Genders and Gaming: Thoughts from A Girl

Let’s just get this out of the way:

• I’m a chick. No, really. On the internet. Writing about games. I even play games, and I generally do pretty well. Without crying about how sexist they are.
• I don’t use my breasts for loot.
• I’m bad at making sandwiches and buy them premade.
• I generally disagree with feminists and enjoy the color pink. Ask my office-mate Slater.

Those things being said, when I saw this girl-focused ad making the rounds on /r/gaming, I took an interest in it, especially since I watched some Anita Sarkeesian videos yesterday to catch up on the drama that she seems to attract even when she’s generally inactive with the broad public.

Anita Sarkeesian is something I’ll save for another day. So don’t flame me just yet.

I’ve played video games for years. From my first console in 1998 (I was 8 years old), I’ve loved games. Especially of the PC variety. My Phantom case is pink, for God’s sake. However, one thing I am not noted for is my interest in the marketing techniques of companies who sell toys and games. It’s not on my radar. Here’s why.

If you need a company to illustrate and specifically point to you as an appropriate audience, you’re not thinking for yourself. Every day, I see some inspirational crap about how people should think for themselves and be their own person–so why do you care what some big stupid company thinks you should buy?

The big stupid company is trying to make money. That’s it. They don’t care about your feelings, they don’t care about your rights as a woman or a man. This is fact. They’re trying to appeal to stereotypes. If you’re a think-for-yourself kind of person, why are you listening to them at all? If you like LEGOs, buy some damn LEGOs–both gender sets, if you want. If you’re a boy and you think Barbie is super hot, buy a damn Barbie. I promise, no one cares.

As a side note, Toys’R’Us is having a sale. Yay toys.

Sure, most games are male-centered stories. My favorite series, Dead Space, was centered around Isaac and I loved him. I love playing him in the games, I loved him as a character and I had no problem whatsoever with a male being the lead. It genuinely does not bother me to play dudes in a game–and I know plenty of men who play women. It’s not an absolute rule to play your respective gender, people.

But here’s where I apparently differ from some members of my gender: if female characters are sexy in a game (like TERA) or scantily clad… I don’t care. I really don’t. Everyone in TERA is almost naked. This is not a female bias–this just wanting to see characters naked. I get that, I like seeing naked people for the most part. I’m comfortable admitting that.
 I’m alright with seeing women portrayed as sexy and desirable in a game. Sexy women are not evil. Being sexy does not devalue a woman.

These ads only devalue women if you let them. I don’t measure my worth as a woman, or as human, by advertisements. I, plain and simply, don’t give a crap.