Latest / Stuff Mom Never Told You / Happy Hour #72: Gendered Videogames

Transcript

Happy Hour #72: Gendered Videogames · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is any and Samantha, and welcome to stuff
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: I never told you, protection of iHeart Radio, and just
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: time for another happy hour. As always with these, drink
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: responsibly if you choose to do so, Samantha, what are
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: you sipping on today? So I actually found a new
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: ginger beer that I like that has a tropical flavors,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: so I decided I was going to be tropical. I'm
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: putting a lot of air quotes here and use it
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: with my rum and limes. So essentially dark and stormy,
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: but tropical. So a tropical storm. I like that. That
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: just came off the top of my head. Are a genius.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: You are a genius. Um. I also had to get
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: a little creative because I'm out of pretty much everything,
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: so I made a coin tro orange liqueur and a
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: lot of sparkling water and cinnamon and a Reagan. No,
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: it's actually surprisingly good. You did something I was trying
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: to be like, let's get a little savory, get a
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: little sweet, spicy. I see you. It turned out well,
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: but it was a risk. It was a risk. Feel
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: like we've it's been a while since we've created our
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: own cocktails. So maybe that's our next episode. Ay, you
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: have an assignment. Okay, oh all right. My mind is
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: immediately like, cogs are spinning. Cogs, they're spinning. Wheels are turning,
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: dogs are turning. We're so bad at idioms. I'm the
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: worst at it, and I just started creating my own.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: I'm definitely nick from a new Girl who completely butchers
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: them all. Okay, that's interesting. I've never seen that show.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: It's just fun. There's definitely problematic things through it, but
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: it's fun, easy going and was one of my go
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: twos because there's typically less sad things and just hilarious commentary. Okay, okay,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: perhaps I will endeavor on that journey. Okay, well, for today,
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: I wanted to do something kind of way it's been.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: It's been on my mind for a while, and I
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: think it could be a full episode. So this is
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: just like testing the waters. But before we get into it, Samantha,
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: correct me if I'm wrong. But you didn't play a
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: lot of video games up? Did you know? I did not?
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: Oh great, now you're gonna make me think of how
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: uninteresting I was as a kid if I'm thinking about this.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: Um No, I didn't do too much of the video games.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: My brother was the one that got all of his
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: gaming things for Christmas. It's very expensive. I'm trying to
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: think what I if I did anything like that. I'm
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: sure I did well, I did. You know what, That's
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: not true because I loved the computer games as a kid,
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: so I definitely played like word games, typing games, mystery
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: kind of games. But it was when I'm talking computer games,
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: I'm talking about eighties think of eighties movies with the
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: sounds perfect what you're talking about. Actually, so that's really good.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: I'm glad you brought that up because I feel like
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: I often forget computer games too, and this is one
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: of the reasons I wanted to talk about this. And
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: in this episode, we're talking about gendered video games, very
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: personal experience I had with them, which is related to
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: the episode the Monday many I believe we did on
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: gendered board games, which we have and I still want
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: to play. Yes, I still need I keep forgetting about
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: this because we need to do this. Maybe we'll get
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: into the TikTok world that I've been talking so much
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: about by having us play these games. I said, I've
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: said it sounds so hip and cool, but yeah, you know,
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: and now that you're talking about it. I do remember
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: also video games I would play as women in those
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: characters because like a street Fighter was one of the one.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, look, it's an Asian woman, very sexualized
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: Asian woman, computer animated sexualized Asian woman. But hey, I'll
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: play her. But yeah, outside of that, I know, I'm thinking, Okay,
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: I see where you're going, and I'm ready, let's go.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: I interrupted it again. No, no, no, no worries. Yeah.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: So one of the reasons this was on my mind
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: was I just kind of unlocked a forgotten part of
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: my childhood recently because I was feeling nostalgic for um,
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: these educational computer games I used to play, and like
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: jump Start fifth grade, jump Start sixth grade, Like, I
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: would play those a game if I could, if I
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: could find them, I love them. Did you play the
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: Carmen San Diego game? Yes, yeah, that's one of the
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: ones I remember. This is so fun him And if
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: you're not familiar with these, they were very like kind
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: of mini game based, like there was a story, but
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: ultimately it was like like it in jump Start fifth grade,
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: you had to solve this crossword puzzle based on a
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: museum you were in, So I had to go like
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: look at the art and figure out the answers, and
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: there was a division like measuring thing that you had
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: to do to make drinks at this pizza restaurant, which
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: I don't know why as a kid you're making the drinks,
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: but whatever. So they just had like a bunch of
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: fun little mini games, and often the protagonists in those
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: games was a young girl, which I liked. But then
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: that got me thinking about all these other games I
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: forgot that I used to play um that were very,
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: very gendered, and I just wanted to talk about that.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: Maybe I will listeners you'll be like, oh, I remember this,
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: or I used to play something like this, And I
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: do want to return and do a full episode on
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: it because I think it would be really really interesting
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: because a lot of the games I played, I wouldn't
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: say we're gendered at its masculine, but we're definitely felt
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: as more like boy games, if that makes sense. Well,
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: that's interesting that you're talking about all these mini games
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: and like you have to solve puzzles, because that's essentially
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: what phone games I play. And I'm like, maybe that's
