I agree that most competitive games tend to go that way. My ex and I played a lot of League of Legends in a small friend group together (where this did not happen, thank god), and if playing with “externals” it was unbelievable what bullshit she had to deal with. and although most of the time the creeps bit off more than they could chew, it must have felt pretty bad, regardless of what me and our friends did or said.

Anyone with experience in non-competitive game settings to share?

Probably by the common mindset that mobile games don’t really count for gaming clout.

If i compare what crap games i’ve played on my PC sometimes to mobile games, i feel that such boundaries are pretty arbitrary. There are some mobile games that can keep up with PC gaming too - Shattered Pixel Dungeon and Hoplite come to mind.

I wasn’t on board until this statement but this is exactly why I fell off any amount of competitive games very quickly.

Without voice or text chat enabled that expectation of “should use VC to not be a burden on your team when they’re trying to communicate” is if course a projection, but it’s still powerful, and there’s no way of knowing how true that projection is without actually hearing from your teammates. So there’s really now way out of it besides “get over it” (which isn’t easy after a lifetime of learning to cater to others unspoken expectations)… Or by playing a game where there is no option of VC, so there cannot be any possible expectations of it, and no downside of not enabling it.

For something one does to unwind I don’t feel like unpacking and facing deep-seated psychologically ingrained issues and the level of discomfort that brings, so it’s easier to choose games where that issue isn’t an issue.

And now, after playing for a few years I feel confident enough to actually consider playing games with mic on. But I wouldn’t get there if those were the only ones available, I’d just find a different hobby or play offline.

I get that. It’s awesome you are open to it now.

I’ve made some good friends on dbd and it’s nice to be able to speak to them, I think maybe the game could benefit from a mode with voice enabled, so there’s at least the option. But maybe that would fragment the playerbase a bit or eventually turn the game more toxic. It would be hilarious though if the survivors and killers had proximity voice, thats something I would love to try!

Folks in MMOs tend to be more chill in my experience. In such a large sample of people you’re going to find a few dickbags who think they’re hilarious or the kind who will DM sexual harassment, but the majority of people just do not care and are happy to play the game. Toxicity tends to crop up around entitlement to loot and perceived performance rather than gender.

Activities don’t need to be inherently sexist for the culture surrounding them to be. Consider the ways things like healthcare, cooking, and hunting have been gendered in different times and places.

I feel like Puzzle Quest and Gyromancer are “real” games, but somehow Bejeweled and Candy Crush are silly things for little girls and bored housewives. Hell, I think Progress Quest would be considered more legitimate to the kinds of people with this mindset, and that’s not even a game.

I’m sure the solution to this problem has nothing to do with killing internet anonymity like fascist governments are currently trying to do…

Edit: wow it actually doesn’t say that, I was really expecting that to be the angle of this UK article.

Instead it says these feelings of gamer imposter syndrome women feel is most likely a symptom of culture, but not a cause for women to not play games. And suggests that gaming spaces being more inclusive would help women feel less like importers despite playing games and being gamers.

gotta love that you not only completely missed the point, but you quite perfectly encapsulate the kind of “gotcha” rhetoric that women hear every day in gaming spaces from these toxic men.

it’d be funny if it weren’t depressing.

what controller should she be holding? or is this you not realizing you can use a PS4 controller for an android device?

cause you can.

edit: did you just downvote me for telling you that you can use a controller on a mobile device?

it is not equal between men and women. toxicity toward women is usually much worse. and is much more frequent.

Maybe in more current MMOs, because back in my WoW days (2013 and earlier), misogyny was rampant

She should be holding a mobile phone. because that is what mobile gaming mostly looks like.

i use a controller for when I play my mobile games. did you know you can use controllers with bluetooth now?

you’re not limited to just touch screens like the first days of android apps.

we have come a long way since then. good luck!

edit: here for those interested.

It’s not a culture. Don’t play online.

just like in real life.

online there are the sexual guys who will buy you anything to be theirs.

And there are the annoying sexist ones. I think it often has to do with a primitive feeling in the guy of “there is a female right there that im interacting with but she isnt having sex with me. i am thus annoyed.” so the male does mean pokes at the female because it’s “her fault” they arent having sex. i’ve seen it a trillion times. “why arent you MY bitch?” pokes rudely

And lastly there is the good type of male who, just like the good type of female, can have fun with you while playing the game together and enjoying the play; simple as that.

True enough. I’ve steered clear of any games where you interact with other people, I stick with single player.

i am the same. if I play multiplayer games its only with friends I already know. i even play most MMOs solo.

It’s just one joke, over and over again. I’m a guy, but one of the reasons I stopped going to lan parties was hearing this same few jokes again and again whenever a woman showed up. If it wasn’t a woman, it would be something else from the limited number of topics and opinions they had. When it wasn’t frustrating, it was simply boring.