Gaming Like a Girl

I wrote a post about Overwatch the other day (when I say the other day I mean 2 weeks ago, oops, time flies when you’re addicted to Overwatch, bear with me it comes up a lot in this post too) and how I’ve been playing as Mei, Tracer, and (as a relatively new addition) Mercy most frequently. Thinking back to when I wrote that post I felt kind of guilty because I realised that I hadn’t mentioned any male characters, or even actually tried any myself yet and I’m supposed to be a gaming blogger! When I first started the game, and went to pick my hero I immediately looked at all the female heroes first, I did look at the male heroes but very briefly. I’ll do this in other games too, I will very rarely play as a male character when I have the choice and if I do it will be because I have completed the game as a female character and want to see if there are any subtle differences in playing a male character (this is usually in RPGs like Dragon Age and Neverwinter Nights where relationships with other characters can be affected subtlety by this).

I don’t know why I do this, I’ve thought of a few potential reasons and if you tend to always choose the same gender in video games (men too!) as well then I’d love to hear if any of my thoughts below resonate with you or if you have any thoughts of your own about it. Let me know in the comments!

Let me just say first of all that I have no problem at all playing as a male character, I play a male protagonist by default in most of the games I play: Legend of Zelda, Far Cry, Bioshock, God of War, Doom, The Witcher, Dying Light, Shadow of Mordor, the vast majority of Final Fantasy games… to name just a few, and I love those games! (OK so I’m struggling a little with Final Fantasy, playing as Tidus Daddy Issues McLeatherLeherhosen really drained me of JRPG enjoyment and I need to reset a little before I attempt another.) So maybe the reason I always choose a woman when I have the choice is because I’m sick of playing as a guy and when I can be a woman I leap at the chance? As annoying as it is to have to say this in the year 2017 it does feel refreshing to have a female protagonist sometimes.

On the other hand, maybe the answer is simple and it’s just that I am a woman, therefore I identify more with female protagonists so I enjoy playing as them more. Even if they don’t talk and I’m just identifying with them aesthetically. When I was playing Portal I didn’t really think about what gender my character was, they don’t make reference to it and I just assumed I was a floating gun, it was only when I saw Chell’s reflection (well not a reflection, herself through a portal… Can’t be bothered to try and explain but you know what I mean hopefully) that not only did I have a body but the body belonged to a woman! Just knowing that kind of shifted my attitude towards the game from what had already been incredibly positive to ‘Hell yeah, this game is incredible’.

Moving onto my more feministy part of this post, I can remember numerous times throughout my life where I’ve been at someone’s house and they’ve had a multiplayer game on, usually one that I haven’t played before (Injustice, FIFA and WWF spring to mind here) and they’ve asked if I want to play against them. I would always go with a female character because like I said before, I like playing as a woman, but more often than not I would lose. This was partly because I hadn’t played the games before so was not used to them and partly because I find that female characters in fighting/sporty games are usually underpowered, or they used to be anyway, this is a while ago that I’m talking about so I’m not sure about nowadays. My choice of character before the game even began though would usually be remarked on with a comment along the lines of “oh you don’t want to be them, they’re terrible”, I can remember someone laughing because I chose the female football team in FIFA (it may not have been FIFA it might have been a different football game, I don’t remember but I don’t know any other football games off the top of my head) once to play against them, they told me they were a terrible team and I asked why, were the stats different? What was it that made them bad? Had they tried to play them before? Did they actually do very badly IRL and that was reflected in the way they were played in the game? The answer I got was simply “they’re just shit”, that made me more determined to beat them and prove that the female team were not worthless. Unfortunately, having never played FIFA before and understanding nothing about the rules of football I lost anyway. Whether the female team genuinely was terrible in the game due to their given stats or if the person I asked just didn’t know because they’d never tried to play as them I don’t know. This sort of thing has happened a lot though over the years with those sorts of games and it always fuels my feminist side, makes me want to shout GIRL POWER and obliterate my opponent with the girliest character I can find. So, thinking about it like that maybe the reason I always pick a woman is a subconscious, feminist fuelled, girl power stance?

Came across this delightful piece of bullshit as I was trying to find pictures of female FIFA players https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C05irL2Q2pY. Apparently they just look like men in the game anyway because of the graphics so they may as well just not have women in the game at all. Idiot. It’s a huge step forward for women’s football which has far less viewers than men’s football despite them working so hard and having some brilliant players, it will make the game more accessible to women and you know what? If you don’t want to play as the female team then don’t play as the female team!!! I don’t even like football but I have a huge respect for female players… I won’t get into that now though. See this is why I have female character pride!!!

