Author Topic: Mame and Women (Read 3492 times)

Popcorrin · « **on:** April 08, 2004, 03:44:34 pm »

I'd be interested to hear people's theory as to why it is such a male dominated hobby.

Santoro · « **Reply #1 on:** April 08, 2004, 03:49:26 pm »

I voted 1-5.

Is there even one woman/girl in this community?

I think its because women prefer more cerebral games like Tetris than the action games most of us like.

nipsmg · « **Reply #2 on:** April 08, 2004, 03:53:42 pm »

Video games in general are (and especially back in the 80's, were) a male dominated hobby.
I'm not saying girls didn't play pacman or centipede. They do, just not to the extent we do. They just aren't psycho enough about it to go and build a huge monstrosity of a cabinet to play it.

SirPeale · « **Reply #3 on:** April 08, 2004, 04:56:07 pm »

Quote from: Santoro on April 08, 2004, 03:49:26 pm

Is there even one woman/girl in this community?

There is at least one.

SNAAAKE · « **Reply #4 on:** April 08, 2004, 05:58:55 pm »

Women should NOT play around with power tools for the obvious reason(s) LOL

DrewKaree · « **Reply #5 on:** April 08, 2004, 06:17:36 pm »

Ya der hey, I know I hearda ONE broad on dis here board, but if'n ya rememmer rightly, she was havin' her man build her kab'net fer her.

Actually, I think most guys don't worry about spending money on the latest fashions and such, like women do, hence, we tend to spend our money on toys that make us happy. See the hobbies of people on here besides building a cab. Also, the toys a lot of us have!

I also think we look at the challenge differently than women. They look at the money, time, and effort required and think it would be better invested in kids, family, friends, etc.

That, and they look at all "guy ideas" as cro-magnon knuckle-dragging endeavors not to be trifled with.

But what do I know? I'm a guy!

paigeoliver · « **Reply #6 on:** April 08, 2004, 07:15:56 pm »

The larger general arcade community only seems to have one female member. Jetgurl, she has 4 games, and lives in California, and isn't all that active in the community. It seems that she was sucked in by a couple of male friends who were collectors.

From my experience girls love to play, but don't have that desire to own their own machines.

nighthawk2099 · « **Reply #7 on:** April 08, 2004, 08:36:22 pm »

Well, my wife wants her own cabinet, but wants me to build it (or restore it) depending on the situation...but as long as I can buy new stuff for the hobby, I'll build her anything she wants....

bigmoe · « **Reply #8 on:** April 09, 2004, 12:40:25 am »

Quote from: nighthawk2099 on April 08, 2004, 08:36:22 pm

...but as long as I can buy new stuff for the hobby, I'll build her anything she wants....

Probably the secret to success...

Tailgunner · « **Reply #9 on:** April 09, 2004, 03:52:49 am »

I think part of it is women in general don't want something as big and gaudy as an upright arcade cab in their house.

Thenasty · « **Reply #10 on:** April 12, 2004, 01:31:11 pm »

but if you guys go back in time, the only reason why we hang out in the arcade are the "Girls/Women". If they are not around the Arcades back then, we (guys) probably never build our hobby in the first place. So Women/Girls are good for one thing, that is they look GREAT next to a 300 pounder Cabinet

(well besides the 2nd good thing, playing with you around midnight

and she sucks and I love it

)

DougHillman · « **Reply #11 on:** April 12, 2004, 10:32:40 pm »

"Involved" in what way is, of course, a somewhat more loaded question.

My girlfriend(s) have been very interested in a cabinet. The former helped me quite a bit on my first aborted attempt at a cabinet, and was fully expecting that the second one I built would be a Ms. Pac replica for her. (I'm sure she's far more upset that she never got the cabinet than she is that we're no longer togther.

)

The current has been instrumental in the physical design of both cabs I'm working on currently as well as taking on the task of completely doing the CPO design. She hasn't had a chance to do any of the actual construction tasks with me yet, but that's due more to our distance and schedules than anything else. As with the last one, she's hoping that a Donkey Kong cocktail cabinet is in her future.

My buddies girlfriend is badgering him to commission a Ms. Pac cocktail from me.

So it's not as if women aren't interested in having a cabinet. Actually doing the work or really getting someone to build one for them though, isn't as important. So they're not going to go to the lengths that males are.

Why? Probably alot of reasons. One particular one is that women seem alot less concerned with recapturing their youth than men are. Even if they did play alot of games years back, they simply don't get obsessed with chasing it like we do.

And besides, we know that all us guys build these cabinets for the same reason we ride motorcycles and drive fast cars. It makes our phallus bigger.

D

bigmoe · « **Reply #12 on:** April 13, 2004, 11:34:50 am »

Quote from: Thenasty on April 12, 2004, 01:31:11 pm

but if you guys go back in time, the only reason why we hang out in the arcade are the "Girls/Women". If they are not around the Arcades back then, we (guys) probably never build our hobby in the first place.

