While gender-related debates rage on in the political world, many women face discrimination in the digital one.
“A misconception that females have to deal with is that many male gamers do not believe that both genders should not be on an equal playing field,” Ferris television and digital media production senior John Barber IV said.
From his experience, this idea makes no sense. Barber has played on numerous gaming platforms and he claims that female gamers are a dominant force in tournaments and teams. Barber has found that female gamers excel at role playing, hand-eye coordination, reaction time and sports games as well.
Barber’s dad encouraged him and his twin brother to start playing video games at an early age. He still plays video games today to relax throughout the day. It’s also a conversation starter and a way to connect with others. One of his favorite games to play is “Uncharted 4.”
“I played a lot of ‘Call of Duty’ with my cousins. I swear we could play that game forever,” Ferris manufacturing engineering sophomore Riley Scott said.
Scott loves to try out new games when they come out and play whatever his friends play. One of Scott’s favorite games is “Wolfenstein 2.”
“One of the misconceptions about female gamers on the streaming site called Twitch is that many of the female gamers are on there to promote themselves as quote on quote ‘cam girls’ but I personally don’t see a difference when I play against female or male gamers,” Scott said.
The way he sees it, both female and male gamers play video games for the same purpose—to have fun. Scott also believes that female gamers have clearer thinking and better response time.
“I started playing because of my friends and a lot of the guys I used to hang out with played a lot. They all sort of got me addicted and I ended up buying my own games and I’ve been hooked on them ever since,” Ferris public health senior Caitlyn Chaplinsky said.
She started playing video games during her freshman year of high school. Her favorite is “Dark Souls.” As far as misconceptions that she has heard, she knows that male gamers don’t have very high expectations for female gamers and they don’t believe that females are as serious about gaming as they are. Chaplinsky knows of some male gamers that don’t want girls on their team when it comes to tournaments.
“Gamer girls are always expected to be super nerdy but in reality, we can be pretty normal and we get just as hyped about playing as guys do and just as excited when we win,” Chaplinsky said.
Many female gamers play the same games that male gamers enjoy.
“I started out playing ‘Call of Duty’ with my friend. We practiced for a while, then started playing on story mode,” Ferris business administration freshman Aisha Betts said.
She started playing video games in eighth grade. One of her favorites at the moment is “The Last of Us.” The misconception that she has heard about female gamers that bothers her the most is that female gamers don’t take playing as seriously as male gamers do.
“One of the things that really bothers me is when my guy friends say something such as ‘you wouldn’t understand’ after talking about video games but in reality I say ‘well, I actually do,’” Betts said.
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