"Why are there so many female Mercy mains?"

[zorro]

Why is this? Does anyone really care to know the real reasons?

1: Video games have traditionally been marketed towards boys, resulting in boys acquiring long term, transferable mechanical skills - Growing up in the 90's and early 2000's, most video games (especially shooters) were marketed towards boys, not girls. Think about what your gaming habits have been since you were a child? Lots of shooters? Many boys grow up learning shooter skills. So playing DPS (aiming intensive role) comes naturally. I'm 25 and I have never played a shooter before Overwatch despite having been gaming since I was 10. You'll find this is not uncommon with girl gamers. So what does one play when they want to contribute to the team and play with thier friends? You play something that does not require a skill that you never learned growing up in the first place.

2: Gender schemas taught to boys vs girls from a young age - Boys are encouraged by society to be aggressive and enjoy competitive activities (physical and digital both). It's considered normal for boys to like these things. Girls on the other hand are generally socially conditioned to be caring, considerate, and nurturing, and to be demure rather than assertive. Guess what role in Overwatch allows girls to express these traits? Healers and support. I think this is why you see a higher percentage of women in support and healer roles in games like this, as well as MMOs, etc.

3: Cultural norms surrounding gendered behavior - Women are more likely to make compromises to keep the peace or to encourage teamwork. This is a product of social conditioning (at least in America) as well. Why did I learn support when I used to play League of Legends? No one else wanted to play it and would always argue over it. So I did it to stop the arguing and to feel like I was being very useful. Me, personally? I am a Spike. This means I will play whatever is meta that is most needed and most likely to get the win. I like winning over anything else, so I'll make sure support is filled, since in a Comp match you really just can't win without a healer. At the same time I really enjoy taking care of my team. Most of my regular comp partners jokingly call me "mom".

4: Female friendly character design - The design of the characters in Overwatch is very diverse and female friendly. None of them are blatant sexual objects (except Widow who embodies the femme fatale trope). There are all kinds of body types and ages, mothers and daughters, and even a mecha centaur. This may be the reason why Overwatch enjoys nearly a 20% female population compared to the 7% average that is seen in most FPS games, and the 10%-15% or so that is usually seen in MOBAs. When choosing a character or class to main, a lot of women will choose one that they somehow identify with or that is most easily accessible to play. Who is easiest to play if you didn't grow up playing shooters or never learned to aim? Mercy. Another one I hear people mentioned that they think girls play a lot is D.Va. Guess what? D.Va is a normal looking gamer girl, like many girls who play games. They identify with her on a personal level. Is it really that surprising that she appeals to so many women?

If anyone has other thoughts, please let me know. I'm willing to answer any and all questions. I'm aware I made some generalizations, and I do this because a lot of the stories I tell are common to women I know IRL and online,

[Nico]

...what?

[pasta]

???

[UNBREAKABLE]

bro wrote the bible over something a 9 year old probably said

[Mad Cat Lad]

bro it's not that deep + nobody cares

[Xi jing ping pong]

Game made by porn artists
https://youtu.be/4OaMUnSPPq0

[NiohFriedRice]

Originally posted by zorro:

Why is this? Does anyone really care to know the real reasons?

1: Video games have traditionally been marketed towards boys, resulting in boys acquiring long term, transferable mechanical skills - Growing up in the 90's and early 2000's, most video games (especially shooters) were marketed towards boys, not girls. Think about what your gaming habits have been since you were a child? Lots of shooters? Many boys grow up learning shooter skills. So playing DPS (aiming intensive role) comes naturally. I'm 25 and I have never played a shooter before Overwatch despite having been gaming since I was 10. You'll find this is not uncommon with girl gamers. So what does one play when they want to contribute to the team and play with thier friends? You play something that does not require a skill that you never learned growing up in the first place.

2: Gender schemas taught to boys vs girls from a young age - Boys are encouraged by society to be aggressive and enjoy competitive activities (physical and digital both). It's considered normal for boys to like these things. Girls on the other hand are generally socially conditioned to be caring, considerate, and nurturing, and to be demure rather than assertive. Guess what role in Overwatch allows girls to express these traits? Healers and support. I think this is why you see a higher percentage of women in support and healer roles in games like this, as well as MMOs, etc.

