Ladies, chime in here!

[temu]

So, I got into a discussion with a friend about why there are hardly any women in the professional League of Legends scene. Then I thought about what I see going on in UO. There does seem to be a higher percentage of women who PvP in UO compared to competitive MOBAs , but I am still sure that there are more males.

Now, we know that PvP in games like UO, Starcraft 2, Counter-Strike, League of Legends, etc, do not require physical strength. Furthermore, I am quite familiar with many women who are brighter, faster, and more competitive than the men I know! Women are just as sharp, quick, and cunning as any male. Then, why are women not represented in the highest levels of eSports? And why are women outnumbered in felucca?

We did come up with some explanations. First, women suffer harassment more than males, and this makes for an unpleasant experience. Second, women do not seem to be as naturally aggressive as males, and they do not benefit from the mental rewards of victory in the same way. Finally, women simply have better things to do and have more active social lives that do not allow them to spend as much time perfecting their craft. Whether any of these reasons is correct is totally in the air, of course.

Ladies of UO, could you chime in? I think it would be wonderful to hear your thoughts as to why you do not like to participate in PvP on UO, or other games. And perhaps you could lend us some ideas on how to improve your experience in competitive play. Please do not hesitate to shoot down or support some of our explanations.

 

[Cailleach]

You were bang on about the harrassment women suffer online. For me, another aspect of that is choosing not to put myself in the same space as the smack talkers, whether they specifically harrass women or not. That's just my personal preference.


I can probably add more, but I'll take a while to let the thoughts form an orderly line in my head, thus giving me an opportunity to squish the more ... growly ones!

 

[Grazz't1970]

Every other post in reply to this topic ,mine included , will be a troll of some type. Why would u start yet another PvP troll post?

 

[Lord Frodo]

Simple UO WOMEN are tougher because most grew up in Fel.

 

[BeaIank]

Why would I bother with pixel PvP? I don't even get the chance to punch the other person in the face?
I practise boxing instead. It is more satisfying to deliver and take real punches.

 

[Seraphina_152]

First, women suffer harassment more than males, and this makes for an unpleasant experience.

This right here is the reason for probably 90%+ of women who game. Hafu was one of the best Druids to ever play competitive arena in Wow. When she quit it wasn't because of the game getting bad, or her skill going down. It was 100% because of the absurd amount of harassment she got. And it's even worse in League. Leagues 'community' is one of the worst ever in gaming, whether you're a woman or not. Young, hyper aggressive nerds just aren't fun to be around if you have boobs. Especially in online spaces.

 

[Giggles]

So, I got into a discussion with a friend about why there are hardly any women in the professional League of Legends scene. Then I thought about what I see going on in UO. There does seem to be a higher percentage of women who PvP in UO compared to competitive MOBAs , but I am still sure that there are more males.

Now, we know that PvP in games like UO, Starcraft 2, Counter-Strike, League of Legends, etc, do not require physical strength. Furthermore, I am quite familiar with many women who are brighter, faster, and more competitive than the men I know! Women are just as sharp, quick, and cunning as any male. Then, why are women not represented in the highest levels of eSports? And why are women outnumbered in felucca?

We did come up with some explanations. First, women suffer harassment more than males, and this makes for an unpleasant experience. Second, women do not seem to be as naturally aggressive as males, and they do not benefit from the mental rewards of victory in the same way. Finally, women simply have better things to do and have more active social lives that do not allow them to spend as much time perfecting their craft. Whether any of these reasons is correct is totally in the air, of course.

Ladies of UO, could you chime in? I think it would be wonderful to hear your thoughts as to why you do not like to participate in PvP on UO, or other games. And perhaps you could lend us some ideas on how to improve your experience in competitive play. Please do not hesitate to shoot down or support some of our explanations.

Well here is my humble response to your theories.

1. (Women suffer more harassment...) Perhaps, but I have been known to make a few dudes break keyboards and unleash the almighty C and B words! Its all about weather you take insults personal or not, just like men. Doesn't phase me in the least.
2. (Women aren't as aggressive and don't have mental victories like men do...) Well... I already know my epeen is bigger than yours, so I don't really need to be all aggressive about it. Just accept it as fact and move on.
3. (Women have better things to do...) Not sure about this one either. I work go to work full time, school full time, and raise a family, but I can still find a hour or two a week to raid some spawns =)

I think it just comes down to gender population in general. More men play games than women do. Not all men pvp either. I think if you ran the math of % number of men who pvp per overall population, and run the same numbers on women who pvp per population, it would be roughly similar. 1 out of 10 or something like that. Since there are just less women, if feels like even less female pvpers.

