遊戲圈性別歧視嚴重 女性拒絕玩家標籤

Like men, about half of all women play video games. But men are far more likely to call themselves “gamers.”

像男性一樣，大約有半數的女性玩電子遊戲。但男性自稱“玩家”(gamer)的意願遠遠高於女性。

That’s according to a new Pew Research Center survey that found 48 percent of women play video games, just shy of the 50 percent of men who play. The gamer identity was far less attractive to women, however, with 6 percent of them adopting the label compared with 15 percent of men.

皮尤研究中心(Pew Research Center)新近的一項調查發現，48%的女性玩電子遊戲，僅略低於男性50%的比例。然而在女性看來，“遊戲玩家”這個身份的吸引力卻遠遠更低，只有6%的女性接受這個標籤，相比之下男性中的比例爲15%。

Video game experts said it was no surprise that women are shunning an association with gaming culture as the community of hard-core players has become increasingly identified with sexist attitudes among its fringe members.

電子遊戲專家表示，女性迴避與遊戲文化產生關聯並不令人奇怪，因爲硬核遊戲玩家的羣體越來越多地被其中邊緣成員的性別歧視態度所代表。

“Having a label of gamer is not just about being geeky,” said Rosalind Wiseman, an author who has studied gaming attitudes among young people. “It also has spilled over unfortunately into a really negative connotation of people who are just really angry and intolerant of other people.”

“被打上‘玩家’的標籤不僅代表着像個‘極客’(geek)，”羅莎琳·懷斯曼(Rosalind Wiseman)說。“很遺憾，這個詞的涵義延伸了，帶有了一種相當負面的意味，即那些十分易怒、完全不能容忍別人的人。”懷斯曼研究過年輕人對遊戲的態度，並有著作出版。

She added that the reputation “is really not representative of a lot of people who play games.”

她補充道，這種名聲“並不能真實代表很多遊戲玩家”。

The stigma gained currency last year with so-called GamerGate, an online campaign to discredit critics of sexism in video games and gaming culture. As harassment veered into threats of violence and rape, the controversy drew news media attention, and set off debates over how bad misogyny in gaming had become.

去年，隨着所謂的“玩家門”(GamerGate)事件，這種負面印象廣爲流傳。對電子遊戲和遊戲文化中的性別歧視提出批評的人士，在“玩家門”事件中受到了攻擊。隨着騷擾行動轉變成了涉及暴力和強姦的威脅，這場爭議吸引了媒體的注意，也讓外界開始討論遊戲圈仇視女性的風氣已經到了多麼嚴重的程度。

Other unwritten codes about what qualifies a person for membership in the gaming community have helped to raise the bar to entry: Casual playing, for instance, doesn’t count, and you must play games that are sufficiently intricate, strategic and difficult.

對於什麼樣的人才可以成爲遊戲圈的成員，還有其他一些不成文的規則。這些要求也幫助提高了入圍門檻：例如，隨便玩一玩是不算的，你玩的遊戲必須足夠複雜、有戰略性，而且具備難度。

Jamin Warren, founder of the video game arts and culture company Kill Screen, said the reason many hard-core gamers cling to a restrictive definition of the word can be explained by “classic in-group favoritism.”

電子遊戲藝術和文化公司“謀殺屏幕”(Kill Screen)的創始人加民·沃倫(Jamin Warren)說，許多硬核玩家執着於這個詞語的狹隘定義，這可以用“典型的內羣體偏向”來解釋。

As video games have become more a part of the cultural mainstream in recent years, Mr. Warren said, “the protectiveness of the term has only heightened.”

近年來，隨着電子遊戲越來越多地成爲主流文化的一部分，沃倫說，“對玩家這個詞的保護欲也增強了。”

Ms. Wiseman, who studied gaming habits among middle- and high school-aged people, said girls face elevated scrutiny over their gaming skills. They describe harrowing experiences in web-based multiplayer games where participants talk through headsets. When a girl’s voice chimes in, the reaction from other players often follows a certain script.

懷斯曼研究了初高中學生的遊戲習慣，她說，女生的遊戲技能受到了更加嚴苛的審視。她們形容，在玩家都戴着耳機聊天的網絡多人遊戲中，自己有過糟糕的體驗。有女生的聲音加入時，其他玩家的反應通常都符合一種特定的套路。

“It’s something about they’re a slut, they’re fat, they’re ugly, or they are bad at the game,” she said.

“要麼說她們是婊子，要麼說她們胖，要麼說她們醜，要麼說她們遊戲打得不好，”她說。

As a result, girls will often mute their voices.

因此，女生常常會關掉語音。

Some in the gaming community have proposed a shift in the meaning of gamer to be akin to cinephile, a person with a deep knowledge and appreciation of the whole medium. Others have argued that the definition should be broad and, in particular, reflect the wide array of people who play.

遊戲圈裏的一些人提議，讓“玩家”轉變成類似“影迷”(cinephile)的涵義，即對整個媒介有深入的瞭解和見解的人。另一些人則主張，其定義應該寬泛，尤其是要能反映“玩遊戲的人”這個廣泛的羣體。

“Marginalized groups have always engaged in gaming,” Kishonna Gray, director of the Critical Gaming Lab at Eastern Kentucky University, said in an email. “They just haven’t been acknowledged by gaming culture yet and they really aren’t catered to.”

“邊緣化的羣體一直都熱衷於電子遊戲，”東肯塔基大學(Eastern Kentucky University)遊戲批評實驗室(Critical Gaming Lab)主任基淑娜·格雷(Kishonna Gray)在電子郵件中說。“只是他們還沒有得到遊戲文化的承認，其需求也還無人滿足。”

The Pew survey, which was conducted this summer among a sample of about 2,000 adults, found that young men play games far more than other groups, with 77 percent of 18- to 29-year-old men saying they play, and 57 percent of young women.

皮尤的研究是今年夏天對大約2000名成年人展開的。研究發現，玩遊戲的年輕男性比例遠高於其他羣體，18至29歲的男性中，有77%稱自己玩遊戲，而年輕女性中的比例爲57%。

With older Americans, the pattern flips: Over the age of 50, women are more likely to play video games, with 38 percent saying they play, compared with 29 percent of men.

在較爲年長的人中，情況則截然不同。在50歲以上的人羣中，女性玩遊戲的比例更高，有38%稱自己玩遊戲。而同年齡段的男性中只有29%。

Society at large seems to remain apprehensive about the benefits of video games. Forty percent of respondents to the Pew survey said people who play violent games are more likely to be violent themselves, while 26 percent said video games are simply a waste of time.

對於電子遊戲的益處，整個社會似乎仍存在擔憂。在皮尤的研究中，40%的受訪者表示，玩暴力遊戲的人，本人有暴力傾向的可能性更高，26%的受訪者認爲電子遊戲純粹是浪費時間。

The survey did not make distinctions among players of console games, PC games, online games or mobile games.

調查中沒有區分遊戲機遊戲、電腦遊戲、在線遊戲和移動設備遊戲的玩家。