Gaming Gender Wars, Revisited

Reading about the whole Junglist/Good Game/Hex controversy (cliff notes: Good Game is a gaming show on the ABC, which was hosted by Junglist and Bajo - 2 guys. Junglist was cut from the show, and he claims the reason was because they wanted a girl (Hex) on the show for "mass appeal", but ABC claims it's because Junglist wasn't performing well behind the scenes. Most fans think Junglist is the most credible presenter on the show, and are boycotting), and one of the comments on this article, was:

"BRING BACK Junglist! What¿s does Hex play? Probably hello kitty island adventure. Junglist you be l337 son!"

Which I thought was funny as the most pro gamer I know (Atticus) was playing Hello Kitty Island Adventures a while ago. I think he also got SEE people into Hello Kitty Online where you get your own Hello Kitty email address and everything! I have to admit though, that I haven't watched the show, and so I can't really comment on whether Junglist was better than Hex. Could download a few eps now, but I should really sleep since I have work tonight. Anyway, reading the comments made me think about girls gaming. I know I've talked about this topic a lot, but since playing games takes up a large portion of my time (sleeping and watching Antique Bakery are close competition though), and I am female, I'm dragging out the horse (mule? I can't even get my proverbs straight. Dragging out thing to be flogged!) again.

Some of the comments said that it shouldn't matter what gender the presenter is, it's their content that matters, but I don't realy think that's true. I think one of the weird inconsistencies in gaming stereotypes is that if you imagine a male gamer, you'll probably conjure up the image of a skinny pale guy, or a fat pimply guy, who probably speaks with sentences where the average syllable count per word is four or higher. So gamer guys are typically seen as nerds/geeks, with all the social inabilities that go with it. Why then, do we seem to have the female gamer stereotype being a hot, typically Asian, girl, who either spends all her time "playing" Imagine Catz, or follows her boyfriend around as a healbot in an MMO? Occasionally you'll get one that is a pro FPS gamer, but MMO and simulation games seem to be the female gamer's forte. I remember someone telling me about what happened to a girl from SEE at
a party. Some guy decided to go around guessing what games various
people played, and when he got to her he said, "The Sims!". Said girl does happen to be a gamer, though I haven't had the chance to play with her very often. One of my fondest memories of her was in a game of DotA where she had Furion. She sprouted her teammate QC (surrounded her with trees so she couldn't escape for a few seconds), and left her to get killed by us. It's a good strategy to avoid dying!

Anyway, that's why I think regardless of what people say, even if Hex managed to win the WCG title for every single game (I'm pretty sure there isn't an Imagine Catz/Dogz category), people would still believe in the back of their heads that Hex spends her nights hoping the epic healing trinket she has been trying to get for months will finally drop and if that pally tries to outbid her, she'll offer to send him pics of her boobs if he doesn't bid her up.

There doesn't seem to be as much of a stereotype for male gamer games. Well, except lack of pink. I think that if a guy admits to playing an overly pink game, there will be a few raised eyebrows (<3 Atticus). And ponies. Can't have ponies. Unless they're dwarven ponies. For dwarves. That you don't get to comb.

The thing is, they're stereotypes. Real people aren't necessarily like that. T_T

Then there are all the people going on about equality. They seem to think that the fact that Junglist got fired for a woman is acceptable, because that happens to women all the time in the workforce (being fired/looked over for promotion for men). Which is stupid, how is that equal at all? Though I'm getting off-topic, the comment that made me want to write out this blog post even though I need to be awake in 6 hours for work is this one:

'Hey, "girl gamers" as you guys call yourself. Stop calling yourselves that. Like your sex makes you any different with regards to gaming. I really am sick of you people announcing yourselves as girl gamers. It's almost as pretentious as calling yourself a hardcore gamer.'

I am guilty of that, and I feel bad about it. I think from now on, I'm going to try to be less "girly" in games (which is kinda funny, because of all that effort I put into trying to be more girly). I don't know if it's just me, but nobody else seemed to have mentioned it, but I get all these people I don't know adding me in HoN. I don't add them back, because for me, the point of a friends list is to make it easier for you to play games with your friends, and if I started adding randoms, then it's kinda like just playing pubs, so that defeats the purpose. Most of them are from games that I've played in, and at first I thought maybe it was because they thought I could host (which doesn't really apply in HoN, because games are hosted on their servers, so anyone can create games), but they have invited me to join games they have created, so they must know about that.

[22:15] <+Fried_Tofu> monkeyfodder is a gender neutral nick, right?
[22:15] <%Rangers> yeah
[22:15] <+Fried_Tofu> hmmm
[22:17] <+Fried_Tofu> why do i get random people adding me on hon? T_T
[22:17] <%Rangers> they can sense ur a girl
[22:18] <+Fried_Tofu> -_-
[22:18] <%Rangers> its the internet

So the first thing I have to work on is using less emoticons. I remember a lot of people thinking Saiyumi was a girl because he used emoticons a lot in chat. It's just like an automatic reflex for me now though. T_T I think emoticons make it easier for the other person to know how to respond. For instance:

My grandmother died.

Could be good or bad unless you had prior knowledge of whether I liked my grandmother or not.

