The Power of Positive Gaming

I made this article as a guest article on The Thirsty Mage a couple of weeks ago. Time to share it with you too!

There are many websites out there that cover video games. But when you find another site that has the same value of positivity at its bases, it’s really nice to work together. In The Thirsty Mage we recognised another gaming website geared towards bringing positivity to the gaming community. Just like our own LadiesGamers!

Let me tell you about the Power of Positive Gaming!

Women Enter the World of Video Games

The world of video games has changed. I mean, not so long ago that world was the terrain of adolescent men who spent all their free time behind their gaming screen, making online friendships because their real social life was rather empty. Of course, that’s a stereotype, but don’t you agree that back then someone like me would have no gaming in my everyday activities? I am after all a woman and leaning towards the age of 60. 

However, nowadays more and more women flock to the hobby of playing video games and many adults that grew up on a diet of GameBoy or DS are still finding fun in games. Fortunately it isn’t seen as a waste of time to dive in an alternate world anymore. Well, it isn’t for most…my elderly mom still finds it weird that I can be busy with things like this. 

LadiesGamers has Positivity at its Bases

All because I really couldn’t stop chatting about gaming and had no one in real life to talk to about it, I decided some 10 years ago to start my first blog. Where I only talked about games that I was enthusiastic about! My first ever game was Animal Crossing Wild World, and that’s a game that is perfectly suited to play with like-minded people through WiFi. It introduced me to the gaming world, and allowed me to share my enthusiasm. And those friends loved reading my blog!

Being new to forum life over 10 years ago I was often unpleasantly surprised at the negativity people ventilated towards each other. And by the way people felt the need to attack others about their gaming opinions or just seemed to want to make trouble. I honestly couldn’t imagine how it would make someone feel better to spread negativity this way. Which is why I decided to go about it differently. 

After a few aborted attempts LadiesGamers came to life almost 7 years ago. And even though it wasn’t commonplace to be a website that aimed writing about feel good gaming, it didn’t deter me in bringing LadiesGamers to life exactly on that idea. The site has positivity at its foundation, bringing energy to the team of writers and creating a pleasant environment for our readers. 

Informative Reviewing with Respect 

We try to keep LadiesGamers a positive environment, reading articles on the site should give people energy. This however doesn’t mean that we only write positive reviews about just any game that comes along. That wouldn’t make our thoughts on gaming worth much, now would it? No, I have found that the best reviews are written when a writer feels enthusiasm for the game. And that means trying to find which writer fits best with a game.

For instance, don’t let me review a platformer game as I’m awful at them. And as is often the case, when you are not good at doing something, chances are you won’t like it much. So having me review a platformer often ends with a so-so review and a rating that isn’t optimal. There are other writers in our team who love a good platformer, like James. And having him review that game leads to a good review and an honest verdict.

Of course, not each and every game we review has a good rating. Some aren’t what the writer was expecting, or have some bugs in them. Others are okay, but not at the price point offered. We try to find good in them, while at the meantime warn players about what to expect. But no matter how bad a game is, we don’t take any fun in burning a game down. So, we try to warn the reader in a matter of fact way, no malice included.  

Cute and Colourful Gaming

I like to think LadiesGamers is well known too for our love of the cute, the colourful and the laid back gaming. Let’s just say we have loved featuring Wholesome Games even before the term Wholesome Games was first used in gaming media! We are always on the lookout for simulation Steam games that might make the jump to Switch, as we only cover games that are available on a handheld gaming device. Or Kickstarter campaigns that have elements of farming, simulation, crafting and exploration. 

We write from a family friendly perspective, reviewing games with the European age rating of 16 and below. And aside from Wholesome Games, we promote and review indie games which may not receive mainstream coverage. All of that ties in with the need to bring positivity! 

And very important: we consider all games on any handheld device  worth playing as long as someone enjoys them! Which means we don’t treat mobile games with disdain, and a woman who loves nothing more then play a farming game on their mobile phone is a gamer in our book too!