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gamefreak1972: For those who don't know what feminism is, though they think they do, a bonus question:
3) Your sister and her husband work full time jobs, but not all of their days off are the same and your sister needs to get some things done before the baby is due. You and she decide to run some errands and go get lunch. As you are walking down the street, your sister is catcalled by men on the street. "Whore" "Slut", and various comments about her anatomy are yelled after her. After all, even though your sister is married its obvious she's had sex since she's pregnant. Remember just a few short decades ago THIS WAS COMMON - and in some places it still happens (pregnant or not). Pregnant women were expected to stay home, although a short walk around sunset in the neighborhood with the husband was considered "socially ok". Would you do anything about it, or does she deserve this?

I realize that a lot of the posters here are too young to have seen how things were, and there are stories from before my time that are even worse. So, for those that still don't get it, I'd recommend you at least read a book or take a class on feminism or even just talk to your mom/grandmother/aunt before you bash it. Just a thought.
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langurmonkey: There is feminism(#1) and there is evil is everywhere, all men suck and should die, women are better feminism(#2). I bash feminism #2 because it is the right thing to do. Unfortunately, most feminists today are pro feminism #2 aka crazy feminists. Some people call these people, feminazis. They are everywhere and try to destroy everything.
I am against anyone or anything who discriminates. Yes, there are "evil" men and "evil" women. PEOPLE can be evil, but that is people, not feminism in particular. The "feminazis" of which you speak are NOT "everywhere", waiting for you under your bed or in your closet. Yes, regrettably they do exist, but they are NOT a majority. Most feminists actually LIKE men, and believe they can do better and believe in raising their children (male and female) to be better PEOPLE. A true feminist is as much against male stereotypes as against the female ones.
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scampywiak: I would like to see how they came up with this data, and if they removed social games and The Sims, what the numbers would be.
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.05% female gamers. ;)


I think the one weakness that will take mankind the longest to overcome is "Loneliness."
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langurmonkey: Most men enjoy being social but can live with not being social. The evidence is out there for everyone to see. Women and men are different. Women and men also have different backgrounds when it comes to history. Men and women, will never be the same.
My experience tells me that this is a field where the average women and the average man is not (noticeably) different.

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langurmonkey: Then I must move to Poland and find a Polish girlfriend. :P Talk about a German RPG for the PC from 2001 at a university here in the USA, and see what happens... This is what happens.

http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/150/505/f30fd24c56e1bcfc926883d6a51d5a00.gif
You should visit Sweden then. Not too long ago I spent an entire lunch break at my uni talking about Morrowind mods with some girls there, and the day before that I talked about Age of Empires 2 and viable strategies with another girl. Girls who play video games are incredibly common over here. It has almost reached the point where it is a viable icebreaker when trying to talk to random people at parties. Once it became a bit more socially acceptable to be a "geek girl", geek girls became about as common as geek guys.
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langurmonkey: Most men enjoy being social but can live with not being social. The evidence is out there for everyone to see. Women and men are different. Women and men also have different backgrounds when it comes to history. Men and women, will never be the same.
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AFnord: My experience tells me that this is a field where the average women and the average man is not (noticeably) different.

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langurmonkey: Then I must move to Poland and find a Polish girlfriend. :P Talk about a German RPG for the PC from 2001 at a university here in the USA, and see what happens... This is what happens.

http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/150/505/f30fd24c56e1bcfc926883d6a51d5a00.gif
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AFnord: You should visit Sweden then. Not too long ago I spent an entire lunch break at my uni talking about Morrowind mods with some girls there, and the day before that I talked about Age of Empires 2 and viable strategies with another girl. Girls who play video games are incredibly common over here. It has almost reached the point where it is a viable icebreaker when trying to talk to random people at parties. Once it became a bit more socially acceptable to be a "geek girl", geek girls became about as common as geek guys.
I've been to Sweden many times. I love Sweden. Last time I was there was over 4 years ago though. All the Swedish girls I talked to, weren't very geek like so this could be a new thing in Sweden. These girls were around my age so today, they'd all be 27, 28, 29. I wish I could move to Sweden. I'd even be willing to do janitor work if it means living in Sweden.
Post edited August 11, 2013 by langurmonkey
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Vestin: Best of all - it makes your point even more valid. SOCIETY makes women this and that... but not all societies do so in the same way, right? Globalization be damned - I don't think things work here quite in the same ways (for better or worse).
I'm on board with what you're saying here. I was speaking from an American perspective, as was the article. It wouldn't surprise me at all if the social stigma is different in Poland.

