Okay, this is a somewhat controversial and popular topic. What is my take on this? Well, I'm not girl power or anything, but I'm not the other extreme either. The way I see it, it's great to be a girl that plays video games, but there's no need to broadcast it to the world.
I have been playing video games since my older brother started playing them, which was back in the Atari 2600 days. I didn't really get into them till my brother bought a magical little game called Earthbound for the SNES, which hooked me completely. Ever since then, I've been pretty addicted to Fighters and RPGs.
At first, I have to admit I thought I was so superior. I was a girl who played video games who had won a good share of matches against guys. I thought it was so cool to go embarass a guy in front of all his friends. Then it hit me. It doesn't do much for you in the guy department.
See, I was on a date with this absolutely perfect guy. Tall, rich, smart, and REALLY cute. I walked into the local arcade at the mall and started plopping quarters into a Street Fighter vs. X-men machine and he asked me, "Oh do you actually know how to play?" I was like, "Of course," ya know. Well, he decided to play me and I beat him, which was infinitely embarassing for me considering the friends which hooked us up were around. We were in a mixed group so all of his guy friends started laughing at him and my friends were like,"Why did you do that?" Because of that, he called me the next day and told me he didn't think it would work out. That changed my entire perspective on girl gamers.
See, playing video games doesn't really impress the men. Not that it bothers me all that much. But the problem is, when it does, it brings the freaks to you. Seriously. At least from my personal experience. I was playing a game at an arcade about two years ago and some guy walked up and challenged me. Like usual, you know? Well, I beat him so he started talking to me. He told me how cool it was that I beat him, blah blah blah. It ended up that we went to the same school and didn't know. Well, I saw him again during orientation, but didn't remember him. He remembered me though. He asked if he could see my schedule to see if we had any of the same classes. Then, I turned around and he was gone. It ended up that he was copying down all the information on my schedule (my address, my phone #, etc.). And he started stalking me. He would drive by my house. Call and ask for me at my house then hang up. Some pretty creepy stuff. After a few weeks, he stopped, but that pretty much convinced me to not talk to guys at arcades anymore.
My point, you're wondering? Well, all I'm trying to say is that its great that you're a girl gamer. Just don't think that you're anyone special because you are. There are millions of other girls out there who play video games too. Don't automatically think that you're the only girl that knows how to throw a fireball in Street Fighter. Don't think you're the only girl who can do ten-hits in Tekken. You get my drift. It's really not so difficult to pull off one of Nina's chain throws. And don't think just because you're a girl gamer that you can beat EVERYONE. A lot of girl gamers have this attitude which is really irritating. The truth be told, most girl gamers are egomaniacs.
