Hmmm

Little bit of a bio to start this out all proper like but I'm a female gamer and, without a shred of doubt, a total nerd. My love of gaming and computers began right when they began. I spent most of my days in the summer, riding my bike for 2 miles to the nearest video arcade at a local pizza joint, simply to play Pole Position, Centipede, and Pac Man incessantly. Never cared much for pinball though. I think it was the lack of pixels. At home, my parents bought me an Atari and, later, a Franklin Ace. I thought the ace was the coolest thing in the world and spent hours making little programs in Basic just for the fun of it. My first computer game was Zork so when I quip in game that I "have been a gamer since before there were even graphics is quite true". I really did and Zork will always be one of my all-time favorite games. Go figure. My love of computers and games has always been there except for the occasional bump in the road that made it so that I couldn't afford one or the other. I'm also a proud mom of two gamer children--ages 7 and 13. I don't know if they would've been gamers if I hadn't but I kind of think that there is a gamer gene. My kids are just too much like me to not have it.

My street cred for gaming doesn't stop at 30 years ago. I've been one of the few league admins, an editorial writer for a female gamer site, was the first woman to be a gaming related internet dj, lead 3 fps clans, been an officer of more guild/linkshells than I can count, and have more hours clocked for soldier in Team Fortress 2 than people have for all their classes combined. I'm also Gamespot's first female champion (TF2 champ), had my name in a news ticker on the G4 channel reporting it and have played on tv (you can watch it here if you doubt). I've actually won money playing games. It's awesome to use as a quip when some random guy doubts my validity as a gamer--"I've won money playing games--have you?" pretty much shuts them up asap.

Being a female gamer has its ups and downs--sometimes it seems like it has mostly downs, especially depending on who I'm confronted with. Honestly, if it weren't for the love of gaming, I would've probably quit playing years ago. It's a rough life. After 30 years of gaming, I think I've heard it all at this point but I'm certain somebody eventually will surprise me with some new low. An unexpected upside of being a gamer--lack of aging. Think about it--we spend all of our hours playing video games instead of being bombarded by those devilish little UV rays that prematurely age us. I think I've only had one real tan in my life and that was when my mom forced me off to Hawaii with her when I was 16. Video games = GREAT for preventing wrinkles, lol. I also think it helps a lot with keeping me sharp. I have phenomenal reaction speeds with everything.

So, that should function as an introduction but I'm not quite done yet. Next up, I'm going to discuss the female gamer, herself, based on my 30 years of experience. Not all of my fellow female gamers are going to like it but, ladies, I call it as it is. The way that you act doesn't just affect you--it affects the lot of us. Think about it.