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: why they gendered this as say that doesn't count as
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: gaming I did correct me and say, you're a gamer
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: because I play the four match games or the cook games,
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: which there's been a couple of those which unfolds into
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: stories and I get really fascinated by. But it's kind
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: of that similar setup. Which were the games that I
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: liked as Yeah, yeah, you know, I was thinking about
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: that too, because I remember I felt like when I
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: these memories came back to me, it's almost like I
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: separated them from video games, like in my own head,
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: and I'm somebody who yes, it is constantly like, no,
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: we haven't played just as much video games, if not more.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: We just don't count thing that women play his video games,
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: which is ridiculous. But I feel like I was doing
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: it too with these memories, and so I just got
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: to thinking of these games I used to play, and
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: one of them was I believe it was on sega Um,
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: but it was a Barbie game where the whole point
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: was you had to get to this model runway. You
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: were a model. You had to get to the runway.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: You were on a skateboard and you had to dodge
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: like frisbees and balls, and you didn't want to mess
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: up your hair and your face. Uh, and then you
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: had to like strike the perfect pose and get the
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: best pictures and get points based on the pictures that
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: you took. It was very very bright, like lots of
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: pinks and pastels, I would say, But it was certainly
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: a game my brother's made fun of me for playing.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: I enjoyed it. I'm sure like if I played it now,
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: I would have a very feminist critique, right, But I
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: did enjoy it. She was I mean, I'm sure I
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: was internalizing or taking in some negative body image because
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: she was very thin and looked very certain way. We
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: did have another game that was Barbie related, and it
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: was a detective game, and I loved that game. And
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: you were like it was at an amusement park and
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: you had to pick up these clues and she wore
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: like the most stereotypicult detect that in the drench coat,
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: and the person who did it changed every time, which
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: I liked. Uh, So you know, you never knew for
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: sure even if you played it before. And she did
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: some of her own stunts, like at the end, there
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: was a ski do jet ski that you had to
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: like get out of this cave, but it was collapsing. Um,
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: But I bring it up because I loved it, and
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: I caught my brothers playing at once and they also
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: loved it. I got them to admit yes, yes, and
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: I mean it was very funny, and they they did
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: admit it, and like even if I asked them today,
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: they'd be like, oh, yeah, that game was fun. But
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: still it was like they had to keep it secret
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: because something for girls is less than um and it
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: was like, I don't know, they were so embarrassed when
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: I walked in on them playing it, and it was
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: kind of comical looking back, like just playing this Barbie
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: game and it was fun. I do want to bring
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: eaves on sometimes because he's has been talking about these
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: Nancy Drew like mystery games she's been playing, and I'm
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: very very curious about it because it sounds like a
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: similar vein as this, and I do love I love
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: a like trying to put together a puzzle, solemn mystery.
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: I mean, she was at the unboxing of those games
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: that you had given me, which were all of the
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: games we talked about, Mall Madness, Sweet Valley High, Babysitters Club.
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: You even got me the Mystery Dating game, which made
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: me kind of hurt my feelings and I'm like, first
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: of all, I was not born in this era, how
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: dare you? I just want to play it. I want
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: to play j K. But no, I think it'd be
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: interesting for us to play. I would love us to
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: be me, you and Eves. And of course I've had
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: the idea I think we've talked about it before of
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: bringing in different male employees of my heart, including Ben Boland,
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: because he is the most straightforward dude that I know
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: that I really think would be interesting because he was
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: also like, what or these games? I need to know?
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: He was actually really ready to get into it, um exapt.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: We were missing a few things, but we need to
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: bring on several different people to try it out with us.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: But I'm really excited about this because it's really interesting
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: to know that that does like reach us even today
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: memories because yeah, he's been talking about the Nancy Drew
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: game and what she liked about it and going down
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: memory lane. Yeah yeah, And I That's why I'm hoping
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: you listeners will uncover some games I haven't heard of,
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: because I did try to. I was trying to get
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: a sense for if this could be a full episode,
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: and I'm very confident it could be but it was
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: kind of hard to search because the video gave Morald
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: is so unfortunately gendered and pretty like viewed as a
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: masculine space already. But like, it was hard for me
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: to find these games that I'm talking about here, which
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: were very clearly targeting um girls, usually young girls. But
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: it is interesting when you go back and you have
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: these memories and they're so fond, and I have to say, like,
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: I the idea. We have a handful of male friends
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: co workers at that unboxing event of those board games,
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: and it was funny to see their shock of like,
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: this is the point of this game is to get
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: a date or to buy things at a mall, And
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: that in itself was very telling to me. But also yeah,
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: again just the idea of Ben bowleyn like playing mall
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: madness and trying to like to play girl talk. Yes,
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: phone game, blind date game? Which one was it? The
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: phone date game? I think that will be amazing because
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: the cards that you put in there when they say
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: it's a match or is not about is it the light?
