Jinx3dLuck Has Joined the Party
The female gaming community is growing; almost half of the gamers in 2019 are women, according to Statistica. And yet, some individuals are still in shock when they hear my voice over the live game chat. || Graphic created by Jillian Cheney
The fluorescent colors from the Samsung flat-screen TV dance across my eyes. The deep purple walls of my basement provide much-needed relief for my retinas after staring at the pixels on the TV screen for too long.
The game (my vice) that I am playing is called Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege. It’s a first-person shooter. The goal is to either protect the objective or hold the objective; protect the hostage or steal the hostage; protect the bombs or diffuse them.
My friend and classmate, Chris, gifted me the game during our senior year of high school. Since then, I’ve “no-life’d the hell out of that game,” which is what my friends often say of my gaming habits.
I’ve spent 379 hours and 2 minutes playing Rainbow—or 15.79 days. Even after two whole weeks of playing the game, I’m still bad. Like really bad.
This time I got spawn-peeked within .07 seconds of the round beginning. Spawn-peeking, for all the non-gamers, is when a defending player breaks open a window or door to get a cheap shot off of the offensive players as soon as the round begins.
I often fall prey to spawn-peeks.
Now I’m in spectator mode watching my remaining four teammates.
“He’s on your left,” I mumble into the black Turtle Beach headset.
That simple, four-worded callout, or any callout for that matter, is often met with one of two responses. Either a muttered “Thanks,” or a prepubescent-sounding almost deafening screech, “IT’S A GAMER GIRL!!”
This time, it was the latter. But I’m not phased; my hearing is still intact.
I sit quiet, legs crisscrossed on the gray carpet, eyes fixed upon the flat screen. Meanwhile, the young boy and his friends attempt to talk over each other while they try to wrap their minds around the fact that they’ve finally queued up with a girl.
The female gaming community is growing; almost half of the gamers in 2019 are women, according to Statistica. And yet, some individuals are still in shock when they hear my voice over the live game chat.
Others, however, might not be as in-tune with the game chat and instead hear my voice in passing, not giving it much thought. And that’s when I receive the direct messages.
r u a boy or a girl
are u a gamer girl
girl or boy?
I’m not offended by these messages, not in the slightest. I know that when I play my voice is often quieter and I tend to mumble. That, mixed with the mic, makes my voice sound deeper and what most people would call a “squeaker,” or a young boy who is just beginning to go through puberty.
Sometimes I answer. Other times I let them become increasingly frustrated by my silence.
A grin spreads across my face and I snicker; it’s a fun game.
Growing up, I didn’t play video games against real people online. It was you vs. your friends (in person) or you vs. the computer.
The earliest memory I have of video games is from 12 years ago. I was 7-years-old.
My sisters have a little less than 20 years on me, so they were getting married when I was in grade school. I recall one of my brothers-in-law, Patrick, playing a random racing game on the TV.
I was intrigued so I watched, seated on the floor of my living room staring up at the cathode ray TV nestled in our hefty entertainment center.
Three large windows lined the left wall, but that was the side of the house that was in the shadows, and so, despite the clear view to the outside world, it was dark. A gamer’s paradise.
I watched the screen as his character weaved in and out of other drivers, drifted around sharp turns, and threw items to slow down the opponents. This was Mario Kart: Double Dash on the 2001 Nintendo GameCube console.
Patrick, who was always eager to pass his knowledge onto me, handed me a second controller. The sky-blue plastic was bulky in my small hands.
“You see this button?” he asked, pointing to the largest button on the right side of the controller. “This is the gas.”
He proceeded to explain what each button’s function was. After a few practices runs, he said I was ready to play against the computer.
Since my first encounter with the GameCube, I’ve acquired many of the new and retro Nintendo gaming systems: A Super Nintendo ES, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advanced, DS, DSi, and finally a Wii.
From then on, my sleepovers with friends consisted of racing in Mario Kart on the GameCube or taking turns playing Super Mario Bros. 3 on the Super Nintendo.
Once I got the Wii, however, sleepovers turned into Just Dance battles and Wii Sports jousting tournaments.
Recently, I asked my mom over FaceTime why she allowed me to play video games. It was 10:30 p.m., and she was already in bed.
“Oh gosh,” she said as she rubbed her eyes. “Maybe you bothered me to get them?”
She chuckled to herself then continued, “I guess it was normal because you were around so many people that played games.”
And she’s right; I grew up watching guys and girls play video games, and it never struck me as odd or out place for a girl to play video games until my most recent console: the Xbox One.
“I think it’s too bloody,” my mom said as she crinkled her nose. “Too boy-ish.”
She was referring to the first-person shooter games I play on Xbox, ones she has watched me play and has not found as much amusement in as I have.
“Why didn’t you stop me then?” I asked.
“You are your own individual, and playing games is something you enjoy,” she responded. “Do I always agree with it? No. But it’s your life, and you choose to play that.”
My mom explained she would have more of a problem with my gaming if it was the only thing I did. I think I would have a problem with that as well.
Chris taught me pretty much everything I know about playing on Xbox.
On the topic of gamer girls, Chris explained that there are two kinds:
1. Twitch thots
2. People who can take it
“Twitch thots” are girls who are often scantily clad while they stream themselves playing Fortnite or Call of Duty.
He described watching one girl, who he would consider a ‘Twitch thot,’ play the new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare video game. “She didn’t know what she was talking about,” he complained. “It’s because she didn’t have experience playing COD.”
According to him, “Most gamer girls are just there to be pretty.” Since the video game world is geared toward a male audience, it’s the perfect opportunity for a female to garner male attention.
He told me I was in the category of “people who can take it.” Also known as the category of female gaming individuals who, despite the attention and crude comments from male gamers, are simply there play the game and are seemingly unaffected by male gamer’s presence.
Chris, as well as my other male gaming friends, have always respected me as a female gamer. I feel comfortable playing with them because I know that a) they don’t expect me to be great at the game and b) they never say anything to me with actual malicious intent—it’s always from a joking standpoint, and both sides are aware of that.
The biggest issue with gaming isn’t the crude comments or the ‘toxic’ world—it’s the stereotyping around the gaming community.
I was talking with my coworkers at the office about video games—it was a Friday, the software I needed to use stopped working, and we had about an hour left until quitting time. Video games are a hot topic around the office; we even have a Slack Channel dedicated to #videogames. Both men and women are in the channel—myself included.
A few of us were having a nice conversation in the office kitchen discussing our old favorite games to play. One of our female coworkers walked into the kitchen area and we asked her if she had any favorite video games to play.
“I don’t play video games,” she bluntly responded. “I play sports.”
People assume you’re either a gamer or you’re athletic. They perceive those activities to be mutually exclusive and you can’t take part in both. Or, in a broader sense, you’re either a gamer or you have a life.
And that makes me angry.
During our recent conversation, Chris pointed out that I “don’t put gaming first” and I “put other things first.”
I knew this about myself already, but it was reassuring to hear that I wasn’t as obsessed with gaming as my friends or my mom might think I am.
When I was younger, I played DSi in between figure skating competition rounds, or on my way home from gymnastics.
In high school, I only had time to play Xbox after my soccer games, cheerleading practices, or theatre rehearsals
Jinx3dLuck will always join the party—but only after the homework is completed, dinner has been eaten, and soccer practice is over.