Girls are Gamers Too!!!

As I continue on with this journey into blogdom, I wanted to point out that girls can be gamers too!! I know plenty of geek girls out there that play video games, role-play Dungeons and Dragons and other table top games, role-play online (I do) and play games all the time.  That doesn't make us any less geeky than the guys, in fact gaming for girls has become popular in the past few years.

I'm a gamer, though not in the traditional sense of the word gamer.  Yes, I own an X-Box and though I only own about Eight games, I don't play them religiously 24/7, 365 days a year.  I play maybe four hours a week because of the demands of work or that I'm divided between Facebook or 501st events.   When I do play, I play Skyrim, Oblivion, and Halo.  However, my area of gaming is role playing online through paragraph style role-playing on Gaia, Yahoo or Messenger.

Surprised?  I'm not because I've been role-playing online since 1996/1997 when the Titanic room first popped up in Yahoo Chat!! As well as the Star Trek rooms and though I started with one lining, I managed to develop my role-playing skills by watching others post detailed paragraphs and since I"m a stickler for details, I soon caught on and became one of the few females that role-played religiously.  I role-played everything from Titanic, Star Trek, Star Wars,  Sailor Moon, Pokemon',  Power Rangers, to Marvel and now Doctor Who (which I currently role-play as the Ninth Doctor on Gaia).   

 When I role-play  there are no dice, no game masters, it's turned based, either on the room order or a predetermined order that players agree on.  During the Marvel Days (2000-2007), I role-played such characters as Rogue,  Storm,  Evolution Storm, Jean Grey/Phoenix, The Phoenix Entity,  Betty Ross Banner and even dared to try Dr Robert Bruce Banner.  My posts and especially my intros were so detailed that they ended up being at least four to five paragraphs and for Banner the Hulk outs into The Incredible Hulk were at least nine and very detailed.  Ah, those were the days when I would ache coming in from my High School and College Classes to escape online and go into a detailed game with my online friends.  

I currently still roleplay online mostly Doctor Who with people on Gaia, it's more forum based role-play but still it brings back a lot of memories.  

There are girls that I know who play video games religiously and could out snipe or play boys on games such as Halo, or Assassin's Creed.  That's ok, those girls rock and aren't afraid to be gaming geeks.  There are also girls that play Dungeons and Dragons or some other table top based role play and that's ok too because it makes them happy!  I think one of the things that people forget is that girls play games just to be happy and escape from the pressures of everyday life.  There are also girls that are looking for fellow male geeks to share their gaming passion.  Take in point the latest episode of Geek Love on IGN online, the latest person to be featured on there is a female gaming geek who is also a teacher like me!! Game on girlfriend!! I hope she finds her gaming geeky match and she rocks because she plays games and also teaches at the same time!!!

It's ok for girls to play games because it offers us a chance to escape our normal lives.  I will say it's ok for us to go to cons and play alongside the boys.  Gaming at least full time video gaming isn't my cup of tea but that's ok, I admire the girls that do.  I just have too much to do with my professional life as a teacher to play adamantly and I should've mentioned that growing up as a young child I didn't have a NES or a Super Nintendo so it doesn't bother me that I don't play for long hours at a time because I rather spend time reading a book or role-playing Doctor Who online.  

However, Kudos to you gaming girls of the world!! You totally rock the geek world by playing your games and so GAME ON!!!