Originally posted by Ysharros

Originally posted by Loktofeit

@OP,

[snip] but isn't it very rare to see any of those phrases used outside of trolling or joking? It seems the argument is being made against a non-existant counterpoint. 

Did you read it, or even just the title? Yes, that's what the post was about.

And no, those phrases are not exclusively used in a trolling or joking context.

Yes, I read it. If it was 'some'  'many' 'most' then I'd completely agree those are common phrases to hear. However, it's odd that you are regularly hearing people use such a sweeping generalization as 'all' without it being said in jest or as trolling.

I've seen a lot of stereotyping in the world go on, especially towards gamers. This article came out a good while back, and was widely misreported by a number of news sources, is a somewhat common, but damaging stereotype of gamers: http://www.gossipgamers.com/employers-not-hiring-wow-mmo-or-fps-gamers/

I think stereotyping is a natural human habit, and like all habits can be broken.  They tend to be used in place of proper and correct information. The problem is people tend to go on what they hear from others and/or assume rather than investigating the issue for themselves to find the truth of the matter. It reminds me of a rule of genealogy: If you didn't research it yourself, don't trust it.  

Originally posted by Liltawen

Streotyping means turning off your brain and not thinking about where you are and what you're confronting. Maybe it would keep you from getting poisoned by strange frogs or whatever but that sort of automatic thinking is also what killed the dinosaurs when they couldn't adapt to changing,non stereotyped conditions in their world. Same for people. It hurts no one exept yourself if you can't recognize the variety in the world.

One thing I like about gaming and MMOs in particular is that you can go in one for a few hours and involve yoursef in a totally different world. I think it shakes your mind and it's expatations/stereotypes up a bit so when you come out you aren't so prone to stereotypical thinking. Exposing yourself to a variety of different reality maps.

Yes dinosaurs got totally killed because they weren't able to adapt to non-stereotyped conditions in their world.

Silly of them really to hold onto their stereotypical physical bodies and not instantly metamorphose into another physical form so they could survive the global catastrophe of a giant meteor hitting the earth.

Or even if you hold to some of the other theories such as ecosystems diversifying while the Dinosaurs did not diversify as such it's got absolutely nothing to do at all with stereotypes.

No matter what stereotype I attach to cyanide it's still likely to kill me if I ingest too much of it. No matter what stereotype I attach to vitamins I still die if I don't ingest enough of it.

Stereotypes can be bad, we all know that. But they're not the root of all evil and the cause of all the world's problems. Dinosaurs would not have survived if they were less prone to stereotypical thinking. In fact I'm not sure if they even were prone to stereotypical thinking. Never did any psychological research on any dinosaurs. Maybe velociraptors which apperantly apperantly had quite large brains were the masters of non-stereotypical thinking.

Stereotypes are there for a very good reason. Our brains are incapable of processing all possible situations. So we stereotype situations in order to make it possible for us to categorize them and learn from them. This leads to good things like the stereotype that people holding physics degrees know a lot about physics ( yes, that is a stereotype... ). It can also lead to bad things like the stereotype that black people are criminals.

Stereotypes are a way for us to react to the unknown. Instead of having to do intensive research on every single new thing that comes into our lives we look at a few prominent charasterics and we compare them to known things that share those prominent charasterics and conclude that likely they'll also share a similair functionality.

There's good stereotypes and bad stereotypes to base our thinking on, but it's impossible to not base our thinking on some stereotype.

I just wanted to say that the idea that all female characters are actually desperate males is a huge defense mechanism. As a 21 year old, non-drinking, overweight and nerdy male who works in an office based around social MMOs, I don't get much female contact. When I do, I desire to make it a quality connection (In other words, I want to round out my interaction in accordance to normal human socilization, and want more female friends), but there have been too many times where I hope or think I am talking to a female and of course they turn out to be male. Or at least I assume that's what would happen, since I usually just avoid getting too involved with new, random people in MMOs because of the decepetion potential.

My point is,  the "All female avatars are dudes" has a very real reason for existing as a social defense, and I think it won't be going away anytime soon.

Nowadays gamers aren't geeks

Games took over TV, as young people prefer to interact rather than absorbe passively the TV, they use Facebook to socialize, and games to kill time.

The Nerd as the image of the gamer doesn't exist anymore, in fact I hardly believe there are still nerds around at all.

Gaming is mainstream, everyone does it.

Originally posted by vazzaroth

I just wanted to say that the idea that all female characters are actually desperate males is a huge defense mechanism. As a 21 year old, non-drinking, overweight and nerdy male who works in an office based around social MMOs, I don't get much female contact. When I do, I desire to make it a quality connection (In other words, I want to round out my interaction in accordance to normal human socilization, and want more female friends), but there have been too many times where I hope or think I am talking to a female and of course they turn out to be male. Or at least I assume that's what would happen, since I usually just avoid getting too involved with new, random people in MMOs because of the decepetion potential.