3: Cultural norms surrounding gendered behavior - Women are more likely to make compromises to keep the peace or to encourage teamwork. This is a product of social conditioning (at least in America) as well. Why did I learn support when I used to play League of Legends? No one else wanted to play it and would always argue over it. So I did it to stop the arguing and to feel like I was being very useful. Me, personally? I am a Spike. This means I will play whatever is meta that is most needed and most likely to get the win. I like winning over anything else, so I'll make sure support is filled, since in a Comp match you really just can't win without a healer. At the same time I really enjoy taking care of my team. Most of my regular comp partners jokingly call me "mom".

4: Female friendly character design - The design of the characters in Overwatch is very diverse and female friendly. None of them are blatant sexual objects (except Widow who embodies the femme fatale trope). There are all kinds of body types and ages, mothers and daughters, and even a mecha centaur. This may be the reason why Overwatch enjoys nearly a 20% female population compared to the 7% average that is seen in most FPS games, and the 10%-15% or so that is usually seen in MOBAs. When choosing a character or class to main, a lot of women will choose one that they somehow identify with or that is most easily accessible to play. Who is easiest to play if you didn't grow up playing shooters or never learned to aim? Mercy. Another one I hear people mentioned that they think girls play a lot is D.Va. Guess what? D.Va is a normal looking gamer girl, like many girls who play games. They identify with her on a personal level. Is it really that surprising that she appeals to so many women?

If anyone has other thoughts, please let me know. I'm willing to answer any and all questions. I'm aware I made some generalizations, and I do this because a lot of the stories I tell are common to women I know IRL and online,

🌈🤡🦄

[Fair Warning]

well some others (like myself) are males that being main healers on tf2...
how can i explain it...

well...


and mercy is like a medic, but with the healing+uber weapons plus that can fly also...

but yes, i understand your ideas

[Trip]

He had a lot to say
He had a lot of nothing to say
We'll miss him
We'll miss him

[Hayro]

Doctor Assisted Homicide is fun
Simple as'

[lukysdotnet]

Let me partially answer part of your point/question 1:
Lets say, "demand defines supply".
Back in those days, games and gaming was in like maybe 99% nerds/geeks thing, and most of nerds/geeks were guys also nearing the 100% .
So, when we use our brains, and go back to "demand defines supply", and you have a market consisting of almost 100% guys...
... who will then make games/characters/etc. targeted to girls? No one will be buying/playing the stuff back in those days...

Even these days, lot of girls is ashamed to openly admit they are playing games.
Back in those days, admitting that you play games when you are girls was even worst...

In present, gaming is more openly accepted by non-gaming people, but it still might be some kind of stigma even for the guys in eyes of some people...
And still, the gaming industry is still more guys thing, even there is much more girls (not judging if they are true gamers or fake gamers), so there is still more stuff targeted to guys...

[ZERO]

I'm not sure what's going on here but I think what's he's trying to say is that because I like to use Bastion that I'm a robosexual.

Totally untrue BTW. Those pictures of me in the bot suit are deepfakes.

[Gebbennu]

Hi I main Mercy and I'm a girl

[Supersonic]

I like flying around

[Tiwill]

I like Mercy because she's a more fun version of the Medic in TF2. It also feels more natural and appealing to heal people as a female character imo, because of your 2nd point.

When I go DPS, I tend to prefer playing the male characters like McCree or Genji, because killing people is much more satisfying to me as a cool male character. Though Widow makes a good cold-blooded killer as well.

As for tanks, normally I'd say males fit the role better since they are protectors, and I do like playing as Reinhardt for that reason, but D.VA piloting a mech and being a sweetie protecting the team is believable too.

Don't really find tough girls like Zarya and JQ appealing personally, but I know others do. At least they're not stoic girls like Sojourn and Illari, that's just boring af. If you're not gonna be feminine, at least have a personality.

[alumlovescake]

Girls are more supportive IRL (I am male myself so no offence to any of us) so it makes sense they want to do the support