- by Ken "Chaobo" Serra
- Posted on July 17, 2013 @ 3:00 PST
Quite an interesting, yet relatively common in context, topic was discussed today in the Final Fantasy XIV sub-reddit. TchotchkeAficionado of reddit expressed her disappointment in the gamer stereotype reaction: "of course you're a healer, you're a girl."
As we all know, unfortunately, parts of the gaming industry still holds a bit of sexism especially among younger males towards females but the broader range of this kind of discussion is for another time. Still, it's really odd to me how we label certain aspects of anything really as gender-based rather than the expectation that someone does something because its their preference. See, I'm a guy and I generally prefer to play the healer-role in every MMO. I'm also a hardcore, competitive gamer and one that's had his arse kicked around on occasion by female pro players.
It's funny because as a male, I can seemingly play anything yet not be commented on it. On the other hand, some of my female friends are ALWAYS criticized in some shape or form. But let me tell you, the ones I do play with are mechanically exceptional with one even topping the DPS chart in my FFXI linkshell, which mind you was server #1 and geared to perfection on Caitsith.
In reality, I can go on and on about this topic, but I'm going to leave it to you guys to discuss how you feel about this gamer stereotype. Yea, I know, "been there, done that" but that doesn't mean you can't voice an opinion. I feel it might be a cultural thing, with the expectation that the female caters to the family and eventually leads on to how we view the grand spectrum of things. Can't say that's a bad thing at all but when it hits an immature point, it's kind of sad.
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Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn- Gaming Discussion
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Girl dont play video games, JK!!!!!!!!
The girl in my raiding guild does both, and does both very well. It was funny when she went dps for the first time and beat one of our best warrior dps. We were like "Oh shit!!" It was the best. For me, I suck at healing. I sink into a rotation for anything and there is no rotation for healing due to random RNG, aka people standing in fire.
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Healing is pretty difficult. It's easy early but when the fight becomes dynamic in the endgame, it's not for everyone -- at least in the MMOs I've played. I can't speak for WoW unfortunately.
I just think it's silly that we live in a gaming world where there's a stereotypical expectation. Mind you, not everyone is like everyone, we're all different -- but see even your reaction. She's playing DPS and "Oh Sh**!" If it were a dude I bet you'd be like, "Oh, nice" or something, heh.
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Sorry guys girls kick ass, thought you heard. That's how I raise my girls, so the rest of you are in deep trouble.
And how anyone can find fun in healing in a raid, I mean seriously it looks like this: (dang the site won't load but there is this cool code page for it https://code.google.com/p/simulationcraft/wiki/Priests )
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I actually talked about this way back in my first Girls Don't Game podcast. I am not sure my tendency toward healers is based on my gender, my love of challenge, or my broken personality. It's probably a combo of all three.
Granted in the raids I've healed, there was usually a 50/50 gender split. But if you turn it around and say "how many girls tank?" then the numbers are vastly weighted against female tanks. Which sort of makes me want to switch to tanking, just to show 'em.
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See for me I tend to find a Split of Female tanks and healers. I dont know many DPS females. But in any game i cant stand healing, I just dont like the idea of playing Wake A mole. I say I would rather dps over tank but to be honest with you I LOVE tanking. I have tryed many games not to be a tank but in the long run I always become the tank. Id Say I see less tanks then I see healers in most games.
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I love healing. It's a challenge, I make a difference, I can find groups quickly. Then...it's part of my personality, too. I chose Dental Assisting for awhile because of those same things.
To be fair, these are my license plates:
http://distilleryimage1.ak.instagram.com/9a77abe8ed6f11e1890222000a1cfddf_7.jpg
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Probably should have added I tend to stick with games that have helaing through DPS, like Rift's Chloromancer and Vanguard's Bloodmage. I never healed in WoW, stuck with raiding an AFFLOCK till they dumbed it down. Guess my screen was too empty without all those tickers.
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Off-healers are a fun choice but Hybrid classes in most games are hard to balance properly. I generally find tanks and healers equally scarce. It's just there are more classes in the game that can heal, but doesn't mean they are true healers.