Following on from the ‘girliest character I can find’ comment above, I am very girly IRL and if there is a video game character that is wearing a pair of kick ass, neon pink heels, or a dress, or if they just look super girly  then I will go for that character (the only reason I haven’t played D.VA in Overwatch yet is because I don’t like playing as a tank but I really like her and would say she’s one of the girliest Overwatch characters). Women in video games are usually very pretty but this often means that they are also sexualised. When I was trying to find an image of Tracer from Overwatch to use on my blog some of the first pictures were just fan art of her arse, for example. Often this means that people tend to trivialise female characters (not to say Overwatch has trivialised Tracer, far from it, everyone in that game is well balanced, as it should be! Last time I mention Overwatch today, I promise!) they’re the eye candy not the character you play if you’re playing to win and, like in my previous point, that is another aspect that would make me determined to say “No, this girl is awesome and I will prove it to you. Just because she’s wearing mini shorts and a bikini top doesn’t mean she can’t kick ass”. I don’t have a problem with sexy looking characters though unless they fall into one of the following categories:

1. The ‘every woman in this game is hot’ games

Dead or Alive, fighting game turned volleyball tournament… Somehow

2. The character who is wearing something super skimpy/revealing and they are obviously meant to be the eye candy but their personality or culture just doesn’t go with it

Kimono/maxi skirt to hot pants and crop top… Bit of a jump

3. Skimpily dressed characters that are in a war/space/apocalypse/zombie/etc setting and they are in a chainmail bikini or something that would just make it impossible for them to survive in that environment dressed in that way

It’s truly incredible that she is able to fight monsters on a daily basis and survive wearing this. Not going to lie, really like those boots though

If a character looks sexy but there is a personality behind it then I think that’s fine, I don’t like to make judgements on anyone’s personality or skills based on what their gender is or what they’re wearing – be they real people or people in a video game – and if they are a bit slutty then that’s OK! Each to their own! When you’re playing as them in a game though that shouldn’t be the core aspect of their personality. I have been told that I have been brainwashed to think that it’s OK to have slutty looking characters (that was an interesting conversation) but I like to think that I am just open to everyone being able to look the way they want and that your abilities should not be judged on if you chose to wear a mini skirt or a pair of jeans today, maybe that’s just what I’ve been told to think though… Will I wake up soon from the fake feminist Matrix controlled by the Anti-woman corporation and escape into the real world? Tune in next time to find out.

 

I got a little side tracked there with my rant at the end but there you go. My reasoning for not playing male characters. Let me know in the comments which gender you usually go with, is it your own? Do you mix it up? Do you play as the opposite gender? Do you think that it even affects your choice at all? I’m very interested to know if this is just me or if it’s something that everyone does to an extent.

Could It Be? An Online Multiplayer Game That I… Like?

I have touched upon how I am not a big fan of online multiplayer games before, I don’t like how competitive and serious people get about it and I feel very self-conscious if I have to work in a team in case they don’t think I’m playing right.

A few months ago my other half got me to try Overwatch, I was launched straight into a battle playing as I-can’t-remember-who with no idea what I was doing and as a result I was of course terrible at it, and therefore hated it. Then, like an aura of multiplayer goodness tinged with my slight obsession with them, Game Grumps released some videos where they teach their least experienced player how to play Overwatch. They take him through each class explaining the role of them and taking him to the training zone to try a hero from each class out. (Cue me shouting “THERE’S A TRAINING ZONE?!!” at a shame-faced Dan who failed to mention that in his attempt at getting me to play.) I watched Dan play a couple of games then had a good look at characters I liked the look of, I ended up choosing Mei who is adorable in her snug little snow boots and glasses.

Aesthetics aside I thought that defensive DPS would be a good place to start as I generally play a DPS character in other games anyway and as Defensive DPS I would be less of a glass cannon so I wouldn’t get killed quite so much, and therefore disheartened. It worked and I found playing as Mei really fun. Then I tried just plain old DPS as Tracer, who is also super fun to play but I died a lot more with her as her health is 100 points lower than Mei’s. I still like her though, she’s my second go-to. I have become almost dependent on Mei though now, I am pretty good at playing as her and even got play of the game at one point! I was very proud of that. This means that I am very uncomfortable if I have to play as anybody else though, other than Tracer who I have the hang of, even if it’s a slightly shaky hang. When I get the game for myself (more on that later though) I will find a character I like in each class to play so that I can play anything if need be, I have a feeling Mei will always be my main though.

