The Stories of a Modern “Gamer girl”
What it’s really like to be modern female gamer. Hey, I’m not complaining just stating facts.
(Photo by Szabo Viktor on Unsplash)
I want this to be extremely clear right from the beginning, I love video games and I have pretty much my whole life regardless of the experiences I’m gonna mention here. I’m not writing this to bash I’m honestly just here to inform. I’m very proud of the gaming community, to be honest over the years there has been so much more inclusion and history is being made all the time I love to see it honestly. But still shedding light on just a glimpse of what I know a few other female gamers may be going through could help not just me be all-female gamers worldwide. So anyway, without further ado here are a few of my “Gamer girl” stories.
(Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash)
Story #1 My beginning
I started getting into Video Games in elementary. My dad bought me a hot pink DSI for my birthday or Christmas (or both because my birthday and Christmas are super close together) I believe and my first game was Mario Kart. I loved it! It was so amazing; my cousins and family friends had DSs’ too and when we figured out how to play online those were some of my fondest memories. Over the years I bought games like Poptropica, a few Pokémon games, My little Petshop, New Super Mario Bros, and soooo many more I can barely remember. Back then gaming and girls were strange but nowhere near as strange as back before I was born. Sadly, back then ”bullying” was the norm especially for me. I was very open about loving Video Games; but, kids judged me about it. I felt like an outcast especially in my small city. So that left me with only one option, attempt to play with the guys; they never let me play anything with them and I wasn’t surprised because this was a reoccurring theme back then. Everything I got into back then from Pokemon to Beyblade (How and why I got into this I will never understand but hey elementary school am I right) the boys NEVER EVER let me participate in. This eventually lead me to step away from gaming for a while and start molding myself into what I thought was ”cool” . However, not all was lost my Mom eventually bought me a Wii and although I didn’t talk much about it at school my family generally kept that little spark of love of gaming alive. I didn’t have any hard games like I wanted more stuff like Michael Jackson the experience and Mario Bros Wii to fit in.
(Photo by Helmuts Rudzitis on Unsplash)
Story #2 The rekindling
Elementary came and went and it was on to middle school. Back then I was at the point where I finally got tired of who I was turning into and started looking for something new. Once again something even further than gaming. I committed myself to my sports and academics occasionally going to see my Dad and playing his PlayStation and getting mopped all the damn time. Those are still good memories for me… for the most part anyway. Back then I also had a thing for caring what too much about others opinions as views of me even more than I did in elementary turning me into well…. A husk of who I truly was. I was talking to guys more, not putting as much love into my sports or video games, and above all, I was representing myself as something I was this popular social butterfly. Around here was when I started getting depressed and my depression stayed with me all the way up until High School.
(Photo by Sydney Sims on Unsplash)
Eventually, high school came around, and here’s when things reached both their lowest and highest. For my first three and half of high school I was living the lie I was continuing to live throughout the rest of my childhood but something was different this time. My depression was reaching an all-time low I mean I was getting so sad I just started closing myself off from everyone also in high school I stopped being as close to my cousins and close family friends and I was officially alone; I felt like I hit rock bottom. However, throughout High School, I did begin to open more about my passions more specifically Video Games and of course, the bullying came adding on to my depression. Nevertheless, Senior was when things began to change. I began to stop caring about the hell other people had to say and living in my truth. The year prior my Aunt bought me a Switch for Christmas and when quarantine rolled around I not only started playing my switch more than ever I fell in love with gaming all over again eventually leading me to start this very blog.
(Photo by Cristian Palmer on Unsplash)
Story #4 The current day
Nowadays I keep to myself, draw, listen to music, and above all watch and play video games. I love my days now but don’t let that fool you into thinking I don’t still face my fair share of adversity even to this very day. In fact, as an active Warframe player I can tell you being a female gamer is HARDDDD. But I can not look at my hardships and struggles to end the journey I’ve taken over these last few years not as a conference but as an advantage. I’m currently taking a Video Game Design class and plan to continue taking classes in this major. Sending a huge ’fuck you’ to everyone who doubted me; and that is what drives me. Being successful when everyone doubted you or defying odds is one of the greatest flexes you could ever make so I encourage everyone EVERYONE: Man, woman, nonbinary, child, etc to explore. Put yourself out there despite all the bullshit and live in your truth because life is way way to short to be living it the wrong way.
