Should Gaming Community Managers be Men? : Sue On The Web

If you are a big Call of Duty fan you will already know that Tina Palacios was recently announced as the new Senior Community manager for the Call of Duty community at Infinity Ward. This certainly seems to have stirred up a vocal response from some gamers, most prominent were the negative comments about her being a female.

I?m not a gamer, so don?t really know the nuances that make up specific gaming communities. However what I do know is that gaming fans are a culture all of there own, and they don?t pull any punches. So whilst Community Managers need a thick skin at the best of times, they?d better be all armoured up to go into the gamers fray when they are all wound up about something. But does being a female make a someone any less of a good gaming community manager? Personally I do not believe so. For instance I know men that manage communities that are primarily targeted toward women, and vice versa. So a passion for the topic, and experience managing communities (of any type) should count for something. However many of the naysayers made their negative comments without even knowing Tina?s background. They?ve just assumed that as a women she won?t know or understand their gaming community.

You can read the some of the reactions in forums here:
http://forums.digitalwarfare247.com/index.php?/topic/47870-infinity-wards-new-community-manager-tina-palacios/

http://www.gamespot.com/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-3/forum/new-community-manager-and-your-thoughts-on-her-62791219/

http://www.neoseeker.com/forums/54255/t1734163-new-community-manager/

And comments abound on Twitter, amongst them:

While I did see many positive comments on Twitter about Tina?s appointment the negative comments about her gender did make me stop and take stock. Are these comments a vocal minority? Only time will tell, but I would be interested to read what you think. So my question to you is this ? Do you agree/disagree that men make better Gaming Community Managers than women? If so why/why not?

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(Image: J from the UK, via Flickr Creative Commons Usage)

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