Girl gamers

Goddess, Nobody or Equal? Which girl gamer type are you? It depends not only on what you’re looking for but who you’re playing with in the magical world of gaming…

The mouse is clicked and the keyboard is tapped repeatedly time and time over as a rapidly moving, high graphic, time-wasting game is played out on the screen.

Conversations take places, scores are broken, there are winners and angry losers but behind every online character there is a real life person – and, contrary to what most think, many of them are females.

I admit it, I like to play online games. I can waste hours of my day avoiding important jobs by gaming. It’s the ultimate time-sink.

Some might say that makes me a geek… I can live with that. Jonathan Ross’s wife Jane Goldman is a die-hard gamer. There are plenty of girl gamer networks out there filled with fully-functioning human beings that happen to be girls who game. You don’t have to be a geek to game, and you don’t have to feel like a second citizen for being a geek. What does annoy me is that many other online players seem to also think that behind my character is a man sat clicking the mouse.

I can assure you all that I am definitely not a guy. It’s worth noting that once I point this out to my fellow gamers I am then treated in a completely different way to how the other gamers treated me when they thought I had testicles.

A friend and fellow online gamer (male) informs me that this is because men have decided that women gamers are only there in an attempt to ‘hang out with the lads’ – or at least are not going to take the game seriously.

Because of this assumption, once a guy knows you’re a girl gamer they will treat you in one of two ways:

1) The Goddess

This is when the male players all turn their attention on you. Suddenly you go from having no friends to your friend list being filled. But it isn’t your gaming knowledge they are after. They just want some fun flirting, and if you’re prepared to play the game then they’ll give you tips and help you get better at the game.

Now, many women may well wish to be treated like this in real life: Lots of attention, lots of pampering. However it just gets annoying in-game when your conversation window is constantly flashing full of chat with a double meaning.

2) The Nobody

You go from being able to have a normal conversation in the gaming world to having nobody interested in what you have to say. You apparently haven’t played for long enough or haven’t garned enough in-game knowledge to make a worthy comment, so what you say is not important.

In real life women (in fact, all people) like to be listened to (Which is why men get moaned at so much for paying more attention to the television). In-game is no different – we want to be listened to as well!

I know a lot of female gamers. I can’t say that any of us fall into either one of these categories. Therefore, I would like to introduce a new one:

3) The Equal

The female gamer with whom you are able to discuss the game, as well as being able to team up, party, level with or simply have a laugh whilst spending hours and hours on the game.

However I’m not sure that’s exactly what female gamers want. They would like to be equal – but maybe with a little hint of being treated slightly deferentially. After all, every girl wants to be treated as special, really.