Does Gaming Affect your perception of women?

[Burnagirl]

 

The Horny Cheerleader Coalition have got batons right ? If so, then that should be a pretty good game ... although Melee isnt really my strong point ... I prefer sniping, blasting, exploding, just like the myth that females like hearts and bunnies and cutsey pie little dolls wiff liddle pink noses.

And yeah, you're right, games are just for fun ...

 

In my limited experience women are the far more deadlier of the two sexes, so it would be foolish in the extreme to take seriously how they are portrayed within a gaming context. Men think that they overtly control the world and women find it convenient to let them blunder on with that misconception.

 

Ok Mister, you get kudos for that extremely brilliant answer ... after all, who am I to tell a man that he is wrong ?

 

However, having said that ...

 

A man bought his wife a mood ring ... It goes green when I'm in a good mood ... she said, but it leaves a red mark on his forehead when he bothers me ... just some silly humor there ...

[Ihoe]

Phase I : when i first watched videos regarding a game (like F.R.I.E.N.D.S.) the following is what i thought would generalize female logic:

 

1. He started it.

2. He followed me home from work with his van, kidnapped me, took me to his dungeon, and made me watch him play Xbox while I had to leave the second controller alone.

3. Make eye contact, and stop staring at my breasts. Pervert.

4. Countless generations of sexism and discrimination

 

Phase II : then i played The Sims, i thought that after entering phase 3 or adult Sim stage, a Sim becomes a woman in a cloud like in the movies and Puberty and the related terms were BS.

 

Phase III : after modding oblivion and taking Matilde Petit's clothes off for the extra gold selling them (having HGEC), I found out that women will have fantasy slim and beautiful bodies even after hitting 70, so I became interested in Audrey Hepburn, then i found that she had passed, I had this ideology until recently when i visited a beach in Turkey. I didn't try any hentai mods afterward because they were "Unrealistic".

 

really, do you think games will affect our public image of women? rather than telling us how they are regarded as in the public image?

Countless generations of sexism and discrimination

[Deleted472477User]

You know, (I say this purely for the thought) the fantasy perception of females by males (being, women being damsels in distress and males needing to accomplish all roles in life.) was culturally and lawfully enforced up until the woman's movements of the 1900s and previously Native American culture. So in reality, males have been trying to force that fantasy ideal on women throughout history. It wasn't until the 70's (?) that women openly served in militaries around the world or held jobs (WWI) that men previously held in times forgotten.

 

Perhaps the 'gaming perception' of women is basically man's way of coping with his inherent loss of dominance in society... hmmm....

 

 

I think this could be part of it. It would certainly explain part of the reason--beyond catering to the 16-34 male demographic--that badas women are put into skimpy outfits with overinflated boobs. It makes them appear less threatening. It might also account for the number of game mods featuring big boobed bimbos. Even though she's the Nerevarine/helps defeat Mehrunes Dagon/saves the world, she's far less threatening--therefore more appealing to some--in stelettos and sporting H-cups.

[DeadMansFist849]

It won't affect a pre-existing perception of women, per se, except maybe for reinforcing the stereotype that there are no female gamers, or at least no heterosexual ones--if you look on Nexus that is.

 

My perception of women has changed through my experiences in gaming, for the better that is. Before I got into gaming communities, I didn't know any females I had anything in common with. Now, I do. However, games themselves haven't changed my perception of women in general--it's the people I've met.

[Amayakyrol]

The vast majority of characters in video games are simply fulfulling tropes that existed for decades (if not centuries) before video games.

 

As far as how females are portrayed in the games it depends heavily on the gaming company. There aren't really many strong female NPCs that I can recall particularly in any Bethesda games. The two Obsidian games that I've played (Kotor 2 and NWN2) both had strong female characters, to the point where I think the females in Kotor 2 could roflstomp the guys in a fight. Bioware tends to have good female characters.

 

Then you have the mysoginist companies that produce crap like GTA, but they're targeting the gangsta wannabe crowd, so what do you expect? :P

[TheCalliton]

i voted for the first option, women have always remained in the highest esteem in my mind

nothing is more beautiful than a well crafted woman (though my mind is on both sides of the fence since i kinda like guys too) but the female form is just amazing! so beautifully crafted, so graceful so... perfect

though i admit, most girls i know are kind of morons

but women tend to be nicer to me... i dont get along with other men well

[Vindekarr]

Frankly I think it's only improved my sense of feminism.

