I really enjoy video games, and you can blame that on the 2020 lockdowns.
If it wasn’t for them, I would never have bought a Nintendo Switch.
My main reason for purchasing one was the same as most other people’s: Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
But it slowly evolved, and I started getting into ‘real’ games such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild — and I love that game and its sequel just as much.
It got me thinking, what is a ‘real’ game? And why are people on the internet talking about ‘cosy’ games?
From what I can tell, cosy games are non-violent, aesthetically pleasing and single-player.
Think Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley and A Short Hike.
Whereas ‘real’ games are violent and most of the time multiplayer.
Think Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption.
Now, let’s play a game of: Does it stem from misogyny?
Probably.
I remember when I was younger, maybe in Year 9, I heard endless stories of women playing Call of Duty and receiving overwhelming hate in the infamous COD lobby.
It put me and some of my friends right off gaming.
It was just a ‘boys’ game’.
I always enjoyed The Sims 4, but then I would get told it wasn’t a ‘real’ game and that ‘only girls play that game’.
I was quite taken aback by this reaction. What’s wrong with women being the main players of a game?
I’m seeing that again now with ‘cosy’ games. It’s a way to describe the games predominantly played by women and make them ‘other’ games.
Lesser or easier games. Games without the violence of the ones my guy friends play.
I know it’s a generalisation, but it’s how I feel.
Whenever women enjoy something, there has to be a name for it. It has to be seen a lesser game, a girls’ game.
Well, I, for one, will not have it.
Play the games you enjoy; don’t feel pressured to enjoy certain games based on who they’re ‘for’.
In the end, they’re all just pixels, and we all deserve to enjoy them.