Girl Gamers: Misunderstood?

Last week, I went on holiday on the island of Mallorca with a friend who is also a games journalist. We spent a large majority of the holiday in bars and clubs, but one day my journalist friend had been so ill we didn't end up in bars.

I dragged him to what is, in my mind, the next best place: The Arcades. I sat down at Virtua Striker 2002 and began playing the single player tournament mode. Halfway through my first round match, my England versus Brazil, a rather striking young woman walks in with what I can only assume was her boyfriend and puts a credit in Time Crisis 3. My friend was amazed. Despite working in the videogame industry for various huge websites for quite some time, he appeared to find the sight of such an attractive woman playing a game quite shocking.

Honestly, I'm used to this kind of behaviour from him, so I ignored him. Goal to Brazil. Balls. As I desperately try to pass the ball forward past their stunning defence, he finally speaks on the subject. "Look how she holds the gun," he said, nodding to her. Throw in -- I chance a look. She's holding the gun... well, the only way I can describe it is like a girl. Her boyfriend looks a bit of an expert at the game. I laugh and say, "Yeah, reminds me of my friend Claire." A while back, I'd taught her how to shoot properly with my airgun. "Good for her," I continue. "It's nice to see a girl like her having a bash of a game."

She certainly didn't seem like a gamer, but she was playing with her boyfriend and I thought that was nice to see. You never know -- she might enjoy it so much, she might go and pick it up for PS2 and join our ranks. Of course, I could be totally wrong. She could be one of us already. As I crash out to Brazil and slip in a second euro to face them again, my friend counts down her lives for some reason, and becomes quite surprised as she manages to get to the third stage of level one with just one life after losing two early on. Eventually, the first level's boss overcomes both her and her boyfriend, and they both leave the arcade.

"I wish more girls played games," he said. One down to Brazil again, I reply. "A lot of girls play games," I shrug, hitting the cabinet as I lose to Brazil yet again. In goes another Euro. "What about those two girls who work in GAME?"

He shrugs and looks at me like I'm insane, and then he says the thing that stuns me, especially from such an experienced games journalist. "Yeah, but those two are fat and ugly. Most of them are." "Them", he then elaborated, were female gamers.

I was stunned. So stunned, in fact, that I went and scored a goal. I bang my hand down on the cabinet and shout "fucking right" People look and stare. I don't care. I'm winning. "What does that matter?" I ask, "They're gamers and they're girls. What's the difference?"

"I dunno," he continues, as I beat Brazil and advance to take on Croatia. "It'd just be nice to see some girl gamers."

"You mean good looking girl gamers," I say as I play Croatia and win on penalties. He shrugs, which from him is a definite yes.

As I begin my climatic battle with France, I explain to him how my work on a Final Fantasy website has taught me otherwise. Girls just love Final Fantasy. Compared to other gaming sites, I've noticed that FF sites have a much higher female population, and our UFFSite is no exception. I told him that on my site there were several girls on my site who defied his stereotype, but at this he just demanded photographic proof.

I laughed at this as I lost 2-0 to France and slipped in another Euro. This time, the match goes to penalties. He continues to elaborate on his point, saying his site had only ever had two girl staff members -- one a moron, the other never did any work. I try to persuade him that this is in no way indicative of girl gamers once more, but he shrugs and grunts the points away, not really taking them in. On the bright side, I slam in 5 fantastic goals in the penalty shootout to France's four, winning the tournament. It took four euros, but I did it.

Through this article I ask (and encourage response) to the question: Why are girl gamers stereotyped so? It seems the general public and indeed some experienced game journalists seem to think that female gamers fit into a particular stereotype.

Maybe my friend, who has and will continue to remain anonymous in this article to avoid the reputation of him or the site that employs him being tarnished is simply sexist, but I feel that sadly he shares a view that is all too common amongst gamers today.

Times are clearly changing, with more and more women playing games and more games designed for women hitting the market, attitudes like this need to change. Many game developers are now stating that gaming as been a static market for the past ten years, aiming at the same target audience with the same profit margin, and many say this needs to change. At Nintendo's E3 Press Confrence this year, Reggie stated that for gaming to be considered a true mass medium, it needs to appeal to a wider audience.

For it to appeal to a wider audience, attitudes like this need to change. In gamers, and certainly in journalists, as in many respects, we represent the entire industry.

So I say good for the girl gamers. Good for the Frag Dolls, the PMS Clan, and any other group that represents girl gamers in a positive light. It's about time this attitude stops.

And that's the intended message of this article. Well, that and I suck at Virtua Striker.