 

Characters like Cortana, Alyx Vance, DeRosa, and many others I think are women portrayed at their best.

 

Strong willed, charismatic, intelligent, capable.

 

But then again you've also got bad representations like the endless parade of "scantily clad badass"-es.

 

Frankly stick the two together and you've got the point Im trying to make.

 

They're human beings, both genders are, a diference of genitalia does not do anything to improve what is unmistakebly a stupid, annoying, amounts to nothing race of loafers.

 

Because some few people are truly inspirational, strong, charismatic, resolute. Able to inspire courage and belief. Many others are dumb, petty, irritating, and generaly pointless. And gender has nothing to do with being in either catergory.

 

And dare I say it, I reckon the smart heroic ones can be dumb and annoying at times, and the dumb ones have their true moments of heroism. But again, it has nothing to do with gender. Dumb is dumb. Just dumb.

Edited December 16, 2010 by Vindekarr

[GetOutOfBox]

Video games don't sway my beliefs in anything. For example, I enjoy playing GTA or having evil characters in oblivion, but I would never even consider killing prostitutes or slaying people in their beds in real life, its a game. It allows you to explore different parts of your personality without harming or bothering anyone(i.e the dark side, everyone has that carnal human buried under the sophisticated modern human personalities), but if a video game changes your perception or beliefs in reality (assuming that the video game did not bring credible 3rd party references for concepts in the video game, i.e the plot in the video game involved Quantum Physics, which you were previously unaware of, so you read some articles about quantum physics and that changed your perspective of things is exempted from what I'm about to say), than you probably have a psychological disorder, such as schizophrenia.

 

The same goes for video games portrayal of women, I base my opinions and beliefs about women on IRL experiences, not fictional characters.

 

 

They're human beings, both genders are, a diference of genitalia does not do anything to improve what is unmistakebly a stupid, annoying, amounts to nothing race of loafers.

 

I love how its popular to hate on your own race, so many people seem to feel some sort of gratification when they condemn humans for their shortcomings. Just keep in mind that we are a race more powerful than any seen before on this planet, clearly demonstrated by our technology and lifestyles. Even the most dumb (dumb as in low IQ, but not mentally handicapped) people are still much more intelligent than Chimpanzee's, who are the second most intelligent species currently known.

Edited December 17, 2010 by GetOutOfBox

[Karasuman]

My opinions on this subject -

 

I tend to work the other way around. My perceptions of women, or at least the ones I like, influence my choices in games.

 

In a game that allows me to choose, I typically play a female character. The reasons I do this are varied. In some games, such as fighting games, female characters are typically faster than many of their male counterparts and I prefer speed and responsiveness over power. And it isn't just the whole "I don't want to look at male butts for hours" thing. I think that in many games, as in real life, female movements are generally more graceful to watch.

 

That ties into how I use them in RPGs such as Oblivion. If I play a female character, I usually play her in a way that is symbolic of the traits that I like in real women. I like strong-willed women with class. I like them to be decent people but I also like them to have a mean streak. Thus this is how most of my female characters end up because I cannot stand the weak-willed female types you see in a lot of games, movies, etc.

 

I have to inject enough real life ideology into an RPG to make it plausible to me. I don't want my female character running around in string bikinis fighting trolls and minotaurs. That's highly impractical. I don't like to dress and undress my characters all day. I don't need them to have boobs the size of satellites, and I don't need to watch my character sleep. That's creepy to me, like some kind of virtual voyeur or something.

 

I simply use my views of women in the real world and inject them into whatever game I am playing, rather than allowing the game to skew my perceptions of what women are, how they should be treated, and how they should or would act in a given situation. There always needs to be a healthy level of separation there.

Edited December 16, 2010 by Karasuman

[Amayakyrol]

It IS virtual voyeur.

 

I like your point about the actual effect being a female has on gameplay. Like, you I prefer agility and precision over strength and brute force. Another issue is lack of support for male characters in games with lots of mods. It seems as though female mods outnumber male mods 10 to 1. :P

 

Not to mention male characters often get pigeonholed into being a bruiser type character which I greatly dislike.