Dear Gamers,
Yes, Iām talking to you men of the gaming community, because we seem to need to specify āgirlā when talking about a female player and automatically assume that a gamer is a male. This is a letter from the all the gamer girls you play with. Weāre more common than you think, and weāre definitely more fed up than you realize.
For a long time, we may not feel comfortable revealing our video game obsession with you, simply because you usually all respond the same way. When we decide to let you in on our hobby and casually tell you that we game, you automatically donāt believe us. You often stammer, drop your jaw, or just exclaim, āNo way!ā Itās like weāre unicorns or magical creatures that are mystical enough to be cherished. Too often you claim that we donāt look or seem like a girl who plays video games. What is that supposed to mean? Does a āgamer girlā need to meet the criteria on your checklist? We arenāt all stereotypical. We have lives, passions, friends, and priorities. Itās perfectly plausible for us to wear dresses and makeup when we go out, and then come home and slay in our fave Indies.
Then, you feel the need to make us prove ourselves, because you definitely donāt believe us at face-value. The conversation that follows is essentially you brushing off our favorite titles, claiming that they suck or that another one is better. This in itself is utterly ridiculous, because guess what boys, there are a variety of tastes when it comes to video games. What if someone likes Battlefront more than Call of Duty? Did you ever think that maybe itās because it offers the exact type of FPS maps weāre looking for on top of being Star Wars themed? You disregard our opinions if they donāt match with yours, claiming that weāre noobs and donāt know what weāre talking about. Trust me fellas, if you really wanna go there, we can. You just may not make it out alive.
If weāre friends IRL or guild members in an MMO, weāll probably link up in game for a few maps or instances. It usually goes one of two ways. If weāre new to the game or just not very good, youāll tell yourself itās fine. You werenāt expecting much anyway. Weāre the damsels in distress and you are our knight in shining armor, or kevlar, whatever. Regardless, youāll probably try to be a good guy and offer some tips, or youāll just tell us to get back in the kitchen where we belong. Are you guys beginning to see the problem here? On the other hand, if we have a high kill rate or DPS and are better than a lot of other players, you bow down to us for being video game goddesses. If you consider us good looking, we become your ‘hot’ gamer friend. If not, we are simply considered one of the guys. Whether we’re tokenized or simply tossed aside, our gender sets us apart. And you wonder why we turn our mics off and pick neutral gamer tags?
If we arenāt friends and weāre just playing together in a random game, why do you think that itās okay to send us a message after? Our inbox is constantly flooded by randos and creepy strangers who are either just trying to talk or threatening us with death. Thatās just sad. Either way, donāt expect a response. Unless youāre absolutely OP, and we chatted it up over multiple games, but like, letās be real that rarely happens. Leave us alone. Just because our gamer tag reflects that weāre chicks does not mean we want attention. Weāre just looking to kick ass on our time. Ā
Look, Iām not saying that all guys act like this. Not every guy Iāve met in a videogame has been awful, and definitely not all the guys I know IRL act out of line either. But face it, female players are becoming more common, and this treatment needs to stop. Weāre over getting bombarded with messages, having to prove ourselves and our knowledge time after time, being judged for not fitting into your stereotypes, and being shamed for our game choices. Weāre just here to play a game, kill some stuff, and have a good time. Next time you meet a chick that plays video games, check yourself. Weāre just like you.
Gamer Girls
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