The search begins…
Last semester, I took an advanced drawing class. For the first time, my professor gave my classmates and I the authority to propose our own assignments and truly work on what we were passionate about. So what was the subject of every single piece of work I turned in that semester? Video games. TERA Online to be specific. At the time, I had just finished summer vacation during which I played TERA for more time than I can comfortably admit, and the choice to make my experiences in this virtual world the subject of my work seemed like an obvious choice.
Then the day of our first critique came. I presented my project, explained the context, and sat proudly. No one said a word. “Does anyone else play video games?” my professor asked my classmates (all of whom were female), trying to get the dialogue started. She was met with a sea of silence.
A month later, David McDonough, an associate producer at Firaxis Games and alum from my university, came to my campus to speak about video game design. Entering the auditorium, I noticed a small pocket of women sitting together in the audience, including a few of my classmates. I excitedly sat next to them, commenting, “I had no idea you liked video games!” One girl sighed. “I don’t,” she said. “I’m here for extra credit for a class.” The rest of the girls nodded in agreement.
Over the course of the semester, I started to notice just how out of place my joy of gaming was amongst my female peers. I had not given it much consideration previously. I’d grown up playing video games with my older brother and most of my friends in high school at least played Pokemon.
One day, while playing TERA with my friend Kate, whom I met through the game, I asked, “Do you ever feel like other girls think you’re a freak with you talk about video games?” “Yeah,” she replied. “They don’t understand why I play them.”
Why? Daniel Floyd of Extra Creditz has some insight:
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Hopefully, I won’t always be the odd-girl-out IRL. Until then, I’ll be using this blog to share my personal thoughts and experiences about my life and video games.
LFG: Looking For Girls 