teenaged boys with no life 8) 19. Nupe. This is especially untrue if I'm a male posing as a female 8DDD 20. True. I hardly doubt this happens to females either though 21. Untrue. I've had people ask me about penis size before, on multiple occasions :'D 22. This is sexual harassment and it obviously does not happen to exclusively one gender but generally, if the audience is mostly compromised of one sex, the opposite sex will be harassed more simply cause of sheer number. 23. Bullshit 24. Bullshit 25. Even more bullshit. If the author is stupid then it won't be credible at all, regardless of gender :) [/spoiler][/quote]

[quote=Searz]MrRepzion is being quite silly on some points. Just because you disagree with the sentiment of another person doesn't mean that you need to disagree with every part of their argument. (only saw 10min, but he seemed to vehemently disagree with everything). Quite a few of the points are actually true, but many are also at best tangentially connected to the issue (i.e: strawmen) while many others also beg the question: "Who the fuck cares?". Because many of these points are at the level of "Someone was mean to me on the internet! I better go cry about it!". I actually put a decent amount of time into seriously responding to the points below, so it would be appreciated if people actually read it. I also included the original points in red to make it easier to read. [spoiler=My opinion on the points (as privileged straightciswhitemale-scum):] [indent][color=red]1. I can choose to remain completely oblivious, or indifferent to the harassment that many women face in gaming spaces.[/color][/indent] Bullshit. That has no direct correlation with gender. The anonymity of the internet allows any gender to do the same. This point also comes with the undertone that these women face harassment because they are women, not because people dislike their opinions or their actions. [indent][color=red]2. I am never told that video games or the surrounding culture is not intended for me because I am male.[/color][/indent] True, but who the fuck cares? I don't give a shit if Opera is for women or if My Little Pony is for little girls, if I like something then I will consume said media, regardless of what intellectually challenged people think. A claim that one should stop consuming a piece of media because it isn't meant for them is about on the intelligence level of name-calling and can safely be ignored or crushed with logic. [indent][color=red]3. I can publicly post my username, gamertag or contact information online without having to fear being stalked or sexually harassed because of my gender.[/color][/indent] This is true, but so can a woman. Not all women are scared of posting their information online because of those reasons. That would be called false generalizing. One could however generalize that more women are scared of doing this than men. Which would be a fair point, because women are the physically weaker sex and is more susceptible to force IRL. The point should be made however that this is a very uncommon problem for normal people(gamers). It's when it comes to celebrities it's a bigger problem, but that problem is one that applies to both sexes, at least with harassment and doxxing. Males get doxxed and receive death threats plenty too, especially in relation to controversial topics, but it seems like the problem is more publicized on the female part of the issue. [indent][color=red]4. I will never be asked to "prove my gaming cred" simply because of my gender.[/color][/indent] No, but I will be asked to prove my gaming cred if I claim to be good or decent at a game. If no such claims are made from a person, regardless of gender then no such cred should be expected, nor have to be proven. Idiotic remarks should be treated as such; ignore them or crush them with logic. Also note that one does not have to be good to be a gamer, there are plenty of bad gamers out there. [indent][color=red]5. If I enthusiastically express my fondness for video games no one will automatically assume I’m faking my interest just to "get attention" from other gamers.[/color][/indent] This is a problem of prejudice and one I would like to see gone, but I understand why it exists and so should people complaining about it. When "grillgamers" are as prevalent as they are, with their grill-cam and leechy behavior it shouldn't surprise anybody that many are disgusted by that kind of behavior. That said however, these are a minority of the total girls playing games and should be treated as such, not assumed to be the case every time you meet one of that gender. [indent][color=red]6. I can look at practically any gaming review site, show, blog or magazine and see the voices of people of my own gender widely represented.[/color][/indent] Representation can be relevant and/or important in some cases, but it can also be completely irrelevant. If reviews take a more objective approach to the piece of media then I don't think this should be much of a problem. This is however a problem if reviews are heavily subjective and/or biased, which seems to be the case with many current reviews and reviewers. This kind of bakes into the whole problem gamers have spoken out against in the gaming journalism as of late(gamergate). Gamers, who are all privileged ciswhitemale-scum according to these news sites, are speaking out against biased and subjective reviews in a media that is almost over-representing them. Representation is very much of lesser importance in this case. [indent][color=red]7. When I go to a gaming event or convention, I can be relatively certain that I won’t be harassed, groped, propositioned or catcalled by total strangers.