Monday, September 8, 2008

Stuff about being a girl gamer

Contrary to my un-updated blog, yes, I am still alive. Thanks to the culprit called real life (and Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series and Diner Dash on Nintendo DS, plus work woes to boot), things have been pretty busy for me.

Anyway, here's something I've been meaning to write a commentary about: Granado Espada's Gamer Girls.

If you know the whole story to it, chances are you know its herstory, stemming from the Community Managers, down to the gamers themselves. In fact, a long thread has been devoted to the discussion of this program, although admittedly, nothing worthwhile came up from the discussions, except for the proverbial masochistic harangue of "There are no girls on the Internets".

NineMoons has given us her own thoughts about this, and although I share her sentiments, I have a few things to add on my own.

1. Guys should learn how to grow up. Seriously. Just because there are girls playing online games, that doesn't mean they're guys masquerading as girls. You don't own the exclusive aptitude to play games.

2. Although I do applaud our CMs for starting the ball rolling for gamer girls, my only opinion is that it's not a huge issue at all. Don't get me wrong, but the fact that it's being hyped up only creates/worsens the gender disparity. You'd only have to look at the forums to know what I mean.

Seriously, it's nice to know that girls can pwn guys any time, but tooting our horns won't do that much difference. Refer to #1 for emphasis.

3. Why feature only the good looking girls? Not only will they elicit/bring up more masochistic discussions (in addition to weird advances and mindless ogling), it further aggravates the entire scenario. Ok, I know the gamer features are far from over, but it would be nice if all girls regardless of looks will be given space. Of course, we have to respect other's decision if they wish to remain anonymous.

I'm not speaking as if the gamer girl features are over. This may sound contradictory to my earlier point, but those who are willing to be featured should also be free to express their thoughts and not be hindered by what other people will say. And it would not be such a bad idea to feature the low to mid-level girl gamers of GE. We want to foster the spirit of community here and character levels are supposed to be irrelevant.

4. This one's for the girls: We don't need to prove ourselves to ANYONE. Regardless if you're a level 1 player or an Expert level player, the fact is that you love the game, that's more than enough reasons for you to continue playing. Let us not be impeded by our counterparts' serious, albeit wonked up, perspective on gaming. We're here to play and we're here to have fun!

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In other news, I has a Bai Hu! And since he's technically a Korean RNPC, I named him after my favorite Kpop idol, Ahn Chil Hyun, also known as Kangta to some.

Excuse me for the fangirling, but I've been wanting to give him that name ever since I knew he's from Coria. Haha. So I'm currently leveling both a Fighter and Bai Hu (at this rate, I'm never gonna be Expert if I keep on vetting new characters =_=).

But the good news is, my Gavin has a new playmate! >:)


5 comments:

PJ Punla said...

lol you were reading SMeyer. has your brain recovered yet? i can buy you some brain bleach....

re your comments on the girl gamers:
1-agreed like WOAH. just because the video game industry started with boys doesn't mean the boys have to keep it to themselves.

2-not agreed. i would not consider the girl gamer events as hyping up, but more of consciousness-raising. we just want to let people know we're not a myth.

3-i'm not good-looking, my dear. maybe it's just coincidence that the first group of girls featured were easy on the eyes. face it, i won't be winning any beauty contests, and i'm going to be on that interview list.

4-we would have more fun if the boys would just stop harassing us. at some point, we need to fight back.

and *facepalm-LOL* at your pic of Gavin and Bai Hu. make the boys' heads go asplodey yay!

Unknown said...

@NM: already read the host, and i liked it. i'm still starting on getting the hang of twilight. i'm not on the interesting part yet, but i do have my hopes up.

re your comments: different strokes for different folks, i guess. imho, we don't have to prove anything. it's good that girls are being acknowledged and we have said our point. we are indeed not a myth. my point is, let's just do what we do best. if we keep on feeding the morons (aka MEN), society will not progress.

Anonymous said...

kill Ragnar and the guys!!!XD~

@baihu portion
Wish I have those cracks so I can get Feng and Bai (u.u) ZhangZiyi and Jaejoong yehyeh that would pwn. lulz.

Unknown said...

@arc: perhaps when they're reborn in their next lives, they'll be living as roaches or insects, only to meet a very timely demise. >:) karma pwns.

the blue cracks burned a hole in my pocket. T_T

Anonymous said...

@DS

yeah squished under your very feet XD~