A gender divide has long been prevalent in gaming subculture. The majority of playable character heroes are male. Gaming advertisements are largely male. And as if this wasn’t enough to deter the average female away from gaming – men repeatedly scold women for their inability to play games and play them well (even though most men have had ten or fifteen years to suck at games before improvement). In simplest terms, gaming is the man’s “man world.”

The paradox of this male driven market is that so many men, especially boyfriends, fiancés, and spouses want their female counterparts to play with them – if for no other reason than males want to make sure they aren’t stepping on anyone’s toes when they play Halo 3 for seven hours straight. I’ve read dozens of blogs by men who are trying to achieve this feat and while it obviously behooves men to share this obsession, a female has to wonder, to what extent are men willing to share?

Do you really want your girlfriend to be better at playing video games than you are? Would it make you feel like less and less of a man if suddenly the industry was wracked with more female gamers than male (perhaps a 70-30 split)? What if nearly every epic video game you turned on you were forced to play as a woman with no option to play as a man? What if nearly every staffer at Gamespot was a woman instead of a man and we could hear male jokes instead of female jokes throughout each Hot Spot broadcast? As a subculture even Gamespot doesn’t necessarily take female gamers seriously. We’re generally a mockery – a fictional unicorn of sorts, a breed so rare that most men generally forget that we exist. Of course, we’re not really that rare, we’re just illusive. The Entertainment Software Association cites that, “Thirty-eight percent of game players are women” (http://www.theesa.com/facts/gamer_data.php). Thirty-eight percent? And yet, it would seem to be quite less, wouldn’t it?

And then, men wonder, well where are these women and why don’t more women want to play games? Why don’t they understand the hobby? I live on the cultural divide, a chasm of sorts. I say this because I have obviously adapted to this man’s hobby. I practically live, breathe, and eat video games every day. I have a nice little niche of people I can discuss games with. And more often than not, I don’t really care that every person I talk to about games is a man. What I am trying to do is address a complaint that men often have about women – that they suck at video games and show no interest. On the contrary, there are countless women that play video games and simply choose not to tell male gamers about it. I know of at least three female friends that do not tell their boyfriends that they play video games. They don’t want to be teased about it. They don’t want to be questioned as to why they enjoyed Bioshock better than Barbie’s Castle of Polluted Ideals. They don’t want you to know that they are actively participating in a hobby which is largely considered unfeminine. Sad isn’t it? So many men want gamer girlfriends and here they are, right under everyone’s nose. Perhaps these three people make up part of our illusive “thirty-eight percent” demographic. On the subject of games…

What few attempts have been made to incorporate women into this subculture have been both shallow and miserable. Does anyone else remember the Dream Skin Care trailer that Gamespot played for the Tokyo Game Show? I nearly died with laughter when the camera cut back to the faces of the Hot Spot staff, who were wearing blank expressions of shock. Do men think that women really want to play this type of game? Don’t get me wrong, I am well aware that Gamespot’s take on the Dream Skin Care DS game is comic genius. But I think the simple fact that this game was made says an awful lot about the state of the video game industry and what developer’s think women want to play. I may be a woman, but I want absolutely nothing to do with this Dream Skin Care game or any of the thousand other shallow, half-hearted attempts at female oriented game-play.

Of course, there is always Samus and the Metroid series. But, the pool of games which allow customized character creation or afford female characters the same advantages as male characters is about as rare as our unicorn. Panning back to my friends we would find that women want to play the same games men want to play. Amanda loved Bioshock. Christine loved Shadow of the Colossus. I’d rather play a male character for eternity than be forced to play Dream Skin Care. (On another note: If you think that Tomb Raider is an excellent female game, please don’t comment on this blog as a man’s idea of a sexy femme fatale does not adequately address a female gamers game-play wants.)This is not a male bashing entry – it’s a sort of “ode” to the overlooked female gamer that many of you seem to think doesn’t exist. And while you may personally give the female gamer your time and interest, by and large this industry does not. I’ve even grown leery of Game Informer because the entire writing staff is male. The fact is that men and women bring two equally important but different views and ideas to gaming and I feel these distinct voices should be more prominent in our community. I don’t want the male population to simply go away, I just want it to be more female friendly. I imagine many men want the same thing. We can all play games and have fun together, or we can continue to let gender divide us. Discrimination or acceptance? It’s up to you.

Tags: Bioshock, Female Gamers, Feminism, Gamespot, Gaming, Halo, Subculture, Technology, Video Games