My grandmother died. :(

Indicates that this is a sad thing for me. My grandmother probably taught me how to make won tons, and stayed up late watching the Super Mario Bros. Super Show with me when I was sick. She would always tell me off for kicking the couch as it's disrespectful to our ancestors (I never found out if this is actually true or if it was something that she made up just to stop me from kicking the couch all the time), and let me play with the radio in her bedhead.

My grandmother died! :D

Indicates that I'm an ungrateful bitch who should be happy that my grandmother survived the war and immigration to another country so that she could meet my grandfather, and have my dad, who would then meet my mum and eventually have me. Or that I didn't like my grandmother. (Note: my grandmother was never in a war, as far as I know, but I really liked my grandmother.)

Anyway, ACTION ITEM 1: USE LESS EMOTICONS!

I think my next big problem is listening to people. Guys never do that, right? I was doing a daily group quest with this guy, and we started talking about stuff. He was telling me about his life (though I don't know how much to believe, I gave Julian a summary and he called bullshit), and somehow he ended up offering to give me gold and helping me run instances (he's stupidly geared compared to my normal TOC/quest blues crappy gearedness. We ran a heroic together, and it was one in which you get blocked out of the fight if you don't run in when the boss engages, which happened to me and I was the healer, yet they still managed to kill the boss. T_T) and generally making me feel like a WoW whore (although in my defense, I ended up selling him my titansteel CD, so it wasn't as though I was getting money for nothing. I don't even know why he was offering me money anyway, I have enough gold to buy all the stuff I need, and I don't even need anything right now except a gem and a few enchants! Though if MrMan5.5 doesn't want to borrow gold to buy his epic flying mount, maybe I'll save up for that 3-seater mammoth mount. Mammoth mounts make me look less small, which is always important! So my original point for this part is that guys don't listen to people talk about their lives, so if it happens again, I should swiftly change the topic to sport/cars/boobs, and I should be all good, right?

ACTION ITEM 2: STUDY UP ON SPORTS/CARS/BOOBS

I need to be more manly and aggressive. I prefer playing support heroes in HoN/DotA, and even when I random a carry hero/tank, I always prefer to play them in a supportive way. I think that is partly due to the influence of Mooicules when I first started playing DotA. Soulcry commented once that he seemed to always get Mekansm (Astrolabe in HoN), regardless of what hero he was. I guess I must have stored that little tip away somewhere, because I was a bit like that for a while. I thought it was essential to have a HP regen item at all times, and that seemed like a good one as it also gave you a slight stat boost and you could heal yourself if you needed to (although +250 HP really isn't much, now that I think about it). Played a few games of HoN with Redact, and watching him play Blood Seeker/Hunter, it was completely different to how I play him. I just don't have the confidence to go and hunt people. I prefer to gank in groups, which is a bit overkill when you can 2-shot someone.

ACTION ITEM 3: BE AGGRESSIVE. B. E. AGGRESSIVE

And there is my guide on being a girl who is not a gamer girl!

20 bucks

Oh, wow. Not related to today's blog post at all, but I found out Lou Albano is dead. For those of you who are wondering why I'm interested in a wrestler, well, he actually played Mario in the Super Mario Bros. Super Show, and did the Mario. RIP. T_T

I should really be doing my assignment, but I thought I'd take a break (although I can't really call it a break, since all I've done so far is run a factor analysis, with a lot more to go). So I was reading World of Chickens by Nick Earls, and a particular part made me wonder about something.

'Nev's older than Dad and ... he's famous for one thing, and it's not tree lopping... There was this big philosophical bind he got into. There was this one time when he paid twenty bucks for a blowie on Brunswick Street and then he found out he'd got it from a trannie.' He stops, raises his eyebrows in a how-about-that kind of way.

'I don't see the philosophical bind yet.'

'It was a blow job the like of which he'd never had befoer, the eye-roller to end all eye-rollers. So what's a man to do the next time he's got a lazy twenty in his back pocket? ...and the story gets worse, too.... the trannie had lost his front teeth going over his handlebars when he was a kid, and for an extra five bucks, he'd take his plate out.'

As I've mentioned before, it seems like the majority of guys wouldn't go there, knowing it was another guy on the other side. What I was thinking though, was now every other time, you'll be thinking about how good it was.

When I was in grade 3, I had the best pasta I've ever had in my life. It was cooked by Caterina Zampogna, who taught 2/3 as well as Italian (which I wasn't allowed to learn, because my school offered Chinese and Italian, and because of my nationality, I was forced to learn Chinese). Being only 7 years old, I didn't think much of it at the time, and I knew I'd be able to have it again the next year at Italian Day. What I didn't know was that the school was going to close down, and I never saw her again. Even if I did manage to track her down, I don't know what I'd say. 'Hi, you taught me for grades 2 and 3, can I have your pasta recipe?' I don't even remember what type of sauce it was (although I do know it was tomato based). I just know that it was the best damn pasta I've had, and nothing I've had since compares.

That's the other problem though, since it was so long ago, the actual memory of the taste is fading away, and all I remember is that it was delicious, so over time, its reputation will grow, and I don't think it'd be possible to live up to expectations, even if I did manage to track her down.

