Any lady pilots?

[howie87]

So, is there a single girl out there who plays DCS?

 

20,000 warthog HOTAS's sold...

 

There just has to be one right?!?!

[sobek]

If i was a girl i certainly wouldn't admit it on this board.

[howie87]

Yeah, fair point. I've never even HEARD of a girl playing DCS though. That's the reason I ask.

 

I think this may be one of the most male dominated activities in the world...

[sobek]

I recall some members mentioning that they play it with their GFs/Wives.

[Aginor]

What sobek said (both postings), plus:

Most girls just don't get excited by planes shooting missiles, dropping bombs and causing explosions. And even less are interested in reading the 500+ pages of manual to even get into the air. That's a bit of a stereotype but it is true most often.

[NineLine]

If i was a girl i certainly wouldn't admit it on this board.

 

 

I was gonna say the same thing :)

[NineLine]

Yeah, fair point. I've never even HEARD of a girl playing DCS though. That's the reason I ask.

 

I think this may be one of the most male dominated activities in the world...

 

 

There are a few that I have seen, but they are not so bold about saying so, and in fact, in most conversations on here, why would it come up anyways...

[howie87]

Well I was thinking more on teamspeak really. I've flown with hundreds of people online and none of them have been female as far as I could tell.

[Aginor]

@Sithspawn

 

Basically for the same reasons it comes up in other forums. To either get attention and help more easily, or just do it accidentally like writing sentences containing words like "my husband" or something, assuming people don't care (which should be the case but isn't).

[sobek]

Most girls just don't get excited by planes shooting missiles, dropping bombs and causing explosions. And even less are interested in reading the 500+ pages of manual to even get into the air. That's a bit of a stereotype but it is true most often.

 

And this mindset might be part of the problem. :thumbup: Way to go.

 

Nowadays there's lots of girls getting excited about slaughtering monsters in RPGs. Why would the more technically inclined not be interested in (military) aviation? It is just a question of self perception. As an engineer, i know (far too little, but still) women who are quite as excited about signal processing as i am, the culprit is just our (as a society) stuck role models. At least the telematics department of our university is seeing a steep increase of females enrolling, i hope that electric engineering will follow (still in the low single digit percentage at my uni).

Edited November 8, 2013 by sobek

[sobek]

Well I was thinking more on teamspeak really. I've flown with hundreds of people online and none of them have been female as far as I could tell.

 

Well just how would that make you feel as a female, joining such a server? :)

[NineLine]

And this mindset might be part of the problem. :thumbup: Way to go.

 

Nowadays there's lots of girls getting excited about slaughtering monsters in RPGs. Why would the more technically inclined not be interested in (military) aviation? It is just a question of self perception. As an engineer, i know (far too little, but still) women who are quite as excited about signal processing as i am, the culprit is just our (as a society) stuck role models. At least the telematics department of your university is seeing a steep increase of females enrolling, i hope that electric engineering will follow (still in the low single digit percentage at my uni).

 

Yup, my step daughter is crazy about CoD and other games, so its a bad stereotype to say that women/girls cant be interested in this stuff, in fact I have talked to many that are very interested in aviation and military. As a step father to a couple girls and of course now my 1.5 year old daughter it drives me crazy that society puts these holds on women, go shopping for kids clothes. Boys get Fighter pilot, rock star, etc. Girls get ballerina, baker, etc... anyways.. I dont want to turn this into a big rant or a bigger debate... but ya..

[howie87]

Fine...? Women and girls who play games are a minority but they DO exist and I wouldn't expect them to be terrified of joining a teamspeak server because *gasp* it's full of men!

 

I can see why some might have that attitude, but women play lots of other games that in general have a much less mature audience.

[Vedexent]

If i was a girl i certainly wouldn't admit it on this board.

 

+1 on this.

 

Women gamers in general have a hard enough time as it is - I can imagine that if DCS World is even more highly gender skewed (and I suspect it is, though I have not hard data) it would be even worse.

