Women in Gaming: My Story
So, my main game at the moment is Planetside 2. Basically, it's a giant explosive clusterfuck of literally thousands of soldiers on three continent sized-maps with tanks, fighters, armored transports, flying transports . . . you get the idea.Â
The best way to play this game is with an organized outfit, a group of people communicating in real time and working together to further their empire's gains. A squad of 12 people can hold off fifty people in a small building if they work together. My outfit, the Purple Wraiths (R8TH) clocks in at about 24 people on out big Op Nights, and it obviously takes someone with a lot of leadership skills, humor, and website/video editing skills to run our outfit.
Our outfit leader is female. I had no idea of that when I first joined, I did so because it looked a small, well-led, well-organized outfit. Others may have hundreds in them, but all they do is tell their members to attack the same base and that's it. We use fireteams, squads, combined operations, etc, something I wanted back then.
Anyways, as I started playing with them, I was struck by how . . . professional it was. Nobody seemed to care that our leader was a girl. I kid you not, she manages dozens of guys, makes tactical decisions, commands us, and occasionally berates us for running outside the cap point to kill one fleeing guy, only to get lit up by a half-dozen chaingun-wielding exoskeletons. And every time, all I hear is "yup, my fault, I'll make sure to stick to my staircase next time".
Nobody complains! Never once have heard anyone in the outfit tease her, refuse to listen to her orders, abuse her, or . . . treat her differently. That's what I'm getting at, she's treated no different than any other male player. In fact, she's respected as a great leader who's equal parts serious and quick-witted on the battlefield, and derpish and fun when it's an off day.
Case point: The first day of playing with R8TH, on a training night, we had just taken a base by jumping out of a large 12-person Galaxy troop aircraft, and had proceeded to crush all opposition under our leader's direction. After we had taken the base, she landed the Gal and we piled in, ready to capture the next base. We took off . . . only to collide with a large tower none of us saw, and explode. Mind you, she just piloted a transport filled with 11 other males with voice communication into an obstacle and killed us all! I braced for the inevitable wave of cruel jokes, only to find everyone else laughing. Laughing their asses off, really. We promptly respawned at the base, got a ground-based 12-person transport, and drove off. When we cruised by the tower, someone cracked a joke - "Look out for the tower!". Not demeaning, not cruel, but in genuine humor! We all laughed again, and went on our way. That day really made the outfit for me.Â
So, what was the point of this long-winded post that will be lucky to have more than one person read? I like to think that, despite the obvious sexism that exists in gaming, there are less-reported examples like this that are out there.
ellievsbear
romaincrisis
baratheonpilled
prguitarman
snowghoul
tangentwithtanner
janainaart
areudirty
dededos
