#0 - May 21, 2007, 6:28 a.m.
Hi, I'm going to list all the things not to do when there is a girl in your party/guild/you're talking to her/whatever.
You already know that most wow players are men and some of them are so annoying that a lot of girls just pretend to be guys. Most girls/women don't play wow for several reasons, including (but not limited to):
- They are discouraged from their parents/friends/brothers/sisters/whatever to play videogames from an early age, because "videogames are for boys, dolls are for girls".
- Videogames in general (not necessarily including wow) are aimed mostly towards guys.
- The internet and videogames are considered "non-social" and they actually kinda are. How many of you play more than 12 hours a day? Society taught girls from an early age to be more social than boys.
There are other reasons but this is not what this thread is about, and i don't want to digress any longer. The fact is that VERY FEW girls actually play wow, and you don't want to drive them away from your guild, party, or even from the game... do you? I'm sure at least some of them are good players that can contribute a lot to your guild/party or can just be great friends. So.. here is the list of dont's :)
**** Dont's ****
- Don't freak out if a girl is in your party/guild. Sometimes if she for some reason says that she is indeed a girl everyone starts saying "OMG!! A gurl!" "Hi do you wanna have sex with me?" "Lies! Girls don't play wow" "Lies, he is FBI!!" and so on... This especially happens on vent.. Every time a girl talks for the first time everyone feels like they MUST say something stupid.
You might think that having attention is a good thing, but think again: she probably has to deal with this all the time, and it can get annoying really fast. Just relax and don't over-react... Talking to a girl isn't a big deal, you do it all the time in real life. If you are not sure of what to say don't say anything. If someone says "Hi! I'm a guy" you probably don't say anything anyway, so it's not rude :) - No sex jokes! Try to avoid all sex jokes, at least if you don't know that person well. Some might be offended, and while i'd agree that some girls shouldn't be so sensitive the point is that at least some are. So simply try to avoid sex jokes.
- Don't discriminate. Don't assume that girls can't play as well as guys.. It's not like their fingers are slower or something like that. And if they are indeed not good players you can either get mad and tell them what they are doing wrong or say nothing. I've heard several times things like "She inadvertly pulled a pat and we wiped, but it's ok: she's a girl!"... Don't ever say that. You just make her feel discriminated.
- Don't ask her if she's single, and don't ask for her picture. Girls don't play to find new boyfriends, they play to have fun just like you do. You might think that asking "hey do you have a boyfriend" "Can i have your picture?" etc might just be a joke or not be a big deal, but just try to think how many times she's been asked that and how annoying it can be. If you really want to you can ask her but wait at least a few weeks.. However, rest assured that if she is interested in you she will make the first move anyway :)
- Don't treat her too well. Don't send her money/items/etc on a regular basis, don't tell her that she is good at this game if she is not, don't give her a raid spot if she doesn't deserve it. Every time ask yourself: "Would i do what-i'm-going-to-do if she was a he?".
Just like you, she wants to be appreciated for her skills, for what she can do and for what she is. Every time you give her something you wouldn't have given her if she was a guy, she is reminded that she is only an object of desire and that she is not being judged on her skills/abilities but only on her gender. - Don't sterotype. She might not like cooking and every time you assume she does you're just pissing her off.
Well, i hope this helps :)
