Vanguard Gamer Girls for the Win

By Shayalyn

A handful of Vanguard: Saga of Heroes forum denizens inspired me to write this article. Actually, I’m not sure “inspired” is the appropriate term. It was more that a slew of comments from male gamers caused my eyes to narrow, my fists to clench, and my blood to boil. (None of these things are a result of sexual arousal; sorry, fellas.) One forum member claimed that Vanguard, which looks as though it will be a decidedly more challenging game than many of today’s MMOGs, might not appeal to female gamers because girls want to chat, play house, and flit around as fairies. Another said that he disliked grouping with couples in online games because, nine times out of ten, the female player wasn’t very skilled.

Um, excuse me?

I’ve been playing EverQuest for around 5 years. My husband and I often play together. In all that time, I’ve decidedly taken the lead when it comes to our gaming experience: I assemble groups; I lead us through dangerous zones; my little wood elf druid parks and snares hordes of angry mobs while his high elf mage shrieks, “Evac!” I have no interest in playing house in a MMOG (I have The Sims 2 if I want to do that) or sitting around chatting—I want to venture out into a dangerous zone, beat things up, and take their stuff.

It’s clear to me that some (and let me clarify this lest I receive hate mail: I did say some) male gamers lack a proverbial clue as to what women want from their gaming experience. With this article, I’ve taken on the task of helping them find that clue. I’ve asked female gamers, members of the Vanguard forums, to share their thoughts and experiences. So, all you men who feel that girl gamers lack skills due to an innate fear of chipping a nail . . . listen to me, and listen well. We girls bring a lot more than shapely figures and pretty faces to online games.

What first attracted our ladies to MMOGs? The answers varied from a chance stroll through GameStop to bed-rested pregnancy. Several stated that an avid love of the fantasy genre spurred their interest, or that they began with pen and paper role-playing games, and games like Ultima Online and EverQuest became a natural extension of their hobby. A majority of those who responded to our survey have their significant others or their sons to thank for introducing them to the world of online gaming. In my own experience, those roles were reversed: I was the one who dragged my husband into EverQuest. (Our in-game relationship was riddled with tells from myself to my husband saying things like, “Just run across the zone to where I am. Geeze, don’t be such a wuss!”…but that’s a different story.)

I remember my early goals as I began exploring EverQuest. I immediately felt the call to adventure and found wandering around cities tedious—I wanted to slay monsters and gain experience. Many or the survey respondents agreed. Christina (whose gamer name is Antii) stated that her initial goal was “mostly to just not suck.” Erin (Laschae), a woman after my own heart, wanted to “have fun and kick some ass.” Others took their time with the game, getting lost in the fantasy. “I tried to learn the lore and quests…” Robin (Niborea) told us. “Helping others was always something I made time for, whether it related [to quests], dungeon crawling, or just … [answering] questions.” At least one woman was fiercely competitive in her approach to her chosen game. Barb (Babsella) says, “My goal when I first started playing…was to be ranked in the top 50 for one thing whether it be leveling, earning quest points, crafting…well, you get the picture.”

Almost unanimously, our respondents told me that their goals changed as they progressed in their MMOG. Victoria (Hijiinks) began gaming as a means to immerse herself in one of her boyfriend’s hobbies, but continued gaming long after the two split up. “I moved characters across servers … and met new friends and guild-mates,” she says. “As I gained experience in playing and became a better player in general, I didn't need a man to tell me where to go or how to play, which was very freeing.” Jesse (Elorienne) explained that her goals shift depending on where she is in her progress through a MMOG. “My first step in any game is always an exploratory one,” she says. “Once that lust is satiated, I seek mastery of myself, then mastery of the game. If I reach the end game, my goal shifts back to all three. I want to explore new content, or some small nook or cranny I may have missed while leveling, and master the new things that may come up as the game evolves.”

Despite the noises a few male gamers make, most of the women surveyed didn’t feel unfairly stereotyped in-game. “While the majority of the gamers are indeed men I've never ever had someone give me grief about being a female, nor have they treated my differently because of  my [gender],” Nichole (Zereh) explains. “But that comes from me being a very skilled player. Any thoughts of me being somehow inferior because I happen to have cleavage instead of a package are quickly quelled. And if I ever did feel that kind of ‘you are a female so you must suck’ vibe, I'd put [that person] in their place and never bother with [them] again.”

One common belief is that female gamers typically enjoy things like crafting and socializing more than adventuring, but the women who responded to our survey prove there is no such thing as a typical gamer girl. When asked which aspects of gaming they preferred, the results were widely scattered. Social interaction was indeed the clear favorite among our respondents, but adventuring and raiding tied at the top when it came to second-favorite activity. Raiding also ranked highly as a least-favored activity, proving that it takes all types of women to make a game world go ‘round. Surprisingly, after raiding, crafting and questing ranked lowest on our survey, with crafting at the very bottom by a slight margin. Who says that a woman’s place is in the kitchen (or at the loom)?

The gaming experiences and preferences of our respondents will undoubtedly affect how they approach Vanguard. Vanguard will offer three spheres of game-play: Adventuring, crafting and diplomacy. Our respondents prefer adventuring by a large margin, with crafting and diplomacy following far behind. (Crafting was preferred over diplomacy by a slight margin.) So, we know that women can’t wait to heed the call to adventure, but will Vanguard’s challenging approach appeal to feminine sensibilities? It looks that way.

“I consider myself hardcore,” says Christina (Antii), “I put in a lot of hours on these games--more than I'd like to at times--and I strive to do the best possible job with my character.” Most agree with her. While many women feel they don’t quite have the time to be power-gamers, they believe that they are “hardcore at heart.” However, they’re also calling on Vanguard to reach out to busy gamers who don’t have the time to put in endless hours of game-play each week.

“I don't believe that Vanguard will appeal only to hardcore players,” Nichole (Zereh) says. “It can't and survive. I think [Vanguard] is in a position of redefining what hardcore is; there's no rule that says it must follow the EQ model where a 54-person raid is what the [end] game is designed around. [Vanguard] has the opportunity to bring tight-knit grouping into the forefront. I love that idea just as much as I do the [idea] of raiding, probably because, in either situation, it really matters how well I play. And it very much matters how well my team members play.”

And finally, we arrive at the burning question: What do women want and how can Vanguard give it to them? The answer, as you may expect, isn’t cut and dried. Only one request stood out—our graphics-oriented respondents wanted a beautiful world and attractive character models with a high degree of customization. But then again, don’t most of us want that? Almost unanimously, our respondents stated that the developers of Vanguard wouldn’t have to do anything in particular to attract female gamers other than make a good game, and most predicted that Vanguard will have a broad appeal. 

“I don't think you can say with a straight face that certain aspects of the game appeal to only one sex or the other,” says Nichole (Zereh). “It's not about attracting female gamers, it's about having things in place that speak to a widely diverse audience. Don't dumb us down; just acknowledge that we're out there.”

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