Lessons Learned From Awful Card Games
Last summer I bought myself a deck of DC Superheroes Top Trumps cards, because I had never heard of the game, they were on sale, and I have a weakness for DC card games. (See: the ridiculous amount of VS System cards I own.)
Now, the first thing I noticed about the game was that this is probably the only DC product ever to include Aquaman's brother and not Superman.
The second thing I noticed was that there was also no Wonder Woman card; the third was that the gameplay was kind of awful and I would probably never play Top Trumps again if I could help it. But the fourth thing I noticed was that the stats were heavily screwed up with respect to gender.
So I, uh, graphed them. The results are interesting! (At least, to me they are interesting. Your mileage may vary, obviously.)
The game includes 30 characters. Ten are female and twenty are male; eighteen are heroes and twelve are villains. There are ten male heroes; eight heroines; ten male villains; and only two female villains.
All graphs are made using this site.
Male characters tend to be a ridiculous amount taller than female characters; this is not surprising. It's interesting to note, however, that female villains are considerably taller than female heroes.
Again, look at the difference between female heroes and female villains. The intelligence scores are bizarre in this game. The highest intelligence score is 8; the characters with a level 8 intelligence are Batman, Dr. Fate, the Penguin, and Harley Quinn. I don't even know.
Male heroes are stronger than anyone else, but female heroes are stronger than male villains.
The total averages are around the same (in fact, females are a little faster, on average). But the alignment breakdown shows the same pattern as the previous graph.
Oh, but look! Female characters are consistently more agile than male characters! That's good, right? As far as I'm concerned, "agility" is kind of a bullshit stat compared with things like intelligence or strength, though. (And, again, heroes score way above villains.)
Hey, female characters are better fighters than male characters! How did that happen?!
...Oh. Never mind.
Total point scores. Again, male characters are consistently worth more than female characters. Female heroes are above male villains, but only just.
So here, in handy list format, are the things I have learned from DC Top Trumps:
1. Tall (or even less-short) women are evil.
2. Smart girls are evil; good girls are stupid.
3. Men are stronger than women, unless the men are Bad Guys.
4. If you are a guy and suck at fighting, you're probably evil.
5. Being a villain sucks; being a female villain sucks even more.
I dunno, this has been an enlightening experience for me!
And by that I mean, it made me want to smash things.
Now, the first thing I noticed about the game was that this is probably the only DC product ever to include Aquaman's brother and not Superman.
The second thing I noticed was that there was also no Wonder Woman card; the third was that the gameplay was kind of awful and I would probably never play Top Trumps again if I could help it. But the fourth thing I noticed was that the stats were heavily screwed up with respect to gender.
So I, uh, graphed them. The results are interesting! (At least, to me they are interesting. Your mileage may vary, obviously.)
The game includes 30 characters. Ten are female and twenty are male; eighteen are heroes and twelve are villains. There are ten male heroes; eight heroines; ten male villains; and only two female villains.
All graphs are made using this site.
Male characters tend to be a ridiculous amount taller than female characters; this is not surprising. It's interesting to note, however, that female villains are considerably taller than female heroes.
Again, look at the difference between female heroes and female villains. The intelligence scores are bizarre in this game. The highest intelligence score is 8; the characters with a level 8 intelligence are Batman, Dr. Fate, the Penguin, and Harley Quinn. I don't even know.
Male heroes are stronger than anyone else, but female heroes are stronger than male villains.
The total averages are around the same (in fact, females are a little faster, on average). But the alignment breakdown shows the same pattern as the previous graph.
Oh, but look! Female characters are consistently more agile than male characters! That's good, right? As far as I'm concerned, "agility" is kind of a bullshit stat compared with things like intelligence or strength, though. (And, again, heroes score way above villains.)
Hey, female characters are better fighters than male characters! How did that happen?!
...Oh. Never mind.
Total point scores. Again, male characters are consistently worth more than female characters. Female heroes are above male villains, but only just.
So here, in handy list format, are the things I have learned from DC Top Trumps:
1. Tall (or even less-short) women are evil.
2. Smart girls are evil; good girls are stupid.
3. Men are stronger than women, unless the men are Bad Guys.
4. If you are a guy and suck at fighting, you're probably evil.
5. Being a villain sucks; being a female villain sucks even more.
I dunno, this has been an enlightening experience for me!
And by that I mean, it made me want to smash things.