[/color][/indent] Gotta agree on this one. I can't say anything about the severity of these problems as I have not experienced it myself nor seen any aggregate information on the topic, but personal boundaries are important and need to be respected, regardless of gender. [indent][color=red]8. I will never be asked or expected to speak for all other gamers who share my gender.[/color][/indent] Actually, I will and I have. It's a sad state of affairs and idiots are everywhere. Considering all the crazy beliefs all around the world there's bound to be stupid questions asked, so to chalk this up as some kind of alienation of women is pretty dumb. [indent][color=red]9. I can be sure that my gaming performance (good or bad) won’t be attributed to or reflect on my gender as a whole.[/color][/indent] Invalid point. Don't take stupid people seriously. Ignore them or crush/educate them with logic. [indent][color=red]10. My gaming ability, attitude, feelings or capability will never be called into question based on unrelated natural biological functions.[/color][/indent] Easily chalked up to either trash-talk or really dumb people. Trash talk will go after whatever perceived weakness the talker can find in the target, if their target feels insecure about being the only person of their gender in a big crowd then that might be an easy target for trash-talk. And as for stupid people, just follow the general guidelines of ignoring them or crushing/educating them with logic :) [indent][color=red]11. I can be relatively sure my thoughts about video games won’t be dismissed or attacked based solely on my tone of voice, even if I speak in an aggressive, obnoxious, crude or flippant manner.[/color][/indent] [b]Bwahahahahahahahahahahaha[/b] Oh this is priceless. What kind of moron is this guy really? Because I can with certainty state that they have and they will yet again in the future. [indent][color=red]12. I can openly say that my favorite games are casual, odd, non-violent, artistic, or cute without fear that my opinions will reinforce a stereotype that "men are not real gamers."[/color][/indent] Sure, I can also go out and steal a car without reinforcing the stereotype that people with white skin are criminals. That doesn't mean that a stereotype is anything less than dumb and should - as always - be ignored or crushed with logic. [indent][color=red]13. When purchasing most major video games in a store, chances are I will not be asked if (or assumed to be) buying it for a wife, daughter or girlfriend.[/color][/indent] Who the fuck buys physical copies nowadays? Seriously. Also see 12. [indent][color=red]14. The vast majority of game studios, past and present, have been led and populated primarily by people of my own gender and as such most of their products have been specifically designed to cater to my demographic.[/color][/indent] No, that's false correlation. The games target male consumers because males are the main demographic when it comes to consuming games. The number of people of each working in the industry holds no direct correlation to the target gender demographic. They target males because they know it will make them money, simple as that. And there's nothing wrong with that unless you wanna fault capitalism. [indent][color=red]15. I can walk into any gaming store and see images of my gender widely represented as powerful heroes, villains and non-playable characters alike.[/color][/indent] It's a result of 14. I wouldn't mind a little more diversity, but there's no use forcing it in where it doesn't belong (like what EA has been doing for a while). [indent][color=red]16. I will almost always have the option to play a character of my gender, as most protagonists or heroes will be male by default.[/color][/indent] This is unlike 6 an area where representation actually matters. This is very much a result of 14(what I wrote there obviously), so it's hard to fault it in games where the game is very much revolving around a story-driven singleplayer experience. Luckily online games or games that focus on RPG elements have generally been pretty inclusive. And for the singleplayer games where it's largely male characters, it will likely diversify more and more as more girls get into gaming. Because as logic dictates: more consumers that want female characters, more people that buy games with female characters and thus more drive to make games for said demographic. It's the kind of problem that goes away by itself in an open market. [indent][color=red]17. I do not have to carefully navigate my engagement with online communities or gaming spaces in order to avoid or mitigate the possibility of being harassed because of my gender.[/color][/indent] And neither do women. If they are harrassed then it's likely one person or a few, all of which are likely intellectually challenged. This is what most sites have a report function for, and if it's not harsh enough to be worth reporting just do as I always suggest with stupid people: ignore them or crush them with logic. Stand up for yourself and the problem goes away, that's all there is to it. [indent][color=red]18. I probably never think about hiding my real-life gender online through my gamer-name, my avatar choice, or by muting voice-chat, out of fear of harassment resulting from my being male.[/color][/indent] See 17. [indent][color=red]19 When I enter an online game, I can be relatively sure I won’t be attacked or harassed when and if my real-life gender is made public[/color][/indent] That's a problem, but again, stupid people, and a minority of the whole. Also see 17. [indent][color=red]20. If I am trash-talked or verbally berated while playing online, it will not be because I am male nor will my gender be invoked as an insult.