Women Who Play Games Shun ‘Gamer’ Label

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How did the term "gamer" turn into a bad thing? I mean, I know how it all started but it just seems so unbelievable that people would take the word and twist it into something people "shun."

That’s according to a new Pew Research Center survey that found 48 percent of women play video games, just shy of the 50 percent of men who play. The gamer identity was far less attractive to women, however, with 6 percent of them adopting the label compared with 15 percent of men.
 
maybe because when people hear "gamer" they think of 12 year old shit heads on xbox live SWATting people, or tossing around racist/homophobic slurs like nothing
 
It's always been a negative term for women...Nothing has been "twisted", you're just learning about what half the population thinks when people label themselves as a 'gamer'.

Sorry if that twists your tiny little worldview.
 
Gamers have always been shunned and shamed. It's the one group of people you can always badmouth and demean without repercussions.
 
It's always been a negative term for women...Nothing has been "twisted", you're just learning about what half the population thinks when people label themselves as a 'gamer'.

Sorry if that twists your tiny little worldview.

You are mistaken.

My girls don't think it's a negative term. Cause Daddy Gamer raised two Gamer Chicks :D

Now there are two more very happy gamer dudes in the world. I wish I could have been so lucky myself. Unfortunately, it would seem that you had to have gamer dads before you could have gamer chicks and gamer chicks just hadn't been released yet :cool:
 
It's obvious they want the term Gamyr.

But it's true that the term Gamer has always been viewed in a negative light in the general public. As soon as someone hears that you're a gamer, they'll probably automatically assume you're a fat ass who doesn't work and live in a basement. I also know that some people basically hide the fact that they are gamers to their other friends.
 
According tot he media, playing candy crush on your phone makes you a gamer, so there are a lot of them out there.
 
It's obvious they want the term Gamyr.

But it's true that the term Gamer has always been viewed in a negative light in the general public. As soon as someone hears that you're a gamer, they'll probably automatically assume you're a fat ass who doesn't work and live in a basement. I also know that some people basically hide the fact that they are gamers to their other friends.

If someone wants to shun the title, by all means let them, they aren't the kind of people I'd give a damn about anyway.

If someone is so concerned with titles that deserve shunning, suggest a few that are more deserving of their attention, like racist for instance.
 
If someone wants to shun the title, by all means let them, they aren't the kind of people I'd give a damn about anyway.

If someone is so concerned with titles that deserve shunning, suggest a few that are more deserving of their attention, like racist for instance.

Only if they're white, because all white people are racist :D
 
Clickbait article is clickbait shit

Nothing more, nothing less

No women I know who game ever have these "Problems" this article claims they do

Either you're good at a game or you're shit at it. There is no middle ground here
 
Fuck even the source it linked to showed no stigma between women calling or not calling themselves gamers, they just didn't care enough to be called a gamer

Its like a star trek fan who doesn't like being referred to as a trekkie
 
According tot he media, playing candy crush on your phone makes you a gamer, so there are a lot of them out there.

The article asked people whether they played games and then would they consider themselves "gamers". Around half said they played games but comparatively few self-identified with the gamer label. So no matter what the media may say the majority of people playing Candy Crush don't think of themselves as gamers.

As for why women don't accept the label as readily as men I can think of a few reasons: 1) the term still conjures up visions of nerdy teens (and some older guys) living in their parents basement with no friends beyond the few they know online and 2) the rampant sexism that pervades a games industry trying hard to appeal to the stereotype from point number 1. Yeah, that might be it. Just maybe.
 
I read the article and the researcher, Ms. Wiseman has selected an extremely narrow sample margin for her conclusions.

Ms. Wiseman, who studied gaming habits among middle- and high school-aged people, said girls face elevated scrutiny over their gaming skills.

This alone tells me that Ms. Wiseman doesn't realize that the majority of gamers are far older. She herself doesn't understand that there are far more gamers in the mid 20's and much older crowd.


http://adanai.com/gamer-demographics/
That same report from the ESA put the age of the average gamer at 30, with 32% under the age of eighteen, 31% between the ages of eighteen and 35, and 37% over the age of 36. - See more at: http://adanai.com/gamer-demographics/#sthash.6cysCb94.dpuf

According to the editors at Online Game Design Degrees and Schools (OGDDS), a full 50% of gamers work full time, and only 11% are unemployed. This is only a few points higher than the national average, currently estimated at 7.5% unemployment, and the fact that 18% are in school full time must be taken into account. 12% work or study part time, 7% are homemakers, and 2% are retired. - See more at: http://adanai.com/gamer-demographics/#sthash.6cysCb94.dpuf
 
For women, I think the term "gamer" implies association with types of games they don't generally play - like CoD, Crysis, Arma etc - violent shooter/combat type things. While some girls like those games most like things like Final Fantsy (ultimate popular girl game ino) or Oblivion where they can be Mages and haunt Deadric shrines. As the NFL knows women relate more to "narratives" than the action. Thats why you have to get reporterettes asking silly questions of coaches and players throughout the game. I am sure the term "gamer" strikes most girls as a male, violent, shooter type term.
 
Can't say I blame them. I don't like to associate with the gamer community either, but that's because I'm more familiar with the overly biased fanboys that can ruin any fanbase. Like right now Gamefaqs having a meltdown over Undertale getting votes/winning best game ever poll. Utter mania and as much as I love games I don't want to be associated with that sort of unbalanced insanity. Even if they're just the vocal minority.
 
I work with a girl that is a gamer... total hotty... that's all I got for this silly topic.
 
