In high school, I played some World War II computer games like Medal of Honor and Call of Duty, and I found they were far more interesting as multiplayer games against other real people than in single-player beat-the-mission mode. My opponents were more competitive, more intelligent, and better at the game itself than a computer could hope to be. Recently I picked up my copy of Call of Duty 2 and played just for nostalgia's sake (read: I got frustrated with Microsoft Pinball), but this time, I changed my handle. Usually, my online gaming persona is "a defenseless baby seal" (because when you kill your enemy online, a message pops up that says "You killed ________" and I like them to feel extra guilty about it). But this time, I thought I'd try a nice newbie girl name like "Sargent Julia".
The reason it's so easy for guys to impersonate girls in a male-dominated online environment is that we know what we think they sound like. To clarify, not what girls think girls sound like, but what guys think girls sound like. I have to say, Milan's post really resonated with me--everything about first-person shooters screams MALE, and if a girl shows up, i.e. one of the players expresses that she is a girl, it throws a wrench into the works. It's not that online gamers don't like girls, it's that they're not used to them. So my mission as Sargent Julia's impression manager was to find as many ways as possible to express that I was indeed a teenage girl playing on her brother's computer, and see if I thought my co-players believed me. Here are the two main avenues of expression I chose:
* I chatted incessantly. Usually the chat function is used to tell people "nice shot" or "thanks" because otherwise it takes time away from the game. But socially-oriented Julia kept up a constant stream of text about how she was new at the game, bad at the game, "you scared me! :) lol", etc.
* I played like a newbie: running around in open fields for no reason, firing my pistol into the air for fun, conspicuously falling out of windows occasionally, and (especially) bunny-hopping: using the "jump" button to hop-hop-hop and never stop. This made me very easy to identify as Sargent Julia.
Also worth noting: I played mostly in a Deathmatch game, which means that any time someone had the chance to shoot me, they were supposed to.
I played for an hour, on three different servers, and by the end I was pretty pleased with how I had managed my impression, because I had been treated very differently than "a defenseless baby seal" is usually treated. Each time, after everyone had killed me once or twice and connected Sargent Julia's name and chat to her bunny-hopping, I found that I actually got shot much less often, and more tellingly, only by the same people. Often the worst players would keep firing at me (I suppose they needed the points), but the winning players would let me obliviously bunny-hop past them off a cliff. Also, I've played with Call of Duty as a psychological space before, and when gender-ambiguous ADBSeal types in haikus or comments on life in general in the chat section, he gets an overwhelmingly negative reaction; Sargent Julia might have been at a Christmas tea party between the Russians and Germans for the way her comments were treated. A barrage of advice ("try to take cover more often", "don't jump so much!") and encouragement mostly drowned out the occasional "you... really suck." And although I was at one point put up for a vote to be kicked off the server (honestly, acting like that kind of ruins the game), I immediately got ten "NO" voters on my side. Apparently having a girl around wasn't the worst thing in the world for the Nazis with machine guns who were trying to secure downtown Carentan.
I think this is a tricky situation for applying the multiple-selves model, since I was being deeply disingenuous. But I can easily classify my actions as self-presentational tactics: I routinely used the text chat to let the other players know who Sargent Julia was and how she felt about the game, which covers self-descriptions and attitude expressions. I also nonverbally told everyone I was a walking (jumping) bullseye by my horrible strategy. Of course, social association didn't present too many opportunities. But the one time I switched to Team Deathmatch and my team won, I basked in the reflected glory of my team--"hey! we won!! good job team ;)" and they nobly ignored my failure to contribute. (1 kill, 13 deaths. RIP, Sarge.)
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6 comments:
Ken,
First off, I have to say that a large reason for my commenting to your post was the AWESOME title. It was really witty and not to mention had my name in it. Kudos!
Now,with respect to your online gaming persona "Sargent Julia", I noticed a lot of interesting developments. First, I think that your avenues of expression really helped to solidfy the persona/impression you were trying to present in the "Call of Duty 2". Generally, guys would expect a female to conduct herself in a manner similar to the one you presented. Thus, chatting about everything and anything under the sun, incorpating "cute" movements, and being overtly friendly was a nice touch.
