Opinion: Why Games Aren’t Just for Guys

On twitter, @ladyluck34 sent me a link to an article she found insulting.  I had to check out the CNN article titled, “Five bloody new video games for guys”.  The headline was interesting but I know headlines can typically get blown out for a reaction, so I didn’t pay much attention. The article was written by Scott Steinberg, a respected individual in the world of gaming. He runs his own game consulting firm and is often interviewed on major networks. Imagine my surprise when within the first couple of paragraphs, I realize that the headline had not been sensationalized, but that he honestly meant to write an article about five games that guys would like because, “Sometimes you just want to saw the tentacles off a slavering demon or invite a rampaging zombie to suck on your double-barreled shotgun. ”

From there he talks about shooing the wife out and that maybe it’s testosterone that makes guys love these games. That made me laugh because of how many women I personally know who really LOVE killing zombies.

The five games are just the cuff of what is/will be coming out this year for gamers. God of War: Ghost of Sparta, Shank, Halo Reach, the Cataclysm expansion for WoW, and Dead Rising 2. Those should all be great games but all games enjoyed by any gender.

The article itself is offensive for a contextual reason; perhaps it would fit better in a guys magazine like Maxim. A place where the target audience is men. However, CNN is a news website and I do not expect that “boys club” mentality when I read articles on CNN. I visit CNN for news.  That news can include video games and even articles informing readers about the best games coming out this year. But, to write it instead with a “you don’t belong” tone is incredibly insulting. Particularly because it feels like Mr. Steinberg should know better. As a games industry consultant he should be knowledgeable about gaming trends and should know that women are the fastest growing group of gamers, that gaming teen girls outnumber teen boys, and that in World of Warcraft the genders are nearly even.  But with that tone and where the article was posted, I encouraged women online to leave a message on the article letting Mr. Steinberg know that women gamers do exist. Maybe he hasn’t done his homework. Maybe he has no knowledge of communities like this one or WomenGamers.com.

The reaction on Twitter to this article seemed positive, with retweets for others to leave their thoughts but I did see some interesting feedback that makes me want to write this opinion piece. Some people asked why bother worrying about it? That mainstream media will always think that men play more and that’s just how it is. I think by asking other women to add their comments to the article it will hopefully show CNN, that there is a female audience for games. It’s about challenging people to rethink stereotypes. Stereotypes don’t go away just because people are ignoring them. It’s by exposing  and talking about it that people will learn.

Other people took the opportunity to call me a hypocrite because I run a site for a female audience, hence aren’t I being just as offensive? I tried at first to answer this in 140 character posts and realized that I didn’t have the patience for all the tweets that would take.  So, in the next few paragraphs I want to revisit why GamingAngels was created, what our goals are and why female communities are still needed.

I created GamingAngels.com 6 years ago after being told by two game magazine editors that they would never hire a woman to write about games. My first instinct was “then I will create a place that will!”. Six years later, more women write about games professionally or run game magazines than before. During the last few years, as GamingAngels became more established we added to our original goals. We want to expose women and teen girls to careers in the tech and gaming industry and for more women to understand and hopefully enjoy our hobbies.  And most importantly, we saw the growing need for a community space where women could comfortably find other gamers without having to experience the sometimes overwhelming negativity that can be found in online games and communities.

We sponsor many female events and conferences like She’s Geeky, Women in Tech, Geek Girls Network among others. We have consistently volunteered to speak and assist at events for teen girls to teach them about careers in tech or video games. To encourage girls to explore programming or understand how there are many parts of technology or media that they can make a career. In the future, we hope to offer a scholarship to our female readers.

In the daily life of GamingAngels, we post news, reviews and articles in a variety of areas. It’s not just about gaming anymore! We talk about gadgets and technology, comics and pop culture. Our book reviews have exposed me to new books that I might never have tried before. We also are active in informing parents about video games and what games are appropriate for specific ages in our annual Holiday Guides.

Yes, the main audience here at GamingAngels is women. I’m proud to say that we are overwhelmingly visited by female readers but they aren’t our only readers. We have active male readers that participate in our forums, in comments and chat with us on Twitter. Our gaming news and reviews are not written to exclude anyone but to be informative and entertaining.

So really, why have a female-based community? Why not? When I started GamingAngels, very few had done it before and I felt we could do it well. I firmly believe that sites need a unique reason to exist. Ours is clearly stated and we have done the community work to back that up. Communities exist to bring together people that have something in common. As human beings we set out to create or find communities where we belong. There is nothing inherently wrong with that.  Also, we are not the first to create a community for women. There are the Sugar Blogs, iVillage, BlogHer, and countless mommy-blog communities. There are pages and pages of communities aimed at women for almost any hobby you can think of.

I stand by GamingAngels, our goals and mission. I know we have incredible projects in the works for the site. We have a brand new look coming next year and the inclusion of social networking. This next year for GA we are about our community. Look for more local events and of course the same great convention coverage. The new look will hopefully help clearly divide out the sections more and enable our readers to find the information that they want. I want to show the marketing departments of game companies that women talk about games just as passionately as men. Maybe in the end, we’ll actually make a difference. In the meantime, I’m going to have fun doing it without apologies.