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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: What's behind stereotypes about what ladies play in WoW?
by Olivia Grace 
Dec 26th 2011 at 8:00AM
So I did what any sane girl would do in 2011 -- I went and posted about it on Twitter. I went to another session and emerged to quite a response from various ladies all saying that they PvP or that they knew ladies who did and who wouldn't be particularly happy to be told that PvP wasn't something women did.
Anyhow, as I was saying, this provoked some thought. I do think there are gender stereotypes in WoW -- mostly, that women heal far more than they do anything else and that almost all tanks are men. As an anthropology student, I'm adept at making sweeping generalizations, and I wouldn't think for a moment that either of these statements are absolute truths.
However, they do raise questions. First, is there any truth to them at all? Are healers really the group in WoW where female players are most well represented? Are tanks genuinely the role least played by women? And do ladies really make up a far higher percentage of the PvE playerbase than they do the PvP one?
And, of course, the burning question underlying all of the above: If so, why?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 7)
Theraphee Dec 26th 2011 1:38PM
I've been playing WoW now for 6 years. I'm 29 years old, and a woman. I've always played dps classes, with small forays into tanking and healing.
To those saying they've never met one... have all your tanks and raid leaders always spoken out over vent or mumble? I joined a guild once, got on their vent to introduce myself... and was immediately greeted with "Omg a girl! show us your tits!"... /gquit. And then there is that idea of "oh, girls can't tank"... what woman would want to tank in a guild that says that?
So maybe the reason, guys, that you haven't seen female tanks is not that they aren't out there in sufficient numbers... but that they've been driven away from most guilds by the stupidity therein.
NO NAME Dec 26th 2011 12:06PM
I'm a female gamer and I've been playing WoW for 7 years - since the release. I've played all roles but I have to say, my tankadin is the best character I have and I love her. I've been praised as a tank and it's actually the role I'm best at overall. I used to be in the top-raiding guild on my realm when I played on my mage and our tank was a girl. She was one of the greatest tanks I'd ever met. Took us through to the realm first of Icecrown Citadel and Ulduar, both on heroic.
Zani Dec 26th 2011 12:07PM
My current guild's main tank is a women, as is the MT in the guild I'm transferring to in the new year (boo for not being able to make raid times now!).
I have 8 level 85s and have never healed on a single one of them. I like to smash some face with my 3 DKs. (I'm also a women, fyi). Was never interested in tanking myself, but I'd probably pick that over healing. Healing just seems boring as heck to me. Watching nothing but little boxes in Grid seems like a total snooze fest. And maybe its not, I've just had no interest in trying to find out otherwise.
Harvoc Dec 26th 2011 12:34PM
I just dug through the 15 Minutes of Fame column and finally found the article I was looking for: http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/12/22/15-minutes-of-fame-researcher-nick-yee-digs-into-the-numbers-p/. At the end, there's a link to a little quiz: http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/12/22/the-wow-factor-how-much-do-you-know-about-the-players-behind-th/. The last question on the quiz was:
10. People often assume that women prefer to play healers. Do you think there's any truth behind this claim?
a. Men are much more likely to play healers.
b. No difference
c. Women are much more likely to play healers.
The answer was:
10. People often assume that women prefer to play healers. Do you think there's any truth behind this claim?
Correct answer: b – no difference
We categorized character roles by their class and spec. Men are more likely to be tanks and melee DPS. Women are more likely to be ranged DPS. But there is no difference when it came to playing a healer in the United States.
Though these two articles came out over a year ago (about two weeks after Cataclysm was released), I believe that the statistics still hold some grain of truth to them. So I guess we can all say that males are more likely to be tanks but females are not more likely to be healers.
Mitawa Dec 26th 2011 6:02PM
"I've been a tank since the moment I started playing, and still I've never met a female tank."
Well. There's your problem. In a heroic, if you're the tank... you're the only tank. In a raid, if you're a tank, you've taken half the available tank slots. Even if you only raided, that means a minimum of 50% of the time a tank is going to be male. And if your particular guild has a second male tank and you always run with your guild...
Well, let me just say your 5 years of experience doesn't mean you've experience a variety of tanks and your statistics shot you in the foot.
Besides, even if you pugged a second raid tank, not everyone talks on vent and not everyone play their same-gendered toon. Hell, some of your "supportive women" healers were probably dudes.
marla Dec 26th 2011 8:27AM
I'm a female gamer who tends to fit in the "stereotype" - in that, I usually heal (to the point that when an alt who can also dps is brought into a group, it's assumed that she'll be healing, not dps'ing!) and I have multiple healer classes at max level and heroic/raid ready. I also enjoy tanking, however. I think the reason I prefer healing/tanking over dpsing is thatI like "support" roles where my actions are directly contributing to the success of the group, rather than just indirectly by killing a boss. I usually tend to pick a support-type role in MMO's and RPG's.
I'm convinced, however, that is a personality thing - not a 'female' thing. The other female gamers I know are well represented across all spectrums - dps, tank, heal. In fact, more often, they are dps or tanking rather than healing! In fact, I think female gamers are well-represented across the spectrum moreso than male gamers...in that, we are just as likely to pick tanking or healing/support roles as dps, while male gamers seem more likely to pick dps than tanking or healing, when given the opportunity. It would be interesting to find the percentages of female gamers picking the various roles and compare it to the percentages of male gamers picking the roles.
