One of the developers of the new open-sandbox shooter RPG game "Borderlands 2" has unintentionally created a bit of an uproar in the gaming news industry by referring to a "new player" friendly female character class in the game as "Girlfriend-mode". Some game news websites erupted into "That's so sexist!" tirades while others, in response to the eruption, told readers to chill out and not get so caught up in hyper sensitive political correctness.
The "that's so sexist" group says that the comment is sexist because it suggests that girls aren't gamers and that they need an "easy" mode in order to play a shooter game while boys do not. But when you look at the context of the original comment, this wasn't really the point. The point was to try and help a more casual gamer get into the game and play along side a more hard-core gamer without being completely confused or trampled by the game's difficulty. It really had little to do with gender, and a lot to do with casual gamers vs non-casual gamers.
Yes, maybe there is a bit of an underlying sexism in the idea or comment, but it's also entirely based in reality. Guys are by far the hardcore gamer demographic. Girls are much more often casual gamers who like simpler less intense game experiences. This is head and shoulders above the way it used to be a decade ago when most women hardly played ANY computer or console games at all. More and more in recent years game developers are realizing that there ARE a lot of women and girls out there who really do like to play games, and that to cater to this demographic is a great way to tap into a very large population group that has sadly often been ignored.
But to then jump all over someone for pointing out the differences between girls and boys when it comes to what they enjoy in video games and call it sexism is political correctness gone haywire. Folks, girls and boys are different!!! Our bodies and brains are different. And that's OK! It's not sexist, otherwise you have to call nature itself sexist for using two genders in the first place. Each gender is different on purpose, in order to present and use differences of physical and mental traits for the betterment of both. It's a combination act of "better together" because the differences between the two genders allows them to be especially good in different areas automatically and to greatly benefit each other because of this. It has nothing to do with who's stronger, who's smarter, or who plays more hardcore games. It's ridiculous to blow up whenever someone points out any sort of differences between the genders, because these differences are entirely natural AND beneficial!
When it comes to games, it's very true that guys dominate the hardcore gaming scene while women dominate that casual gaming scene. It's a simple fact of statistics, demographics, and style. Don't act like it's sexism to the extreme if someone points this out. It's not. It's the reality. Women are perfectly capable of being "hardcore" gamers as well (some are), but both groups by and large have different tastes and preferences for the games they find entertaining. To merge these two somewhat divergent gaming cultures and interests together is not at all an easy task but when it's done right it's a great win for both gamers and the game developers.
"Girlfriend mode" is an attempt by the Borderlands 2 developers to get a guy's more casual gamer girlfriend into a more hardcore guy-focused game. The game has absolutely no problem attracting guys, because of what the game is. But it also wants to bring in girl gamers so that both guys and girls can play the game together and both have a great time doing it. If you're a hardcore gamer and a girl, then play one of the other character classes that aren't intended for "newbies" to the game style. But don't get all hot and bothered because there's an easy mode made with the intend of attracting more casual girl gamers. That's political correctness gone WAY too far. Are we not even allowed to attempt mixed gender gaming? Are we not allowed to mentioned "boys" or "girls" in gaming anymore? Give me a break! We ARE different. Get over it and stop being offended that you weren't born with both sets of genitals instead of just one. Sheesh.
News Article that inspired this blog post: Opinion: Borderlands 2's 'Girlfriend Mode' and casual sexism (Gamasutra, game development news and article website)
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