Originally Posted by
Miss Moonlight
Well, i've never had an xbox or ever played on xbox live; it just doesn't seem appealing to me. I'm more of a retro-gaming nintendo fan.
The "crap females deal with from guys" (not all guys, of course), but the majority of 12-18-to whatever age possible, on xbox live/ps3 online or any other online gaming community or service, is usually misogynist bs furthered by the stereotype that gaming is (somehow) a guy's domain. Women who push the "i'm so cute and special because i'm a woman who plays games, now give me validation" don't help this.
In a perfect world where people weren't so hung up on gender and gender roles, it wouldn't actually matter who played games or did anything else traditionally considered "male". It would be fun and enjoyable for mostly everyone who liked doing those things.
However, that isn't the case. If you're a woman on xbox live especially (and if you make it known at all), you've already unknowingly (or knowingly) painted yourself as a target because of your gender. It's really kind of ridiculous and should be seen as more than just "boys being boys" but rather "boys being douches" for no other reason than they hear a female's voice and see their female gamertag, and decide it's a good idea to send them death/rape/etc. threats because they feel like being "hardcore" or "funny", or I don't know, whatever. Trolling on the internet shouldn't be a new concept to people who are used to being online, but sometimes it goes a little too far.
I'd much rather enjoy and play the game, than deal with idiots and waste my time trying to fend off the mass of ridiculousness you get exposed to if you make yourself known as a female on an online gaming service -- especially where voice is enabled. Text is one thing, but hearing racial slurs and other crap just completely ruins the experience, in my opinion -- no matter how many times you block those people, there's usually always more.
Of course, many people will simply say "oh, well if you're a woman and you don't like being harassed, simply don't go on xbox live." Seems like good advice, but that's really a copout answer from people who'd rather not deal with the issue.
Not really a fan of online gaming for these reasons.
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