STOP THE PRESSES
Though I’m fully aware that it makes me a tragic human being, I play EVE Online, having moved to it from World of Warcraft after hitting the level cap there and finding nothing else to do – unless, of course, I started talking, interacting, and then raiding with people I didn’t know to start with. Because I’m an antisocial bastard sometimes, this didn’t appeal.
Fortunately, a few years ago, a friend of mine told me about EVE. She told me that it was an MMORPG for grown-ups, with a far more open world, an older playerbase that managed to keep the clarity that it was essentially a game about internet spaceships, and generally a more interesting and rewarding experience. I gave CCP, the EVE developers, a bit of money, and created my character. I then proceeded to get hopelessly hooked on a game that was playable in any mood, whether you just wanted to do some sedate mining and chatting, explore and learn about the backstory the sights to be seen, or run around space blowing stuff up.
She was absolutely right about the majority of the playerbase. This isn’t a game for teenagers with ADHD. It’s fast-paced in the microcosm but slow-paced in the grand scheme of things, unforgiving of short-term failure, and exceptionally deep. People were pleasant. Even when combative, in a world where the loss of a ship has significant consequences, you’ll almost always see “GF” in local chat, from both sides, when a player vs. player battle finishes – meaning “good fight”. It’s a game about internet spaceships. Everyone remembers that.
What EVE does have in common with WoW, however, is unremitting chauvinism.
If you have a female avatar, you can expect nonstop trash talk about your menstrual cycle. If you demonstrate that you are in fact female outside of a combat situation, you will be unable to interact as a player for all the clunkily catapulted flirting that is launched in your general direction.
Great example: I listen to EVE Radio, and pay a premium subscription, because it’s genuinely brilliant. Fantastic range of DJs playing a fantastic range of music, with intelligent discussion about stuff both in-game and in the real world, and organised events.
Tonight, a female DJ came on, and the in-game EVE Radio channel devolved into a disgusting mess of testosterone and pseudo-adolescent lust. Let’s look at some of the ‘intelligent discourse’ that DJ Violent Cupcake ended up getting. Player names are redacted because it feels like the right thing to do.
And my personal favourite -
Stay classy, EVE Online. Now, I know that this is just one situation, but I’ve seen stuff like this happening in local chat all over the EVE universe, and the same holds true for my time playing World of Warcraft. Gendered comments are used to smack talk or flirt when someone believes a player to be female, but there’s no gendered language between males.
Female players can be one of two things: the false stereotype of the unskilled female player, or ‘hot’, ‘sexy’ or ‘fit’ because they play a mostly male-dominated game. What it seems that they can’t be is skilled players in their own right, where gender is an irrelevance.
I know that I’m sounding humourless about this, but I genuinely think there’s nothing funny about pushing someone out of a group that they want to contribute to and be part of simply because of their gender.
Am I on the money here? Do you play WoW, EVE or another MMORPG and see or experience what I’m talking about, or am I just frequently in the wrong place at the wrong time and oversensitive to gender inequality? I’d love to hear from you, lovely readership. Pop a comment in below if you’ve got opinions on this one.