Gaming Community Study

[Frelock]

That would certainly be an interesting conversation, Chak, but I don't think I'm quite ready to tackle that sort of beast quite yet. I've only got 6 pages for this report, and besides gender there are other things I want to talk about.

Like the difference between mainstream and indie gamers. I suppose I glossed over that in my thought process summery, but really as an indie gamer, I find I look down on mainstream gamers. Examining this perspective, however, I realized that I don't have any real reason to. What are the differences between mainstream and indie gamers? (aside from the obvious definition, of course)

[Jackard]

indie games often have an international community

[Fratari]

Also, mainstream gamers pay to grind, whereas we grind for free.

You could also look at it like we are enjoying NOT being on the bandwagon.

[Tonkyhonk]

errr, im probably too paranoid, but i wouldnt easily go visit a site outside of the official forum to join surveys even if the survey site youre using is well-known to others. (i cant tell myself since i hardly join in internet surveys.)
i could happily reply as one of the female players of this game to your questions if youd list your questions here so that i know what i am going to answer to, and if i feel secure enough (yep im stupid enough to over-react), i could send the reply by pm or something like that if that still helps at all.

i dont know, maybe its just me being super-silly or whatsoever. or this reaction of mine can still add up to your reserch?

[Chakravanti]

errr, im probably too paranoid

Not if you're using windoze. But if you really were paranoid...you wouldn't be using windoze in the first place.

[xweetok59]

The Internet: where men are men, women are men, and children are FBI agents.

To be true, i am not a FBI agent, lol.

[Emina]

heh yer this was quite a coincidence indeed, im not even sure i have the energy to have another go with this subjekt again now,
but since its you Fre ill add something to hopefully help you a bit with your schoolwork. besides the server is down once again so why not.

Some bits about my gaming background:
I used to play Counter Strike for many years and ended up as one of the leaders in a large clan and community there in the end.
After that i played World Of Warcraft for several years, experiancing the guild enviroment.
And lastley ive ended up in this Haven & Hearth game, i didnt even think it would be for more then a year when i started but here i am still
ive played a few other games in between, like warhammer and similar but not in the same extent so i wont bring them up.

What type and extent of harassments towards females in the gaming enviroment can vary depending on many things, one beeing the social resources used in that particular game.

CounterStrike Social networks: heavily use voice communication both ingame and out of game such as ventrilo and the like. IRC is heavily used and is a big foundation for contact with other clans and communitys.
Forums on the other hand was mainley used by the clans own members. one difference in CounterStrike from other mainstream games beeing servers are not generally provided by the game itself and are most of the time hosted by clans and communitys namley the gamers. The game provider Steam had a public forum but it was mainley used for tech questions and that sort of thing, so i would not count it as a social forum.

World Of Warcraft Social networks: i did not see much IRC use in this game, but it does not mean it might not have been used by some guilds. However the use of outside voice communication like ventrilo was a necessity for any large guild during gameplay but was mostley secluded for the guild only. Most big guilds also had their own forums mainley used by its own members. The ingame chat communication like the general trade channel was used by many as a social channel, party chat likewise. The game provider Blizzard also had a publik forum, used for tech questions but was also heavily used by some as a social forum, and was basically the only source for communication from server to server.

H&H Social networks: well most of us know this part, ingame chat like village chat, party chat, personal chat, public IRC chat available, game provider forum in this game is however more used then in any other game ive played before. There is also private village forums mainley used by its members, and most likley many use voice communication aswell even tho i unfortunatley have not been using it in this game (kind of miss that part tho).

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Ok Fre with that said, i think the server is up now so im gonna have to continue another day.

[pordle]

Took your survey.

The only things I've encountered that were concerning being fem.
There is always the shock when you talk in vent - but only around younger guys - omg was that a girl - hey girl, say something again, who was that??
That's when it's uncomfortable because you are in the spotlight but has only happened to me when I join an affiliate group to do a task. Never in my own guilds/kin that hear me all the time.

Sometimes guys hit on you but you just tell them, here to game not to meet a man and they accept that.
Some do flirt regularly but it's not that common, lots of gamer guys are married and I always assume that when they flirt, I don't take much seriously. Likely they have never seen me and have no clue if they are attracted, it's just their manly schtick. I have been told that my voice was sexy lots of times - that's usually when I change it and sound like bobby from bobbys world and mess with them for awhile and they get the hint that I'm not trying to "be sexy", just game.

Teenagers have asked me for pretty personal advice about their love lives, I would imagine because I'm fem. I try to give them the adult version of be yourself, if she doesn't like that who cares about her etc. and lift them up a little. Maybe they come to me like a mom that isn't a mom but it's usually when they are having problems with a girl and they think another would know how to solve it.

I have heard some girls be offended by cursing etc. and I tell them to get over it, you kind of have to accept that ppl gaming will curse in pvp games, get the kids out of the room if you don't like it. I'm bothered by the tight ass wenches that chastise me if their kid was in the room when I let a curse slip out. You wouldn't take your kid to a bar and complain because there was a bar fight would ya lol

As for getting gifts for being fem or something nah - no one has offered but I heard in the past it has happened.

In this game I have been asked if I was a real girl cause the toon is fem. but often I start off as a guy and choose my guild just so that they don't know I'm fem and choose me because of it. Games do tend to be sausage fests so I will say that a girl will never go guildless in a game if she outs herself early on. That's one advantage we get.

[Emina]

yer with the server down again i might aswell continue for a bit.

if i would compare the 3 games i have played the most, i would say CS is where i encountered the most harassment towards females, World Of Warcraft would be second, and H&H would be last.

If i would try and analyse why, it would probably point to the extent of voicechat used in the game in public. Some aspect could also be the avarage age of the majority of the players playing the game but it is probably quite similar exept for H&H where i estimate average age might be a bit higher.

Why voicechat would make the difference could be the fact that it has a high chance to prove the player actually is a female, where other social networks will always leave some doubt about the players actual gender. And most people always asume it's a male pretending to be female taken the percentage of females in online games are extremely low compared to the amount of males. It is a quite understandable assumption.

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Ohh server is up again, sorry Fre, to be continued i guess…