And yeah that's kind of the whole point. Societies create the idea of what a "gamer" is and what a "woman" is and where to two meet. That doesn't change the basic fact that this article isn't making a point unless it shows who is playing what, since it's well known and super common that women play casual games. What we need to work on is them playing "core" games.

Though honestly even that is a question, isn't it? Once you accept gender roles are social constructs you begin to debate when that is bad and when it is good.
Hey guys, what's going on in this thread?
Post edited August 11, 2013 by sauvignon1
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langurmonkey: I've been to Poland. All the girls I encountered, didn't speak English and I only knew several words of Polish. It's hard to impress a woman without speaking her language. :(
Back in my days we'd been taught it since third grade, primary school, and since then it's been moved to first grade. The people you met were morons -_-.
As far as I can tell, one has the best chances in university cities and tourist destinations... which is where I'm at ;P.

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langurmonkey: Beautiful country(the land) but a lot of buildings there are ugly, no offense.
Oh, you've seen Warsaw ^^'...
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langurmonkey: If I wasn't so lucky in Szczecin, I'd probably be trapped and homeless in Poland right now...a funny story for you, I bet.
Actually - this sounds like one hell of an anecdote...

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gamefreak1972: ...keep in mind she was in a "safe" place, talking to friends, not waxing poetic online about her love for Gothic.
I kept thinking about this... What WOULD be an unsafe place? Is it only the Internet? Who would the hostility be coming from - other women or men?
As another anecdote - my ex-roommate's attractiveness at a party went from "kinda ugly" to "center of attention" once she mentioned playing Starcraft... No definite info on how drunk everyone involved was, but (as far as I've heard) the reactions were unanimously positive.
Hell - maybe it has something to do with the iron curtain?

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AFnord: You should visit Sweden then. Not too long ago I spent an entire lunch break at my uni talking about Morrowind mods with some girls there, and the day before that I talked about Age of Empires 2 and viable strategies with another girl. Girls who play video games are incredibly common over here.
And they'd probably speak English with both the finesse and pronunciation I was so envious of in our exchange students *_*...

For a moment I felt somewhat guilty of derailing, and then it occured to me that the thread is basically "Hey (geek guys)! There are geek GIRLS!". "How can we get our hands on them?" is only a natural reaction ;P...

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StingingVelvet: Though honestly even that is a question, isn't it? Once you accept gender roles are social constructs you begin to debate when that is bad and when it is good.
Unless one falls into depths of "anthropological relativism", at which point there is no longer any overarching "good" or "bad", and if a given society is into some particular form of mutilation or persecution, that's just "the way they are" and it would be unjust to try and deprive them of their heritage ;P.
On the other hand - "cultural universals", I've heard, are a dirty word...

Meanwhile: Jenny Haniver.
Post edited August 11, 2013 by Vestin
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StingingVelvet: You're being purposefully ignorant here to push an agenda, which you usually do, which is why I dislike debating with you. For one thing of COURSE record and radio companies care which genders tend to listen to which music. Of COURSE they have that data, because it is useful to them. Secondly with all music (and movies) the interaction is the same, listen or watch and listen. With games the entire experience is different.

