There's a group of guys at my work that always talk about WoW in their free time. Even though I've told them that I play and have tried to interject myself into the group's conversations, they still snub me. It gets my epeen throbbing and I end up sitting and stewing about it.
They are all in a guild together and I've heard them talk about their raid progression. I know just how noobish they are. They never did down the LK during the last expansion. Half of their guild quit the game because they couldn't get past Magmaw for a good while. I know I'm a far better player (and raider when I was raiding) than any of them. Why won't they include me in their little group? I'd love to talk about WoW at work during my downtime.
The only logical conclusion I can come to is that they don't include me because I'm female. Girls don't play WoW, and if they do they are the casual, huntard, flower-pickers who never get past level 40.
I finally find a place where I can come out about my geeky hobby, and somehow I still end up being the outcast.
I Find this an interesting topic which I sort of touched on conerning the female player and how they interact in a male dominated game. It may be that they are jealous especially if you have noted your accomplishments. I'm not naming this as an excuse, but it is showing their maturity. are they younger? Do they have knowledge of your accomplishments? I touched on this subject a while back, but it seems still to be an issue at times. For this specific crew it may be their clique which can be hard to break into whether you are a part of their guild or not and gender may be irrelevent. Regardless it seems they are being a bit imature at this time. Worry not, you still have plenty o friends in game and on the blg world :)
ReplyDeleteI'm not really that worried about it. I just find it amusing sometimes the places my emotions go when I sit and hear them talking about WoW and I can't join in. I'm the jealous one here.
ReplyDeleteI've deliberately not mentioned any of my accomplishments in the game as I recognize this could alienate me from the group. We're all around the same age. Age isn't always a good measure of maturity, though, so perhaps that's all it is.
Perhaps it is just that they are their own little clique. I'm not in their guild, so why should they talk to me about the game? But they quickly welcomed our new hire into their group of WoW enthusiasts and I know he's not in their guild, but he is male. That was really when I started thinking it had to be because I'm a girl.
Heh I've never met any other girls that play >.> but I have met a few guys (mainly through work) and once they'd... gotten over themselves (!) and we'd had the 'faction-conversation' it was all good.
ReplyDeleteI guess it's the old thing about they're the one with the problem NOT you. If they don't want to be friendly - meh, not much you can do about it. And if they are behaving in a sexist manner - would you have much in common other than WoW and would you want to be talking with them anyways? That said, I can understand your PoV... I longed for people who I could natter about WoW to without them thinking "erk... geek... freak" ;)
Oh, that would get me steaming as well. I would probably try to sneak in some comment about how I've downed this and that just so they get the idea. But it's dang tricky to do without coming off as a show off. But maybe in this case that doesn't matter >:)
ReplyDelete(And my captcha was "Iopwnnu", how appropriate ^^)
I think I have to say its because they are intimidated by your prett...errr intellect which will devour them MUAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Anyways, really boys and toys right? Perhaps it is time to go forth and show your stuff to them...if thats what you want to do. Anyways best of luck :)
ReplyDeleteI met one other girl who played WoW once, and she fit the stereotype to the tee. Her boyfriend had introduced her to the game, she rolled a Night Elf Hunter and got it to level 20, then quit the game for a while, came back and has made it a max of level 40. She often complained to me about the game, that she didn't really enjoy it, but she was doing it to be closer to her boyfriend. The whole thing just made me ill.
ReplyDeleteI think this is just going to end up being something I'm just going to have to let go. I may pipe in occasionally when I can get a snippy word in edgewise about the game, but beyond that this is their loss.
As far as intimidation goes, I'd be very surprised if this was the case. And I'm not about to go bragging about my game, I'm just not that type.
It sure felt good to vent my frustration here though. Thanks guys for being my sounding board.
If they aren't including you just because you're a woman, it's probably not a great loss.
ReplyDeleteI've been in situations like that before, but usually after mentioning something about my raid experiences the problem was resolved and those guys would even come to me for advice. :D I don't think this is about epeen, it's about the rage that wells up when you realise people judge you by your gender, appearance, age or whatever without even asking. That just sucks. :/ *comfort hugs*
Be patient and express your interest in the game. I come from a guild that has a 50:50 male:female population, where half the raiders in our current 10-man are woman. :)
ReplyDeleteI'd suggest bringing in something from game ( book, print a blog article that you've worked on or even one of those figurines) and 'accidentally' share it. Leaving the latest Warcraft magazine on my desk in plain sight has attracted more than enough WoW dialogue to hold me over. "My daughter plays that game" to patch discussions. I've even recruited more people who were simply thinking about coming back to the game..
GL