Girls who game

Those aged forty plus probably attach more negative than positive connotations to gaming, but when Britt Coker talks to two women who game, she finds the virtual life to be a reality eye-opener.

Rielle Williams works at a games store in Richmond Mall, selling virtual escapism. There are thousands of games covering all kinds of genres from fantasy, sports, and auto racing to action, music, and role-playing. It goes without saying that games are evolving with technology, becoming more sophisticated and life-like as time goes on. Except for the ones that aren’t. Nostalgia for the neolithic games era of the late 90s is also a thing.

Simulated lives, for example (‘The Sims’), give you the opportunity to create, say, a virtual family that is much tidier than the one you really have. Gentlemen, are you tempted to establish a secret second family across town? Imagine how fewer jobs around the house you will need to do by only having one real family and the other as a simulated reality!

Rielle started gaming herself around age five when her brother downloaded an emulator on the family PC. An emulator is a computer programme that replicates a video console. The only games they could access at the time were in Japanese, so there was a bit of trial and error involved in getting them to work, but if any demographic is going to intuitively understand how a foreign language video game works, it’s going to be primary school-aged children.

Young Rielle has continued to game all the way into her late twenties. She currently has a gaming laptop that can switch between a handheld console and TV controls. You’ll have heard of the two big industry players, PlayStation and Nintendo. The latest console, PS5, retails for around $800, so you really have to value time away from your children or partner.

Games come free with the hardware, but new ones cost extra, about $100 a pop. Plus, of course, there are streaming channels as well. With so many gaming choices, you will eventually find your niche. For Rielle, it’s the storylines that pull her in.

“I feel like it’s better nowadays, but a lot of people just viewed it as you just fight things and stuff, but they can tell really amazing stories through video games. They are genuinely amazing because you have so many mediums all brought into one. So you have visuals, you have music, you have storytelling, like all of those things together can make something really unforgettable.”

“Newer ones definitely feel very much like movies in the way that it is immersive but even more so because you’re a part of it. It’s so much easier to be drawn in because you’re playing a character; you get more immersed because you’re playing things through them. So it’s sort of like how in real life we’re all the main character of our own story, even if there are other people around us that seem to be having much more amazing, interesting lives.”

Ruby Cunningham and her partner are both gamers and have a spare room in their house where they’ve set themselves up to game—a screen each. Sometimes they’ll be on the same game together, but other times, the enjoyment is the shared company as they ride the highs and lows of their individual realities. They’re both tradies, so they enjoy relaxing after a day on the tools. Ruby is an active sportsperson too, so gaming usually only gets her attention a couple of nights a week. It’s a hobby, not an obsession.

“I know some people make fun of gaming. We can get on the games, and then we can go and watch some TV. But most people would just be watching TV all night.”

Staring at a device, whatever form it takes, is seen as completely antisocial, but with the gaming community, you can interact with a very large group. Ruby says, “If you’re playing an online game like Fortnite, you load on to a game with 90 other people in New Zealand, and it’s like Battle Royale, and you take out people until there is only one remaining. You can load on with your friends, and then that’s your team for the game.”

There is money to be made if you want to stream yourself playing a game. Yes, people will actually pay to watch you if you’re good, sharing their thoughts in the chat box. Ruby streamed several years ago, but it’s a lot of effort to be seen amongst the large number of other gamers that are doing it. Plus, she has to work with stereotypes.

“You have to use a camera when streaming, and being a woman, I would have to put makeup on and do my hair for it every time so I looked ‘appealing’ to the males viewing my stream, and I really couldn’t be bothered doing that every day.”

I note the three very successful female gamers she mentions all look visually ‘appealing’. QT Cinderella also has her name working for her. Coincidentally, she was the only female in the top 20 highest-earning gamers of 2023 (ranked #15, she earned $US3+ million; source: www.repeat.gg).

Probably surprising to many, half of the people who buy games at Rielle’s store are females. Parents will have a distorted view of gamers being teenage boys who pair blackout curtains and sleeping in late with an all-night binge of Final Fantasy (role play), or Gran Turismo (racing). But we would be wrong. Yes, they exist as a demographic and perpetuate negative associations of gaming through their excessive, insular focus. But who amongst us hasn’t binge-watched a riveting TV series on demand, then boasted about it to our friends?

For many of us, literal reality is to spend all day staring at a computer, then go home and stare at a TV. Are we casting stones at other people’s house screens? Since the goal of gaming companies is to make money, at some point, they recognised they could realise their potential more fully by specifically targeting games to young girls and women. But not women over 50, according to Rielle, who cites them as the smallest demographic of players wandering into the store.

“That’s because we’ve got too much shit we need to do,” I say. She politely agrees.

There was a woman in her 70s that came into the store recently—definitely a player. Probably a rarity for her demographic, but some overseas research has been undertaken to establish if virtual reality games can reduce the chances of dementia, with promising results. Many games already exist that are movement-orientated, focusing on yoga, strength training, and balance. Gaming may well be a pastime more of us grow into, rather than grow out of.

Rielle is reluctant to attach genders to games, as there is a broad interest by most players across the genres, and a lot of her friends are non-binary. Cosy games do get a mention, as commonly enjoyed by females.

“They especially became popular during lockdown because people were stressed and stuck at home the whole time. They needed something cosy to get their mind off things.” But she adds, “There are a lot of women who, like me, love a good story in their game, so I notice a lot of them liking the cosy games definitely, but then also liking Far Cry, which is a game where you shoot stuff. Games that have a really good story, but also fighting.”

“Pokémon is something that you’ll hear a lot of people say, oh, that’s a ‘girls’ game, but you see a lot of guys playing that and really enjoying it. A lot of guys love the farming simulators. And I know a lot of guys that love story-driven games and JRPGs, which are Japanese role-playing games and are usually much more focused on story than the games made in America or other parts of the world.”

So, people like what they like. And of course, there is no sexism either. Ruby says, “Sadly, most times when I game online, I will mute my mic so they can’t hear my voice, as some reactions to me being a woman can be taken negatively. I’ve been told to get off the game and ‘get back to the kitchen’ a few times. And other times, men have been surprisingly pleasant about it and think it’s awesome having a female on their team. It could basically go either way.”

In terms of commitment, Rielle goes through phases. Currently, she’s playing a little bit every day, and it’s a Gameboy holding her attention. It’s one of the neolithic Nintendo handheld consoles that is so old she has to play it through an emulator.

“Even though I do enjoy the games that have the great graphics and stuff, I am drawn to [new] games that have an older look to them, like PlayStation 2 Era games. I love the way they look, and I tend to play them especially if I want something a bit more comforting.”

After speaking to the two women, I’ve rethought my feelings about gaming. I’m not going to rush off and get a console, but by the time I’m really old, who knows what kind of games will exist and how they will increase my brain health if I’m open to playing them? Anything that will remind me what my son’s name is will be a win. Inevitably, our world gets smaller the older we get, but with virtual reality, mobility will not be an issue. Rielle has almost convinced me I shouldn’t wait that long.

“Video games are a medium, much like books and movies, where you can escape into this world and find something beautiful. You can learn lessons. You can understand more about your own world and the life around you through them, just like how you can in books and movies. And sometimes, you have stories that you’ve left when you’re a kid that you’d like to read again, or you’d like to watch that movie again, and it’s much the same with video games. You’ll have a game that you really loved as a kid and that you still really love to this day, and sometimes it’s really fun to just go back and play that. In my opinion, there is definitely something magical about them that people who don’t play games might not realise. It’s a goldmine of storytelling and a goldmine of experiences if you give it a chance.”