Every Man For Himself

After graduation, I came back to the land of my high school days – Harrisburg, PA. I’m getting to see the place I hated so much as a teenager (claiming that I had nothing to do around here) now as an unemployed 23-year-old with a penchant for going to bars and playing pool. Bars provide a place to just hang out at night without pressure that is all but unavailable to younger kids. During the day, being a mall rat is pretty common, but it leaves a sense of pressure to spend money on clothes that is damaging to female self esteem, not to mention the parents’ wallet. The mall closes at eight or nine, which is way before you want to sleep. If you want to stay in, the options available seem to be watching TV, playing video games, or talking. Watching TV requires little interaction and conversations cannot last forever, so the best way for older kids to interact is through group video games. However, many group-friendly video games involve just beating the crap out of your friends, every man for himself.

When that phrase, “every man for himself”, first came to mind, I thought that I should politicize it and go for “people for themselves,” or whatnot. Then I realized that it was appropriate the way it was because I don’t think it is a female social construction. Personally, I like an atmosphere where I can either just strive to get better without being attacked (or attacking anyone else!), or where I can collaborate. I’ve always felt extremely uncomfortable in situations where everyone is out to get everyone else: whether that’s my femininity or not, I don’t really care. For example, I don’t particularly enjoy games like Smash Brothers or Goldeneye 007 (if you’re kicking it old-school). It’s difficult to welcome a new player into the game, because they are likely to be totally destroyed. Let’s face it; getting the shit kicked out of you repeatedly isn’t that much fun. I think this makes them unfriendly to women, and it can contribute to boredom for adolescent girls.

My most distinct pleasant memories of hanging out and playing video games were playing Dance Dance Revolution. It was one of the few group games I really got into. It’s somewhat competitive because you go one on one, but because you can play the same song on different levels of difficulty, it takes a lot of the pressure off new players. Furthermore, you aren’t directly attacking your opponent, and you get exercise! Win, win, win. I think games like DDR, Karaoke Revolution, Guitar Hero, and Rock Band are the way to go to get more girls involved in group video games. Healthy competition is good and fun, but I, and possibly many other girls out there, may not enjoy the every-man-for-himself atmosphere present in most games.

I decided to focus on the video game aspect of boredom for teenage girls, although you could probably write a book on it. To go back to my remark about bars providing neutral ground for people to hang out that is unavailable to the underage, I think this problem could be alleviated by an increase in coffee shops that are open late, cheap, and teen-friendly. There need to be more avenues for girls to spend their bonding time with the option of being in a social/collaborative rather than competitive atmosphere. They get enough competition in the horror that is high school.