I musta been in the wrong arcades...

bigmoe · « **Reply #13 on:** April 13, 2004, 11:35:55 am »

Quote from: DougHillman on April 12, 2004, 10:32:40 pm

And besides, we know that all us guys build these cabinets for the same reason we ride motorcycles and drive fast cars. It makes our phallus bigger.

Aha! So THAT'S what's doing it!

Apollo · « **Reply #14 on:** April 13, 2004, 06:24:28 pm »

My wife is very "involved" in my cab.

"YOU SPENT HOW MUCH ON A JOYSTICK?!"
"DO YOU REALLY NEED THAT?!"
"SURELY THAT THING IS NEARLY FINISHED?!"
"WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING WITH THAT?!"
"HAVE YOU SEEN THE VISA BILL?!"
"WHO IS THIS BOB ROBERTS PERSON ANYWAY?!"
"DON'T YOU ALREADY HAVE EVERY POWER TOOL KNOWN TO MAN?!"

lol

DougHillman · « **Reply #15 on:** April 13, 2004, 09:26:12 pm »

Quote from: bigmoe on April 13, 2004, 11:34:50 am

Quote from: Thenasty on April 12, 2004, 01:31:11 pm
but if you guys go back in time, the only reason why we hang out in the arcade are the "Girls/Women". If they are not around the Arcades back then, we (guys) probably never build our hobby in the first place.

I musta been in the wrong arcades...

Musta been.

I wouldn't say that I hung out at arcades because of the chicks, cuz I certainly didn't. Just being a dink playing games in an arcade didn't do anything to impress the handful of girls who wandered in.

But when I worked at one and had the power to dispense free credits as well as let them stay in the mall after hours with me, well that's another story alltogether.

Bless those mallrats.

Ahhhh to be 18 again.

D

Mr. Dude · « **Reply #16 on:** April 13, 2004, 10:15:18 pm »

never seen a chick yet who was into this stuff.

Sasquatch! · « **Reply #17 on:** April 13, 2004, 10:26:35 pm »

Quote from: Tailgunner on April 09, 2004, 03:52:49 am

I think part of it is women in general don't want something as big and gaudy as an upright arcade cab in their house.

Yeah, but you wife has you, and that's something "big and guady in her house" isn't it??

HEEYYY-OOO!! Thank you, I'll here all week!

RetroJames · « **Reply #18 on:** April 13, 2004, 10:54:46 pm »

Here's a newsflash. The girls were at the Arcade, because that is where the guys were. As I remember it, as soon as there were other options (parties, cars, etc.) they were not up to hanging out at the arcade all night, partly because the games took our attention away from them, partly because quarters to Ms. PacMan means less dough spent on them. Now, the poor girls, are experiencing the same thing, except that Ms. PacMan ---smurfette--- is in THEIR home, again taking our attention (and quarters via the VISA) away from them. $0.02

SirPeale · « **Reply #19 on:** April 13, 2004, 11:29:43 pm »

I already posted the one girl who I know is a member of this forum. Suprised she hasn't spoken up. Also suprised no one else mentioned her.

SNAAAKE · « **Reply #20 on:** April 14, 2004, 01:59:01 am »

Quote from: Peale on April 13, 2004, 11:29:43 pm

I already posted the one girl who I know is a member of this forum. Suprised she hasn't spoken up. Also suprised no one else mentioned her.

Yeah I sold her 2 hacked ps pads too.I know some girls that play arcades around here.I even know one that managed to beat me in a fighting game(marvel2)

I know 2 others online that plays street fighter as well but dunno anyone actually up for buliding anything.They are busy getting attention anyway(I mean that in a good way)

patrickl · « **Reply #21 on:** April 18, 2004, 04:26:54 am »

I never actually even seen a girl play games in an arcade. When I was a bit older the only girls I saw there came with us already and they would usually go away to buy cigarettes rather than waste money on those "stupid games".

mr.Curmudgeon · « **Reply #22 on:** April 20, 2004, 03:45:41 pm »

To her credit, my girlfriend opened a seperate bank account for mame and forced me to actually save enough money to start my project. If it wasn't for her, I'd still be talking about it rather than putting it together.

zaphod · « **Reply #23 on:** April 20, 2004, 04:21:34 pm »

Quote from: mr.Curmudgeon on April 20, 2004, 03:45:41 pm

To her credit, my girlfriend opened a seperate bank account for mame and forced me to actually save enough money to start my project.

Excellent idea. I've used seperate accounts for my various 'toy' funds for years. It's amazing how accounts can grow over 8-10 months with just a little bit per paycheck.

patrickl · « **Reply #24 on:** April 20, 2004, 04:49:36 pm »

I have a seperate account for gadgets/toys too. Sometimes it's called a "credit card"

zaphod · « **Reply #25 on:** April 20, 2004, 04:55:12 pm »

Quote from: patrickl on April 20, 2004, 04:49:36 pm

I have a seperate account for gadgets/toys too. Sometimes it's called a "credit card"

Account, as in singular? You need plural accounts

That way you can tell the little lady that the money is already in the bank for ____, _____, AND _____.

