EVE Online is a very butch and testosterone fuelled game, full of male machismo, crass humour and the occasional sexist joke. You’d be forgiven for thinking that EVE was basically a gentleman’s club based in space but you would be wrong. We reached out to women that play EVE and asked them why they play, what got them started and their experiences of EVE Online. Here is what they had to say:
Jade Avalon
Jade is the CEO of Six Apart, a small corporation she started midway through 2012. She has been in EVE since 2009 with intermittent breaks from EVE.
Mino Noud: What made you start playing EVE in the first place?
Jade Avalon: Well it was an advert I saw on a website, I was mostly a Playstation player and I’d just started a Myspace page and saw the advert on there. I’m really big into Sci-fi so I wanted to give the game a shot. To be honest I can’t remember when I started playing though.
Mino Noud: Had you ever played an MMO before?
Jade Avalon: No, this was my first MMO.Mino Noud: How do you feel being a woman in what is essentially a very male dominated game?
Jade Avalon: Well it gets lonely at times and a bit annoying most of the people on this game find out I’m a girl and needless to say things get weird. Only a few know I’m female. I play the guy card but overall I don’t mind it mostly because I don’t talk to many people.Mino Noud: Is there anything you would change about the game to make it more suitable for women or at least less biased?
Jade Avalon: Nothing that comes to mind really.Mino Noud: Have you had any moments when being a woman has caused a problem in the game?
Jade Avalon: Well I had a stalker. This guy was very crazy, he had many alts which made reporting him really hard. He is the reason I quit about 6 mouths ago I just recently came back to the game I even thought about starting a new toon and just deleting this one to get rid of him.Mino Noud: Do you feel CCP handled it approptiately?
Jade Avalon: I feel they did what they could do, he had more then 3 alts so I’m guessing he ha different accounts.Mino Noud: What keeps you playing EVE?
Jade Avalon: Pretty ships, my friends and the music. Most of my time is spent sitting in stations just chatting with people.
Niffer Mac
Niffer Mac is the CEO of Roving Guns Inc., one of the original members of RAZOR Alliance. Roving Guns Inc. was the first corporation that Niffer joined, ascending the ranks to eventually become CEO. An integral part of the alliance she has grown it to 218 members at last count with very high activity.
Mino Noud: What made you start playing EVE in the first place?
Niffer Mac: My brother, who has played since beta, got me into Eve after two years of nagging and sending invites every couple of months. I was between games and finally caved and gave it a try and was hooked instantly. This was a bit of a shock as I didn’t think I would be into playing spaceship games. I use to play fps with rl friends previously. Joined up with my current corp Roving Guns, a member of Razor Alliance, after the two week trial and am still here after 6 ½ years later. I worked my way up the ladder from a two week old noob pvping in a kessie to CEO of RG and am now part of the Troika leadership of RZR.
Mino Noud: Had you ever played an MMO before?
Niffer Mac: Never this is my first and only.Mino Noud: How do you feel being a woman in what is essentially a very male dominated game?
Niffer Mac: I sound different and am probably a better dancer, other than that my gender doesn’t come in to play. I haven’t really been treated any different than a male member in RZR. Got called a retard several times, same as half the alliance back in the day. My corp and alliance mates may be a teeny bit more protective of me than a male member but just a smidgen. Has my sex helped me in this game? Quite possibly — I’m viewed as trustworthy due to the fact I am a woman. Have I gotten lots of free stuff? No more than any other player that has played any length of time in EVE regardless of gender. Ultimately this a universe dominated by males that play female characters. Who is to know in reality who is actually male and who is female?Mino Noud: Is there anything you would change about the game to make it more suitable for women or at least less biased?
Niffer Mac: Not really. It takes a certain type of person to play and stick with eve irrelevant of whether they are male or female. It is like marmite. You either love it or hate it. Eve is not for the faint hearted, nor is it fast paced and action packed. No instant gratification here. It’s a harsh, cruel, manipulative, boring, frustrating universe, full of spread sheets — urgh! But Eve is also so much fun, adrenaline charged and satisfying when everything comes together and you get that epic fight and win. If you changed it dramatically to suit other people it would unfortunately change the fabric of the game that makes so many of us still log in to play.Mino Noud: Have you ever had a moment where being a woman playing EVE had caused a problem?
