Halo: More Female Friendly?

I’ve always been a pretty diverse gamer, however, after switching from Halo to Call Of Duty, and finally to Gears of War 3 as my main squeeze I’ve noticed something peculiar. Halo definitely seems to be more popular among female gamers. Why is that?

I don’t really have a solid explanation, but I have a few good hunches. Being a female, and having played Halo for years, I met a lot of girls during this time frame of whom solely play Halo and nothing else. I’ve never been one to ask, and I myself used to be stuck on the game for hours on end, refusing to put my other game discs to use. This was mostly because I love FPS style games, Halo was extremely popular, and the online multiplayer was somewhat addictive. However, after Modern Warfare 2 dropped and having played all the previous Call Of Duty games, it seemed like Call of Duty was on a rise, and the multiplayer was getting far more attention than that of Halo:3 and Halo:Reach.

My Halo career came to a screeching halt and I only put the game in when I was feeling  overly frustrated with everything else. But, I noticed when I did, that nearly every game I went into had another female in it. That only happened every so often on Call of Duty, though I’m not saying they were scarce on there either, it just seemed like I had no trouble at all finding girls to play with on Halo as opposed to any other game.

I transitioned back to Halo:Reach shortly after the release of Black Ops being that Modern Warfare 2 seemed like old news comparatively, and I wasn’t really feelin’ Black Ops as much as I had Modern Warfare 2. (Other than Zombies which I adore) So, back to Halo, and it seemed like there were more females than ever. I played it relentlessly once again, until new games starting hitting the shelf again. Modern Warfare 3, and Gears of War 3 to be specific. I got into Modern Warfare 3, and to be honest, I was instantly good at the game, always going positive. Gears of War 3 was more challenging, and felt a lot more ‘fun’ to me so I spent most of my time on there, and still do.

After a couple of months of my Reach disc collecting dust my friends and I decided to get back on Reach just for a change of scenery. This time, I couldn’t stop running into other girls. Sometimes two and three girls at a time in the same game which is typically very rare unless they are playing together as a group, and this wasn’t the case.

I started to wonder what made Halo so much more appealing to girls. I looked back on my gaming career and came up with a few ideas.

1. Halo is definitely a more ‘fun’ game style than others. Maybe this is just my opinion, but I always have a ton of laughs on Halo and it doesn’t tick me off as much when I don’t do so well on it. Messing around, accidentally betraying teammates and laughing it off. Most girls who aren’t as experienced in the video game realm would definitely prefer a more ‘fun’ gaming environment where not everyone is yelling at you that you’re a noob. Although it does happen on there, just not as often.

2. Let’s face it, Halo is definitely easier than most of the games out there today. Not to say that there aren’t still people who completely suck at this game, but if you’ve played the franchise you’re more than likely going to have the game down pact. And if you’re new to the game it’s much easier to get kills as opposed to other games where people have experience such as Call of Duty, Battlefield, and Gears of War. You’re much more likely to have a harder time on those games.

3. People are definitely a little more friendly on Halo these days. Halo 2 and 3 were a different story. Halo 2 was full of trash talkers, and Halo 3 was almost as bad but didn’t have quite the same volume of hate. Halo: Reach still has its moments but for the most part I hardly ever encounter too much criticism or hate on Halo : Reach. People will occasionally become irate or hateful for no reason, but in my case I rarely come across that especially in comparison to Call of Duty which is a cesspool of trash talk and Gears of War 3 where people feel the need to scream in the after-game lobby, or begin a name-calling-profanity-fest just for the hell of it.

In my opinion Halo is more female friendly because other games have a more ‘serious’ and not-so-friendly feel to them. And for girls who have just recently discovered a new-found love for video games, they may want to start out with a game such as Halo as opposed to anything else.

In the end I’ve figured out if I want more female companions, I either have to hunt them down on Gears and Call of Duty, or just pop in Halo: Reach and search for a match or two. Why this is for sure, remains somewhat of a mystery. What is your opinion on the matter? Why does Halo seem to be more female friendly? Let us know in the comments below!