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Why female players are underepresented in RuneScape?


redfish

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The person right before me was one of the most accurate posters yet. Most (please don't yell at me for stereotyping or whatever) of the annoying noobs who beg often turn out to be a) males B) males playing as females. (not all though.) Anyways, most of those younger players who play Runescape are males, but as you get progressively older in the age groups a higher and higher percentage of females are in the list. Like, I know a woman who plays Runescape, she plays almost all day ( I think,) because she's a stay-at-home mom, so she ahs the time.

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Follower of Guthix

The quill is a miracle, for it drinks darkness and sheds light.

 

Oh right, by the way, I'm a girl. No more calling me a guy you lot~

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I agree with the people saying that as you get older you get more females playing, but there are difinatly plenty of teen girls playing. I think us guys are just in denial made easier by everyone useing a male avatar. I have noticed that about half the quest capes I see belong to girl avatars, pleading me to think that girls generaly like skilling and questing more than boys, and thet they get fewer be my gf comments because people learn very fast that no girl with a quest cape is going to say yes. I also agree that the ratio of females to males is greater than the RuneScape average among the pmods. From personal observation, I would say that females make up nearly half of the pmods (at least the more active ones).

 

 

 

I have known a few girls who are in to games. Its weird because I find alot of them don't really advertise it at all. Guys asume that all they do is go on facebook, but I can tell you how supprised I was when a girl (who was remarkably pretty, and very social) I knew not only mentioned she played Halo, but was able to kick my [wagon] at it (at the time, that was no small feat considering I am very skilled at the game myself).

 

 

 

The girl I took to my grade 9 'grad' (well graduation dance from junior high) played RS. She was never into the game as much as I was, but she did play. Now would be a good time to mention that some of the girls I have met in some games (like a certain space shooter) have been quite 'butch'. One in particular probably because she was playing in a close community of all guys (plus her), and all the guys ever wanted to talk about was sex and sexual jokes. I no longer play with that group at all, I got tired of it. They shoudl have stopped talking about it and just gotten some or something (no one whos done it talks about it that freaking much). I should also mention that both the girl who beat me at Halo and the one I took to the dance were 'girly' girls too.

 

 

 

Theres definatly alot of stereotypes facing females, both on the internet and off it, and I suppose that being a guy I am glad I don't have to put up with it. Of course females get cheeper car insurance (despite the fact you will never find a guy who thinks that the average female is a better driver than the average male). Actualy, on the subject of drivers, I once found a few rules of life. One of the rules was 'everyone belives they are an above average driver'.

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I have not heard anyone on this thread say that girls have more diligence than boys when it comes to playing the game, just that we go about it differently. I think you're overreacting.

 

 

 

And, also, when has the game been solely about money? I don't know about you, but I play the game to have fun.. that's what a game is for, after all, right? :thumbsup:

 

 

 

There are many girls that play RS. Half of my friend list is girls now that I think of it. GOP and CW is full of girls, and most of them are extremely high leveled and can probably outsmart any guy player out there.

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, and also, i find shooting people with ice funner than clicking on a fire.

O.O

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Why does everyone experience guys harrassing them on RS while they dress as girls? D:

 

 

 

I'm girl and no one ever bothers me...Or maybe my real life ugliness can be seen through

 

the computer screen? :o

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Nobody on RS ever asks me to be their gf either.... thank god for small mercies eh? Perhaps, like me, you don't dress your pixels like a girly girl? A while ago I did an experiment by wearing different outfits when skilling and concluded that girly girl outfits garner more attention of the "be my gf" type. I found it interesting that the "she was just asking for it dressed that way" attitude was paralelled in RS. I got an A for that essay. ;)

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:wall: Why should girls have special reasons for playing WOW that are different from the reasons why boys play? And why should girls defend themselves for gaming? What's this about being attracted to "pretty scenery" and "make-up"? STEREOTYPING ALERT. There are a lot of female players, who are all different, and by the way, the higher you go in the highscores, the more equality there seems to be between the number of male/female players.