Tili Dec 26th 2011 8:57AM
I totally agree that it's a personality thing. I personally have no interest in tanking because it just doesn't suit me. I mostly heal PvP and dps PVE. I've recently gotten into frost PvP though and am having quite a bit of fun.
I think the stereotype arrises in any activity that is most represented by one gender. There are still far more males who play wow than females - though I think most guys would be surprised to find out just how many girls do play wow. Most tanks are guys just because more guys play wow. The thing no one stops to realize is that more healers are guys as well because more guys play wow. I do know a lot of people who make their tanks big male cows and their healers BE females because they think it seems to fit. This is another reason why it might seem like more girls are healers. Remember that a character's gender has nothing to do with the player's gender.
On another note my husband is a druid tank and his favorite blog about druid tanks is written by a girl who is a druid tank. :D I don't know the name because I'm not a druid tank. I'm thinking of leveling a Prot Pally though. Pallies 4 life!
Savio Dec 26th 2011 9:19AM
Reesi. Queen of Druid tanks.
http://theincbear.com/
If you're interested in bear tanking that site is all you will ever need.
Hobstadt Dec 26th 2011 8:30AM
"How it feel? I'm asking, cause I gotta wonder, getting your ass kicked by a girl hunter..."
Gigi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDPxET_C_7E
Melvyl Dec 26th 2011 8:38AM
In my experience, I have seen male and female players take all 3 rolls. The only generalization I would make is that male players are more likely to have female characters than female play male but that is about it. I used to read that females were like to pet classes like hunters and warlocks but one of my best friends has a whole cadre of warriors across realms.
ZodiacDragons Dec 26th 2011 10:46AM
All my female friends who I got into the game rolled a hunter for their first class, only one went "aw I want a cute kitty :3" the others became like hardcore raiders and pvp'ers.
From my experience, most females I see in runs are dps and healers. Can't say anything about PUGs cause no one speaks in PUGs but that just goes to show that it doesn't matter if they're male or female. As long as they can play their class, who cares?
Zani Dec 26th 2011 12:12PM
Yeah, my first toon was a hunter for precisely that reason (and I'm female). I wanted a pet! And then I got to level 60, discovered a death knight, and never looked back. I now have 3 level 85 dks. lol And I *finally* managed to level the hunter to 85, but it took a good year and a half. He's my alchemist/LW alt now.
shiariryu Dec 26th 2011 1:42PM
I played a hunter first as well, and stuck with it. It was suggested to me when I started playing because I usually play archer-type classes in games when they are available. Having my own tagalong tank in the form of my pet is an added bonus. It's just my personality type. I tend to be a bit more cautious, and prefer to be far from the things I'm attempting to kill.
Effreet Dec 26th 2011 8:39AM
Currently I raid with my family and friends. My wife tanks, 3 stepsons heal. I have played for many years with women in various raid roles, have not met any keen on pvp. Then again I don't pvp much so that's probably why.
slim1256 Dec 26th 2011 8:40AM
Our MT is a woman. I hate running in a group where she’s NOT tanking.
Personally, I think women are ideally equipped to tank. There’s a lot of multi-tasking going on there, and in my experience, women multi-task far more effectively than men. Me? I’m best when I can just tunnel the boss and be done with it. Ask me to do two things at once, and you’re in for disappointment - you’ll get two things done badly rather than one done effectively.
As for PVP, I’ll just say that – having been to hockey games on several occasions, I’ve found that the most bloodthirsty folks I’ve ever been with were always women. Take that for what you will.
Mommacow Dec 26th 2011 7:38PM
Mothers make the best tanks IMO. "NO, you can't play with the DPS, you'll break them! Stay over here with me and DON'T MOVE." *stuns mob*
Molly Dec 26th 2011 8:41AM
Well, I'm female and I enjoy healing more than anything else, especially on my druid. I have one of every healer and I don't often dps. I really like pvp though, especially arena. I'm not fantastic or anything, I've only reached 1980 in 2s on my holy pally. I've recently started setting up specific macros and specific keybinds geared towards arena. I'm pretty competitive and I like how fast-paced arena is. I also will play my rogue in 5s from time to time as well. Now that's fun!
Molly Dec 26th 2011 11:30AM
It's always so weird seeing you post, lol...
I'm female, and I'm a dps/tank player (though healing is a lot of fun...). I feel like we should combine our powers as Mollys and be an unstoppable arena team ;)
Gendou Dec 26th 2011 8:46AM
I have had good and bad healers that are men, and good and bad healers that are women.
In the past, we've had raid groups where all of the healers are women, and we've had groups where none of them are.
My wife doesn't fit the stereotype. She's played WOW for six years, and doesn't really enjoy healing. She loves playing her rogue, and hasn't really deviated from that class the whole time she's played WOW. She's leveled other classes, sure, but in the end, she always ends up raiding on her rogue because that's what she likes.
Skyburnone Dec 26th 2011 8:52AM
I'd wager to say that the stereotypes are born from misinformation, looking how women don't normally yell around "I'm a woman tank which likes to PvP around in EotS by protecting the flag!" Or something along those lines.
Since there are also SOME lady gamers who use their genders as a "shield" in any and all discussions, that might be a part of the problem too.
TL;DR: People make assumptions based on misinformation or lack thereof.