[/color][/indent] See 10. [indent][color=red]21. While playing online with people I don’t know I won’t be interrogated about the size and shape of my real-life body parts, nor will I be pressured to share intimate details about my sex life for the pleasure of other players.[/color][/indent] Stupid people. Need I even write recommended course of action again? [indent][color=red]22. Complete strangers generally do not send me unsolicited images of their genitalia or demand to see me naked on the basis of being a male gamer.[/color][/indent] See 21. [indent][color=red]23. In multiplayer games I can be pretty sure that conversations between other players will not focus on speculation about my "attractiveness" or "sexual availability" in real-life.[/color][/indent] See 21. [indent][color=red]24. If I choose to point out sexism in gaming, my observations will not be seen as self-serving, and will therefore be perceived as more credible and worthy of respect than those of my female counterparts, even if they are saying the exact same thing.[/color][/indent] Nope, I consider your observations worth about the same as dirt. I'm also pretty sure your observations are in fact self-serving, because you have something to gain from these kinds of controversial topics. You gain revenue for each person who reads it. So it is in your interest to be polarizing even though it is ethically wrong to be so. I'm also pretty sure you have a big hand in many of Anita's videos(Jonathan McIntosh works as "producer and co-writer on the Tropes vs Women in Video Games web series"), which have been profiteering off industry controversy for years now. Stop it, you self-serving ass. [indent][color=red]25. Because it was created by a straight white male, this checklist will likely be taken more seriously than if it had been written by virtually any female gamer.[/color][/indent] Nope. It's a fucking joke to me. And the guy writing it seems like equally big of a joke.[/spoiler][/quote]

[quote=Searz][quote=XeresAce]I can't stand this person. The way he talks and overdoes stuff irks me so much.. couldn't get past the part of the video when he's saying "Male. GAMER. PRIVILEGE" What an annoyance.[/quote] Agreed. As for your list, overall we seem to agree on a lot of points, but I'd just like to address a few of the things you were wrong in. [spoiler=List:][quote]5. Bullshit. Most males do this too and they get the same kind of judgement... It's extremely evident when somebody is faking interest or is genuinely interested. The fakers get singled out and judged. Gender has no influence. (if you're a female gamer and you stream with your tits bursting out of your undersized bra and your camera purposely focused on them then I'm gonna judge.... Same for ripped males streaming shirtless with the camera being dead-centered on their abs)[/quote]Actually, gender has influence. Because of how the sexual dynamic works when it comes to humanity. Males tend to be the ones chasing after females and if a female makes herself seem available then makes will fawn over her far more than the opposite with females fawning over men. It does obviously happen with both, but it's more common in the male -> female direction. And where there is an audience there will be people making content for said audience. [quote]6. Fair enough, reviewers tend to be male most of the time, though in my particular case a lot of the "top guns" have been females so both genders were more or less equally represented[/quote] No, not at all. This is just flat out false. But I would argue that representation here is of less importance. Read my comment on this. [quote]9. The actual problem here is people criticizing entire countries and nationalities because of certain gamers (i.e the French, Russians...)[/quote]Yeah, there's plenty of stereotyping going on, and most of it is stupid. [quote]12. It'll force the "YOU ARE NOT A REAL GAMER LEL" opinion, same for women. Gender has no involvement here.[/quote]It actually has, but it's minor most of the time. [quote]15. Same for females.[/quote]No it's not. Males are overrepresented. But it's very much a result of 14 (we wrote roughly the same there). [quote]16. Much more often than not there is an option between female and male.[/quote]That's a tough one. Not sure if your statement there is valid. It very much depends on the genre. But one thing is for certain: males are represented more in games. This also ties into 14. [quote]20. True. I hardly doubt this happens to females either though[/quote]It sadly does. Because, you know, stupid people.. [quote]21. Untrue. I've had people ask me about penis size before, on multiple occasions :'D[/quote]Hahaha, oh stupid people <3 [quote]22. This is sexual harassment and it obviously does not happen to exclusively one gender but generally, if the audience is mostly compromised of one sex, the opposite sex will be harassed more simply cause of sheer number.[/quote] Well no. It's the same in society in general, it's mostly males tossing themselves out there hoping to get something on the hook so to speak. This is a problem with the general attitude to female sexuality in society.[/spoiler] [quote=Nighthawk]So none, basically. Attention is not a benefit. Sure I guess sometimes in rare cases someone will carry their girlfriend (or hopeful girlfriend) and yet I've seen that happen as many times as I've seen 2 guys with no romantic interest in each other carry each other. And that also doesn't invalidate all the rest of what even you admit happens to them...It doesn't matter that the people doing it are kids (and I've seen plenty of people who aren't kids do it too) what matters is that it happens. That alone is unacceptable. And your "solution" makes no sense either, oh yeah, just "show em up" like that will fix anything. I can't believe people STILL put the onus to stop the behaviour onto the victim of that behaviour. That's just fucked up, and not ok.[/quote]It's funny how the person below you just proved you wrong shortly after. [quote=XeresAce]I've posed as a girl in plenty of games - most of the times people were a lot nicer if they thought I was a girl, so I don't see how male gamers are more privileged... All I had to do was add a <3 or a ^_^ after every request and I'd instantly get whatever the heck I needed. :)[/quote] It's also funny how much your attitude seems to have shifted after publicly confessing your love to somebody on a forum. Attention is not a benefit, right? Right?[/quote]