 

 

 

Faitality is right... You need to have some attitude as a girl to be a gamer, especially when you're still a kid/teenager, when it's so important to behave along to the expectations of your gender. There are several stages a female player has to go through: disbelief; mocking; being considered asexual, fat and hopeless or a tomboy; and when they've seen your picture, being considered the ultimate girlfriend. Also, if a girl games, she's supposed to be really bad at it. The gaming (and broader: (computer) technology) community is one of the most sexist and male chauvinist ones I've encountered so far.

 

 

 

the pretty scenery comment came from the fact that ive asked girl gamers why they play certain games and that is the general response i got. Plus other girls on this thread said that there was some truth in it. I in no ways said thats the only reason a girl would play, but i did say that from the girls ive talked to that that was their general response.

 

 

 

i wasnt stereotyping. And the reason why people are coming up with theories in the first place is because there is less girl gamers then boys gamers. And there are more girl gamers in WoW then runescape (at least in my personal experience...) Thats where the discussion came from, not from simple steriotypes.

 

 

 

I agree with you though that the technology community is sexist to the extreme. But its stereotyping to say that every male gamer is sexist as you just did.

 

 

 

Now you are reading things that aren't there. I didn't say that -.-. I said the community was sexist, not that every male gamer is - I wouldn't play anymore if that were the case. I was making a point: we all have our individual reasons for playing. Of course you'll find girls who say they play games because they're pretty. But your survey seems to be rather too small to make general statements based on it. Besides, rephrase "pretty scenery" into "they have good graphics" and BAM, you've found yourself one of the main reasons why boys like certain games too.

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Here are MY reasons for playing RuneScape. (I am a girl.)

 

It's a way to kill my brother multiple times when I'm in a foul mood with him. (Even funner when I use my mage pure :D)

 

The quests are very interesting (up to a POINT... One Small Favor is just irritating) and the storylines are well-written.

 

Killing stuff is fuuun. :twisted:

 

Watching my levels go up is always fun.

 

The sense of community when I'm spending hours in the company of crazy-awesome people and killing the KBD in ten seconds or less (to give one example).

 

And hey, I need something to do in my spare time once I've exhausted the library's supply of interesting books!

 

 

 

Edit: I would like to note that I find makeup repulsive, clothes shopping BORING, and my favorite birthday present EVER would be a $100 check to spend on books and Bionicle sets. :lol:

Balance may be power, but chaos is still pretty damn fun.

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G.I.R.L

 

 

 

Guy

 

In

 

Real

 

Life

 

 

 

=/

 

lol fail... evr had a date yet? lol... but yh most girls just dont find runescape nice because of stereotyping... (btw im a boy). But I mean like only like 0.1% of the 'females' on runescape are creepy males with no life... so people stereotype that, plus back before trade limit it was a big thing to turn into a girl and get 'fr33 st00f'. But I mean like 75% of my friends list is girls... I find that they stick to themselves a bit more but they're a bit more serious acting and a more mature 'community' to be with when scaping. As for the average male player on runescape (you kill them as they kiss the ground they say N00b!) is a little annoying (okay little isn't cutting it but you get the point) >.>

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Why does everyone experience guys harrassing them on RS while they dress as girls? D:

 

 

 

I'm girl and no one ever bothers me...Or maybe my real life ugliness can be seen through

 

the computer screen? :o

 

Same here when i think about it :?

 

 

 

Nobody has ever asked me to be their 'gf' on RS...

 

or irl either :cry: :cry:

 

 

 

ITT: Rachael realises she's a noob at real life.

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I edit for the [Tip.It Times]. I rarely write in [My Blog]. I am an [Ex-Moderator].

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Nobody has ever asked me to be their 'gf' on RS...

 

or irl either :cry: :cry:

 

 

 

ITT: Rachael realises she's a noob at real life.

 

Really? Weren't you the pretty girl who posted the picture of yourself with the Mudkip on April 1st? Perhaps you shouldn't sit around waiting for it and take the initiative. Trust me, guys like a woman who isn't afraid to be assertive. (yes, I'm one of those creepy older guys who play a female character. But I don't live in my mom's basement. I have my own house and everything! :thumbsup: )

 

 

 

On topic, I get asked, "be my GF?" at least once a day. I always have, even before I had my full Sara. Maybe it happens more when you're mining...

