why all my characters are ladies
Interesting article over on Medium Difficulty about why this particular lady plays female characters in video games almost exclusively when given the choice.
It of course made me think about our own Puppeteers series that explores why we choose the avatars we do.
Team Valkyrie FTW: Too Many Strong Women In Video Games!!!1!!eleventyone!!
Shenanigans, I tell you. The worst part is that this guy isn’t even trolling. The privilege is so thick, and it comes with a side of cluelessness! -iamuhura
Goddamn, Men’s Rights Activists never stop being funny.
The setup:
… one I have been playing recently is Shogun 2 total war. Now for those who don’t know what this game is, it is a strategy game based on the military of feudal Japan. I recently bought an upgrade for the game the other day…
No Games for the Holidays
Yep. Seriously. Not gonna happen.
I won’t be buying any games through the rest of 2011. Why on earth would I make that horrifying decision between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, when there are killer deals everywhere? When the infamous free-for-all known as the Steam Holiday sale will surely test the bounds of my resolve? After all, every game enthusiast I know is buying the latest and greatest - and likely has a holiday wishlist a mile long. The choice not to buy games during the holiday season is well, outright heresy. But it must be done for the greater good.
The Temptation of the Cheater
This article was submitted to us by regular contributor John Hummel. Check out his YouTube page for his new series “Comparative Gaming 101”.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I admit. I’m a cheater. But you don’t understand the temptation. It’s a grind, day in, day out, the same thing. The banality gets to you. You just want to move on. To be done with it, so get that release that you crave.
So I start looking for how to get around the rules. Those ways to keep undetected, shuffle some things around so I can get my fix. After all, nobody has to no. Nobody will be hurt as long as I keep it to myself, right?
Yet - even if all that is true, why do I feel like a schmuck for trying to edit the save game on my copy of Pokemon Emerald?
Off and on for years now, I’ve been playing through all of the Pokemon games. Earlier this year, I played through Pokemon Yellow - the original Game Boy Color game, and then played through Pokemon Red, then used the save game and an old tool to copy over my Pokemon Red save game file over to my Pokemon Blue cartridge instead of playing the game for a *third* time, so I could catch the last few Pokemon I needed. Other than that shortcut, I didn’t use any cheats (I did use a glitch to capture Mew). No Gameshark, no other codes - just playing the games, go to each location to find each Pokemon, using all of the tricks and tools to capture those hard to catch legendary Pokemon - and finally using my MasterBall on the powerful Mew2 himself.
So why with Emerald is the challenge to stay “pure” so hard? I played through both Pokemon FireRed for the Gameboy Advance and Pokemon LeafGreen for the same - no cheats, just going through the game. But something about Emerald has just been rubbing me the wrong way. Maybe it’s the higher level of backtracking in the game, or how it feels like a bigger “fight lots of Pokemon to level up really high to take on the gym leaders” kind of game.
It feels more grinding, more repetition in fighting enemies over and over and over again to become powerful enough, and it’s wearing me down.
The temptation to cheat in other games has always been there. I’ll confess - I used the “God Mode” to get through the last 25% of the game Doom 3. Not because it was that difficult, but because it was a kind of boring game. I just wanted to get through the end.
I recently finished playing Fallout 3, and actually started the game 3 times because the temptation to cheat and enhance my character was so strong. The start of the game was so difficult I found myself typing in those tasty tasty cheats and giving myself a little pick me up, then just a little more - and next thing you know, I was sprawled out in my office chair while my character had leapt to nearly godlike status.
Ultimately, I’m glad I played the game “pure.” After awhile, I either got better, or my character got strong enough to handle the challenges. Over time, the temptation went away.
So I know as tempted as I am to just cheat at Pokemon Emerald - I’ll leave it as it is. Maybe it’s even best to take a break from the game for awhile, let it stew, and then come back to it and go the final slot to defeat the Elite Four. I already know it’s going to be a hard battle, that I’ll want to throw my old silver Game Boy Advance across the room when I get wiped out by a flying dragon type using *Earthquake* of all things on my electric type Pokemon -
But I also know victory will taste that much sweeter when I *do* win.