[quote=Darcurse][quote=Nighthawk]So none, basically. Attention is not a benefit. [/quote] Pure attention? No. Having everyone be super nice to a point where they even give you stuff/help you just because? Yes. Of all the times I meet a female (or somebody who could make all the retards believe they are) in game / on TS / etc. they encountered a gigantic load of niceness, most of the time to an extent were I had to ask myself if they don't need to barf from it. And ^that sums up the most of it. If you actually encounter greater amounts of problems, you must be talking about competitive communities like LoL/Dota/etc. in which the premature little dipshits insult EVERYBODY and EVERYTHING regardless of a reason. They in general aren't "directly discriminating" you, they just want to feel great by bitching at somebody over something. Like I said: You catch flack for being female, I catch flack for being german, somebody else catches flack for having any type of religon, nativity, age, residence... there are so many reasons just pick one! P.S I rewrote that "Show em" sentence wrongly last time, what I meant was: You either suck up and show 'em or you don't.[/quote]

[quote=The_Nameless_Bard][quote=Darcurse]Of all the times I meet a female (or somebody who could make all the retards believe they are) in game / on TS / etc. they encountered a gigantic load of niceness, most of the time to an extent were I had to ask myself if they don't need to barf from it.[/quote]I gotta say having people treat me like a helpless child (even when I know a hell of a lot more about a topic than they do) because of my gender will never be a "benefit" and, even if you'd consider it such, it DOES NOT outweigh the harassment I regularly receive. I have had to make a huge effort to be taken seriously as a gamer, something which you were never even required to do. If people don't take you seriously it'll because of things you've said that cause them to believe you're an idiot, not because you have a vagina and are therefore automatically too stupid to listen to. I mean, unless you know what it feels like to be asked if you got elo boosted to Silver because "girls are always bad at league" or have a guy say after duoing ranked with you for a few hours "sorry, I need to go touch myself because hearing you talk about video games like this is turning me on" (that isn't a joke btw), in which case then you can tell me how being coddled makes up for the shit I get.[/quote]

[quote=Latest Legend]I didn't watch the video because I feel like my braincells die whenever I even smell a 20-30-minute long video repeating the same statement over and over again, no matter whether I think the statements are right or not. Sorry. A few things I'd like to point out. First of all, girls that like gaming like gaming. Yes, really. What does this mean? They like games. They like the games on the market. All things said about games being made for this and for that and all that may still be very true, it probably is. But I'd like to keep in mind that girls that like gaming actually like games. Does that mean that I find clear sexism in games something not worth talking about? No. Searz, I think that you are very right about the fact that the harassment is completely stupid and can easily be countered. I mean you can destroy them. But what remains is the fact that female gamers have a much higher chance of having to face and deal with this harassment nevertheless(I don't have numbers, I'm not a woman, but I think we can safely assume this). I think it shouldn't be that way. Then there's the fact that there are also females that aren't good with words so not everyone can just freeze the brains of some not thinking bullies. [quote]I can openly say that my favorite games are casual, odd, non-violent, artistic, or cute without fear that my opinions will reinforce a stereotype that "men are not real gamers."[/quote]Never happened to me, that's true. But when I say I like playing League of Legends in the middle of some shooter scrublords, not my gender gets looked down upon, but me and me alone. The fact that I'm male probably won't be used as an insult, though. But that's a different point. [quote]I can walk into any gaming store and see images of my gender widely represented as powerful heroes, villains and non-playable characters alike.[/quote]One day we're talking about oversexualized half-naked female characters in practically all games, the other day there aren't any female game characters around. Confusing. [quote]I will almost always have the option to play a character of my gender, as most protagonists or heroes will be male by default.