UKTerrorist

The Other Half.

Posted by McToomy at 15:22, 10/4/2005

I've never writen a column on here before and i don't have a word processor on my computer other than Windows XP Wordpad, so i appologise preemtively for my spelling and understand im probably in for a rough ride as far as comments go.

Anyway, on with the article... I walked into my local internet cafe this morning. I've been a member for about 3 years, but haven't really bothered to go for the past few months, mainly because the people who i talked to in there have moved on and decided to find "proper lives". The cafe is layed out in 3 rooms. One is for learn direct use so ill ignore it. The main room was full of my little brothers mates. A typical 15 year old bunch of gamers who change there sensitivity every 2 rounds and believe that everyone other than themselves is wallhacking or using "dodgy rates".

"Oh no! Another column on the cheating next gen gamers" im guessing is the general response about now. But actually, I was inspired to write this by the noises coming from the room next door. A slightly higher pitched jeering that sounded a little bit more feminine than the prepubescent teens sitting in the first room. I walked in to find the room full of girls. Usually theres one. About 11 years old. Who sits in the corner and plays sims 2 while her mums at work. Fair play to her. But 8 girls, sitting down playing CS and shouting "haha, owned you" and typing your typical "newbie insults" after every death is a big change in my opinion. As far as skill level goes they were dire, but im guessing they hadn't been playing any longer than a couple of weeks. I wasn't planning on surveying them, as i didnt want to be caught at what could be misconstrued as hitting on young girls in cyber cafes, but at a glance they were about 14-16 and they didn't all look like russian shot put throwers, a stereotype held of female gamers which, might i add, isnt true for the most part :)

Many questions arrise from this. Do you see more female gamers around? I wondered if it was a national thing as opposed to just a local thing. Gaming is obviously male dominated at present, but is it becoming more acceptable for girls to be seen as gamers? Do you think this will have any kind of impact on the community?

I hope i get some constructive feed back amidst the flaming and alos, cheers for reading if you got this far :)