Merry Effing Christmas Kim
Life in plastic, it's fantastic
You can brush my hair, undress me everywhere
I defend female gamers from time to time. Not because I'm some kind of bra-burning crusader, but because, in general, it's easy. Some overpaid testosterone junkie thinks he's being edgy or funny, and it's like shooting fish in a barrel. It's like getting a free-pass out of writer's block jail. I pray that on slow news days some Neanderthal will take on the issue of women who are women and also play games, because the rant writes itself. I just walk away, come back, and it's done. But sometimes we're our own worst enemy, and then my job gets a little harder. For example, Exhibit A:
From Eurogamer:
Two all-female gaming clans are protesting against a new beauty contest which they say could damage the way women gamers are perceived.
The winner of the Miss World Series Videogames contest will receive $1000, a contract to appear at all WSCG events, and will be featured in a forthcoming game. The only gaming-related entry requirement is that entrants state what their favourite game is.
Both the US Frag Dolls and the PMS clan are boycotting the contest - and have decided to hold their own Mr WSVG competition in protest.
To cover my ass (ahem, metaphorically), I should probably mention that I have previously gone on record to say that I believe these all-grrl gaming groups "probably hurt the industry." The Frag Dolls and PMS Clan have gone to lengths to strengthen that position.
As Jon Stewart might say, "ladies, join me over here at camera 3."
Seriously, if you're going to do that thing you do, knock yourself out. The boys love it, you get to travel, play games, and get paid for it. But hon, when it comes to speaking out against a beauty contest, it's really for the best that you make yourself a nice warm cup of shut-the-fuck-up and let someone else fight that good fight. Or–and here's a thought–start hiring more realistically proportioned girls, because you cannot tell me with a straight, perfect little face that every girl you select just happens to be chosen on skill and personality alone. Otherwise you're just making it harder for people like me to be taken seriously when I say that female gaming is more than just "a great concept." You're not making your detractors right, but you are making it easier for them to point at you and grunt to their legions of Neanderthal followers.
June 21st, 2006 at 9:49 pm
Well I don’t know about Frag Dolls, but I know PMS has guy players as well as girls, it’s got mostly girls, and I suspect that the guys there are mostly boy toys. But they have both sexes, and from what I’ve seen, for every girl that has features that are not what the TV or magazines want, they have 3 that would could start modeling careers in my opinion. I really have no clue how they did that, but I think it has something to do with the way they select there members, but I don’t know because I’ve never met them.
And the guys there are made of a few curves themselves, and not the round kind. I think that they may have the members they are sporting, but I think they came across that because of there careful breeding habits, or selection of crew.
June 22nd, 2006 at 9:12 am
The PMS clan guys (I can’t say this without laughing) go by the “H20 Elite” moniker, presumably because they got tired of the jokes. As I understand it, they’re affiliated but pretty much do their own thing. However, once every seven years, through the ritual of Pon Far, all of the PMS clan girls go into a ritual reproductive rage and hold contests “to de det” for the favor of breeding with the chosen of the H20 Elite. The bad news is that she bites his head off once coupling has completed. Which is why the chosen one is usually the skinny scrawny one with glasses. As an evolutionary method, it’s not very good.
June 22nd, 2006 at 9:21 am
Obligatory “society where men die when they have sex with women” ref: Gene Wolfe’s “There Are Doors…”
Though being Gene Wolfe, this isn’t something you’ll likely get the first time through the book. Which is mostly about guys venerating women and fearing them. WHY they do this is so well known among all of them that they never have to explain it.