[/quote]If there's one thing a lot of male gamers want, it's playing female characters from time to time. Though now I think about it I don't know any shooter with playable female characters in it, so I guess that's a genre where this has a point. It's the only one though. Maybe you just want to know my opinion of all this. I think that discrimination is stupid. I think that I had just become eleven years old when I really started to outgrow other kids in computer stuff. I was passionate about computers, so I obviously wanted to talk about this. But who really wants to talk about computers with an eleven year old? Internet was heaven for me. As long as I didn't open my mouth and evaded questions about age and such by any means necessary I could converse with people about my interests. I gamed a lot at the time(school -> games -> computer stuff -> sleep), and I have seen lots and lots of people getting laughed at and not being taken seriously just because they had a high-pitched voice. They didn't say anything weird, they were being nice and they weren't annoying anyone. Of course there were annoying people with high-pitched voices too. But people couldn't even finish a sentence without someone interfering to tell them they had a high-pitched voice. They were stupid even before they had opened their mouth. If I just kept my mouth shut and kept to typing only (and never said a word about myself) I could have fun with everyone. No one ever noticed I had a high-pitched voice if I didn't open my mouth, and I was never treated like someone with a high-pitched voice. Now you could say this is all some bullshit that never happens. But I lived it. In fact, I still have trouble participating in voice chat. It's something that'll probably never go away. You could still say it's bullshit, and it probably is. Because people that are actually bothered by the fact that they have high-pitched voices are stupid. I'm not saying you should all think I'm piteous(pathetic?). I don't want you to think I'm piteous and I don't feel piteous. What I want you to think is that I was already brilliant and surprisingly mature at the age of eleven and that you should all look at me with some more respect :P. To get back on the serious track again: people think that all people with high-pitched voices are extremely childish and stupid, if someone says something in a high-pitched voice, they are immediately treated as extremely childish and stupid persons. I wanted to play that game and I wanted to have fun with the other players. I wanted to be accepted by them as a fellow gamer. To somewhat merge in with the community I had to hide that I had a high-pithed voice, in fact I also had to hide my age. This was not only the case with games but even more so with other computer related stuff I was interested in (when you're fiddling with the virtual insides of computers you're bound to need some sort of help at some point, and want to help other people out). It was horrible. And I'm talking about bloody voice(age) discrimination here. A low age is something you lose automagically, my "future" was never bad at all. I can't begin to imagine what it would feel like to feel not part of the gaming community (or computer community) as a whole because of something that will probably never change in your life. I'm not going to make any statements about the feelings connected with it because, unlike the video guy, I think that statements about women being discriminated because of their gender by women that are being discriminated are the statements that matter the most. Like that guy knows anything about it. Then what should we as men do with this? We've probably all encountered discrimination in one way or another before, we know what discrimination is about. It's also a fact that there are women pointing out that they feel discriminated and how they feel about this. We could ignore it, laugh it off or do whatever else. But if we take at least one of those women and their words just a bit seriously, then maybe we should recognize that there is indeed a problem and keep this in mind. So there ya go ^^[/quote]

[quote=Meiyjhe][quote=Latest Legend][spoiler=quote]I didn't watch the video because I feel like my braincells die whenever I even smell a 20-30-minute long video repeating the same statement over and over again, no matter whether I think the statements are right or not. Sorry. A few things I'd like to point out. First of all, girls that like gaming like gaming. Yes, really. What does this mean? They like games. They like the games on the market. All things said about games being made for this and for that and all that may still be very true, it probably is. But I'd like to keep in mind that girls that like gaming actually like games. Does that mean that I find clear sexism in games something not worth talking about? No. Searz, I think that you are very right about the fact that the harassment is completely stupid and can easily be countered. I mean you can destroy them. But what remains is the fact that female gamers have a much higher chance of having to face and deal with this harassment nevertheless(I don't have numbers, I'm not a woman, but I think we can safely assume this). I think it shouldn't be that way. Then there's the fact that there are also females that aren't good with words so not everyone can just freeze the brains of some not thinking bullies. [quote]I can openly say that my favorite games are casual, odd, non-violent, artistic, or cute without fear that my opinions will reinforce a stereotype that "men are not real gamers."[/quote]Never happened to me, that's true. But when I say I like playing League of Legends in the middle of some shooter scrublords, not my gender gets looked down upon, but me and me alone. The fact that I'm male probably won't be used as an insult, though. But that's a different point. [quote]I can walk into any gaming store and see images of my gender widely represented as powerful heroes, villains and non-playable characters alike.