WHERE ARE ALL THE WOMEN IN GAMING

Itend to be a little paranoid. I make assumptions about things and I see patterns in places that people don’t (or where they don’t feel like admitting they do). I thought I could familiarize myself with the gaming community, but I found that it was just as discomforting as socializing with any other usual groups of young men in school or a hobby shop. Not to say there are solely negative characteristics, but there is something about retellings of sex jokes, constant shit-talking, and strongly held opinions about someone’s competence as a player. I think that might be the extreme of it though— hopefully.

Noticing how emasculating and tiresome these habits can be, I thought: “Is this how it’s meant to be?” This behavior exists throughout the entire gaming community including Twitch, YouTube, and Reddit. I never believed that this is all the community had to offer. I have met good people, friendly people, and increasingly tolerable men as I have lingered: but where was that balance? Women, I thought, most likely enjoy video games as much as us, catch up on the gaming news, and have opinions they want to share. Turns out, unsurprising to myself, they make up 45% of the playerbase in the United States. So, in all of the tournament going and online co-op playing, where are our fellow players? Whenever I spot some of them, they are scarce.

I don’t think it is a question that can be answered directly, but there are several clues as to the best guess. The most obvious reason for this lack of presence is online harassment by men towards women. Several studies in recent literature have already accepted this as being a common result in the data. The data finds that the mere identification of the female voice in the game brings forth negative interactions from male voices. How do women cope or react to the general toxicity and sexual harassment? By hiding their identity, gender swapping in-game, avoiding communication, and seeking social groups that are tolerable. This is not an invisible issue, except to a number of men in the community. The funny part is, in competitive games, even the men are harassed by their own gender if it regards their competence and achievement in-game. I strongly identify with this. I’m only one case but, coincidentally, I happen to mute my mic at all times—let alone for that one friend who sucks at the game as much as me. Frankly, I started doing this because guys would be critical of my skill or blame me for a loss, putting pressure on a simple match. I see it, a lot of women see it, and the rest of the community see it too.

While it would be easy to stay on those points and call out several players who may promote or deny this kind of aggressive behavior, I would also not like to make too many assumptions about this lack of presence. It was enlightening to find that women have different motivations for playing the game. One thing to note before speaking on that is that the 45% is only increasing, with a growing interest in gaming from what I assume is stereotypes beginning to shed, even if only a little bit. The literature has found that the motivations differ from men cross-culturally, sometimes inverting

WRITTEN BY ALBERTO JUAREZ

ILLUSTRATION

BY SERENA LOGAN

but always edging in a different direction. In the United States, the primary motivation seems to be to engage socially and maintain relationships (albeit through competition and achievements in these cases). I think this is agreeable. Remember that growing number of female players? It seems to be significantly tied to playing with male partners and family members. But even knowing that, shouldn’t there be bigger representation in Esports?

This has been my major concern having gone to dozens of Smash Bros. tournaments, as I feel like there are just so many people missing. I don’t know which of these studies applies as a total answer for this. Are women completely discouraged by the thought of aggressive behavior by men in a community dominated by them? Are they not as interested in achievement or competitive drive? Is it a mix of both? This may extend farther than Esports: is the lack of presence the same for other gaming functions such as conventions or arcade events?

I think any player would agree that we all want to be able to play together. Those who harass and deny women have probably been convinced by the usual stereotypes, not to mention the objectification of female characters by game developers among other things. I do believe that we have the power to confront this as long as we gain proper awareness and start to question these things. What I know personally, from experience and observation, is that the male community does not acknowledge this enough, much less look inward. I admit that I really don’t know much—but I would like to know where all our gaming sisters are, to be able to play with them and connect with those I believe have been missing from the community. I believe a complete community makes for a better community.