I Am A Avid Gamer

I am a very avid gamer; I spend up to 4 hours a day engaged in some sort of game. Sometimes that game is on my phone or a handheld device but, more commonly, I spend the majority of that time glued to my computer screen. As a new freshman, I joined the gaming club on campus, Gamers of OSU (GOSU). At GOSU, I met my now roommate, my now boyfriend, and a large group of people I am proud to call friends. It just so happens that most of the friends are men. I am never surprised that the company I keep is often males; it is just what is common in video games, my main hobby.

In my own observations, meetings are composed of primarily men. We may get one or two women every few weeks, but few stay, regardless of my roommates and my efforts to reach out and make them feel welcome amongst all the boys. Remarkably, I have never felt more welcome amongst anyone I have met, man or woman. My gender or sex does not seem to matter because it does not affect my ability at a game. My true worth when I am with this group is not linked to my gender but, rather, my KDA (Kill Death Assist Ratio). Trust me, if my ability at a game is bad, I will hear about it throughout playful jabs and jokes; they may be jokes but they always seem to have a grain of (painful) truth.

There is a game my close friends and I play, League of Legends, which is a competitive five-versus-five team game; we are a cohesive team and we win more often than not. We know how to communicate with each other and work together; we only lose when skill differences between the enemy and us are too great. Criticism in this environment is fueled by play style and decision-making; insults are restricted only to the game. I have never been called out for being female when playing with people I ...

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...orean Kryptonite for nothing.

Milktea was not high up on some e-sports meritocracy totem; she was not the top performer in her game, but she still received attention because of her gender. Scarlett is still regarded as one of the most skillful female professionals in e-sports; her skill only brought more of that negative attention down on her as she was thrust into the limelight. In contrast, I could not find any substantial articles or journals detailing men being attacked for their gender. Men are the default in the world of video games; we women must accept that and move on, or challenge it by proving we have the skills. I needed to highlight that I have a minority experience when it comes to gaming; I have never been attacked, at least not since I was a child, for enjoying things that are considered a “manly” pastime. The common experience for women is hostility.