Girls and WoW

(In no way do I represent all women who play video games, I'm merely stating my opinions, views, and observations based on my experience.)

I've been a video game enthusiast pretty much since my parents bought us a Sega Gensis for Christmas. Before being introduced to WoW, I played a majority of Nintendo games, definitely still a Nintendo Girl at heart. The Wii and the DS were definitely my systems of choice. WoW is my first MMORPG. I didn't get into the Xbox 360 or the whole play online with strangers part of the console systems. I liked games that challenged me not in how quickly I could diffuse a bomb while being shot at, but I enjoyed being challenged mentally. I loved Professor Layton and I'll be picking up the new on next month, I love Brain Age and Big Brain Academy. Tomb Raider has always been a favorite, depsite the fact that it was made for male players (seriously, Laura's hot, rich, adventurous, and single). What I loved about Tomb Raider was figuring out how to get through each level.

Games with storylines have always been kind of hit or miss with me. Sometimes I like my games to have a story where I can learn about the characters and there's a definite endpoint to get to, other times I like having an open-ended game like The Sims (looooove that game) just to mess around in. Now, there are plenty of girls out there who like first-person shooters and can't stand games that are "slow" with the action, just like there are plenty of guys who like the puzzle games. Every gamer is different and likes games based off their personality, not their gender. The games I like are due to my personality and what I consider fun, playing a WWII shoot 'em up online with fifteen strangers is just not one of them.

That's where WoW comes in. I've talked before about how I got into WoW (a friend mentioned that I might like it and I got addicted before I realized what happened), so I won't go into detail about that. I would like to talk about the aspects of WoW that appeal to me, and some of those that don't.

My biggest pet peeve with some video games is that you don't always have a choice of what your little avatar, your little representation of you The Player, is as far as gender goes. A lot of times, it's simply assumed that boys will play the game and there's no reason to have a girl character for the small minority of girls who might play. Sometimes this is due to the story, other times there really doesn't seem to be any reason at all. Some games the story doesn't seem like it would change if the character was a girl. I prefer to be gender nutral in a game rather than playing a boy (although I'm pretty much used to it having had to grow up with it), games like Age of Empires or The Sims where you're omnipotent are great for me because I'm me, I'm not some random boy character or girl character.

With WoW, every race has a male and female option for your character, I LOVE that. I love being able to be female in a game because I'm a female in real life. I don't have any male characters because I feel like I've paid my dues playing male characters growing up. That's just me though, I know plenty of people who are gender benders and play both male and female characters.

Another thing I enjoy is just how much there is to do in WoW, even after you reach level 80. There's plenty of questing and killing of things to do until you get to 80, so many chain quests and lore if you want to get your fill of story, and even if you don't feel like leveling, you can be a twink and just do Battlegrounds and other PvP stuff. After 80 there's dungeons and raids if that's your thing, dailies and the auction house if you want to make money, achievements to earn, mounts and pets to collect, professions to level, Wintergrasp if you need your PvP action, and so much else. I don't have to stop playing at level 80 because I've completed everything there is to complete, brand new doors open up at 80.

I love details. I love things like the apple core on the nightside table next to one of the beds in one of the inns of Dalaran. I love the pattern of the cobblestone streets in Stormwind. WoW is incredibly beautiful, even the places I think are ugly are still beautiful because there's no lack of details in every area. Have you ever been all the way up to the top of a tower in Dalaran and extended your viewing distance to see the whole city? It's gorgeous! Or even looked out from Wintergarde Keep over to Naxx with the viewing distances all the way up? The amount of devistation that you can see from the scourge is incredible. In every little detail, you can feel how much time and energy Blizzard's designers have put into this game. Their blood, sweat, and tears are almost palpable. Even the scenery is beautiful in The Barrens. The variety in styles of the zones is amazing. I have to say that Scholozar Basin and Stranglethorn Vale are my favorites, and my least favorite is Zul'Drak.

My motivation to level is directly related to how much I like the zone I'm in. I'd much rather quest in zones I like, so when I'm in a zone I don't like, you would think that I'd just quest as much as possible to get out of it, but really the opposite is true. I take my sweet time and drag my feet. Pretty much anything that has to do with undead, I don't like doing. I don't know what it is. I can play undead on other servers and be just fine, it has something to do with being Allince and having to deal with undead.

Alindras, on the otherhand, loves that stuff. She loves the Flame Laviathan fight in Ulduar whereas I could definitely do without it. Her first 80 is a warlock and her second is a DK. She loves playing the dark, evil characters. I like playing the pretty characters. In some ways, I'm very much a steriotype of a girl gamer, I like the vanity pets and collecting mounts and pretty clothes. I have two bank bags devoted on each of my 80's just for pretty clothes. But that's my personality. Nayana's not like that, Alindras isn't like that, not to the same extent as me anyway. Nayana likes playing a hunter because she can tame pets and give them cool names. I like being a hunter because I can have a pet that helps me fight.

