Assessing Sexism in Gaming: Is It Still a Boy's World?

When I was little, the Easter Bunny gave me a Gameboy. I played games such as Tetris, Super Mario World, even a baseball game that I was really good at. I pretty much played my Gameboy until the screen cracked, and I had to get rid of it.

It wasn't until I got engaged that I started getting back into gaming; this time graduating to the original Playstation and this time playing Crash Bandicoot and Grand Theft Auto. I played those games so much that I had them memorized; had every secret unlocked on Crash and knew exactly how to turn my car so that I wouldn't run into a fence. Playing Playstation was so much fun and made the time pass by when I was bored, but I still wasn't into gaming like I am today.

A couple of years ago, I bought a Playstation 2, still playing every Crash Bandicoot game that I could get my hands on. I bought and played Guitar Hero 2 when it was originally made for Playstation 2; the same goes for Hot Shots Golf 3.

That still wasn't enough, and soon, my husband bought an Xbox 360 Elite, and I bought a Nintendo DS. This is where my gaming skills start to really improve, and I start to play more than most girls my age ever thought about playing. The Xbox 360 games range from Condemned (think Silent Hill-scary) to Burnout Paradise to Acme Arsenal to Rockband (all of which I have played). My DS games range from Brain Age to Word Coach: French to Sims to Yoshi.

So as far as assessing sexism in gaming: Is it still a boy's world? No. Are about sixty percent of the games, regardless of the system, targeted towards teenage boys and young men? Yes, BUT that doesn't mean that all teenage boys and men are the only ones that play the games or that they're the only ones that gaming industries want to play the games. Gaming industries know boys are more likely to play because they know women think gaming is for boys, but the industries are trying to change that thought process.

On Xbox you can purchase Xbox Live cards; these cards let you play online with other players in other states and even other countries. My husband plays with a lot of guys from his work but also plays with a lot of girls in other states and, at least, one in another country (No it doesn't bother me). These girls play games like Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty 3, Gears of War, Halo 3, Bioshock, and the list goes on. These girls not only play but have beat the games on expert while still playing "girlie" games.

There's even an online group called The Gamer Chix. They get together every week to play a different game and invite girls from everywhere to play. When you're in the room with these ladies, there is no trash talk, no put downs, no negativity; just girls having fun, boosting each other up, playing video games.

If non-gaming women think it's still a boy's world, it's because women think it's a boy's world. A lot of women are too scared to even try to play. For whatever reason I don't know; either they're scared of getting embarrassed, afraid they might enjoy it, and/or afraid of what other women will think about them. I once had a girl tell my friends (in front of me), "Every time I talk to Amanda, she's playing a video game. I mean, seriously, how old is she?" Needless to say, she's not my friend anymore.

In conclusion, more than half of the games are targeted towards males, BUT if we can play a shoot-'em-up game and pretend it's our boss or significant other, then we're going to play it. We're going to play just as well, if not better, than boys. So watch out, the Gamer Chix are coming to get ya!