[NineLine]

Fine...? Women and girls who play games are a minority but they DO exist and I wouldn't expect them to be terrified of joining a teamspeak server because *gasp* it's full of men!

 

I can see why some might have that attitude, but women play lots of other games that in general have a much less mature audience.

 

I doubt they are terrified to join teamspeak because its full of men, more likely they are terrified because the internet is full of keyboard warriors that see no wrongs in the things they say, there are a number of sites dedicated to showing some of the abuse that goes on, so no doubt there are some that wont join a public TS for that reason, more likely you will find them in private groups, or not at all... you how "trolls" are they use anything they can to get under your skin, when you add the element of being a woman, that just gives them that much more ammo.

 

I would like to believe the flight sim community is different than most, but I have seen some things to make me think we arent perfect either. My DaDs group I play with we have a few females that play different games, but we offer a very safe sterile environment....

[kontiuka]

Yup, my step daughter is crazy about CoD and other games

 

Just curious, how old is your step daughter?

[Picksplitter]

Most girls just don't get excited by planes shooting missiles, dropping bombs and causing explosions..

 

We should try to explain this to that gal...

 

http://www.badassoftheweek.com/kimcampbell.html

 

or this one...

 

http://warthognews.blogspot.ca/2010/05/female-10-pilot-mentors-young-ladies-at.html

 

but I don't think we should mention it to this one for some reason :cry:

 

http://warthognews.blogspot.ca/2010/02/188th-fighter-wings-first-and-lone.html

[NineLine]

Just curious, how old is your step daughter?

 

She is 13

[howie87]

I guess the anonymity of the internet does tend to bring out the worst in people. I can't stand playing most games online because of all the immaturity and name calling that goes on. In my experience though the DCS community does seem to be a little more civilised.

 

I'd actually love to see more women playing DCS. My girlfriend however is most definitely not interested!

[kontiuka]

I can't stand playing most games online because of all the immaturity and name calling that goes on.

The World of Tanks server is pretty bad for that. Some of the comments are downright racist.

[NineLine]

The World of Tanks server is pretty bad for that. Some of the comments are downright racist.

 

 

It happens everywhere, as stated, the safety and security of the Internet breeds some bad people. Or least they play bad people on the net... I imagine they are less than brave and bold in the real world.

[Aginor]

Well, I didn't say there aren't exceptions, I know lots of "nerd girls" playing RPGs and stuff. My girlfriend AND my mother play Guild Wars 2 with me,

And obviously they all agree about flight sims being boring. Just like most male gamers do.

I would love it if more girls and women were interested, but most of them just aren't.

The university I was studying at has all kinds of "girls days" and similar stuff to try and get girls into technical stuff, and one or two show up each year. There are pink Arduinos and stuff.

 

The causes are.... too many to discuss here I guess. And yeah, there are a few hundred or so (in billions of women) that don't think like that. But it is true, they are generally not interested. I'm not saying they shouldn't be, they just aren't.

[Luzifer]

What sobek said (both postings), plus:

Most girls just don't get excited by planes shooting missiles, dropping bombs and causing explosions. And even less are interested in reading the 500+ pages of manual to even get into the air. That's a bit of a stereotype but it is true most often.

 

Of course the exact same thing can be said about most boys. DCS doesn't really compete with first person shooter blockbusters when it comes to popularity…

[howie87]

I imagine there are women all over the world saying the same thing about men when it comes to things like fashion and other female dominated areas. Truth be told, I couldn't tell you why I love jets and couldn't give a hoot about what celebrities are wearing. I just do...

[Vedexent]

So here's a question - why does everyone seem to wish there were more women playing?

 

I'm not saying they should be excluded.

 

I'm also not saying that behaviors which seem to alienating them are acceptable - but they're not acceptable directed at anyone, regardless of gender.

 

I'm saying that if you really think gender is immaterial in a video game player - and I think that is the case - then does it matter if women just aren't interested in military sims, or if they are?

 

I say it is a worthwhile goals to make a generally accepting, and tolerant online environment for everyone. Make the general environment universally acceptable to everyone, and disregard the gender of your squadron members entirely.