 

 

 

EDIT: Hmm...the above comments came off a lot more snarky than I had intended. :anxious: #-o Racheya, please take it as a helpful suggestion, and not a catty jab.

 

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So, Kaida is the real version of every fictional science-badass? That explains a lot, actually...

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I am a girl (actually woman :D) both in the game and irl. I have noticed the 'be my gf' questions occurred more when I was f2p than now that I am p2p, and it is pretty rare now - maybe because I am starting to get into higher levels and I just ignore them most of the time. Most of my friends list is female and we are also in a clan so I generally have cc on and miss the sexual harrassment because I am reading something else.

 

 

 

Part of the reason I became a member was because I was sick of 10yo boys asking for gold and for me to be their gf and also because my bank was getting ridiculously full.

 

 

 

Another thing I would like to know - and maybe another thread, is what sort of person feels the need to ask a complete stranger, in an online game, to be their gf? For what reason would they get any benefit from it? It's not really all that normal to have an 'internetz GF', and not an rl GF is it?

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okay idk if anyone mentioned this but before trade limit was established guys would create lvl 3 accs and make them girls. Then they would pretend to like high lvl players with alot of cash and flirt with them. They would ask for gifts and stuff and get cash and then drop trade, multi log it over to their main. People started to catch on to this trend and started thinking that all girls on the game were guys. Just my opinion. I think that most girls that are girls in rs are girls but their probably just ugly lol in rl.

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Nobody has ever asked me to be their 'gf' on RS...

 

or irl either :cry: :cry:

 

 

 

ITT: Rachael realises she's a noob at real life.

 

Really? Weren't you the pretty girl who posted the picture of yourself with the Mudkip on April 1st? Perhaps you shouldn't sit around waiting for it and take the initiative. Trust me, guys like a woman who isn't afraid to be assertive. (yes, I'm one of those creepy older guys who play a female character. But I don't live in my mom's basement. I have my own house and everything! :thumbsup: )

 

 

 

On topic, I get asked, "be my GF?" at least once a day. I always have, even before I had my full Sara. Maybe it happens more when you're mining...

 

 

 

EDIT: Hmm...the above comments came off a lot more snarky than I had intended. :anxious: #-o Racheya, please take it as a helpful suggestion, and not a catty jab.

 

I will take it as a suggestion. :)

 

 

 

But, as you said, I have a Mudkip... see the problem? >.< And people kept saying I was pretty in that picture but I'm not really. :? I could go on but it's not very on topic...

 

 

 

I just think it's generally more stereotyped. You think of killing dragons, big [wagon] swords, chopping wood... then you generally think of guys. Though I don't think it's amazingly more biased towards boys, girls are probably just less likely to play because they might have other girl friends who'd go 'ewww what are you playing THAT for??' I think in general, female players are older because at 13 when all the boys are playing they're usually off shoe shopping...

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I edit for the [Tip.It Times]. I rarely write in [My Blog]. I am an [Ex-Moderator].

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I think in general, female players are older because at 13 when all the boys are playing they're usually off shoe shopping...

 

Oh! I have time for both RS and some serious shoe shopping. It is possible to do both =)

 

 

 

Just call me Imelda.

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I don't necessarily think we female players are underrepresented. I find that about half my friends are female. I have found a lot more female players at higher levels than lower levels, though. I think that may be because at lower levels we hide more to avoid all of the annoying comments that people already mentioned.

 

 

 

I read an article a while back on msn that studied WoW and, I think, Everquest and found that the female population was less than males but increasing every year and when you got into the high level players, it increased by a large percentage. The female players also tended to be older than most of the males.

 

Not really sure why that is but I have found it to be true on RuneScape as well.

 

 

 

Personally, I prefer RuneScape to games like WoW because I am not into the whole competition aspect of the game. I don't mind combat but I would rather set my own goals and work on it or a skill and chat to people than do PvP or go on raids and group fighting. Stereotypical, maybe but I just find this more relaxing. I am not the stereotypical woman, though. I like cars and sports and computer games as well as some more traditional girly things like art and music and literature. I hate shopping, by the way, and only see make-up as a necessary evil.

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I know I have a fickle heart and a bitterness and a wandering eye and a heaviness in my head.

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