The latest Call of Dutyâs out today and thereâs going to be lots of trash talk and cuss words among the many fans whoâll be cutting class, calling in sick and otherwise shirking their duties to play the latest entry in Activisionâs best -selling FPS series. But, as Jenny Haniver can attest, thereâs a special kind of trash talk reserved for female players. Itâs filled with casual sexism, vulgar slurs and an angry dismissiveness of any skills a woman playing an online game might show.
As a longtime fan of first-person shooters and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 in particular, Haniverâwhich isnât, by the way, her real nameâhas heard the vitriol of online competitive play for years now. But sheâs doing something a bit different than other female gamers: sheâs recording it. Haniver archives the saddest, most misanthropic chatter sheâs confronted with on Not in the Kitchen Anymore, a blog that grew out of an art project she did last year. That project plastered excerpts from the verbal harassment sheâd run into onto the walls of an exhibition space and Jennyâs continued that same work in digital form. Not in the Kitchen Anymore holds up a mirror to those whoâve supposedly got skills in the headshot, grenade toss and melee arenas and shows what it looks like when they lack simple human decency, the most basic skill of all.
So, on the day of release for the latest Modern Warfare, Kotaku asked Jenny to share the most angry recordings that sheâs made playing MW2âas well as other FPSesâ along with some of her own commentary.
If you are a female who plays online games, itâs an almost automatic guarantee that some guys will assume that you are fat. Or that you have nothing better to do, because youâre forever alone. But if you try and turn it around and suggest that, perhaps since theyâre on the same game, at the same time, maybe THEYâRE fat loners too⊠Thatâs just madness!
Occasionally, guys will admit that you legitimately have some skills at whatever game youâre playing. At first, this can seem promising, but hold on- donât get too excited! This sort of comment is almost invariably followed by an insult.
Another typical male comment is that girls online sound like 12 year old boys, or men. This is supposed to be degrading to the female gamer (âOh no! Some guy on the internet thinks I sound like a boy?? Time to cry myself to sleep again.â), but is mostly just humorous.
It seems outrageous that female gamers like to game just because itâs fun! Surely it must be for an alternative reason? Perhaps youâre secretly just hoping to meet the perfect man over Xbox live. If thatâs the case, lucky you! There are persistent fellows willing to pitch virtual woo at you, even from across the world.
And, of course, guys are not the only perpetrators. From time to time, you will run into The Only Girl On The Internet. Since women are an acknowledged minority in the gaming community, a few girls can get territorial about their gamer status. This leads to a Highlander mentality (there can only be one!). It can be disastrous for all parties involved if another woman stumbles into the same lobby as one of these girls.
You can read and listen to more of Jennyâs recordings at Not in the Kitchen Anymore
You can contact Evan Narcisse, the author of this post, at [email protected]. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.
