{"id":42842,"date":"2012-08-15T16:04:56","date_gmt":"2012-08-15T14:04:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/?p=42842"},"modified":"2012-09-06T11:30:50","modified_gmt":"2012-09-06T09:30:50","slug":"the-problem-with-girlfriend-mode-according-to-a-girlfriend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/features\/42842-the-problem-with-girlfriend-mode-according-to-a-girlfriend","title":{"rendered":"The problem with “girlfriend mode”, according to a girlfriend"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you took a short interstellar vacation from the planet yesterday and missed it, Monday\u2019s Big Controversial Thing<\/em> was a comment from Gearbox\u2019s John Hemingway, who described the Borderlands 2 Mechromancer\u2019s “Best Friends Forever” skill tree as a \u201cgirlfriend mode\u201d.<\/p>\n

In an interview with Eurogamer, Hemingway said that, \u201cThe design team was looking at the concept art and thought, you know what, this is actually the cutest character we\u2019ve ever had. I want to make, for the lack of a better term, the girlfriend skill tree.\u201d<\/p>\n

The idea is to provide an instantly accessible, user-friendly gameplay experience for those people out there who might just be getting started with this gaming thing, or otherwise intimidated by the complex mechanics of a first-person shooter. That\u2019s not a problem.<\/p>\n

But \u201cfor lack of a better term\u201d? That\u2019s<\/em> the problem, and for a number of reasons – most obviously that “easy mode” works just fine already, and doesn’t make questionable hypotheses about the player.<\/p>\n

There’s an unambiguous implication that \u201cgirlfriends\u201d are rubbish at games. Lots of people are rubbish at games, of course, but it\u2019s not just \u201cgirlfriends\u201d (and, by extension, women) \u2013 and, conversely, there are lots of girlfriends \/ women who aren\u2019t<\/em> rubbish at games. While the assumption that many gamers have significant others with whom they\u2019d like to play games is a good one, the exclusively straight male-oriented subtext is not.<\/p>\n

Statistically, of course, straight males do make up the majority of the gamer demographic, but \u201cgirlfriends\u201d are also not the only minority percentage on the chart. What about a \u201cgay mode\u201d, or a \u201cblack mode\u201d, or maybe a \u201cJew mode\u201d? Most definitely not<\/em>, so why is something as blatantly sexist as a \u201cgirlfriend mode\u201d met with such resolutely bland indifference from so many gamers?<\/p>\n

Because, let\u2019s be totally clear about this, it is<\/em> sexist. There\u2019s a prevailing perception among people that sexism is a bitter, twisted bogeyman that lurks in the darkest and dankest alleys of public discourse, waiting for an opportunity to jump out and make inflammatory statements about sandwiches and driving ability (or whatever), but the reality is that it\u2019s already so deeply entrenched in our culture that even the most casual language reveals it.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve no doubt that Hemingway intended no offence whatsoever. I daresay it didn\u2019t even occur to him, but that\u2019s part of the problem<\/em>. When women are consistently marginalised or ignored entirely, it\u2019s like people \u2013 even women themselves – don\u2019t realise it anymore. On its own, a \u201cgirlfriend mode\u201d is just a thoughtless goof, but it also contributes to a much bigger issue.<\/p>\n

Recently, the gaming industry has been subject to some serious criticism on the matter of sexism, and it\u2019s important to recognise how even the most seemingly innocuous comments can reinforce those attitudes.<\/p>\n

Gamers include men and<\/em> women, straight and gay people, blacks and whites, and everybody in between. I’m sure no male gamer reading this ever liked being attached to the stereotype of a terminally single virgin living in mom’s basement – as a female gamer and a male gamer’s girlfriend, I’d love to actually, you know, exist at all.<\/p>\n

Related Articles<\/h3>\n

Big games of Gamescom 2012<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Gamescom 2012: what we want to see<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Games you can play this week<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

5 cool PC gaming features we take for granted<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Capped vs uncapped ADSL: which is best for gaming?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WARNING: This post contains opinions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":159,"featured_media":42843,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[1524,6202,21,4568,5508],"class_list":["post-42842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-borderlands-2","tag-girlfriend-mode","tag-headline","tag-sexism","tag-video-game-sexism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/159"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42842"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42842\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43014,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42842\/revisions\/43014"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}