 

[FrejaSP]

For me the harassment is not a problem at all. I grow up with 2 Brothers and was single mom with 2 sons so I can handle that. Second I always worked in make jobs and noone dare to try to harass because I'm female.

I do agree, women are less aggressive and being the victore mean less to them. I still love PvP and was red on Siege for 10+ years but it was more about RP than about owning. I do have temper and may attack and kill someone make me mad.

When I was red, I did notist many women did handle getting killed way better than men.

It's funny, on Siege, that is a PvP+ shard, you will see a lot womem, some older than me and I'm 61. A few even do VvV as a sigel thief and while they do not fight, they do die to PvP.

I also believe Krystal, the one with most murderer count ever on Siege is real female.

 

[ShriNayne]

I have three brothers, so games got quite rough when I was a child! Saying that, I have zero interest in PVP, it has just never been a thing I had any desire to do, there are plenty of monsters out there to fight. As someone else said the fighting isn't the negative thing, it's the trash talking and often childish behaviour, I had enough of that with two sons!

 

[FrejaSP]

I don't understand the issue about trash talking, I had not seen more of that between PvP'ers than between non PvP'ers. Sure there had been a few I had killed, who could not handle dying, even in a RP way and started to call me names, but a few extra arrows did solve that. Sure it was always males who had to learn the hard way.

One reason I do not play Trammel, I don't want to have to call a GM, if someone not know how to behave.
Now I'm danish and danish women do not accept men belittle them. It may be harder in some cultures.

 

[Kirthag]

I'm with Bealank in that I actually study and participate in medieval martial arts. I get soooo much more satisfaction with that than getting my panties in a wad over smack talk and silliness in a game. I'll pvp if I wanna, and not afraid to - but is just not as much fun as the real thing. What's great is that I can take it without being a wuss, and so can those I fight with. Anyone who wusses out is just flatly ignored, and that makes for poor sport so they don't come back. Heavy Fighting in the SCA is a lot more satisfying, ayuhyuh.

 

[MalagAste]

I have never had a problem... the problems I have had more than anything is getting hit on everytime I played... asked to marry people who don't even know me.... I had no less than 4 marriage proposals in the first year I played UO. Which IMO was silly.

I got rather fed up with it and started playing more Male characters. Apparently I played them so well they thought I was. Which IMO was just fine. Made it more about the game and less about my gender. I suppose that's why I continue to play more Male characters than female ones. But then I was always the tomboy growing up... I enjoyed playing with the boys, hiking, wrestling, football, archery, catching snakes and frogs, climbing trees and such. Most the girls I knew didn't like any of those things they wanted to play with dolls or dress up. I would have much rather been in Boy Scouts than in Girl Scouts. Seemed to me the boys had more fun and did more interesting things than sitting about painting rocks and singing stupid songs.

But just with life there are 100's of playstyles. Not everyone enjoys the same things. Some like crafting, some like exploring, some like fishing, some enjoy the hunt... some like the challenge of PvP.

 

[Dot_Warner]

I don't think many UO women are going to clutch their pearls at the thought of PvP. You might lose a little gold, a few uninsured items and maybe a little pride...but I'm sure there are good number of female PvPers that kick the boy's ass.

 

[Drakelord]

We did come up with some explanations. First, women suffer harassment more than males, and this makes for an unpleasant experience. Second, women do not seem to be as naturally aggressive as males, and they do not benefit from the mental rewards of victory in the same way. Finally, women simply have better things to do and have more active social lives that do not allow them to spend as much time perfecting their craft. Whether any of these reasons is correct is totally in the air, of course.

As a concerned husband and father of women that played here in this household I can vouch for the harassment part, back with my daughter played she would get all sort of insults and griefs from male players as she was just better than them in this game in lots of areas. Even today when my wife is playing on her character she will get insults from some (***) . It does not happen to many times but it still does and that is sad. I will say one thing about most female players they will not take the bait, (including my wife) and reply to some scum bag that would say something about them, me on the other hand would be ready to drag them to wood shed and pound on them a few time, then get my butt handed to me when their buddies arrived.

 

[BeaIank]

More the reason why I prefer the real deal. There is more respect there, because you are trading actual blows and hitting each other's face and bodies.
And the rush, feeling the blood boil, the pain from the real hits, the satisfaction of hitting back just as hard, if not harder. It is so much better than pixel PvP.