So what’s different about this online multiplayer game to others that I have really struggled with in the past, mainly because of other players (*cough* World of Warcraft *cough*)? I suppose it’s the randomness of it. Unless you seek a friend out for a team you are thrown in with random people each time, all of varying levels and Dan’s not a hugely high level compared to some other players but no one’s left the group because they think they’re going to be hindered by a lower level player (and I don’t think that’s an option anyway even if they wanted to). It’s also insanely fast-paced so it’s difficult to strategise and really think something out, if you can at all. That kind of plays into my comments about Starwhal in a post I did many moons ago, I really liked that for the reason that it was chaotic and you didn’t need to be good at it because no one really can be, therefore eliminating that competitive vibe. In Overwatch you have players that are really good at the game but even the most skilled players can fall in the most random, chaotic situations, there doesn’t ever appear to be a huge rivalry.

Another thing that I really like is that all the characters have back stories or shorts that show off their skills in Pixar-esque animated mini movies and if some characters have a history together then they will have little chats before each battle. This makes the characters a lot more interesting than in other fighting games where you don’t really have a story it’s just a character menu of random, tough looking people. I haven’t seen a lot of the stories yet but what I’ve seen so far is really cool. Here’s a short about Widowmaker below (featuring Tracer) it’s really good, if you have 6 minutes it’s well worth a watch even if you don’t play Overwatch.

Finally, the best bit for me: I don’t have to speak to people, the euphoric moment where I realised that I wasn’t expected to have a headset or type talk to people was amazing. I just want to get on with it, I’ll get Mei to wave at you and say ‘hello!’ but do not expect me to attempt to talk with you. This isn’t me being a dick by the way, if someone wants to mess about pre-battle kicking animated basketballs around or doing a stupid animation dance-off I am more than up for that, I just get very anxious if there is a social element added to a game that expects me to communicate with other players in order to play the game more effectively. I don’t know why but the thought fills me with dread. Although if I was in a situation where I knew everyone IRL that I was playing with then that would be different.

Unfortunately Overwatch is a bit pricey (when I looked on the PS4 store it was about £50) and having just moved I’m in a bit of a money-saving situation what with just moving. Plus it seems stupid to get it when Dan, who I am now living with, already has it but I want my own account on it and we want to play it together as well (now that he knows I’m a good defensive DPS player he wants me on his team =P)… First-world gamer problems!

What are your thoughts on multiplayer gaming? Do you play Overwatch? If so who is your go to character? Which class do you generally go for?

 

30 Day Video Game Challenge! Day 30 (woohoo): Your Favourite Game of All Time

So this post is 2 days late and it’s so short that I can’t really make any excuses for it. Better late than never! Finally at the end though!!! It’s been good to do this challenge while I’ve been so busy lately and I’m pleased to say that I have a couple of proper blog posts lined up and almost ready to go so normal Tea Partying shall resume shortly.

So without further ado, the final challenge.

My favourite game of all time, well now I’ve already done a post about this! Neverwinter Nights! Check out my previous blog post about it for more info and reasons why I enjoy it! It’s an awesome game and if you’re into RPGs it’s a must game to play!

30 Day Video Game Challenge! Day 29: A game you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving

Well this is a coincidence as I’m publishing a post about this today (I did mean to do it yesterday, I know I said I would in yesterday’s challenge post, but I got distracted). Stardew Valley is my answer!

My boyfriend tried to get me into this when we first started dating and I was really put off by it when he showed me his game. It’s the sort of thing that I find really boring to watch someone else play, I was just watching him chop wood and water plants, and I was bored to tears. It put me off so much that I didn’t play it for a little while until he convinced me to try it for myself and as soon as I started I was hooked. I won’t go on about it because it’s all in my new post!

 

The Pixel Dependency

Right now I have a list of games I want to play and games that I already own but have not yet finished (Bloodborne, Doom, The Last of Us…) but sometimes I just want to chill and not think about how many times Vicar Ameila has killed me, the zombie apocalypse or demons invading Mars. So I sit there and look through my more “chill” games but everything involves killing in some way or another. So when all is said and done down the only game that constitutes as an Oasis of calm in my gaming library is Stardew Valley. Until I get addicted to it that is. I actually meant to write this post about Stardew ages ago but was, ironically, too addicted to Stardew to get time to write it.

