Understanding Digital Games

Social media is a huge part of our lives, a site such as Facebook currently has:

·         More than 800 million active users

·         More than 50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day

·         Average user has 130 friends

With unlimited access, personalisation and the idea of "freedom of speech", has social media become the left wing portal for society? Ideas, values and beliefs are discussed readily across many sites which is why I looked to at people on Twitter, a micro-blogging site where users can discuss current issues and share their own ideologies with the world.

A simple search of "Women in games" came up with millions of Tweets. It is sometimes difficult to differentiate between the “noise” of social media, what information is helpful and what isn’t.

However there was a lot of useful links, websites and facts.

Here are a few of the best ones I found:

·         @DiscoverIndia shared an article entitled:

“ Gamers: Women not allowed?” By Owen Good

A gaming convention had banned women due to issues of violence, I found this interesting and even though it was from America there is a huge issue of verbal abuse to women who play games. Why is this? Is it because there is a typecast image of a female gamer or do men just feel threatened?

Later, they clarified that:

"We actively discourage gamers from being the kind of misogynistic jack wagons seen in the Reddit post, and such behaviour should not be tolerated. Frankly, we don't like that kind of player either. So far as this event goes, it is a special event designed specifically for male gamers. Further, it is meant as a getaway designed to help said male contingent become better men both for themselves and for those who love us."

            There was an interesting comment below this article from @FauxBrau

“That’s because women are a minority in gaming, and don’t possess the same privileges that men do. Man all gaming together is common.”

            Another simply wrote that:

                        “Sexism works both ways”

·        Defend Your Research: What makes a team smarter” By Anita Wooley and Thomas Malone. It discusses how there’s little correlation between a group’s collective intelligence and the IQs of its individual members. But if a group includes more women, its collective intelligence rises. Therefore with online gaming which promotes team work, are men more likely to win if a woman is on their team? On the other hand is it not just down to practice and skill?