If anyone in this world has a sense of humor anymore then you would just giggle/laugh at the girlfriend mode then continue on with your life. It's a joke. I bet the people who are the ones complaining, aren't someone's girlfriend or don't have a girlfriend. Therefore they want to argue since it makes them realize they're alone in life.
"Female gamers shouldn't automatically be assumed to suck at video games, and we most certainly don't need an entire skill tree devoted to our lack of skills."
He never even implied that female gamers suck at games. He implied that there's fewer females who play First Person Shooters than there are males, which is a statistical fact.
I thought nothing of this at first, not sure why everyone is freaking out.
There's a lot of developers out there that do much worse things to their customers than a slip of the tongue, and I'm sure it was said with a light hearted intention.
People need to stop scaring the hell out of developers, if people keep freaking out over every little thing someone says in an interview, then people will just not be willing to do them anymore.
Plus the situation of a male gamer having a girlfriend who rarely plays games is a very common situation, and only has any significance if one gives it such. Taking issue with this fact is a sign of insecurity and therefore is misdirected anger.
There is, however, one positive of this complaint. Borderlands 2 is getting ATTENTION. A lot of you know that the first Borderlands didn't get too much attention and it turned out to be a gem. So I'm glad that they are actually getting the attention, even if it is over something so dumb.
I don't think the author was trying to make any kind of attacks on Hemingway. She just feels strongly that the boys club of gaming doesn't treat women the way it should. I agree with her. It's easy to brush this off, but that doesn't make it right. If you don't think this is a problem with our industry, then you are part of the problem yourself.
Honestly who cares, online we're all just gamers. If anything people like the author are just labeling themselves with this girl gamer garbage. There's the problem.
This was very well written and no matter how many commenters here want to ignore or downplay the issue sexism is extremely prevalent in gaming and needs to be addressed. Sure his comment itself might not be a big deal when taken individually but like the article says it reflects a much bigger issue in the assumption of female players needing a crutch. Generalizations like that are harmful.
Gamers as a whole have been dealing for many years with generalizations of only being "nerds who live in their parents basements" or "violent sociopaths". It takes time to break down those barriers to cultural growth and it can't be done without intelligent and honest discussion and this is part of that.
Generalizations only hurt our hobby and hold it back. The more girls who shy away from it because they aren't made to feel comfortable the worse off we are. That isn't to say guys have a perfect experience but it doesn't mean the conversation isn't worth having.
"The design team was looking at the concept art and thought, you know what, this is actually the cutest character we've ever had. I want to make, for the lack of a better term, the girlfriend skill tree. This is, I love Borderlands and I want to share it with someone, but they suck at first-person shooters. Can we make a skill tree that actually allows them to understand the game and to play the game? That's what our attempt with the Best Friends Forever skill tree is."
That sounds SOOO sexist. /s
Worse than the fact that people are attacking this non-issue is that people have to defend it. The quote- in its entirety- stands for itself: it's for people who suck at FPS. If it were a dig a female gamers, why not call it "Girl Mode" instead?
But no. Suddenly, girls out there who are good at FPS- or at least don't suck- are ALL girlfriends and are ALL offended. And suddenly random guys out there are jumping to these girls' defense.
Willful ignorance is what I call it, because there's no way in Hell you can't understand exactly who and what he meant by what he said. Still, you and others are offended, when you're not even part of the target audience of "Girlfriend Mode."
Man, whatever. People will find any little thing to complain about. They'll purposely take something harmless and try to make it out to be a deadly poison.
Am I saying there's no sexism in gaming? Hardly. But THIS is no indication of it.
I dont think the developers choice of words was poor at all. Most girlfriends of gamers are not particularly adept at playing video games. I am not saying men are better gamers im simply saying statistically that if you are a gamer and you have a girlfriend, your girlfriend probably does not play games as much as you do. (obviously with some exceptions)
I would personally set my girlfriend up with this character class / specialization so that maybe her playing the game with me will be a bit more enjoyable. Perhaps even boost her gaming confidence?
I remember playing Halo co-op with my wife. She basically shot me in the back whenever she wasn't shooting the sky or dirt.
My wife plays games but she is not a gamer. She only picked up the controller because I'd been begging her for years.
I assume girlfriend mode is for people in my situation and not female gamers. Let's face it. Most male gamers are with women that have no interest in video games..
Tons of gamers are in relationships. I know at least 10 guys who are extremely dedicated gamers, and all of them are either married, or in a committed relationship.
I really think we'd all get along so much better if the women who are wasting all their energy bitching about an innocuous comment would just get back into the kitchen and bake us men a pie while we play games.