Despite the constant need to be researching which vegetables I should be growing, how much wood I need to build a barn, which gifts will be best received by which characters, and what I need to make crab pots, Stardew Valley is so relaxing. I often find that this is the case with simulators, I’ll play them addictively for a while, then suddenly I’ll snap out of it and just stop. I don’t know how they make chopping wood for almost an entire Stardew day (about 20 minutes) so compelling but I need that barn, dammit! If you do actually know what it is that makes games like this so addictive please say so in the comments, I’ve been wondering about it for a while now! I imagine it has something to do with a built up rewards system (i.e. if you chop enough wood you’ll get a barn, which means you get cows, which means you get milk, cheese, better food, more money… and then you can afford to build this other thing!)

My pixel dependency aside I’ve wanted to give this game some love for a while now, even though it’s been out for over a year, because it really deserves it and I think that if you haven’t tried it yet you should give it a go, even if it’s not the sort of game you usually play! At first everything is simply adorable and perfect in the Stardew community and you’re focused on getting your farm built up and all the little missions you get. Shane Storyline Spoilers Ahead! On my first farm I accidentally made Shane my bestie by giving him 2 beers, one as a normal gift and one on what I did not realise was his birthday then I was treated to a cut-scene where he opens up to you about his depression and my idyllic view of Stardew came crashing down, I started paying more attention to the characters’ stories – particularly Shane’s as I was emotionally invested – and all these characters have different problems and well thought out personalities. Shane’s story delves into his drinking problems, his depression and finally his attempt to kill himself. It’s so surprising to find that content in a game that appears to be a simple simulator/RPG at first glance and the fact that it addresses the current, real life issue of suicide in men is brilliant. Other stories range from dealing with PTSD to self-doubt to just discovering unexpected quirks and aspects of a character’s personality that you wouldn’t have expected them to have…

On to a happier topic now though: Freedooooom!!! I have addressed this somewhat before in my post about different gaming styles where I compared my farm to my other half’s farm. Dan enjoys focusing on making as much money as he can, as quickly as he can but I found that a little too stressful, I didn’t enjoy having a military like schedule for growing my plants and only getting the things that I knew would make me the most money (I only knew this in the first place because almost every day he texted me tips about how to make more money on the farm, if you think my obsession is bad you should have seen what he was like). I gave in to the money making a bit on my first farm and eventually stopped playing but now I have started a new farm with no particular aim, I just want to have fun with it. If I want to build something I’m going to build it, profits be damned! Due to my current marathoning of Ru Paul’s Drag Race I’ve also made that the theme for my farm and character (just because I can), allow me to introduce you to Farmer Fishy Queen of Slaaaaay Farm and the proud owner of a cat named Mew Pawl (Sharon Sheeples, Jinx Moosoon, and Shantneigh to follow as soon as I have a barn and stable).

Also I have a dinosaur, no big deal

I like that while you may think the overall aim is to get as much money as possible and build your farm up (because after 3 years your Grandfather appears and judges the success of your farm) that’s by no means what you have to do, you can focus on whatever you want. So as an example of 3 different play styles there’s Dan getting as much money as he can, I just want my farm to look super pretty and see what everything does, and my sister (who also plays it) focuses on building relationships with all the villagers, and that’s just us! I chose the fishing farm and each island has a different theme, so far there’s Animal island and Fishing island, soon I’ll be making Craft island where I’ll make jam, cheese and all that. I think that this kind of freedom is what makes the game so relaxing, there’s no pressure to do any missions you don’t want to do, there’s no need to play it in any certain way, it’s just a nice, chill time for everyone.

Have you played Stardew Valley? What do you think it is about games like this that makes them so addictive? Which games do you play to relax?

30 Day Video Game Challenge! Day 28: Favourite Game Developer

Look at that, just a couple more days and this challenge will be over! I’m sure you will all miss it hogging the reader screen.

I’ll make this a quick one as I have another post (an actual, normal post! Hooray, my blog is finally getting back on track) coming out today, keep an eye out for it!

So favourite game developer… Well as you may or may not know I am a huge fan of Bioware games so it has to be them really doesn’t it! I could give reasons but I have spoken about them so much in previous posts I’ll just give a quick summary of them: Neverwinter Nights, Baldur’s Gate and Dragon Age!!!!! No further explanation needed.

Which game developer is your favourite?

