Gamer Girls

By Lindsay Comeau

We ladies can get pretty worked up over things that seem trivial and stupid to guys, and I have to agree. As a woman and a gamer, some of the issues females get 'huffy' over in the gaming world blows my mind.
For Example:
Dennis C. Scimeca published an article back in August, 2012 about the outrage that ensued from a passive, though ill-spoken comment made about Borderlands 2. John Hemmingway, Borderlands 2's Lead Designer came out with plans to create a skill tree in order to make it easier for less skilled players to play the game. However, Hemmingway- without ill intentions- dubbed this feature "girlfriend mode" (how dare he!).
My first reaction was, "Man, that's so true".
I am definitely one of those girlfriends that need the difficulty on first person shooters to be toned down. When my boyfriend, who normally plays on Legendary, and I play Halo we play on Easy because I suck. And I'm ok with that. I am the poster girl for "girlfriend mode".
Of course there are girls who are really, really good at first person shooters and I understand how this could be offensive. The fact is that Hemmingway's comment was not that bad. If you think about it, guys who play video games have to deal with much worse stereotypes then "girlfriend mode". Pop culture has created this negative image of the male video game demographic. Hardcore male video game players are presented as girlfriend-less (or totally void of female contact), living-in-their-mothers-basement nerds. That seems a lot harsher than being sorta bad at shooter games.
I have personally witness other examples of sexism being said passively in games with extreme reactions. Here is an exchange between players that I witnessed, and ended in a harsher than necessary reaction.
Player A(male): Female players should get a bonus to cooking and tailoring
Angry, over the top reaction from female player.
The reporting of Player A's remark as a sexist statement.
The one week suspension of Player A's account.
This "sexist" statement was made as a joke and was by no means meant to offend. I can attest, through personally knowing "Player A" that he is not sexist or prejudice in anyway. To me this remark was funny, and if I had thought it was sexist "Player A" would have known it.
It seems many female gamers are getting worked up over things that weren't meant to offend anyone and are in reality, the equivalent of kittens and bunny rabbits.
They're Harmless.
It's like female players are all trapped in a state of permanent pms, which doesn't help their case of trying to "fit in" with male players. They almost seem to just sit around and wait for male players to fuck up so they can bitch at them and protest for gaming equality.
So I ask you this, gamer girls, why do you think guys stereotype female players, or females in general? Well, because sometimes that's actually how we act. We get emotional over stupid comments. Truth is, if you want to just be "one of the guys", you don't have to be really good at first person shooters. To be one of the guys you just have to stop acting like such a girl.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/firstperson/9871-Getting-Furious-Over-Girlfriend-Mode