Niffer Mac: Actually it’s the opposite. Leadership gets complaints all the time from members about me hitting on them(haha), but In all seriousness I have never had any issues playing eve. Once they get over the initial OMG it’s a girl its back to business as usual. I have heard about problems other women have encountered but never incurred any myself possibly due to the people I play with and/or the manner I come across. We have another successful woman player in razor who was in Troika, and is CEO of Razor exec. Corp. She has had no out of the ordinary problems either.
Mino Noud: What keeps you in the game?
Niffer Mac: I’ve discovered some really wonderful people during my time in EVE and forged many long standing friendships, meeting up with alliance mates in RL at a few gatherings. further cementing the RL community bond of the alliance. ‘They ‘are what keeps me playing. Plus still waiting on that elusive massive — totally awesome — epic super cap brawl.
Raina Narcissus
Raina Narcissus is a member of The Abdication Corporation. A corporation in ‘Why So Serious’ alliance. She has been an EVE player since the beginning of 2012. Quite a fan of being tackle and cackling on comms when killing people she’s an up and coming player in Why So Serious and the world of null.
Mino Noud: What made you start playing EVE in the first place?
Raina Narcissus: It’s predictable: My boyfriend was playing, and I was watching, then I wanted to play. So I did. And I am still. Simple as that.Mino Noud: Had you ever played an MMO before?
Raina Narcissus: Not before Eve. I got into a free to play hack ‘n slash a while back, but I lost interest… I’m more into RPG’s and FPS’s than MMO’s. Eve is actually the only thing that I keep up with, between work, and cooking. (Yup, I went there.)Mino Noud: How do you feel being a woman in what is essentially a very male dominated game?
Raina Narcissus: I love it. I love when I talk and then there’s silence for about 30 seconds. And when the guys think that they’ll offend me… then I say something that’s about ten times worse. There are a few other females in our alliance, so the guys are more used to it now than they were.Mino Noud: Is there anthing you would change about the game to make it more suitable for women or at least less biased?
Raina Narcissus: Can’t really think of anything… I love Eve as it is, Maybe a few more rainbows, butterflies, unicorns… Bubbles? No, fuck bubbles. Fucking bubbles… Really though, I like Eve as it is. Some of the updates were aggrivating and difficult to get used to, but I’m still here.Mino Noud: Have you ever had a moment where being a woman playing EVE had caused a problem?
Raina Narcissus: Titty Tuesday and Thong Thursday. I started it with a corpmate. It was just a small contest of the best titty and thong photos. It was all in good fun and a small 50 mil prize to the winner. Being a girl, I have high standards of other women, especially when it comes to their… assets. The rest of the alliance didn’t rrally appreciate my taste in women. So, long story short, Titty Tuesday and Thong Thursday were cancelled due to petty bullshit.Mino Noud: What keeps you in the game?
Raina Narcissus: Quafe and Exotic Dancers!! Actually, Eve is just something that has kept my interest since the first day I saw it. I always thought that it seemed awesome to play. I liked the pvp aspect and the economy especially. It was really intriguing. I love that I can go out on a frig roam, joke around, and scare the shit out of people in a bunch of frigs. It’s great. The only thing that I would say I don’t like is that Eve has a certain control over me… Like an addiction… It’s not a bad thing, But I don’t need Eve to mesh with my other addictions, like alcohol, caffine, and sex. What am I saying? We’re all drunk when we play Eve. Well… the fun ones are drunk when they play, at least.
The women interviewed are only a small number of those that play EVE. There may be some that play in your corporation or alliance and some that you could buy things from in EVE. It is always interesting when you hear a woman’s voice on comms, but it’s merely because most men don’t expect women to genuinely play this game. When someone answers to the affirmative that they are a ‘girl’ as opposed to a (G)uy(I)n(R)eal(L)ife there are many hoots of derision, not because they think they shouldn’t play but just because of the cynical nature of the average EVE player. I hope that more women join EVE, shoot at people with us and allow us to shoot them because it makes the game more interesting, inclusive and bloody good fun for everyone.
- Mino Noud
Girls in the internets? What is this heresy?!
Wow. Three of them.
If I had asked many more and written down their interviews you would likely be reading until New Year’s Eve. I think it’s a good compromise.
That list is comprehensive +/- about a few thousand.
Yeah sure, and as a follow up from his mammoth task of tracking down, interviewing and writing up on every female player in eve, Mino will eat an entire mahogany dining table. Seriously, three is more than sufficient for an article.
Was expecting more boobs. The tittle was very misleading……..
TITS or GTFO…
Last poll i checked girls made up 39% of gamers. More play year on year.