GGKoul · « **Reply #26 on:** April 20, 2004, 08:10:25 pm »

Here's the reason why Women don't play video games...

http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=6;action=display;threadid=18408;start=msg146465#msg146465

I'll probably never play Tron again.

-GGKoul

rchadd · « **Reply #27 on:** April 21, 2004, 05:39:21 pm »

i would think Dance Dance Revolution is the most popular arcade game with women and The Sims on the PC?

think it might be a culteral thing though...when i visited Japan a few years ago there were loads of girls playing in the arcades.

games playing has become a lot cooler ever since Sony introduced the Playstation and made it a mainstream pastime.

SirPoonga · « **Reply #28 on:** April 22, 2004, 03:47:44 pm »

You know why there aren't many women into mame, games were designed to appeal to boys more than girls. There's always a couple of games devoted to girls but they usually suck because there jsut wasn't a bidget for them.

I don't know too many girls into mame, I do know they like my arcade for frogger, puzzloop, tetris, and puzzle bobble.

mr.Curmudgeon · « **Reply #29 on:** April 26, 2004, 01:01:42 pm »

I agree w/ SirPoonga.

Most games seem to require either exploding things, killing things, and/or collecting things. Women, it seems, do not require as much violence as it appears men do and they are usually not as competitive on such a small scale (I mean, really, how many of us guys consistently day-dreamed of holding the high score at the local pizza place?). The less violent games seem to be more popular across gender lines, as SirPoonga mentioned above.

Given that, here's a funny little story about me trying to get my girl into FPS games, namely Unreal Tournament:

I've been playing FPS games since the release of DOOM. I remember first seeing it run on a friends top of the line 486. I dreamt about playing it for weeks until I could save enough money to afford my own system (Yes, Doom actually prompted me to get a better job to save more money). Even then, my girl accepted my passion for gaming.

She enjoyed watching the bloody frag-fests, but never seemed interested in playing, so I never bothered her about it. *snicker* More time for me to play!

Oh, to carve up your best bud with a chainsaw, all the while imagining his pathetic screams on the other end of the connection. It was pure joy. At one point, my best friend and I both had two phone lines. We'd dial-up connect to play doom, then call each other with the second phone line, just to curse at each other. (This was high-tech for us back then)

Most of my gaming buddies have sinced moved away and the frag-fests have dwindled. One day recently I was set on getting the girlfriend to at least try to learn Unreal Tournament, then we'd go from there. With no small amount of insistence and loads of encouragement, I setup a local LAN game (I have TWO computers now, my past self would never have imagined) and get ready to show her the ropes.

I hit the space bar and *zap* into the arena, where I sit eagerly awaiting her entrance. We're not going to fight this time, just a tutorial. She *zaps* in and enters a virtual world I have longed to show her for at least a decade.

As I begin rambling off the various funtions of UT weaponry and debating the finer points of circle-strafing, she darts quickly in my direction, in that funny ice-capades way that UT characters seem to move. I stop talking as she stands there, pixelated face filling up the screen. As I wait for her to whip out a rocket launcher, point the greasy barrel deep into my chest and blast my gibs to kingdom come, she calls out from across the room,

"How do we hug?"

....

I have not asked her to join me in a shoot-em-up since.

bigmoe · « **Reply #30 on:** April 26, 2004, 04:13:36 pm »

Quote from: mr.Curmudgeon on April 26, 2004, 01:01:42 pm

I have not asked her to join me in a shoot-em-up since.

THAT is classic.

mr.Curmudgeon · « **Reply #31 on:** April 27, 2004, 12:30:45 am »

I didn't even mention the fact that she still calls any game with even the least bit of violence in it, a "shoot-em-up" or a "beat-em-up". There's no FPS, fighter, side-scroller, etc., in her world they are all the same.

patrickl · « **Reply #32 on:** April 27, 2004, 11:02:51 am »

I had my wife try out a driving game once. All I could see was her bouncing from guardrail to guardrail in the rearview mirror (while I waited for her to catch up). I guess women think they don't need to steer when driving a car (virtual or real)

She thinks I'm a nutter for building a cab. In fact every woman I've told that I was building a cab had that "5 second pause" after I said it. Apparently they take a while to think "what the hell is this idiot doing now?". Then they look at my wife ...

Teknique · « **Reply #33 on:** April 27, 2004, 11:30:10 am »

On the same lines, a friend and I built cabs recently- he decided to jigsaw guntlet and pac-man ghosts into the cabinet and hook up some glow wire behind them to go along with his 'ghost arcade' theme.

During the unveiling, one of the girls at the party had only two comments about it. It was big (always good to hear from the ladies) and what were the upside down tulips for ? (her reference to pac-man ghosts)

They just don't get it.

mr.Curmudgeon · « **Reply #34 on:** April 27, 2004, 12:03:29 pm »

Quote from: Teknique on April 27, 2004, 11:30:10 am

upside down tulips

BWAAAHAHAHA!


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Poll

What percentage of people involved with mame do you think are women? Just playing the games doesn't count.

Author Topic: Mame and Women (Read 3492 times)