The Pitfalls Of Being A ‘Girl Gamer’
I hate the term ‘girl gamer’. In my eyes there should be no drama surrounding a girl with a penchant for killing dudes, yet specifically defining a woman who plays video games as a ‘girl gamer’ does just that.
When I attended Video Games Live in the summer of 2008, I watched as the host asked an excitable crowd of 2000+ geeks if there were any girl gamers attending. I sat idly, but the giggly girl next to me shot her arm into the air as if it were some kind of prolific achievement. Achievement Unlocked: You have a fucking vagina and enjoy Xbox. Well done.
A couple of nights ago as I was trudging through the Challenge mode in Batman: Arkham Asylum (which, by the way, is very hard), a message popped up from a GamerTag I didn’t recognise. I’m used to receiving messages and Friend Requests from randoms, and I can’t expect any less as I publish my GamerTag on my blog. I’ll always take the time to reply, as often it’s just someone saying they’ve read a post on here and agree, or someone asking for help in a game I’ve never played. But this night was unfortunately tarred by the breed of man who thinks that, because I’m a woman enjoying gaming, I must want to swap nude pictures with him. Well, I don’t. And if I did, I’d seek you out because I’m not afraid to ask for what I want.
Anyway, to cut what was a harmless exchange of messages short, he asked if I wanted to see his penis. This isn’t the first time I’ve been asked this over Xbox Live. In fact, I reckon about four or five men have asked me that question in the three years I’ve been on Xbox Live (on the bright side, at least they are polite enough to ask). I assumed this guy was just ‘all talk and no action’, so I sarcastically replied “Yes, please”. As I thought, I didn’t hear back from him… Until later in the night when I logged back on to find a picture message from him.
After playing Dragon Age: Origins, Bioware’s latest Role Playing Game, for just under a month, I’m only 30% odd complete. There’s sex, there’s violence, there’s a question of morals, there’s a meaty story. With real-time gory combat and big swords, it’s what every action RPG fan wants, right?
