10 Girl Gamer Myths Busted!

Okay so we all know there’s a distinct line between the male and female gamers, or is there? As a female gamer of many years gone by, I can only see things from my female perspective and we thought it might be interesting to take a peek at girl gaming myths and bust them wide open.

Keep in mind that we can only work on gross generalisations here and that we’re not speaking for ALL girl gamers. There will always be exceptions to the rule, and that occurs regardless of gender. We’ll work our way backwards from 10 in a sort of count down style….

10. Girls shouldn’t / don’t play games.

Well it’s pretty obvious we do play games and there’s no logical reason that we shouldn’t! It’s ridiculous to even begin to contest that women / girls shouldn’t get into and enjoy gaming, it’s gaming! It’s enjoyable.

9. Girl gamers only like games like The Sims.

I can only speak for myself, but I don’t like The Sims. I don’t feel that I am the exception to this rule either. I certainly know for a fact that out of all the girl gamers I know or play with that I’m far from being alone. This myth comes about from ‘research’ that enjoys pointing out women enjoy puzzle /sim titles, where they do this research is beyond me. Some do, some don’t, it certainly isn’t all.

8. Ties in nicely with number 9.. Girls don’t like FPS titles.

Oh please. Here’s a myth buster, girl gamers love kicking as much ass on first person shooters, third person shooters and all other genres as much as the next ‘man’.

7. Girl gamers love pink peripherals.

Spit Ptooey! Yes ’some’ girl gamers like pink peripherals, just like some guy gamers like pretty blue peripherals. Overall though if its colored pink this girl gamer steers clear, it really raises my hackles.

6. Girl gamers don’t buy as many games as guys.

Again this is rubbish, if you’re a gamer, you’re going to buy games, my monthly outlay on games is hundreds of dollars and it would be more if I wasn’t in the lucky position to get games from publishers for media coverage. We’re all gamers, we all spend money on games.

5. We all love girl gaming groups - example FragDolls.

No, we don’t all feel the need to associate with said groups, we don’t all feel these groups are even that positive for girl gaming, but they’re there and they’re loud.

4. Girl gamers love Barbie and My Little Pony styled titles.

Depends. Here’s the thing, I would NEVER buy these titles, but I’m not 7 years old. I don’t believe I have ever paid money for one of these alleged ‘girl gaming titles’, they make me want to puke and I pity the little girls out there whose mommies are buying these games for them.

3. Girl gamers get more abuse in online games than guys.

I’m not a guy to know how much abuse I’d get online if I were, but from talking to male gaming friends, I think it is probably more true for girl gamers. Sadly, it’s difficult to bust this ‘myth’, because it doesn’t seem to be one. The myth we can bust however is that guy gamers don’t get griefers online. Doesn’t matter whether you are male or female, there will always be some idiot waiting to spout.

2. Girl gamers can never be hardcore.

What the hell is hardcore anyway? Am I hardcore if I own every single next gen console and handheld? If I own hundreds of games over varying formats? If my last house had a cinema room dedicated to gaming? If I played through BioShock, Halo 2, Halo 3 and Mass Effect (ok so they’re not Wii titles) in two sittings a piece and Heavenly Sword in one? If I spend more coinage on gaming than any of my other pastimes? If I’ve owned almost every gaming console since the Atari 2600? What makes any gamer, male or female hardcore. You’re a gamer who loves games, that to me is hardcore.. rock on.. guys and girls!

1. And this is the big one - Girls Like different games to guys.

Err no. Surprisingly we don’t. We’re not after specifically designed games for us. We don’t want to be differentiated from gaming, we want the same games guys have, we’d just like to be able to play cool female characters who aren’t just part of the game for eyecandy purposes. Girl gamers, just like guy gamers have differing tastes, but out of all the girl gamers I know and have known one things stands out, we all like the same games as guys, we just long for gender options.

The cool thing about the Wii is that is would seem, cross format aside, to appeal to a broad spectrum of gamers. This means non gamers are becoming intrigued by gaming. With audiences opening up in such a way, perhaps the female gamer will get heard a little more and game developers will begin to utilise character choice for both genders, rather than assuming only boys play games.