My Invisible Gamer Benefits!

Brace yourself, this will be a long one:

Rather than give my personal opinion on this I’ll try and be as objective as I can, like a good little psychologist.

25 Invisible Benefits of Gaming While Male

1.        I can choose to remain completely oblivious, or indifferent to the harassment that many women face in gaming spaces.

I don’t see how this is unique to white males, surely everyone can experience empathy? Or is it suggesting that ignorance is a conscious choice unique to those of a Y chromosome and lack of melanin in their skin.

2.       I am never told that video games or the surrounding culture is not intended for me because I am male.

I’m sure this happens, but this has less to do with gaming and more to do with the human tribalism behaviour. For example men have a hard time being feminists a lot of the time, some women even claim that men cannot be feminists’, only allies. Does this mean feminism itself is bad and toxic? Or does it just mean that some people are exclusionary douches. Furthermore there is an entire My Little Pony fandom that are constantly told they aren’t allowed to like a kids TV program because it’s just for girls. This is not a behaviour restricted to the white penis.

3.       I can publicly post my username, gamertag or contact information online without having to fear being stalked or sexually harassed because of my gender.

Nobody should post their personal details online casually! OMG! Everyone regardless of penis, personality, or “privilege” should casually give away personal details to a planet of complete strangers, are you for real?!

4.       I will never be asked to "prove my gaming cred" simply because of my gender.

How did they find out your gender? Most games have you represented by an avatar. The only way anyone would know about the contents of your trousers is if you made a big deal out of it, and if you think that informing everyone of your primary sexual characteristics is more important than the game you are playing, then be ready to have your priorities and “cred” questioned.

5.       If I enthusiastically express my fondness for video games no one will automatically assume I’m faking my interest just to "get attention" from other gamers.

“If I express my fondness for Feminism nobody will assume I am doing it to get into the pants of a predominantly female group.” Back to tribalism again, there are people who will fake their passion for a subject in order to get attention, and their sins paint others with the same brush. Yeah it sucks, but gaming has an in-built way of protecting you from this stigma, since 99% of it is meritocracy and skill, not identity.

6.       I can look at practically any gaming review site, show, blog or magazine and see the voices of people of my own gender widely represented.

This is coming from the channel of somebody who made 150K simply by offering to represent their gender in gaming, despite openly admitting she is not a gamer. People on the internet and in gaming care more about the content of the message then the person delivering it, it’s a side effect of enjoying a medium where you deal with text on a screen and avatars. If you try to enforce your message by relying of factors like race/gender/sexuality then you’re inviting those aspects of yourself to be scrutinised alongside your argument. It would be like me ending this post with “Amirite guys?!” and expecting white-male solidarity to back me, and then bitching and complaining about being criticised for this blatant attempt to rally an in-group response.

7.       When I go to a gaming event or convention, I can be relatively certain that I won’t be harassed, groped, propositioned or catcalled by total strangers.

I wouldn’t say “certain”, it depends on what I go dressed like. I’m pretty sure if I get my “Raiden” of MGS2 cosplay on, I’ll get a lot of that (Especially if I’m cosplaying as the part where he’s naked!).

8.       I will never be asked or expected to speak for all other gamers who share my gender.

Yet is that not what you are doing now? Speaking on behalf of an entire demographic. And also inviting that demographic to respond to this as I am doing now. So in essence your point has defeated itself.

Minorities in any space, regardless of skin colour or sex become ambassadors for the group they represent. Because you are the only example the majority has ever seen, so they rely on you to form a prototype of the people you are representing, it’s part of our cognitive process and how we learn about others.

9.       I can be sure that my gaming performance (good or bad) won’t be attributed to or reflect on my gender as a whole.

Continued from above: This is the effect of being a minority in a predominantly [ethnic/gender] field. And it happens in all lines of work, and all hobbies, and it sucks. The only way around it is to not make a big deal out of it, eventually people will get used to your presence and it will no longer be a factor. It’s like a zit, the more you pick at it, the worse it gets.

10.   My gaming ability, attitude, feelings or capability will never be called into question based on unrelated natural biological functions.

Is this a period reference? If it is, then fuck-yeah is it related! That shit HURTS! It would be like trying to concentrate while you have a spikey bowling ball made of salt lodged up your rectum!

11.   I can be relatively sure my thoughts about video games won’t be dismissed or attacked based solely on my tone of voice, even if I speak in an aggressive, obnoxious, crude or flippant manner.

Ooooohhh yes they will! Shit-talking on games, especially games like Call of Duty that have a predominantly 14yr old demographic will have people constantly verbally abusing each other, regardless of the whiteness of their penises.

12.   I can openly say that my favourite games are casual, odd, non-violent, artistic, or cute without fear that my opinions will reinforce a stereotype that "men are not real gamers."

Pretty sure if I told everyone my favourite games were “Barbie Horse Adventure, Cooking Mamma and the Sims” they’d have some things to say about it. This is more to do with the difference between “Pro gamer” and “Casual gamer” which we shan’t get into here, and nothing to do with gender or race.

13.   When purchasing most major video games in a store, chances are I will not be asked if (or assumed to be) buying it for a wife, daughter or girlfriend.