Second, I think that the environment you chose (i.e. the Deathmatch game) was ideal for taking note of substantive observations. Considering the skill level of the players who you would be exposed to, you could form clear distinctions as to how gender roles or norms play a role in the online gaming world.I can't help but think what would have occurred if you would have played at the "newbie" level.
Thus my question is do you think that "Sargent Julia" would have received the same welcome had she played in a room with a lower skill set? In my mind, I am think that "Sargent Julia" was treated so nicely was because the players in the room may have hardly engaged in social interaction with a member of the opposite sex. Thus, the opportunity to do so in an environment where they may acquire some confidence, in light of their skill level, must have been appealing.
I am not really up on the newest online games; however, I am a bit lost as to which, if any, theory you believe that your experience applied. I find all of the gender and age swapping post stories as interesting, but yours was particularly detailed. I felt as though I could visualize a "newbie" playing any game, and especially a girl in a guy dominated game.
My high school was notorious in Delware for (via Title 9) letting girls play guy sports (yet not on all girl teams but on the guys teams. Not to be sexist, but sometimes it was a little embarassing (envision wrestling and football), ESPECIALLY when the guys lost to the girls.
I would like to know to which theory you think your experience applied because, it seems to have aspects of both. (i.e. the being put up for a vote, but getting all no's). Granted this terminology and atmosphere is different for me, and I don't know what all of this means in context.
As a former counterstrike player, I can very easily relate to your experience. It's very strange to see how excited some players get by the arrival of a suspected female, especially in these sorts of games where communication and impression cues are limited, making it difficult to confirm gender. When a female player does “establish” her gender though, by spraying a picture of “herself” or talking with a microphone, the reaction is intense. I’ve seen players act benevolently towards these suspected females, buying them guns and trying to teach them the ropes as seemed to be the case for you, but then on the other hand, often female players are hassled. Their just being there makes them the center of attention of the server and subject to much badgering and sexual harassment. Although it sounds like some people wanted you kicked from the game, I’m surprised your experience was so comparatively positive.
For the few times I have played online games such as Counterstrike or Medal of Honor online, I always try to be annoying. The “hopping” you described as well as the random firing of weapons is something I always tried to do to get on everyone’s nerves. I even tried to shoot people on my own team, but they always have friendly fire disabled.
Mitch brought up an interesting point in his comment when he said he was surprised you were not kicked out of the game.
That ALWAYS happens to me.
To answer your question, I do not believe that the interactions you had would have changed if you went into a room with a lower skill set. If other players think you are a girl you are guaranteed to be treated in an overly nice manner. Just the fact that you were a “girl” allowed you free reign to do whatever as described in your post.
When I first saw the title of your post, I was mentally preparing myself to be offended at the following content, assuming it was laden with stereotypes. But when I started reading about Sargent Julia's adventures in online gaming, I found myself laughing through almost your entire post. Everything from hopping around to chatting incessantly to falling off of cliffs sounded like obnoxious things I would probably do if I were forced to play an online game. Good job with knowing your character :)
I also find it commendable that you were able to gender-switch with ease. You were able to play upon other males' assumptions of what a teenage girl would sound like online, and you made them believe in your online identity. Your self-presentation tactics were right on the money for this environment. I found it more of a challenge to gender-switch myself - I did so in an online chatroom and tried not to act the way a girl would see a guy, but the way a girl would WANT to see a guy (see my post: "Where dem beautiful grlz at??"). I tried to blend a male's straightforwardness and desire to flirt with women with a female's social inclination and desire to connect. Needless to say, I got some interesting results. But wonderful job on playing the lady Sargent!
Ah, good. I was wondering if my post would make sense to someone besides me.
That aside, I'm going to have to echo what Zak Bell said - just being a "girl" allows you practically unlimited leeway. Though a lot of the more "common" online psychological spaces are male-dominated, there are a few that are disproportionately populated by women (Livejournal, Ragnarok Online, 7chan). It's interesting to note that while acting "female" in "male space" means you are absolved from certain standards and in some cases given a free ride, but acting "male" in a "female space" may or may not grant you any advantages.
In your case, the other players seem to genuinely want you to become a better player more out of a slightly chauvinistic sense of protectiveness than the opportunistic "I might get something out of this" attitude displayed on asynchronous discussion forums. I'm not exactly sure why it differs, and I'm not much of an online gamer, so I can't even begin to guess. Any theories?
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