Five Reasons Why Being a 'Girl' Gamer Sucks

( 3 Votes ) Girls have been playing games since the dawn of time. It's not news. Sure there were statistics claiming that the percentage of girls was nowhere near the percentage of guys playing but who's to say statistics are ever accurate? What factors are taken into account when statistics are recorded? Moreover, who's being polled in these surveys that determine certain outcomes? Unfortunately, even to this day, being a 'girl gamer' (note the usage of 'girl gamer' and not 'gamergirl') has had plenty of its disadvantages that can account for reasons why being a 'girl gamer' sucks. Here are five reasons:

5. Random friend requests – What girl doesn't love a wave of random friend requests because he saw your avatar and probably read your bio and assumed you were a girl? The sad reality is that he only wants you on your list BECAUSE you're a girl. For all he knows, you could be a 40 something year old man who gets a kick out of having a girl avatar to throw people off. The random friend requests will usually attack you right before a match is about to begin. You just let it sit there in your inbox because, hey, the game is about to start. So the game resumes and you proceed to get points and by the end of the match, you happen to have about 10 points more than the poor guy who requested your friendship. The game ends and you check your inbox only to realize the request is gone...you must've scared him away!

"So uhhh... I heard you like Guitar Hero. We should totally go out!"
4. Harassment – Girls seem to be constantly faced with obstacles thrown their way such as waves of stupidity and ignorance once they open their mouths to communicate in game chat while still in a pre-lobby game. It's hard enough to comment on the game at hand when there seems to be a wise-ass on the other team who assumes you're a 12-year-old boy who hasn't quite hit puberty yet. To make matters worse, he's bent on calling you obscenities because of this and it just makes you not want to punch babies for all it's worth.

3. Assumed skill – Don't you just love when that same wise-ass pushes the matter further when he realizes that you are, in fact, not a 12-year-old boy, but a girl? This is where his harassment takes a new turn. Oh, so you're a girl, huh? He might then start to call out your playing skills. So now you're terrible at this game and you shouldn't even be here. That's it, you're just plain terrible. You suck. He might even tell you he'll be your backpack and help you out. Well guess what? Girls don't want to hear about how you'll be their backpack: they'll probably want to show you how they can be your backpack.

Hardcore PC girl gamers exist too.
2. “ZOMG! GIRLS PLAY HALO?!” – Dude, get over yourself. Last time I checked, girls have always played video games. An estimated 40% of gamers are women, while 42% of online gamers are women. Females ages 18 or older represent a significantly greater portion of the game-playing population (33%) than boys age 17 or younger (18%.) 'Nuff said.

1. Girl gamers – Are you a girl? Yes. Do you play games? Yes. Good, now you're a girl gamer. It seems as though girls are automatically thrown into their own classified group just because of their gender. Why should girls be any different? Everyone is here to play games together and gender should not be one of those reasons. The line of gender in the gaming world is too heavily placed on emphasis on setting girls aside. As long as you have what it takes to play a game, go for it. It's interesting to hear when guys say, “Ugh, I got beat by a girl.” No, you were beat by a possibly more skilled player than yourself. The balance between guy and girl games should be blurred. After all, we're all playing the same game.

Do you believe there is too much emphasis on girl gamers nowadays?

**Disclaimer: It has been brought to the author's attention that the five reasons listed can actually occur to both genders. Although this is true, it is an opinion piece reflected by the author's first-hand experience while on Xbox Live. Do not take offense to the article, it is merely pointing out there are some people out there that do not know how to act maturely via Xbox Live when communicating. As for the usage of 'girl gamer' instead of 'gamergirl,' it is used several times in this article because 'gamergirl' implies wanting to be labeled that whereas the author is distinguishing a girl gamer from a guy gamer.

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