The Archetypes of the Female Gamer

First off, I'm going to apologize if I offend by any of the terms that follow but I will not be pentinent about it. I am calling it like it is. If you don't like it, I'm sorry but the terms were coined that way for a reason. A female gamer may start as one of these archetypes and, later, become another. Or she can be a blend of them all.

The Queen

The Queen is a moderate to good player who has made a realm for herself. Her realm could be a guild, a clan, a gaming community or even a server. She could also be called The Mascot because she generally is the only female gamer in her realm. The reason for this is because she will, in one way or another, eliminate the presence of any other female who should mistakenly traipse into her territory. The presence of a female intruder into her realm will set her on edge. She will do and say anything to undermine the perceived threat of dethroning. I remember not that long ago being called in by a fellow female gamer to a TF2 server to confirm the validity of her gender, which was being questioned by a Queen to the point of the Queen demanding that my friend be banned for posing as a woman. No kidding--they'll even say that a woman who sounds like a woman isn't really a woman at all. She is the worst of the "attention whores". All eyes must be on her and she must be the sole object of interest, respect, or desire, whichever may fill her need. Her self esteem irl is probably fragile and tenuous. She wants you to know that she is somehow unique and, honestly, she's probably formed by all the guys that dote on her for being a "gamer girl". Sorry, guys, but you made her. She's generally the mousy, quiet girl that slipped through the halls of school unnoticed but she is also very shrewd and intelligent. The key distinction for this archetype is her territorial nature.

The Maneater

The maneater is similar to the queen in her territorial nature. Most of us mere mortals, however, may not even realize that she's a woman at all as she is often quiet and unrevealing in public arenas. Like the Queen, she is a good to moderately good player and she uses this difference as an in. Her territory is small groups of "elite" gamers, in which she will bounce from small group to small group whenever she should spy strong, better and more elite prey. For the maneater, her sense of self worth is directly tied to who she is dating or who is interested in her. She doesn't care if you're the nicest guy in the world. Instead, it's about how famous you are in whatever game she happens to play. As a result, she's a heart breaker. Who knows why she is like this. Her reasons are probably varied and she's certainly not going to tell. One maneater that I became friends with admitted to me that she had been raped and wanted the world of men to burn, hunting down anyone in game who happened to have a big ego to fry. I wouldn't go so far as to say that they were all so badly victimized as my maneater friend but something happened somewhere. If you do happen to be a pro gamer, watch out when you drag her to the next lan--if anybody is better than you, that could be her next prey. Also, check her computer. She's probably been flirting with everybody in your clan and in your competitors' clans, too. The key distinction for the Maneater is her black widow behavior.

The Whore

Oh no I didn't--yes, actually, I did. No matter how much we females may cringe whenever we're accused of being this, the fact remains that this archetype does indeed exist. She is the most vocal and attention getting of the entire lot of us, which is probably why we females are all accused of being one at some point if we happen to use a mic to report an enemy's position. She is generally a moderate to poor playing gamer. She doesn't care much about the game. It's more of a tool to seek attention. She could be dowdy or she could be hot--I've run into both variants. In either case, there is some sort of self esteem issue at work here. For whatever reason, they need attention and a particular sort of attention. They aren't content until they have an entire server or guild slobbering all over them. They'll not shrink from revealing anything to get that reaction either. They'll post pictures of themselves in lingerie or talk dirty in the mic. I've even seen a few advertise that they have webcams and put paypal links on their gaming accounts. The key distinction for the Whore is her lewd behavior.

The Fool

The Fool is generally a horrifically bad player. In fact, just watching a fool can make a fellow player wonder how they even manage to function in real life. They'll run into walls and get stuck there. Or they'll rush straight out and to stop in the midst of enemy fire to die promptly two seconds later. Odds are, you'll never know that was a woman or you will in about 5 or 10 minutes when her boyfriend, fiance or husband takes back over and apologizes, explaining "his" poor play. This poor woman had the misfortune of being forced to play a game because her significant other thinks that it would be so cool and she'd probably snagging about him playing too much if she got into the game, too. Sorry, guys, but that doesn't always work. Some people were just not meant for fps. These women may do better at a mmorpg. They are probably very nice and bright. They just lack that gamer gene. The key distinction for The Fool is comically dying every 2 seconds in a fps game.

