There has been a lot of discussion of sexism and gaming lately here at Kotaku and elsewhere. And now, the website Airborne Gamer has entered the fray with… just about the most ill-conceived and ridiculous article yet. Or is it all a joke?
The article titled “This is Why Girls Suck at Gaming” lists a bunch of grossly oversimplified, ridiculous reasons reasons why, well, why girls suck at gaming. From the article:
- Low Interest and Superiority Complex – “There’s an air of superiority when it comes to their attitude towards gaming, like playing games is beneath them. Let’s just, for the moment, ignore the fact that girls play games with our emotions, with our wallets, and above all… our sanity.”
- They are Social Creatures – “She can’t handle not talking… not being social. Solitude drives them insane and there’s really not a lot of sanity to play around with in the first place.”
- Attention Deficit – “If they have to wait for something, they start talking. Talking about random irrelevant shit, anything to fill the blissful silence with content… and they don’t stop.”
- Violence and Competition is Kryptonite – “Girls are biologically wired to avoid violence and competition. They can’t handle it physically, emotionally, or digitally.”
- Reasonable Game Designers Ignore Girls – “The 5% of the games designed for women are non-violent browser-based games with pink ponies eating happy grass in your digital farm shitting digital fertiliser to grow more digital crops.”
- Complaining About Difficulty – “Girls are incapable of being in the moment and just enjoying a game without complaining about every god damned aspect of it that is challenging.”
It’s so trollishly tone-deaf that it may have been intended as humour — note the top-tag of “funny” — which would allow the author to step back from the pitchforks, palms outstretched, claiming it was a joke. Joke or not, the comments beneath the article and elsewhere indicate that despite the tag, the majority of readers do not find it particularly funny.
It’s a minefield out there, people! There’s a lot of interesting discussion and debate going on about sexism and video games at the moment. Any discussion has room for satire, but good satire should be a bit clearer than this.
And if the article isn’t satire, well… yeesh.
This is Why Girls Suck at Gaming [Airborne Gamer]
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