You Must Defeat Shen Long to Stand a Chance

[jack_of_none]

So. I'm not entirely sure this isn't more appropriate for my regular journal than for a community, but I figured it's actually probably relevant to more people than just me, so here goes.

First off, is anyone here a 2D fighting game player? I'm personally a BlazBlue/Guilty Gear kind of girl, but I also enjoy Street Fighter 4 and some of the later Darkstalkers. I know fighting games are kind of a niche genre (and they're really hard to get into -- my friend did his Interaction Design master's thesis on this very problem) but I figured there might be a few people lurking here and there. Oh, and if you play BlazBlue: Continuum Shift on the PS3 and are interested in fighting online, let me know! I'm always looking for new opponents.

Second, and slightly more relevant to the community at hand:



Some of my friends have been recently getting into the fighting game 'scene', as it were. I've been to a couple of tournaments, and both times I was the only girl playing. At one, I was the only girl in the room. I didn't do THAT poorly at either of them, and I didn't feel like the guys were treating me with either hostility or condescension, but...there's that nagging feeling in the back of my head I can't get rid of.

Most of my gaming experience has been in JRPG fandom, where EVERYONE is a girl until proven otherwise, and table-top RPGs and World of Warcraft, where even if the general environment can get pretty hostile, there were always other girls around. On the contrary, at the tournaments I stuck out like a sore thumb. I also had this XKCD in the back of my head the whole time because, well...I was the only girl there, like I said. Additionally, I never see anyone obviously female posting on fighting game forums. Being sole representative of something not only makes me feel pretty damned self-conscious in general, it also makes me more self-conscious about my skills -- or rather, the lack thereof. I'm still learning, after all. Intellectually I know that it's not my job to play ambassador for the entire female gender, but...I still felt bad about it when I lost. And the urge to avoid the XKCD Effect made me even more nervous than I already was, and that nervousness affected my performance (my friend who knocked me out of my second tournament even commented on my shaking hands). If nothing else, this is a hurdle I'm going to have to cross in order to stop sucking at tournaments.

I've posted about this before in my own journal, but I thought I'd broach the question here, especially since my nervousness still hadn't gone away by my second tournament. Anyone else have experiences with gaming in an all-male environment, especially a competitive one? Or thoughts on the subject in general? Like I said, this is kind of a new experience for me.

Comments

[qem_chibati]

I only play fighting games at LANs (and until recently tended to avoid it), but I've been an onlooker in an organisational capacity (I help with organising an anime convention that has fighting game tournaments) and as friend (my anime club liked to hang out at arcades).

1. Usual strategies for calming nerves, but I'll assume you already know / others will advise. =/

2. Sometimes there are local gaming communities (anime clubs, gaming clubs, mysterious arcade gaming communities that represent the "city scene"), will have hang outs, and can be a good way to interact with the "usual" or "hard-core" crowd in a less formal manner. In my experience it helps make it more normal - you'll recognise more of the faces etc.

I have no idea what's in your area, but the way I would go about trying to find what is;

(a) checking the local anime/pop culture convention, seeing if they have a meet ups section; or checking to see who's constantly posting about fighting games/game tournament threads and see if they link to the "real" "hard core" scene of your area. (In my experience there's usually at least one that does. :3 )
(b) checking out the local usual suspect uni groups (anime, games, dnd, geeks r us), again sometimes they'll post about events that they do on their website/forums that are open to all.
(c) googling your area + tournament + arcade


3. Dragging more girls in? Moral support can help, or try getting them involved; although a group of girls who have no experience and no interest, taking up "precious" tournament spots is more likely to get a judging reaction than anything else, and it is really awkward being the bunch of newbies..

I found the best way to get girls more interested in fighting games is well lan parties/ movies days at someone's house, where they are not "the girlfriend", with an aesthetically pleasing game that is easy to button mash too. Also *cough* yaoi comments doesn't hurt either for certain sections of girls. Eventually working ways up to, one on one practice nights, and more uh, hostile/competitive environments (only now we stand a chance at getting some shots in the game. /bitter) Understanding that some characters, really are just harder to go up against and working out what character suits their playing style helps a lot.

Soul Calibur worked well in my case, particularly IV with Yoda and Vader. Some of the guy friends were even gracious enough to tell us the canon backstories that would assist to Our Interest. We can now compete evenly (or better with the right character) with the guy who owns the game, so we're a lot more confident picking up the controllers at club events, etc.

3.b. On that note moral support, period helps. So if you can't convince your girl friends to join in/cheer, try your guy friends.

4. While I haven't come across it for fighting/arcade games, it's not uncommon for tournaments to have women's divisions (such as Chess) to help make things more even for women playing competitively and can assist greatly with improving confidence for co-ed competitions. I can testify that female division tournaments can be very helpful for raising female presence/skill level, in male dominated hobbies. If you ever did find one, I would recommend checking it out. :3

5. The average, decent guy, really doesn't care about your gender. The ones that do, usually aren't the sort worth worrying about, so have fun, learn much and come back to have fun again. Even if you do bad at the tournament itself, try to get as much positive vibes from the event as you can.

As cliché as it sounds, it doesn't matter if you lose or win as long as you've had fun.

[jack_of_none]

We don't have a good arcade in the area, at least not one that stocks the fighting games I want. *sigh* Ah well, maybe in some of the bigger cities around.

an aesthetically pleasing game that is easy to button mash too. Also *cough* yaoi comments doesn't hurt either for certain sections of girls.

Heh. Well, BlazBlue seems to have gone the extra mile and put in loads of yaoi fanservice already (apparently in an attempt to attract more female players), and Guilty Gear has canon gay, so I guess my chosen games have a leg up in that department. The tournament scene also seems, from my super-limited experience, pretty friendly to that kind of stuff too -- a male friend of mine made a bunch of comments about how one of the main characters is quite clearly yandere for his brother, and there was mostly...agreement. And, of course, everyone is gay for Bridget.

They're not what I'd call friendly to beginners, though. There IS a beginner mode on the latest BlazBlue, I will take a look at that and see if it's actually friendlier (fighting game makers a poor track record here).

I don't think there are enough women in the scene to even have a decent-sized women's division, at least not outside of major metropolitan areas. Seriously, I have never seen a gaming scene that is so relentlessly male-dominated.

Thanks for the words of encouragement!

[animeshon]

I have to admit that sadly I am not a good representation of my gender when it comes to fighting games. I'm often the only girl present (or at least the only girl gaming) at LANs and I'm also probably the worst player there. Good on you for going and playing anyway, I think that's the most important step to keep showing that girls do game and they're just as varied as guys in their skills!

[jack_of_none]

Hah, thanks. In my first one I only entered to round out the numbers, but I ended up defeating three people and advancing to the...semi-semi-finals? I think? Anyway, it was fun.

I think that's the most important step to keep showing that girls do game and they're just as varied as guys in their skills!

Yeah...I feel like we need the right to suck as well as the right to be better than anyone else in the room. To suck as individuals, rather than because of our gender.

[animeshon]

I definitely think we need the right to suck as well as be awesome. There are guys who are useless at video games too, but I know my lack of skills has very little to do with being a girl (I am so totally not girly in any way), but more a case of I have low attention span, poor hand-eye coordination and bad eyesight. A result of genetics not gender.