Meh, mostly depends on which games you play. Eve they make up all of 5% or so last time CCP sent out the RL statistic.
I keep wondering where CCP gets these numbers from. Is it surveys? Checking the names on debit accounts or credit cards where their subscription is paid from? Something else?
76% of all statistics are made up on the spot
those statistics are for shitty facebook and mobile games
OHMEGERD GIRLZ ADD TO CONTACTS IMMEDIATELY
TITS or GTFO…!!!
Occasional sexist joke?
i got kicked out of an alliance one for making loads of those whilst drunk
DBRB?
Titty Tuesdays and Thong Thursdays…Hmmmmm… add that to Gay Mondays and Stripper Wednesdays and its WIN all week long.
I cannot agree more!
gay Mondays? that makes no sense its gay Thursday rofl
I've recently gotten into the lgbta on eve, and I love it there. It's mostly men, as expected, but I'm not into the "butch" type of girl so I'm quite alright with it. Also: It's Gay Fridays. Everyone knows that. :3
i…kinda didn't wanted to…but it's there, it's right there…I'M NOT TO BLAME!
jade avalon: "…He is the reason I quit about 6 mouths ago…" hahahahaha
A refreshing post in evenews24 !
I don't feel I have been treated very differently ever because of my gender. There were times where I was really apprehensive and rejected help or gifts only to see that such things would be extended to any other member of my corp/alliance. I sometimes do feel people trust me more because of my gender. I feel I climbed a bit faster than others with equal skill or dedication.
I chose my allegiances very carefully though.
It still cracks me up when people just assume I am a guy with a female avatar and suddenly change the way how some guys change on comms after they realize. Suddenly they get all embarrassed and say sorry after every second sentence.
The part "suddenly change the way how" should not be in there. Go away!
Auralie?
Zahariel?
HAI GIMPS
And here was me thinking BroZah was the only girl in eve, go figure
Just because you have breasts, you're still not special to me.
Now you two can have the pleasure of trying to figure out who I am…
PS: Brozah youre terribad at keeping someone's identity secret.
If I read Kugutsumen the RL politics forum section, THAT says a lot about Eve players. Most players pretend, they woud be different in Eve and RL. That is true to some point and sometimes just wrong. Seeing all those douchebags i.e. in the gun control thread there or how they are Republicans. These guys could also live in Saudi-Arabia and be moslems. Eve is their Utopia, which is for most women a dystopia. But same happens to guys, who are too "soft". I met guys, who were really awesome characters. I would have trusted them with all my Eve assets. But sooner or later a douchebag shows up, scams them or harrasses them in some way and they leave the game. It is just logic. Look at the politics map. The biggest assholes in the game, aka Goons, Test, Russians and PL rule the 0.0 Everybody else looses sooner or later interest, because being surrounded by douchebags is no fun.
its just the way of this game. Unless you're a complete & utter prick you won't get anywhere.
Just to be clear, do not put those incompetent fools Test, PL and the the Russians…. in the same sentence as Goons. Goons control all EvE and the above mentioned are not worth mentioning. If you have a problem with us then do something about it? We need and want more PvP, so come and give it to us?
A prime example of what Marabu was talking about. Goonion = Little weenie behind keyboard babbling crap be a troll. Sad little boy, please find a girl in real life.
You think he could?
hes a pornstar yeah
gotta love your trolls, getting more and more hilarious
Fair enough.. but then again, between gun-totting republicans and Saudi moslems, that's diversity in terms of extremists, but not people from all walks of life, per se.
im the Stalker !!!!
go back to swtor u noob
wut? girls in eve? impossibru!
Aw, don't be so hard on yourself.
I don't really care what you carry in your underpants. If you shoot the primary you are fine by me.
sexism sucks.
if you treat players special because of their gender, you are a sexist.
and this includes the author of this article.
there are men, women, transgender gay and lesbian folks who play this game. no one is special because of being either one.
get over it, on the net no one cares if you are a dog
Good troll there but I am actually gay myself and don't expect to be treated any differently. I would be interested in hearing why you believe this article to be sexist however.
because its all about the gender of those interviewed, and you clearly state that you want more women to play,
which means you make a difference between a female and a male player, which makes you a sexist.
But differences exist between demographics, and sticking true to the idea that all must be treated exactly equal will mean that CCP continue to try to fight for another 1% of the current market rather than expanding into other markets. This will lead to stagnation and therefore losses.