OK, did more work, and have finished the first part, so break time again.

I think the same thing would happen to the Nev guy (though he never features in the book again, as far as I can recall), in that nobody will ever measure up to that one experience he had with the transsexual, and even though he doesn't want to go back, a part of him always will. I had dinner a few hours ago and now I'm hungry again. I wonder if there are any places that sell pasta at this hour.

At uni at the moment, and I have to say, going to the toilet is always an interesting experience. Someone had written on the door:

"I don't know where the penis goes."

To which someone else replied:

"Wrong toilet love, look for the <male toilet> sign."

I don't know why, but I was reminded of a conversation I had with a lesbian friend of mine. She said she thinks penises (penii?) are sad and wrinkly and she doesn't like them. I think given my history of older guys, I can say I've had wrinkly, but I think the whole point is to fix the sad part, right? If it's happy, then it's less wrinkly, although if it gets too happy, then it goes back to being wrinkly again. =( I wonder how wrinkly AG is now. Actually, I don't want to know. *shudder*I heard he's engaged now, or something. I wonder if she thinks about how wrinkly he is. I don't think I ever did, well, not at great length anyway. So I don't know why I can't get over it now. T_T

I feel a bit sad, because there was a lecture I was looking forward to, about serial killers but it turns out it was on yesterday instead of today, so I missed it since I was in class when it was on. =( I also frantically gave a shift away so that I could go, thinking it was today. T_T I've put some thought into maybe doing further study in criminal profiling, but I really don't want to write any more essays at the moment, and the more I think about it, the more I'm starting to convince myself it's a dangerous career pathway. I see enough angry people at work, and I know I'm protected by security, and with a press of a button, my table will be surrounded by security if something does go wrong.

Today was my last day of classes, and if all goes well, it'll be my last day of undergraduate classes!

Time For Something New

It seems that more and more people are starting to recognise me at work (players, not staff) and I'm starting to get scared that some day I'll be walking around and some person who I took $10k off will recognise me and want to beat me up. While I did go to that one krav maga class with GP, I really don't think that's my preferred course of action, as I don't like to get beat up, and I have very little confidence in my ability to win. T_T So I've decided to take up running, because I'm good at running away. Well, that's not true, which is why I've taken up running, but I'm good at being a coward. I went for my first run with Graham on Tuesday, and ended up with the flu on Wednesday, so maybe it's my body telling me that exercise is bad and that I should stop doing it, but I think getting bashed up is worse.

I have nothing to do during my breaks at work, so I've picked up lots of books to read, but unfortunately, my favourite authors can't write fast enough so I've run out of their books. T_T I started reading some other books from the genres I like, but most of the books I've tried so far have been pretty poor. :( Olek and Goaty have mentioned the Ender saga, so I'm going to try and find those books, but last time I was at the library, I could only find the 4th book in the series. I've started reading another Orson Scott Card book though, and I'm liking it. For some reason, the name sounds really familiar, but looking through his listed works on Wikipedia, I don't recall having read any of his other books, so maybe he's just one of those famous authors that you know you should read at some point, but never get around to.

Mum wanted me to buy an apartment, as it'd be something I could rent out later in life, and I could also live there in the meantime, as rather than paying rent, I can slowly pay off the apartment. We got into an argument because I wanted to use my savings to go to Italy and she wanted me to buy a property. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), even with my savings and help from mum, the bank won't lend me enough money to buy one, which my mum got really upset at me for. The woman at the bank was really nice though, and she suggested I put my money in a term deposit rather than just let it sit in a bank account, and I thought it'd be a compromise for mum, even though it makes me a sad panda now that I won't be able to go to Italy until at least after April.

Which also means I've lost all motivation to go to work, but seeing as it's my only source of income, and my midnight pizza cravings will never go away, have to keep taking money from old ladies. I guess I could just keep saving and saving until the term deposit matures and go on some mega trip, but I can't do that! So I started thinking about what it is I really like, and to be honest, the obvious things like games, programming and pizza passed me by, and the thing that I ended up with was movies. I love movies, and TV shows, too (although there are many, many, many movies and TV shows that should never have seen the light of day). Sure, I could go on a spending spree and end up with a massive DVD collection, but then mum would yell at me some more (I wanted to get dad a DVD for Christmas, but she got angry at me because she didn't want a DVD, which somehow means he doesn't want one...? I don't understand mum-logic). Anyway, and this is probably influenced by Graham and Dante getting me to watch The Guild, I've been putting some thought into making some sort of online series, or maybe a movie.

I have to admit though, I have no concept, no experience, no actors and well, the list goes on. Still, I think it'd be a fun new project, and it'd be something to do over the Summer holidays at least. I really need to get out of the house more, and while the job hunt still continues, I don't want to spend all of my time playing WoW/HoN, going to work and sleeping. I need a hobby, something that I can put a lot of effort into and get a feeling of satisfaction at having accomplished something. I was wondering if anyone else was interested in joining me. Would be nice if you knew something about production, but it's probably something that we'll pick up as we go! Or any ideas/feedback would be helpful. How hard do you think this will be? :S