[/quote]One day we're talking about oversexualized half-naked female characters in practically all games, the other day there aren't any female game characters around. Confusing. [quote]I will almost always have the option to play a character of my gender, as most protagonists or heroes will be male by default.[/quote]If there's one thing a lot of male gamers want, it's playing female characters from time to time. Though now I think about it I don't know any shooter with playable female characters in it, so I guess that's a genre where this has a point. It's the only one though. Maybe you just want to know my opinion of all this. I think that discrimination is stupid. I think that I had just become eleven years old when I really started to outgrow other kids in computer stuff. I was passionate about computers, so I obviously wanted to talk about this. But who really wants to talk about computers with an eleven year old? Internet was heaven for me. As long as I didn't open my mouth and evaded questions about age and such by any means necessary I could converse with people about my interests. I gamed a lot at the time(school -> games -> computer stuff -> sleep), and I have seen lots and lots of people getting laughed at and not being taken seriously just because they had a high-pitched voice. They didn't say anything weird, they were being nice and they weren't annoying anyone. Of course there were annoying people with high-pitched voices too. But people couldn't even finish a sentence without someone interfering to tell them they had a high-pitched voice. They were stupid even before they had opened their mouth. If I just kept my mouth shut and kept to typing only (and never said a word about myself) I could have fun with everyone. No one ever noticed I had a high-pitched voice if I didn't open my mouth, and I was never treated like someone with a high-pitched voice. Now you could say this is all some bullshit that never happens. But I lived it. In fact, I still have trouble participating in voice chat. It's something that'll probably never go away. You could still say it's bullshit, and it probably is. Because people that are actually bothered by the fact that they have high-pitched voices are stupid. I'm not saying you should all think I'm piteous(pathetic?). I don't want you to think I'm piteous and I don't feel piteous. What I want you to think is that I was already brilliant and surprisingly mature at the age of eleven and that you should all look at me with some more respect :P. To get back on the serious track again: people think that all people with high-pitched voices are extremely childish and stupid, if someone says something in a high-pitched voice, they are immediately treated as extremely childish and stupid persons. I wanted to play that game and I wanted to have fun with the other players. I wanted to be accepted by them as a fellow gamer. To somewhat merge in with the community I had to hide that I had a high-pithed voice, in fact I also had to hide my age. This was not only the case with games but even more so with other computer related stuff I was interested in (when you're fiddling with the virtual insides of computers you're bound to need some sort of help at some point, and want to help other people out). It was horrible. And I'm talking about bloody voice(age) discrimination here. A low age is something you lose automagically, my "future" was never bad at all. I can't begin to imagine what it would feel like to feel not part of the gaming community (or computer community) as a whole because of something that will probably never change in your life. I'm not going to make any statements about the feelings connected with it because, unlike the video guy, I think that statements about women being discriminated because of their gender by women that are being discriminated are the statements that matter the most. Like that guy knows anything about it. Then what should we as men do with this? We've probably all encountered discrimination in one way or another before, we know what discrimination is about. It's also a fact that there are women pointing out that they feel discriminated and how they feel about this. We could ignore it, laugh it off or do whatever else. But if we take at least one of those women and their words just a bit seriously, then maybe we should recognize that there is indeed a problem and keep this in mind. So there ya go ^^[/spoiler][/quote]I didn't want to participate to this thread because I was sure I would say something stupid, but I just want to say that I think that this post was quite amazing. Well done. PS: I think your voice is just fine <3[/quote]

[quote=XeresAce]Yay someone agreed with me *hi5's searz* Idk, all of my points were really entirely subjective (i.e I haven't played a game where the only playable character is male, I've had friends (male) who just start talking about a game they've played for about 10 mins just to get in the conversation and then they start bullshitting about how much they love it and about its supposed mechanics just so they get our attention... for something they don't know poop about, it's very obvious aaaannnnd the attention whores usually end up being frowned upon for it. Cat-calling and the other stuff isn't a custom in my country and usually looked down upon so I can't say) Tbh, this article was so dumb I really didn't bother answering the deeper questions to the best of my ability since they kinda touched on some really ...sensitive subjects And @amanda, idk why but I have this weird feeling that people on NA tend to be a lot more rude and disrespectful towards female gamers than on euw, I haven't seen what you've described at all on euw (or at least so rarely that I can't remember)...[/quote]