CCP is not here to provide a wonderful service for the male populace and their space fantasies it is here to turn a profit and that means trying to provide interest for as many groups as possible, women being hugely under represented. Trying to attract female subscribers by offering a pink version of every ship is sexist but offering more of what the demographic want (Not done research in the area so unsure of what that is) is merely good business sense.
However, players should be aware of the sensibilities of those they speak to regardless of gender, colour or belief. I don't personally care if someone swears or hates me, but some things are very emotive topics and need to be handled not like 12 year old boys, something, in general the eve populace and gaming populace at large is very poor at. (Warning, non empirical evidence.)
hmmmmm…
maybe we should all go watch the "Conjoined Fetus Lady" episode of south park…
bet he also wants more men to play the game, still sexist ?
Sexism: discrimination or devaluation based on a person's sex, as in restricted job opportunities; especially, such discrimination directed against women. ~~ Dictionary.com
Sexism is not just treating people of other genders differently, its discrimination. Whether you be male, female, transgender, or whatever, we are all different and should be treated differently. This article is far from sexist, and as far as treating players differently because of their gender, that not sexist, its simply reacting to your environment. if you see a dog you are going to react differently than if you see a cat, same with gender mate.
So i geuss what I'm saying is that sexism isn't simply the distinction of male or female, or even treating them differently, its treating one or the other as if it is LESS, just because of their sex.
discrimination is discrimination, no matter if "positive" or "negative", and therefor wrong.
and writing articles like the one here is actually treating as LESS, cause it generates the impression that women need people to write articles like this.
oh come please help my shiny knight.
Wow you are an idiot.
"Sisters of Eve Calendar" – pinup and spaceship style… ( . Y . ) <but that's all you'll see… cause most "gamer girls" are a little… hefty…
OH YEAH!!! This ^^^^ is Raina Narcissus IRL.
Titty Tuesday and Thong Thursday. , ive seen worse events in eve
i'd like to have seen these events… what?!? A miner gets lonely out in the void… lol
Heh To be honest I could care less one way or another when I am shooting you or vice versa sex doesn't really matter I would think women would have some boss trash talk in local. The other thing is this some the guys that stalk and harass these women you seriously expect a date or something to come from Eve?
Titty Tuesdays? Bullshit, pictures or it didn't happen lmao. No but really, cool knowing there's girls who can stand th assholes here, and the occasional porn link being dropped. Gives me hope for hooking up my friends lol
I LOVED TT and THTH!!! It's still awesome: Cosplay Deviants (awesome people) got me started on it and I love it!
Raina Narcissus WILL U MARRY ME?
You'll have to go through a few men AND women, love. <3 :3
Awesome. More women in Eve. I want to have at least an illusion that every female avatar in local isn't a cross-dresser.
Wait…girls? Dafaq is that? Some new category of ship?
The topic of women in EVE seems to crop up on a regular basis. I wrote an article for EON magazine a couple of years ago, same title, same subject, very similar treatment.
HAHAHHHAHHAHAHHHAH i got rots like 10 times in 5 mins with the ass in one…
also, blame the ar-tards for it. but TT and THTR ARE BACK!
ZOMG YES!!! BETTER PRIZES!!! MOAR TITTIES!!!! no, really though, can there be better photos this time around?
Hmm sexism in eve? No wai…MAKE ME A SANDWICH BITCH
I have known Niffer for some years now but i get to know her better when i had the honor to join the RG ranks.
To say that she is a pro and care for our corp will be an understatement.
Its true that there is a whole bunch of guys in the RG team and another girl or two but she is there and login everyday to help the corp and the alliance. Razor as an Alliance has a few women in her ranks and they all doin their part to help.
Big respect to our women in Razor.
Big respect to all the women that play Eve online.
You are making our world beutifull.
PS. In space no one cares about your gender when they fire upon you.
There are several women in Eve. There is a social channel for women called Women Gamers of Eve. I was in a fleet a few days ago with guys complaining about how they wished more women played Eve / Games. This is not the first time I've heard this argument. However, have you ever listened to how guys are or watched how they talk to gals in Eve? There are many guys who don't want women around – this is a mans game – and make that abundantly clear to the ladies.
iv'e had lots of females in my corp over it's history, they are usualy wives/girlfriends of guys that play eve. lots of them are deadly in combat, cometimes much better than the guys, but here's a thought, if ccp had introduced the nex store and allowed girls to design clothing and sell them for isk instead of the shit AUR there would be thousands more girls playing eve. girls like to make shineys things and sell them, they also like to buy them, yes there is room for dress up your dolly in eve, but ccp made a balls of it.