No Flat Girls: How Allies are Born
I rarely reblog. But this post, this anecdote, this situation has reached critical mass. This is why allies are important. This is why, if we truly want the gaming industry to stand up and get better for women and other marginalized groups, we have to start within our community. With our friends, colleagues, acquaintances, and perfect strangers. We have to speak out and send the message that this behavior is not okay.
Silence is acceptance. So say something. Let people know that the words they choose have power and that they will be held responsible for them.
-iamuhura
(This is a guest post.)
This is a story about gamer culture, casual sexism, the silence of friends, and its fallout - more or less in that order.
Firstly, context. I’m a recent graduate working as a game designer for a social games startup in New York City, and I identify strongly with other…
Geek Girls Do GeekGirlCon
This article was submitted to us by Nourisha K about her fun times at the first ever GeekGirlCon in Seattle, WA. Check out her new website ‘Sunless in Seattle’ or find her on twitter at @kcwebgirl!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
There are some things that just go together perfectly for us geeky girls. Geek tees and converse. Feminism and cosplay. Superheroes and villains. Geek love/adoration and cons. This past weekend in Seattle, city of major tech giants and über geeks galore, GeekGirlCon was born. This was the first ever Con devoted to us geek girls. I know what you’re thinking. Don’t scores of girls show up to cons all across the nation each year? Of course we do. And you know what? We still get asked to defend our right to call ourselves geeks. Or we get harassed for daring to dress as slave Leia because no way can we be true geeks and hot at the same time.
Zombie Lane: Grind, baby, Grind
Welp. It only took a week and I’m basically over Zombie Lane. It’s still fun I guess, but on a scale of 1 to 10 it started out at an 8, then dropped to a 5 and now it’s about a 3. All because of something we game playing folk are all too familiar with - the grind.
You see, once you figure out the system and crack the formula to complete missions in the game efficiently, well - you’re done.
Tricks of the Gamer Dad
Whenever I talk to other parents about their children, usually at some point I talk about how I play certain games with my children, like Pokemon, or Super Smash Brothers, or Castle Crashers. What I hear back is “Oh, but video games are so bad for children but mine would play them all the time.”
I’ve got children who are getting straight A’s in school, who participate in school events - and they game. In some ways, games are <em>why</em> they’re where they are.
But that’s only because I am an evil genius. Bwahaha. Bwahahahaha! Bwahahahahahahahahaha!
OK. But really, there are things I’ve done with my children. Some of these are just general tips, others are specific things that I’ve done.
Tip #1: Pokemon at 5.
When each of my children turned 5, after years of reading to them at night so on and so forth, I give them a challenge:
If they can read ‘Green Eggs and Ham’ without a single mistake, then I’ll get them a Nintendo DS, and their own copy of Pokemon. So of course the idea of playing the cartoon they’ve been watching is OMG YAY TOTALLY GOING TO DO IT!
So over the course of a month, I’ll practice with them. Make them sound the words out. Point to words out of order so they can’t just memorize the book and regurgitate it.
Then when the day comes, and they’re able to read it without a single error, they’re so proud. And then they get Pokemon…
And realize that they have to read to play the game. Read the instructions. Read what people tell them in the game, read what happens to the Pokemon they catch, sound out the names, and on and on. So now if they’re going to play the game, they have to read. They have to think and look at the numbers to know how much power their Pokemon have. They have to use logic and strategy in understanding strengths and weaknesses.
Observations on Zombie Lane: the Farmville of Google+
Zombie Lane is the latest kill-time obsession for my friends and I on G+. I started playing at the suggestion of a friend at our weekly game night, and it quickly overcame Team Fortress 2 as my “go to” for semi-mindless entertainment. Soon a small group of us were playing regularly, and thanks to the genius of a Games Notification only stream, our shameful addictions were mostly hidden from view. After a few weeks, here are some of my general observations:
- Wow. Your spouse is full of shit. So, part of the game is getting you to complete missions, and the first big one is getting your spouse home. Lemme get this straight: it’s the zombie apocalypse, and it’s made clear through the tone of the messages (via walkie-talkie) that your spouse is missing not because they’re on a crucial mission for food and ammo,
