GamerChix Unite! (a plea to MicroSoft Live)
GamerchiX Unite!
By: Kelly Adams
GiN Editorials Correspondent
I'm 33 years old, married for 12 years, and a female gamer. As a woman, I put up with the occasional idiot male in public, but they are rare. As a female gamer, I've put up with the idiot males since I first went onto Xbox Live with my own screen name. It seems to never end. Thankfully good guys are out there but the bad ones are really starting to ruin the experience of matchmaking on Live. Allow me to walk you through what a female gamer is subjected to. You may hear one of the following comments:
'Get back in the Kitchen!'
'You sound like a little boy!'
'You must be fat and ugly!'
'Wanna cyber?'
'Girls f****** should be banned from Matchmaking!'
'You're a d***!' (derogatory slur for lesbian)
The following things can happen to you:
Pictures of things you really do not want to see are sent to you.
Friend requests come in, but they only want to chat with you.
If playing a game with Live Vision turned on, you may see real time footage of male genitalia.
Questions are asked that the answers are already in your bio, but the dude is too damn lazy to read it.
You may get a negative player review because you refused to 'cyber' with a guy and he might even file a complaint against you if you tell said male exactly where he can put his comments.
I have put up with many of these and some of my fellow GamerchiX (on Xbox.com) have reported much worse. In some stories I've heard that the females being harassed are minors.
As a group we have had enough! We play video games because we enjoy them, the same as you. We are honestly sick of hearing and seeing this crap.
What I do not understand is Microsoft's apparent ignorance of this issue. For a company that has a strict sexual harassment policy to simply brush this problem aside and instead go after the cheaters is astonishing. There are groups of us that keep our headset mics on mute to avoid the talk and others that try to discuss strategies for game play over the 'other' talk. It makes me wonder who the serious gamers really are at times.
I have a proposition for Microsoft. You are lucky to have a group of female gamers within easy reach with the GamerchiX. Just take a poll.
Want to know offenders gamer tags are or get a glimpse into what we are talking about? Then monitor any avid female gamers playing. Listen in for a bit and see what goes on. Then get that think tank together on how to help with the problem. We all agreed to terms of service on Live but some are not keeping to that policy.
My personal opinion is that these guys are either too juvenile or jealous to know how to deal with females on Live. Jealous that we are women who like to game and they either do not have a female in their life or theirs complain constantly about their gaming habits. We are out there playing all the time.
Do not think that because it's a first person shooter that you will not run into a female gamer; we love those games as much as you do. You will run into one of us.
All I'm asking is to be treated as a gamer regardless of my gender. Trash talking is one thing but some of you cross the line into sexual harassment and it needs to stop.
Now Microsoft, how can you help with this growing problem?
I'll be setting here waiting to hear what you come up with. Until then you can catch me playing some Call of Duty 4 with my girls.
Currently Playing: Call of Duty 4, Halo 3, Rock Band
Waiting for: Viking-Battle for Asgard
A blunt reply
I'll just answer this as if I was talking to a guy in person, and say what I think. No preferential treatment.
First off, you're using xbox live. FPSs require a mouse and keyboard, and the xbox is for parties and/or kids. I suppose it's a matter of taste and personal opinion, but a hardcore fps fan is going to be playing something like quake, and the quality of people you will find on Xbox based games and servers is going to be lower simply because of the medium you're using.
I'm not saying that you'll notice a huge difference if you switch mediums - you'll get the same thing if you play world of warcraft - but I can't help but think 'what do you expect?' A mass marketed system targeted at a younger audience, designed to be easy to access. It's not going to be a nice, well knit community, and most of the services you describe being abused are also xbox specific things. Don't give other people the ability to show you images unless you're prepared to see a closeup of a dude teabagging someone.
Join a real community - a guild or clan led by someone decent - and you'll see moderation of idiots. The servers themselves should be left open.
Of course you have a right to enjoy games without having to deal with that kind of stuff, but when you join a multiplayer game and start talking to random people, you've got to accept the fact that people will say whatever they want.
Your issues are also not specific to female gamers. Male gamers will say things to eachother that would make you cringe too. We're all f*ggots and n*ggers, we're all newbies and we all suck at this game and need to stop playing right now. The preponderance of racist remarks in online games annoys me a fair bit, but I usually deal with that by abusing whoever said it in the game. If they're really bad, and they're on my team, I'll just team kill them until they leave.
There is also the matter of a certain online subculture which extends beyond games, and which has become prevalent. I'm talking about people who are otherwise intelligent, but see humor in acting like fools in often self-deprecating ways. It's hard to tell who's serious and who's not, but I have no doubt many of the guilty parties involved were just acting the fool, because, relax, it's a game and sometimes we dick around. See the something awful goons for the primary example.
I see a huge difference between asking for cyber, saying you should go back to the kitchen, or saying you sound like a little boy, and saying you must be fat. The latter is in a different league entirely. That's a personal insult. The others are just douchebaggery.
Personally, I hit on every female I encounter online, on forums but especially in games. You're a girl? That's hawt. Take off your shirt. No? Dammit. Nobody ever says yes.
I think I have yet to really piss one off. Most just toss an insult back, which is fun. It's a level playing field if you make it one. I had a female on my forum recently correct me regarding a piece of WWII military equipment. She gets like 50 extra points for being a girl and knowing more about russian war planes than me. She's earned the right to taunt the hell out of me, and I bow my head in shame. We're good friends.
Anyway...
To quote a common meme from eve online: Hello Kitty Online is that way ----->