As for why women don't accept the label as readily as men I can think of a few reasons: 1) the term still conjures up visions of nerdy teens (and some older guys) living in their parents basement with no friends ...

The term conjures up this vision with whom? I don't have this vision, do you?

If 50% of the population are gamers themselves, even if they don't think they have earned the title of "gamer", do you really think they see it this way? That is half the male population right there. Women make up 51% of the total population, men the other 49%. If half of men play games and only 6% fewer women play, but women make up a greater percentage of the population, then the numbers are almost equal given standard margins of error.

So almost half of the US population plays games and somehow people want to say that most people have this image in their heads of gamers?

I think that is the bullshit impression, not the one we are imagining.

I call it normal human fear of not being accepted. This is what's normal, many people worry that there is something about them that others won't like. Their hobbies are just part of that landscape.
 
I'll just leave this right here.

South-Park-Basement-Make-Love-Not-Warcraft.png
 
My wife games, a lot. RTS (AoE, Civ, RoN, etc...) and RPG's, along with the standard "toilet gamer" games on the cell phone. She identifies as a gamer. Hell, we met in WoW, and found out we were in the same city. She's also a total hotty. Shes goes the gym quite regularly, and works outside.
 
Can't say I blame them. I don't like to associate with the gamer community either, but that's because I'm more familiar with the overly biased fanboys that can ruin any fanbase. Like right now Gamefaqs having a meltdown over Undertale getting votes/winning best game ever poll. Utter mania and as much as I love games I don't want to be associated with that sort of unbalanced insanity. Even if they're just the vocal minority.

Alot has to do with the games you play and the community that gravitates toward them. For instance I think you'll find a much higher percentage of older people playing World of Tanks and Mechwarrior Online then you will see playing COD. The older guys prefer more detail and tactics over twitch and visceral imagery.
 
So i logged on Ark Survival last night on my xbone and heard some i think to be 8yr olds playing and shouting to me. I did what any responsible adult would have done. I walked over and clicked on POOP so i dropped one right in front of them and ran away. Not sure why people think gamers are bad lol
 
People should probably just stop trying to identify themselves with their hobbies. It's really quite silly and I've never understood it at all. Stamp collectors don't run around calling themselves stampers. What's next, coiners? Your hobby doesn't identify or define you and if it does, you need to get out of the house more.
 
People should probably just stop trying to identify themselves with their hobbies. It's really quite silly and I've never understood it at all. Stamp collectors don't run around calling themselves stampers. What's next, coiners? Your hobby doesn't identify or define you and if it does, you need to get out of the house more.

Coin and currency collectors call themselves numismatists.

On the simple, if someone collects things as a hobby, we call them collectors. If we game for a hobby, why are we not gamers?
 
maybe because when people hear "gamer" they think of 12 year old shit heads on xbox live SWATting people, or tossing around racist/homophobic slurs like nothing

That behavior is not restricted to that demographic/age bracket. Those same shit heads have grown up to be todays racist/homophobic/sexist 20-30 year olds now and the majority of them still act the same way.
 
People should probably just stop trying to identify themselves with their hobbies. It's really quite silly and I've never understood it at all. Stamp collectors don't run around calling themselves stampers. What's next, coiners? Your hobby doesn't identify or define you and if it does, you need to get out of the house more.

You do have a point, in fact my kids used to bring this home. Their mom is Korean and they'd ask if they are Korean or American, (read white :rolleyes:) but Dad has to have an answer right.

So I ask them, "Why are you so willing to wear a label?" I tried to get them to think that through, that always accepting a label is like letting other people put a definition on who you are. I told them they are who they become and what they do and that it's up to them.

Yes, Americans do themselves and all those around them an injustice by trying to define themselves with labels such as gamer, biker, Azn, etc.
 
That behavior is not restricted to that demographic/age bracket. Those same shit heads have grown up to be todays racist/homophobic/sexist 20-30 year olds now and the majority of them still act the same way.

I know two pretty well that fit this demographic, both are decent boys. One is white, got off to a slow start, got hung up at the gate, but he is off and running doing ok now.

The other is a Mexican, or Mexican American but his Mom is really from Mexico so......... He works for Raytheon as an Optical Engineer, my Korean wife loves the boy and I think he's great, I let him marry my kid and didn't even bring out the shotgun for a cleaning.

I don't think I know any of the ones you know.

Oh, and they qualify as gamers, what-dya know.
 
Because most women who play games aren't gamers.

Playing scrabble on my cellphone while waiting at an appointment is technically "playing a game", but does not constitute a gamer.

A gamer implies that someone is a gaming enthusiast, and spends a considerable amount of their time/resources towards that hobby, something that is unicorn level of uncommon among females.
 
marrying my gamer. She wasn't originally, but over the years, the profanity out of her mouth when she gets shot, makes me smile. Until she peers over onto my screen to find where I am at and then gets a easy kill.

I do agree with what was said previously, labels are stupid by nature. Usually applied to blanket an entire personality with knowing only one small aspect of it. I tell people I have a beer when I get home from work and I can be labeled a drinker, that automagically has a negative tone to it. I'm just gonna start answering the "so what are you?" questions with random nouns; human, organic matter, a smaller carbon footprint than you etc etc lol
 
Everyone pretty much agrees that labels are bad and inaccurate. So why should anyone care about what a study says about how people want to be labeled? Labels are a poor way to represent people, looking for more meaning in labels than just a shortcut to avoid getting to know people is fundamentally retarded.
 
*files this one under 'stuff new to us gamer girls' along with other nonsense*

:cool:
 
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