And when I buy hygiene products at the Body Shop or Lush I’m often asked if this is for my mother or girlfriend. They are simply playing the odds, when you serve a demographic your sales will be angled towards them. This is starting to sound like you’re scraping the barrel a bit.

14.   The vast majority of game studios, past and present, have been led and populated primarily by people of my own gender and as such most of their products have been specifically designed to cater to my demographic.

This denies that men are capable of empathy and reflection on what others would find interesting. Regardless; allow me to expand a little on this. Developing a AAA game now costs more than a blockbuster movie by a factor of billions. To the extent that games that are single-player and don’t rely on micropayments actually causes gaming companies to declare bankruptcy because they simply cannot sell enough copies to make their money back despite the success of their games (See THQ). You’re asking that companies expend billions of dollars to try and break into a niche market and then likely go bankrupt as a result simply in the name your own ideology. If you want girls in gaming, go study computer programming instead of Media Studies.

15.   I can walk into any gaming store and see images of my gender widely represented as powerful heroes, villains and non-playable characters alike.

Yup you sure can!

16.   I will almost always have the option to play a character of my gender, as most protagonists or heroes will be male by default.

See above.
Also, gamers as a rule don't care who represents them on the screen.They care more about gameplay and the experience the game gives them. Also this argument is like me walking into a supermarket and saying that Sainsbuy's are racist and sexist because they don't dedicate half their store to food I like. If your identity is SO important to you that you NEED to have a matching racial/sexual demographic to play as then you can find a game where it works for you, and if you were into gaming, you'd know this.
Also for the record? the last game i really enjoyed playing i was a mixed-race 13yr old girl, it did not harm my immersion or my enjoyment of the game, if anything it added to it.

17.   I do not have to carefully navigate my engagement with online communities or gaming spaces in order to avoid or mitigate the possibility of being harassed because of my gender.

Everyone has to be careful to avoid harassment online, it’s fairly straightforward to do, don’t post your personal information, communicate only through text and generally don’t be an ass so that people have no reason to take offense to you. It’s common sense internet protocol for everyone, why should your gender make you an exception?

18.   I probably never think about hiding my real-life gender online through my gamer-name, my avatar choice, or by muting voice-chat, out of fear of harassment resulting from my being male.

Not out of fear for being male, but I do it because it’s common sense. The only people who care about your personal identity in gaming are the sort of people that shouldn’t find out! Also you’re re-hashing stuff we have gone over, are you just padding this list now?

19.   When I enter an online game, I can be relatively sure I won’t be attacked or harassed when and if my real-life gender is made public

Yup you are.

20.   If I am trash-talked or verbally berated while playing online, it will not be because I am male nor will my gender be invoked as an insult.

Likely not, but as covered in a previous post the point of verbal abuse is to cause emotional harm, using personal information is part of that. Block buttons exist for this reason. If I went to a support group for abused men and was told I was not welcome because I was a probable rapist by somebody trying to hurt me, then me being a male would be very relevant to this insult. But in the context of gaming it is worthless as a tool to cause emotional harm.

21.   While playing online with people I don’t know I won’t be interrogated about the size and shape of my real-life body parts, nor will I be pressured to share intimate details about my sex life for the pleasure of other players.

What kind of games are you playing? Seriously?! Just leave the lobby and re-join a different server. Also: Again, how did they find out you were female exactly?

22.   Complete strangers generally do not send me unsolicited images of their genitalia or demand to see me naked on the basis of being a male gamer.

That’s because dicks aren’t that great to look at. Sad but true. Also you’re kind of stretching again, this is the above point, but re-worded.

23.   In multiplayer games I can be pretty sure that conversations between other players will not focus on speculation about my "attractiveness" or "sexual availability" in real-life.

How did they find out your gender?! Seriously the only reason they would know is if you wanted them to know, and in that case congrats! You got the attention you were after, you made being a girl a big deal.

24.   If I choose to point out sexism in gaming, my observations will not be seen as self-serving, and will therefore be perceived as more credible and worthy of respect than those of my female counterparts, even if they are saying the exact same thing.

And the most respected and vocal proponents for Men’s Rights are female. This is a normal thing. We percive those fighting for an idiology that does not benifit them as more genuine because they have no apparent vested interest in their agenda (though the truth of that statement is argable, it's not relivent for this post.).
Furthermore if the bank accounts of prominent “Anti-sexism in gaming” vocals is anything to go by, then it IS very self-serving, you turned pointing your finger and shouting “SEXISM” into a lucrative cash cow, congrats.

25.   Because it was created by a straight white male, this checklist will likely be taken more seriously than if it had been written by virtually any female gamer.

Until you pointed it out I had no idea who wrote this, but the fact that you brought it up highlights the problem you have.
Ideas have no sex, gender, or race. By attributing the value of a message to the person saying it you’ve demonstrated just how important sex, race and gender are to you. Ultimately exposing yourself as the biggest racist and sexist in the room, because you place more importance in skin colour and genitals then you do with the content of a message, or indeed; the skills, attitude and community-spirit of a gamer.