Sunday, December 6, 2009

Tale Forty Eight: The Women Issue in WoW

I’ve been lurking around some blogs/posts/Trade chat the last week looking for a topic to write about – other than Icecrown and Patch 3.3.

And I stumbled on this gem:

Some people believe that girls can’t play WoW as well as boys.

What is this, kindergarten again?

Let me clear a few things up:

No, we don’t have cooties.

No, we don’t always have pillow fights topless at sleep overs.

And last but not least, yes, we play WoW.

And some of us play it pretty darn good!

The base of argument here (well in Trade Chat – Ah, Cenarius, how filled with drama you are!) was the same old thing. “Guys can physically do more than girls.”

Alright, but this is WoW. This is not Real Life where a guy can lift up 100 pounds and I’m dying as I lift up 10 pounds (Yes, I’m weak. Leave me alone!)

In a game, we’re equals. Oh yes. A girl can kick your ass in PvP. She can beat you on the damage meters. She can be an amazing tank. The one that I will not buy is that we make better healers because we’re naturally nurturers.

Just go ask my friends how nurturing I am. I won’t go pick up after you, I will not kiss your boo-boo and I plain don’t care about your latest drama.

I mean, last time my two best friends had a major fight I immediately told them, “I am Switzerland. Leave me out of this”.

Pretty non-nurturing if you ask me.

Apperantly, a girl gamer is still a weird concept. I got invited to do Ony 10 the other day and when I called out the Deep Breath in vent, three guys –whose voices had not even cracked yet- said ‘Woah! A chick! And she’s totally kicking your ass on the healing meter, Pally”.

I /sighed in real life. Then the paladin healing with me made up a bunch of lame excuses such as ‘Druids are OP’ or ‘she’s better geared than me’. Yeah right.

I just don’t get it. Why is a girl gamer such a taboo?

In my guild, 3/12 of us are girls. Two of us are healers, the other dps. In my guild, we don’t get any of this crap. We’re all raiders. Then again, it’s a real family-style guild so that’s probably why.

In my Horde guild, with over 300 toons (alts included), we have a healthy dose of boys and gals. The only time I’ve really thought ‘woah, she’s a chick’ was in an Ulduar 10 run and our tank’s wife spoke and sounded more like a seven year old than 20 something. Mr Littlebark and I just stared at each other and burst out laughing. Grimm, in his ultimate glory of geniuses, changed her guild note to ‘tanks wife ‘honey, I’m seven!’ Whenever I think of her, all I see is her famous ‘Shut upppppppppppp!’ in g chat. Slightly annoying? Yes. But that’s her thing, and we love her for it.

So, I guess I myself don’t think of myself as a chick in WoW. I think myself as Littlebark. What really made my teeth grind was when someone suggested that girls play boy toons so they don’t have to go through the whole ordeal.

Why should I have to look like an ugly Night Elf Male just because you’re too immature to accept that I am a girl and I play?

I heard from another friend that there was a guy who kept harassing her after a run (Vent had been used) and he kept telling her to send him her picture, because her voice had given him a – well, gentlemen, you know the terminology.

Even /ignore did not stop this guy, and in the end she got a name change and reported him to a GM.

Alright, so guys can be pretty immature. But it does not help when girls in WoW cause unnecessary drama. A girl who snarls “If your name isn’t fucking ---- don’t fucking start the event” will leave impression of ‘man, what a bitch!’ in a persons’ mind.

If you talk and talk and talk, not allowing the raid leader to say anything, you leave the expression of ‘Jebus Christ on a Crutch. Shut her up. Girls talk too much.”

So, I can see how guys immediately think girls = trouble. But honestly, we’re not. Most of us are amazing players who love the game.

7 comments:

  1. I agree with you, except on the point of pillow-fights.. You should know, as a girl, that ALL girls have topless pillowfights whenever they are alone with other girls.

    This is what I believe.

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  2. I've been in guilds with girls that just...wont...stop...giggling. I've been in runs with guys that flirt endlessly with people with female toons/a female that talks on vent.

    It's really unfortunate, but I'd really just rather not have to deal with it all. So now I play mostly male toons and only talk in vent if its absolutely necessary. It really just is the path of least resistance, and besides, male character models tend to be better constructed, in my opinion, so I really don't mind.

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  3. Hey LB, It's Bellamuerte. Lovin' your blog btw. A side note, that "7 year" comment had me rolling. I know her in RL and let's just say she acts the same way as she talks. It's a pretty accurate description really. But I have a slightly different take on "being a girl playing wow." I'll admit it, I'm super intimidated doing most raids and instances because I don't have a lot of experience with them. I have a tendency to just keep my mouth shut on vent unless absolutely necessary because I don't want other people going it's another stupid chick. Term does his best to help when he can. Not sure really what I can do about it other just do more runs. But it's nice to hear about others who have similar problems and not feel like I'm the only one.

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  4. Thanks for the comments (:

    Flawlless: Alright, I give. We totally do have topless pillow fights. Its just better when guys arent *quite* sure (;

    Jyorore: It really is unfortunate. We shouldn't have to avoid the fact that we're female and we play.

    Bellamuerte: Hiya, Bella! I must admit that Venus is one of the reasons I miss Lords. And you're definetly NOT alone. I too, keep my mouth firmly shut in vent and only speak when I absolutely have too.

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  5. Hmm.... topless pillow fights during sleepovers, why didn't I ever think of that?!
    Of course I'd rather watch than participate, LOL.

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  6. I may be a little late replying to this (sorry) but I completely hate this division ingame.. Personally I don't talk on vent much, that's mostly down to I can't get a word in so I gave up a long time ago, but once I feel comfortable enough I might.

    In a pug, I wait to see how mature a group of people are before I accidentally mention my bf being a tank we could us or some other such giveaway .. I find the raiders don't care, they get it, it's nothing special. The puggers get weird about it.

    Only way I can get past the division is to generalise people, pretty sad isn't it?

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  7. @Setsuna: Hehe. The pillow fight thing came from a WoW player from my work. He was listening to me rant and to make me laugh said off the bat: "Girls play video games!? I thought all they're good for are topless pillow fights at slumber parties!" I LOLed.

    @Jaedia: That's pretty much how I have to play in PuGs too. Only when I'm sure that I wont get ridiculed for being a girl, do I suggest that Mr. Littlebark can come heal for us or tank or dps. It's plain disgusting. And its never too late for commenting (:

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