30 Day Video Game Challenge! Day 27: Most Epic Scene Ever

I have mixed everything up now. Today is day 27, yesterday’s post should have been days 25 and 26 (amended now). Thank god it’s nearing the end of this challenge, I’m losing track of it all!

So here we go, most epic scene ever.

Isn’t that a little difficult? I don’t know there are so many games that have great scenes but a predominant one doesn’t spring to mind as I don’t tend to play games that have big, epic cut-scenes… I have mentioned this before in response to a similar question but I think that the scene in Bioshock where you first get into Rapture and you’re taken to the city is amazing, especially with the splicer at the end of it, she’s so creepy I needed a lot of nerve to get out of the little submarine thing after that.

 

30 Day Video Game Challenge! Days 25 and 26

Another post with two days instead of one! I used to have a bunch of these posts scheduled and then I ran out and I keep forgetting… In my defense yesterday was moving day part two. I’ve been living out of a suitcase for a week and a half at a friend’s house as my flat wasn’t ready until a week after I started my new job! To show my dedication to my blog I’m writing this while sat in my new living room as I wait for my celebration pizza to show up.

So excuses are over, let’s get to it.

 

Day 25 – A game you plan on playing

I have a big list actually but probably the main one that I am very curious about and that people keep recommending to me is Planescape: Torment. I know that the second one is out and I was watching a live playthrough on my PS4 the other day but I would rather play the old first one first.

 

Day 26 – Best Voice Acting

I don’t know who Link’s voice actor is but damn, he nails the HYAAAH thing. It must be exhausting. In all seriousness though I think that one that stands out is Vaas from Far Cry 3 (voiced by Michael Mando), he was brilliant and he made Far Cry 3 a much better game. He is such a good villain and I wish we’d seen a bit more of him. Here’s his opening dialogue in Far Cry 3, strong language warning! Have a watch and then have a say of what you think in the comments!

 

What games do you intend to play in the future? What do you think is the best voice acting you’ve heard in a game?

30 Day Video Game Challenge! Day 24: Favourite Classic Game

Not quite sure what exactly is meant here by ‘classic’, retro or a staple game? I’m going to say The Legend of Zelda because if anything’s a classic it’s that series. Picking a singular game from that series as a classic is tricky though. Weirdly I haven’t actually played that many really old games at all, I missed the boat on all the classic games a bit, including the super old Legend of Zelda games! I’ve played some of the remastered versions recently like Ocarina of Time and Majoras Mask but I didn’t enjoy them quite as much as The Minish Cap. I just asked my other half if The Minish Cap counts as a classic because it was the first Legend of Zelda game I ever completed and he said it was too recent… But it came out in 2004, that’s 13 years ago which is pretty old now so I don’t know. I also Googled ‘Classic Games’ for inspiration and have not played ANY of them, except Pac Man and Super Mario, and I’m afraid I was never really into those. For me The Minish Cap is a classic, I remember feeling so pleased with myself when I managed to to beat the game, it was probably the first time I ever completed what I deemed to be a ‘proper’ game, I know it’s not really difficult but at the time my gaming wasn’t very varied and The Minish Cap was the most difficult thing in my gaming library.

Any other Minish Cap fans? Would you say it’s a ‘classic’?  Which is your favourite classic game?

 

30 Day Video Game Challenge! Game you think had the best Graphics or Art Style

Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture. This is a weird game but I liked it. You basically just walk around a village in Shropshire (where everyone has the farmer accent and have names like “Doris” and “Bert”) which is eerily empty. I played this with Dan and we were taking it in turns to walk around. Each area of the village has a little light in it which represents the memories (or echoes?) of one of the people that live in the village. As you wander around listening to them you uncover more and more about what happened, some of it gets very sad, particularly the scene at the end of Lizzie’s story in the holiday camp (won’t say what it is though in case of spoilers). The graphics as you wander around are absolutely breath taking, it’s almost like you’re actually there walking through a field in the British countryside. It’s a very pretty game, I particularly liked when each ‘story’ ended and it became night time and all the stars appeared in the sky, that was beautiful. I also think that the fact that they don’t show any people helps because sometimes you’ll have a game that has lovely environment graphics but then a person will pop up on the screen, they’ll look weird and it will spoil it.

Which game do you think has great graphics? Have you played Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture? If so I’m curious to know what you thought about the end! I was a little bit disappointed but I suppose I’d had an idea in mind of what I thought it would be and it wasn’t that.