How about a perspective a female who is NOT a gamer but sometimes plays games with a friend, lover, or perhaps her own child, who DOES play games ? How about a perspective of a non gamer who sometimes plays games and feels bad at them and doesn't expect to even sit down and learn gaming skills? How do THEY feel about being included and thought about by game developers?
Think carefully before you answer because my 77 year old dad still plays Bowling and Homerun derby on the Wii and he was a big part of Nintendo making a fortune this gen.
This issue is about accommodating people who are intimidated by the difficulties of picking up a game.
It is not about Captain Penthouse Letters insulting the reputation of the powerful vagina.
Obviously it is great to include people of all skill levels. The inclusion of this mode is obviously not the issue the issue is that he referred to it as girlfriend mode which has such blatant connotations whether he was conscious of it or not. As I said earlier it was a mostly harmless comment but it reflected an unfortunate trend in the gaming community which the comments here have only proven to be as prevalent as ever.
Somehow a comment referring to how girls don't play video games as much as guys turned into a debate about sexism.
The comment was a harmless stereotype about video gamers...
I don't see how a debate about sexism arose out of this.
It's not like saying girls typically aren't as good as guys at video games is some sort of statement that impedes on women's rights. Whole thing is totally blown out of proportion. "That's what she said" jokes are way more offensive.
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Do they have any idea how much this has been blown out of proportion!?
I understand that for some a lady that plays games was uncommon years ago; but now it just sounds like a way to get attention and recognition.
The fact that some call themselves female gamers and not just "gamer" is off putting and immature.
Why after so many struggles with sexism in our society would these girls group themselves aside because of a sex difference?
He never even implied that female gamers suck at games. He implied that there's fewer females who play First Person Shooters than there are males, which is a statistical fact.
There's a lot of developers out there that do much worse things to their customers than a slip of the tongue, and I'm sure it was said with a light hearted intention.
People need to stop scaring the hell out of developers, if people keep freaking out over every little thing someone says in an interview, then people will just not be willing to do them anymore.
Plus the situation of a male gamer having a girlfriend who rarely plays games is a very common situation, and only has any significance if one gives it such. Taking issue with this fact is a sign of insecurity and therefore is misdirected anger.
Gamers as a whole have been dealing for many years with generalizations of only being "nerds who live in their parents basements" or "violent sociopaths". It takes time to break down those barriers to cultural growth and it can't be done without intelligent and honest discussion and this is part of that.
Generalizations only hurt our hobby and hold it back. The more girls who shy away from it because they aren't made to feel comfortable the worse off we are. That isn't to say guys have a perfect experience but it doesn't mean the conversation isn't worth having.
That sounds SOOO sexist. /s
Worse than the fact that people are attacking this non-issue is that people have to defend it. The quote- in its entirety- stands for itself: it's for people who suck at FPS. If it were a dig a female gamers, why not call it "Girl Mode" instead?
But no. Suddenly, girls out there who are good at FPS- or at least don't suck- are ALL girlfriends and are ALL offended. And suddenly random guys out there are jumping to these girls' defense.
Willful ignorance is what I call it, because there's no way in Hell you can't understand exactly who and what he meant by what he said. Still, you and others are offended, when you're not even part of the target audience of "Girlfriend Mode."
Man, whatever. People will find any little thing to complain about. They'll purposely take something harmless and try to make it out to be a deadly poison.
Am I saying there's no sexism in gaming? Hardly. But THIS is no indication of it.
I would personally set my girlfriend up with this character class / specialization so that maybe her playing the game with me will be a bit more enjoyable. Perhaps even boost her gaming confidence?
Girlfriend mode isn't for you?
I remember playing Halo co-op with my wife. She basically shot me in the back whenever she wasn't shooting the sky or dirt.
My wife plays games but she is not a gamer. She only picked up the controller because I'd been begging her for years.
I assume girlfriend mode is for people in my situation and not female gamers. Let's face it. Most male gamers are with women that have no interest in video games..
Stop living im the 90's.
I have been in a committed relationship for the last 4 years.
What I was saying, was a joke.
=P
Think carefully before you answer because my 77 year old dad still plays Bowling and Homerun derby on the Wii and he was a big part of Nintendo making a fortune this gen.
This issue is about accommodating people who are intimidated by the difficulties of picking up a game.
It is not about Captain Penthouse Letters insulting the reputation of the powerful vagina.
The comment was a harmless stereotype about video gamers...
I don't see how a debate about sexism arose out of this.
It's not like saying girls typically aren't as good as guys at video games is some sort of statement that impedes on women's rights. Whole thing is totally blown out of proportion. "That's what she said" jokes are way more offensive.