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: Is the light? When you get rejected? I'm so excited
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: we need this to happen. I think it will be excellent. Okay,
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: I did want to include some another one, so I
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: also I loved my little pony growing up and I
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: had I still have them. I can't. I can't part
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: with them, and I know I should, but I have.
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: I have a few mild ponies. Right. Wait, is your scented?
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: Because I used to Mine used to be scented, and
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: I thought that was interestingly weird. I had one that
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: was scented. I had one that was scented. C foam.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: I had to win her too. It was a whole
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: thing might smell like vanilla. I was very confused, and
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: it was purple because I love purple, but of course
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: I no longer have it. Actually had a house fire
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: when I was in my college year, so everything went
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: away from my childhood, which was very limited anyway, because
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: I didn't get anything until I was eight childhood. But yeah,
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: so I just remember it smelling like vanilla all the time,
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: and I was very confused. I think it was supposed
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: to be cupcake, but it was vanilla. Yeah, I know
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: what you're talking about. And that's actually interesting because one
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: of the so this game was very my memory is
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: kind of sparse, but what I do remember, it was
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: very like choose your pony, picked the color of her body,
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: picked the color of her hair, picked this like draw
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: a little symbol on her. And then I think you
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: did pick how she would smell, and it obviously it
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: was not like open open season. It was like will
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: she smell like cake or friend flowers or tobacco and coffee?
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: This is another project we could design her own. But
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: it was definitely like I again, I liked it. Um,
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: you know, you just put another member of my head. Yeah.
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: I remember the matching outfits for the Barbie now like,
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: but they weren't to life like we had to. I
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: think we I think there's a version of that on
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: phone games where you can create fashions and like pick
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: and choose, but you literally like it was digital. But
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: I know there was a actual like drawing version of
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: it too, but you picked the outfits and hair dues
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: and and like go on days and fit machines or something.
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: I feel like there was a Barbie game like that.
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: Someone tell me this is true, please do please do?
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: I think you're right. I think you're right, and I
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: guess like ultimately, so this my Little Pony game was
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: very much about like coloring and style and appearances. We
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: had another game that was a Creola based game that
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: was similar, but that game was like without gender, whereas
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: this game was very much like this as for girls,
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: and I was once again made fun of her playing it,
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: even though I feel like the dynamic was pretty much
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: the same as that Creola game, like coloring almost exactly exactly.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: So that's sort of what I was interested in when
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: I was thinking about this, And definitely my memories of
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: this are pretty limited. And like I said, a lot
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: of games I played maybe weren't gendered outright but just
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: felt like boys games to me, whereas these were like
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: girls games for girls, and they were all about appearance.
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: I would say, um, even if it's a pony, but
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: whatever it was was all about kind of like looks,
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: and I do think that pony went, if I'm remembering correctly,
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: was very like, not that I'm saying this is wrong,
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: it's assarily, but they were kind of like, this is
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: your box, and you're naming your pony is something very nice,
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: and it's gonna smell nice, and it's gonna look nice,
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: and that's gonna be nice, and that's it. You're not
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: gonna make some golf em pony, Okay, did they have
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: a care Bears game? Because like the care Bears more
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: than my Little Pony, and of course the Sad care
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: Bear was my favorite. I mean the rain class I
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: love it. I'm sure there was. We'll have to look
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: into it. Oh, I'd be so curious. Oh all right, yeah,
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: I want to come back to this. But in the meantime,
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: I'm hoping listeners, if you get an example, Oh, please
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: let us know. If they have a copy of the
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: Carmen San Diego game, tell us how to get to it.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: Because I'm now reminiscing about this game. I'm telling you
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: to play Jump Start fifth grade today. I would have
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: a ball well cheers here, yes, yes, And as always, listeners,
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: thanks for joining us in this happy hour. And yeah,
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: if you have any memory lanes you would like to
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: go down with us. Any suggestions we would love to
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: get them. You can email the Steffanie you mom stuff
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: at I hurt me dot com. You can find us
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: on Twitter at Moms of podcast Want Instagram what stuff
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: weill never told you? Thanks as always to your super
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: producer Christina, thank you and thanks to you for listening
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: stuff I've never told you. Squection. I heart radio for
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: word podcast, in my Heart radio, be hear adio, app,
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