Solo is the new Gimp!

[Mak]

I'm sure this post will be met with some degree of criticism.

Personally, I avoid guilds with girls in.

Reasoning behind it, is that I hate unnessecary drama and I feel that in the guilds I have belonged to where girls have been involved, that is where it stems from.

I'd say the number of girls playing at the Highest levels of WoW are probably 1/50? 1/100? Smurfette in Smurf village ratios, along with that you have the hordes of salivating hormone ridden teenagers, drama is usually inevitable.

Then theres the jealousy, etc etc.

I think most of the issue stems from game design. Most games are designed for an adolescant male audience, there aren't a huge amount of *extremely* popular games that are targetted at girls.

Its out of MMOs that you see even less girls, the FPS genre for instance, arguably *THE* most competitive around, I've never seen a girl on the podium recieving an award at Quakecon who hasn't been competing in the girl events. Girls aren't competitive in the high-end yet, but when they are, god help us all

I should criticize but I will restrain myself =P

In all honestly, I can hear your point. The best guild in the world Nilithum (sp?) doesn't recruit women b/c of the drama. That's maybe another reason why I avoid guilds. I have had WoW drama before because of jealousy and it escalated into RL (I knew them) and it wasn't pleasant. It has caused me to no longer play my first two 70s because I refuse to deal with the crap that comes with it (or with them). Another reason why I re-rolled (a 70 mage) and am now five-boxing it. It was basically an issue where they couldn't separate the game from reality.

For me, the drama found me. I didn't start it or do anything (that I know of) but it comes with the territory I guess of being a female in an overly male virtual world. Does it bother me? Heck yea it does but the truth is the truth. Cheers to the guilds out there who accept women and the ones that are relatively drama-free (one day I will join you). Everyone causes drama and since there's more males that play this game then females, there's likely more drama causing males in this game. But hey, everyone sees it as they see it.

With Vent, it's hard to hide the fact that we're female but if you didn't know the player behind the screen was a female, I don't think it would make a difference. Are you telling me that if you met a phenomenal healer/MT/DPS who rocked everyone's socks off, you'd just leave that guild when you found out it was a female? What if there were a couple high end female raiders? We've already proven that we can run with the boys so why not just give us a chance?

Revealing ourselves by telling someone or through voice ruins it all but we shouldn't have to hide. A lot of us do though ( I did until I came here). I read an article where a girl is MT for a high raiding guild on a male Tauren warrior so people wouldn't hit on her. It isn’t fair but we don't have a choice yet.

I think it all comes down to how the guild leader handles it. But please, don't blame us females for all the drama. Blame those, such as Vyn's GL, who think we're not as good as them. They are the reason there is drama. Their little world is made whole by breaking something and getting to 'fix' it when in reality; all they do is make it worse.

Hopefully, the more girls that break into gaming, the more accepted it will become. Look at what Vyn has does for this community. Proof right there that we're making progress. This is the 21st century after all. I do hope though that if anyone comes across a great guild, you'll give it a chance instead of not joining because there are females. I bet you'll meet some pretty kick ass girls, who can melt your face off =P

Before I switched realms, I was in a guild with a female GL for two years. She exhibited none of the traits you describe. Any drama in that guild came strictly from the males.

We were a pretty mature guild; almost zero younger members with most players being between 20 and 40 (strangely bunched at either end of that range with little in between).

Prior to that I was in a guild that was co-lead by a man and wife team. My closest friend in that guild was also female.

The women I've met in WoW have very much enriched the experience for me.

I definitely prefer running with older people who have a bit more understanding. And the WoW couples are adorable and it's cool when they run a guild together. I have definitely heard tons of positive responses to female gamers. Cheers to your guild! Hope your new one is just as awesome!