 

My point is,  the "All female avatars are dudes" has a very real reason for existing as a social defense, and I think it won't be going away anytime soon.

This is why you should always hit on guys in MMOs, on the random offchance that they're a totally hot female who has to use a male avatar to protect herself from all the attention she gets.
 

<- Totally not helpful.

Though it is true I know a lot of women who use male characters... hmm... maybe most of the male characters are women.  It couldn't hurt to check.

Originally posted by astoria

I'm a successful attorney, singer in a band and covered in tattoos. I am a white male - but my wife is neither white nor male and she games a little with me. You never know now who is an avid gamer. Was in an airport waiting on a delayed flight a few weeks ago (for work, in a full suit & tie) and this guy must have been 60 and looked over at me playing Age of Conan, asked "where are you?" and I said "sorry?" and he said "what zone?" I told him "field of the dead" and a minute later his avatar walked up and waved. We farmed leather until our plane came.

 

a similar thing happened to me but it was on a game called knight Online. I was at the greyhound station sitting on my laptop soling golems when i noticed a character run up beside me and drop a few novas slaughtering the spawn. i got a pm saying "Look behind you" there was a girl about 24-25 sitting on her laptop and waving at me... we've been friends for 3 years now...

The people offended by stereotypes are the one giving them power. If everyone stopped being so prideful and egotistical we could laugh at how funny stereotypes are and no one would be offended.

Originally posted by Arcken

The people offended by stereotypes are the one giving them power. If everyone stopped being so prideful and egotistical we could laugh at how funny stereotypes are and no one would be offended.

I don't often agree with you, but this is pure truth. The people that react are the fuel for the fire.

Originally posted by Erstok

Sterotypes are the unwritten rule of life. Everyone sterotypes. Why argue or debate something that is just apart of everyones way of life.

This argument above is just an example of the Naturalistic Fallacy.

Sometimes, higher functioning as a human being requires the questioning of those unwritten, "universal" rules, no matter how hopeless it may seem to some at the time.

Originally posted by Cecropia

Originally posted by Arcken

The people offended by stereotypes are the one giving them power. If everyone stopped being so prideful and egotistical we could laugh at how funny stereotypes are and no one would be offended.

I don't often agree with you, but this is pure truth. The people that react are the fuel for the fire.

You're assuming that the only response to a stereotype is to be offended at the lies they contain.

The worst response, and the most common one, is to believe them. Those who believe them unquestioningly are the ones lighting the fires fueled by the bodies of others. I wish that were a fanciful metaphor, about the bodies, but some times it has been absolute truth.

I look at stereo-types as usefull when you need to make decision based on limited information.

The problem comes in when you assume that the stereo-type must be correct for any individual case or when you refuse to abandon the stereo-type in a case where you have sufficient information that refutes it.

one of the things i've noticed is this....while these are "social" games there are a HUGE number of players that help foster these stereotypes floating around. So while i'm sure i'll get shot down for saying this...i feel more people need to remember we're playing a game, and to actually get out of their damned houses and ACTUALLY socialize rather than continually feed into the stereotypes by acting exactly as the type implies.

I could easily site case after case in game after game of people who have helped create these fun titles, and in my opinion the real solution to the issue is for people to STOP playing like the game is RL and play a game to have fun

Well, while a lot more women play this game today, the stereotype that alot of female avatars are played by males is still a solid one.  Less so than in the past, but still quite common.

Originally posted by Najwalaylah

Originally posted by Cecropia

Originally posted by Arcken

The people offended by stereotypes are the one giving them power. If everyone stopped being so prideful and egotistical we could laugh at how funny stereotypes are and no one would be offended.

I don't often agree with you, but this is pure truth. The people that react are the fuel for the fire.

You're assuming that the only response to a stereotype is to be offended at the lies they contain.

The worst response, and the most common one, is to believe them. Those who believe them unquestioningly are the ones lighting the fires fueled by the bodies of others. I wish that were a fanciful metaphor, about the bodies, but some times it has been absolute truth.

Yes, but how many here believe stereotypes "unqestioningly?" And if you do, then yes, you are giving them power wich would lead to your burning bodies.

Originally posted by DrSpanky

Yes, but how many here believe stereotypes "unquestioningly?" And if you do, then yes, you are giving them power wich would lead to your burning bodies.

That's a really good question of its own. Those who do not question the stereotypes they believe often mistake them for "common sense", fact, or even gospel, and thus are unlikely to talk about them objectively.