The coolest thing about WoW is how much there is to do for every kind of player. There's plenty to do if you're a casual player or a hardcore, progression raider. If you love PvP you've got a whole slew of choices, if you can't stand PvP there are whole realms you can level on without being ganked at all. You can join a guild that fits your playing style or not join a guild at all. Our guild is made up of a group of friend who all knew each other in real life and got each other into the game. I said once that having our own guild was like going to the playground with your friends and finding out that you have it all to yourself. You can play exactly how you want, at your pace and style. You don't have to worry about what the other kids think or what's going on behind your back. We have the opportuinty as a guild to grown and learn together, without worrying about the reprocussion of our mistakes (other than complete wipes in raids, but with infinite lives, who the heck cares? Do dailies to pay for your repair bills and you're fine). I've heard of some guilds who, if you pug with them, and you make a mistake, not only do they kick you out of the group right then and there, but they actually go out of their way to make sure that no one ever picks you up as a pug and tell everyone how bad you are. Seriously? It's a game, we all pay the same amount of money to play (sure, some people pay more for custom keyboards or mice or multiple accounts, but the base price is the same for everyone), how are you going to purposely ruin someone else's gaming experience like that?

I realize that with the anonemity that we all enjoy, the bullys and jerks will show their true form, but I don't think I'll ever be able to wrap my head around why or how people can enjoy being mean. From my experience, letting the few random pugs know that I'm really a girl, most people think it's cool. A lot of times I'll meet other real girls (I have no reason to doubt them, though they could be faking I guess), most of the time I'm in a pug with all guys and they think it's cool that I play WoW with my husband (when I give away that detail too). I've read stories and I know these kinds of people are out there who don't like women, or don't like women gamers, who don't think girls can play any video games besides "Imagine Babyz", etc. Thankfully, I haven't had too much interaction with those people. I always feel my pug out before I decide whether or not to chat with them or just stay quiet and get the job done. Jerks make me angry, and if I end up in a pug with a jerk, a lot of times I just stay quiet unless they're picking a fight with someone else and we're not progressing because of it. If it gets bad I'll sacrifice being locked to a heroic and just leave because while they're free to say whatever they want and behave however they want (within Blizzard's policy for player behavoir), I'm also free to leave and not put up with that behavior.

So this post kind of turned into a bit of a rant, but my main point that I want to get across is that girl gamers are exactly the same as boy gamers, everyone has different interests and personalities. There aren't things in WoW that ONLY girls are interested in or ONLY guys are interested in, there are things for everyone, even me, the sometimes-steriotype, detail loving, picky video gamer (I only have a few games that are impulse buys, most of the games I have, I've researched and read about before buying them because I want to make sure that I'll enjoy every minute of the game). I think the sheer number of women who play WoW (both those who admit to being girls and those who wish to remain anonymous) speaks volumes about what Blizzard has done to create a game that appeals to such a huge demographic. Other video game developers should take notes when they starting thinking about creating games for everyone. The only thing I think Blizzard could do better is market more towards women.

The only commercial I've seen for WoW involving women was an awesome one from Mountain Dew (two women turn into a night elf and a troll and fight each other in a grocery store because one has Alliance Mountain Dew and the other has Horde Mountain Dew). I'd like to see more of those. I don't want to see the celebrity "what's your game" ones though, because while celebrities may sell to guys, I don't find that it appeals to me very much. I like that the Mountain Dew commercial had two normal women in it, they weren't celebrities, they weren't models, they were regular women, they looked like women that I could have been friends with. I think that's definitely a step in the right direction as far as advertising towards women goes. When you choose a celebrity to sell your product, you're assuming that I look up to that person or that I care about what that person thinks or says. Like the "I Play For Me" Nintendo DS commercials with Carrie Underwood, America Ferrera, and Liv Taylor. I do appreciate those women and their careers, seeing them playing their DS's in situations that I'll never ever be in really doesn't sell the product to me. America plays her DS on the TV set (or a movie set) in her make up chair, Carrie plays hers on her tour bus. The only one in a normal situation is Liv who plays in her bedroom and with a friend outside on a bench. I want to see normal women using the product, like in the Mountain Dew commercial. I want to see a mom purposely put her kids to bed early so she can raid Ulduar with her guild. I want to see a college student playing WoW in her dorm. I'd love to see a husband and wife team playing together on the couch or at the dinning room table. Those are commercials that grab and hold my interest and make me remember the product. Because, while girl gamers are the same as guys in-game, IRL there's definitely a different marketing strategy.