I'm really, REALLY, not sure what you think you're gaining by insisting companies shouldn't pay any attention to vast genre differences when examining gender gaming statistics. "I love ignorance!" is how it sounds to me.
I don't think we have ever debated. I don't consider pointing out your logically fallacious talking points a debate. Oh, that reminds me:

https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/false-cause
https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/anecdotal
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Darling_Jimmy: I don't think we have ever debated. I don't consider pointing out your logically fallacious talking points a debate. Oh, that reminds me:
You make no counter-argument what-so-ever, nor do you tell me why relevant data is unimportant. Shocker.
This is doubly amusing since I am the one asking for more research and better data reporting, so that we can avoid using anecdotal evidence and fallacies.
Post edited August 11, 2013 by StingingVelvet
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Darling_Jimmy: I don't think we have ever debated. I don't consider pointing out your logically fallacious talking points a debate. Oh, that reminds me:
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StingingVelvet: You make no counter-argument what-so-ever, nor do you tell me why relevant data is unimportant. Shocker.
He can't. A single conjecture from the above and you could post THIS ;P. On the other hand - he can perfectly adhere to the "Gameranger school of thought" which consists of pointing out that we cannot be sure that you are right... ad nauseam.
Unfortunately - it's hard to firmly grasp the difference between petitio principii and a well-meaning approximation of reality...
Anyway, let's all socially construct a peaceful world with no violence or difference and then we can all play the same video games because love.
Post edited August 11, 2013 by StingingVelvet
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StingingVelvet: You make no counter-argument what-so-ever, nor do you tell me why relevant data is unimportant. Shocker.
Why do you believe it is relevant?
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Darling_Jimmy: Why do you believe it is relevant?
I've explained that already. You never replied or addressed those points. You're also still not adding anything, just poking others.

I'm not replying to you again until you add substance to the discussion.
Henry Jenkins (MIT) - Impact of gaming. Myths:

"4. Almost no girls play computer games.
Historically, the video game market has been predominantly male. However, the percentage of women playing games has steadily increased over the past decade. Women now slightly outnumber men playing Web-based games. Spurred by the belief that games were an important gateway into other kinds of digital literacy, efforts were made in the mid-90s to build games that appealed to girls. More recent games such as The Sims were huge crossover successes that attracted many women who had never played games before. Given the historic imbalance in the game market (and among people working inside the game industry), the presence of sexist stereotyping in games is hardly surprising. Yet it's also important to note that female game characters are often portrayed as powerful and independent. In his book Killing Monsters, Gerard Jones argues that young girls often build upon these representations of strong women warriors as a means of building up their self confidence in confronting challenges in their everyday lives."

Psychologically, a girl that plays some rpg/fps are usually more extrovert, tougher, and somewhat more down to earth, than a girl that occasional plays some FB game, and spends all her time in front of a mirror, without necessary having a strong figure in their life. But I`m not going to run to deep into that rabbit hole.

That`s just my own personal experience. Nothing else. :D


ESA report 2011:
The average game player age is 37
18% under 18
58% male vs 42% women
The average age of the most frequent game purchaser is 41

ESA report 2013:
The average game player age is 30
32% under 18
55% men vs 45% women
The average age of the most frequent game purchaser 35


They`re getting younger and younger these days, right? :D
But it`s only natural given that more and more kids are getting a handheld/smart phone, and would rather play on those than on a normal computer, because it is portable and/or easier to share experiences with other kids in their social development. Those games are usually either very small and compact games, or browser games, effectively excluding bigger AA games.

https://www.esrb.org/about/images/vidGames04.png (2010/2008 I believe)
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StingingVelvet: I've explained that already. You never replied or addressed those points. You're also still not adding anything, just poking others.

I'm not replying to you again until you add substance to the discussion.
Well, I took a trip down memory lane and the closest post I could find to an answer is this one:


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StingingVelvet: In all seriousness I don't really know what agenda would push someone to say it doesn't matter. Of course it matters. The data is of most use when advertisers, developers, publishers and journalists know what those percentages are playing and how the "50/50" split is actually reflected in games as diverse as Skyrim, Call of Duty, Peggle and Farmville.
This isn't an answer and it is easy to see why:


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StingingVelvet: Skyrim
Not a genre.

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StingingVelvet: Call of Duty
Not a genre.

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StingingVelvet: Peggle
Not a genre.

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StingingVelvet: Farmville
Not a genre.

You can be sure publishers have the statistics about individual games (largely through online accounts now) but it would be foolish to equate that data with gender based genre bias.