The Myth of the Female Gamer

Male gamers like to think that females in the games are a myth.  But that's more because of the guys deliberately making it difficult for them to just enjoy the game.

Dueling Analogs had perhaps the best strip explaining it along with his comment.  A follow up is here and here.

“When your father stood up, told me I sucked and then exposed himself on Xbox Live I knew I was going to marry him someday.”

I wish this was an exaggeration but it isn't.  What the hell are these guys thinking?  Is it still the 'girls are scary'?  What about the guys who roll female toons and have them act in very unrealistic ways?  Slutzilla in Thenoob comic and the Dark Elf Goblins mock suck gamers but there all over the place.

Is it some deeper need to bully anyone who is different from you, hidden inside us til the internet lets the ugly puss ridden mess out into the light with its promise on anonymity?

Though it may be Goblins has a grain of truth in it.

The no ideas part.  Its something nailed by the Noob too where the female gamer making a character is upset that she has to show so much flesh while the male is busy drooling.  This is woven deeply into the warcraft armor design - since it was made by a bunch of male nerds who hadn't a clue.  Oh and just so you get the full picture here is the same gear on a guy too.

So, is there a way to make everything all good and happy for everyone?  Not entirely.  The buys running these games need to grow up enough to realize female players need a slightly different aesthetic than a male.  But isn't always necessary to give up all 'teh sex0r' to make it work.  Over on The Escapist Jim has a video that really comes close to nailing it.

Since this is a Warcraft blog Ill focus on the game I love.  You need to have armor sets that expose skin on both sides of the fence.  make 'Conan' style sweaty.  Honest kids thinking about sweaty men in armor doesn't make you 'ghay'.  Its what you do alone in a dark room thinking about them that does that.

Ah Zero Punctuation, home of so many gay jokes.

Anyway back on topic.

Add in something to cover the skin, all it has to do is apply a color under the armor to skin and you wont have any reason to think its anything that pained on jeans.  It works well with the Warcraft shirts.  If a girls wants to give out a valley of amazing proportions or cover it up is then up to the players.  In fact I have a perfect example in the current armor.  My priest's robes have a startling amount of exposed skin 'stock' but I add a nice tasteful shirt and not only does it blend well with the colors it makes her more modest.

Lil Xt here because of All Things Azeroth :)

This way the twits can be twits...because really you cant stop them.  The people who want to play with their clothes and sometimes be sexy and sometimes something more conservative can do what they like.  Its really a win-win situation.

So whats the hold up?  Game developers who still mock players for asking about a way to manage non stat clothing, and laugh at female players who don't want to look like lingerie models.  The male's perception of how a woman should look still dominates this game and regrettably it doesn't look like anything that will change quickly given the good old boys network in charge.

To the right is a sweet comic by the guy at Cont+Alt+Del.

If only it were that easy.

'Cause I know I'd break some thumbs.