That little gamer girl !!
By: That Little Gamer Girl
Tags: First Post, Videogames, Gaming, Gamer, Girls

I exist because I play; I play because I exist. It may sound a bit cliche but it is what it is.

Gaming has become a part of my everyday life now. I still remember the first handheld video game (the retro console) I got as a present from my father on my 8th Birthday — I turned it on and started playing, and that’s how it all started. Playing the LCD based Tetris was the best thing I used to do throughout my day. The increase in the speed of the falling bricks, got the adrenaline rushing through my blood and made my heart beat faster until I used to hear my mom screaming from the other room to keep my console down and study. BOOM!! Game Over.

I come from India where the society is still very orthodox, and girls are supposed to do girly things. I, fortunately, never faced this challenge as my mother herself is a gamer at heart, even though her favorite game is Candy Crush. She loves it so much that she has crossed some 1000+ levels. A big round of applause for her.

As I was growing up, I got an improved version of a video game console (even though it was still quite traditional), but father being a father, one can’t argue if you are getting something, it’s better than nothing. So, I got my first TV video game with some 99999 games cassette, two controllers and another controller that used to looked like a gun to play shooting games. I started playing a better version of Tetris, with my mom being the second player, both of us competing to win. After Tetris, it was time to improve and I started playing Mortal Kombat, Contra, Mario and other games. I can recall killing the bosses in Contra but I never got the Princess in Mario.

Then came my desktop; it was a surprise from my father. I saw it and my eyes glittered. The main purpose of getting a desktop was educational, as there is a top-notch competition in India whereas the studies are concerned. I was supposed to learn Visual Basics and all the other basics of that Desktop. I tried controlling myself and not playing games on that for the initial one month, but soon, I gave up and bought a CD from my friend to play Road Rash. This game is all about illegal races on a bike to win money where there are other bikers who will try to knock you off, but you can use weapons to hit them back. My personal favorite weapon was the chain, as once knocked down, you need to run on foot to pick your bike and the bike needs repair as well. The money collected in the game was used to repair and upgrade. If you are busted or out of money, its game over. There were other games as well I used to play, but this is the one I remember avidly as it was my first desktop game.

School got over and I moved to a new city for further studies, and that is when I started gaming on my mobile. I don’t remember clearly the first game I played on my mobile, but I definitely remember playing Snake on my father’s.

Though I have started working now but still, I take time out to play video games. I owned a Playstation for some time, and no offense to the gaming console lovers ( which I was, one once upon a time), PC gaming is better.

It comes as a shock for many that I am a girl and that I play fairly decent. It is the stereotypical thought process of the male-dominated gaming world that girls are treated not equally and hence there are multiple cases of cyberbullying based on gender. It is impressive for many that a girl is playing a real-time strategy game, and is better than many “guy gamers”. So, you don’t have to let us win the game, we are good. I personally don’t like being called a “girl gamer.” I am a gamer.

Every year the number of girls playing online video games is increasing, which delights me. In my gaming world, I am the real me. I can be whoever I want to be. Even Annie, the dark child, from the League of Legends is a little gamer girl.

I end it here for there is more to come. I would like to end with my favorite quote by Annie: “Beaten by a little girl… ha!”