SpenniesGirls and Video Games
January 22nd 2007 22:48
Girls and video games...a favourite topic of mine and one that I promise I will stop talking about soon...I think. This little piece below appeared in The Guardian a while back but I still think it's relevant, since something similar happened to me last week.
I was inspired by Aleks Krotoski's article in The Guardian this time:
[link]
It seems walking into a video game store alone is never a good idea if you're a girl. Anyway, here it is:
THERE must be something in the job application for video game shop staff that says ‘Do you think about what you say?’ And applicants who answer ‘No’ are automatically hired.
The main problem here is sex. About 80% of staff are male and the other 20% are intelligent. But they’re usually out the back fixing figures and things like that.
Walking into a game shop is a big problem if you’re a girl. Firstly, because you’re a rare sight and the lads get their emotions all mixed up and don’t know whether to talk to you, ignore you or proposition you.
And secondly because they automatically assume you’re there to buy something for your boyfriend, in which case the latter cause turns futile in the thought of already having lost you.
Of course, the good thing about this is that you are left virtually on your own the whole time, never asked how you’re day has been and what you’re looking for and any other generic crap like that.
The bad part comes when you actually want to know/buy something.
I don’t know how well these guys answer the questions of people they like but as a girl you won’t get anything other than a three-word reply, spat at you with an air of cool indifference.
And make sure you never buy anything, ever.
If you ever try this trick with a copy of the Halo 2 Multiplayer Map Pack for instance, be prepared for this encounter:
You: Hey, how you doing? Just this please.
Him: Hi...ummm....okay....you do realise this isn’t the game right?
You: Oh what, really? Oh I so didn’t realise that! My female reproductive organs must be inhibiting my ability to think again!
The rest of the transaction usually proceeds in silence.
There are also times when you will genuinely need advice on a game, be it something technical or merely gameplay related.
But once again, gender issues are rife in yet another psychotic exchange with the male staff in shop.
Which game is better? Umm, probably Game B. Why? It’s less violent. Is the other one extremely violent or something? No, its pretty cool but it can be a bit scary you know... No, I don’t know. Well, I wouldn’t recommend it for first-timers. What makes you think I’m a first timer? I don’t know, I just assumed...
These exchanges often leave you penniless and enraged. The former because you endeavor to buy all the violent games you see in your sight just to prove the fools wrong (I’ll take the one with the blood-thirsty vampires. No, not that one, the other one. And gimme a copy of Fear. And two copies of Doom 3. Why? Because I said so) and the latter because you’ve spent too much time trying to defend yourself against your friends for you to have to do it all over again with some lame-arse whose too dumb to realise how downright cool it is for girls to play video games.
The only solution to this is to create an all-girl-staff, all-girl-customers game shop. But with pink walls.
I was inspired by Aleks Krotoski's article in The Guardian this time:
[link]
It seems walking into a video game store alone is never a good idea if you're a girl. Anyway, here it is:
THERE must be something in the job application for video game shop staff that says ‘Do you think about what you say?’ And applicants who answer ‘No’ are automatically hired.
Walking into a game shop is a big problem if you’re a girl. Firstly, because you’re a rare sight and the lads get their emotions all mixed up and don’t know whether to talk to you, ignore you or proposition you.
And secondly because they automatically assume you’re there to buy something for your boyfriend, in which case the latter cause turns futile in the thought of already having lost you.
Of course, the good thing about this is that you are left virtually on your own the whole time, never asked how you’re day has been and what you’re looking for and any other generic crap like that.
The bad part comes when you actually want to know/buy something.
I don’t know how well these guys answer the questions of people they like but as a girl you won’t get anything other than a three-word reply, spat at you with an air of cool indifference.
If you ever try this trick with a copy of the Halo 2 Multiplayer Map Pack for instance, be prepared for this encounter:
You: Hey, how you doing? Just this please.
Him: Hi...ummm....okay....you do realise this isn’t the game right?
You: Oh what, really? Oh I so didn’t realise that! My female reproductive organs must be inhibiting my ability to think again!
The rest of the transaction usually proceeds in silence.
There are also times when you will genuinely need advice on a game, be it something technical or merely gameplay related.
But once again, gender issues are rife in yet another psychotic exchange with the male staff in shop.
Which game is better? Umm, probably Game B. Why? It’s less violent. Is the other one extremely violent or something? No, its pretty cool but it can be a bit scary you know... No, I don’t know. Well, I wouldn’t recommend it for first-timers. What makes you think I’m a first timer? I don’t know, I just assumed...
These exchanges often leave you penniless and enraged. The former because you endeavor to buy all the violent games you see in your sight just to prove the fools wrong (I’ll take the one with the blood-thirsty vampires. No, not that one, the other one. And gimme a copy of Fear. And two copies of Doom 3. Why? Because I said so) and the latter because you’ve spent too much time trying to defend yourself against your friends for you to have to do it all over again with some lame-arse whose too dumb to realise how downright cool it is for girls to play video games.
The only solution to this is to create an all-girl-staff, all-girl-customers game shop. But with pink walls.
Need some help with that?
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