The Gamer

The gamer is generally a moderately decent to downright good player. She's not playing it for any different reason than you are. She just freaking loves games. In fact, she could have more consoles and a better computer at home than you do. She may or may not use voice communication because either a) she doesn't feel like her gender should mean that she should play the game any differently or b) is sick of being stereotyped and simply wants to avoid it. If she does, it'll be to report enemy positions, complain about strategy failures, or to call you a noob. Or maybe to say hi to a friend she frequently games with but that is generally the limit of her conversation in-game. Talking too much is too distracting and she wants to win. Don't try to harass one of these. Odds are you will regret it because she is a gamer and can out smack talk you because she's been bashed 1000 times before for simply being female. She has a tendency of acting like "one of the guys" and could be a tomboy in real life. Or not. She's a nerd, just like you. The key distinction for The Gamer is her straightforward manner and/or her ability to smack talk.

The Girlfriend

The Girlfriend is probably one of my favorite type of female gamers. Like the Fool, the Girlfriend was introduced to the game by her significant other, but unlike the Fool, she'll actually last longer in the game and be a functional player. Her skill level at the game will vary. Generally more talkative and friendly than any other archetype, she tends to make numerous friends but sometimes a few enemies for those same reasons. There is a warning to the Girlfriend, however. She can ultimately turn into a Gamer but, under the wrong circumstances, she can also become a Queen or a Whore. Keep her off the computer if you're fighting. Odds are, somebody is going to offer to "console" her if she realizes that the attention she's not been getting from you, she can get on her favorite server.

Hmmm

Little bit of a bio to start this out all proper like but I'm a female gamer and, without a shred of doubt, a total nerd. My love of gaming and computers began right when they began. I spent most of my days in the summer, riding my bike for 2 miles to the nearest video arcade at a local pizza joint, simply to play Pole Position, Centipede, and Pac Man incessantly. Never cared much for pinball though. I think it was the lack of pixels. At home, my parents bought me an Atari and, later, a Franklin Ace. I thought the ace was the coolest thing in the world and spent hours making little programs in Basic just for the fun of it. My first computer game was Zork so when I quip in game that I "have been a gamer since before there were even graphics is quite true". I really did and Zork will always be one of my all-time favorite games. Go figure. My love of computers and games has always been there except for the occasional bump in the road that made it so that I couldn't afford one or the other. I'm also a proud mom of two gamer children--ages 7 and 13. I don't know if they would've been gamers if I hadn't but I kind of think that there is a gamer gene. My kids are just too much like me to not have it.

My street cred for gaming doesn't stop at 30 years ago. I've been one of the few league admins, an editorial writer for a female gamer site, was the first woman to be a gaming related internet dj, lead 3 fps clans, been an officer of more guild/linkshells than I can count, and have more hours clocked for soldier in Team Fortress 2 than people have for all their classes combined. I'm also Gamespot's first female champion (TF2 champ), had my name in a news ticker on the G4 channel reporting it and have played on tv (you can watch it here if you doubt). I've actually won money playing games. It's awesome to use as a quip when some random guy doubts my validity as a gamer--"I've won money playing games--have you?" pretty much shuts them up asap.

Being a female gamer has its ups and downs--sometimes it seems like it has mostly downs, especially depending on who I'm confronted with. Honestly, if it weren't for the love of gaming, I would've probably quit playing years ago. It's a rough life. After 30 years of gaming, I think I've heard it all at this point but I'm certain somebody eventually will surprise me with some new low. An unexpected upside of being a gamer--lack of aging. Think about it--we spend all of our hours playing video games instead of being bombarded by those devilish little UV rays that prematurely age us. I think I've only had one real tan in my life and that was when my mom forced me off to Hawaii with her when I was 16. Video games = GREAT for preventing wrinkles, lol. I also think it helps a lot with keeping me sharp. I have phenomenal reaction speeds with everything.

So, that should function as an introduction but I'm not quite done yet. Next up, I'm going to discuss the female gamer, herself, based on my 30 years of experience. Not all of my fellow female gamers are going to like it but, ladies, I call it as it is. The way that you act doesn't just affect you--it affects the lot of us. Think about it.