I like to talk a lot about the problems we encounter as Women who Game. However, some of the things I have not touched on as much are problems that we encounter simply because they are problems in the Gaming Community.
Yes we are often mistreated and unheard due to our gender. However, so many more problems with the community exist. Does this make it a bad thing to be a gamer? Definitely not! There are problems in every aspect of life and sometimes we just need to be willing to talk to about them.
I contend that the problem with the gaming community is People. Wait, Wait, Wait… but Cin… how do we fix that problem? We cannot have a community without people! The problem with the community is People but everything that is right about the community comes from People too.
We are human and imperfect. So the community we exist in will never be perfect. We have to pick and choose the imperfections we are willing to live with.
In Gaming we have a unique opportunity to interact with people from all over the world. Which means all of these people come from different cultures and customs. Some of the problems we encounter as women in gaming are actually because of this. However, when we game we are given the ability to cross cultural lines and enter the world of others if only for a brief span of time.
In one of the games I play I have had the opportunity to interact with Russian players off and on. Let me tell you, Russian to English translations are quite unique. Forget the fact that it is a different culture, before we can even consider the culture we need to figure out how to get past the language barrier.
In other games I have interacted with people from cultures that still view women as subservient. I have interacted with people who have very different values from me. It has provided me the opportunity to hear so many voices and not ones that I always agree with.
Within gaming we find our commonality. However, the differences still exist. The differences is where we run into the problem. If everyone thought the same, behaved the same, and believed the same the world would be boring.
So gaming has given all of us this unique opportunity to learn how to handle differences we may never have encountered in our daily lives. For me it has taught me at times when I need to speak up and have a voice and other times when I need to step back and know that it is okay not to engage in that battle.
So yeah, the problem with gaming is People. But everything right with gaming is people too.
Gamer Girl 