I am a girl. I am a gamer. I have played video games since I was 11 years old, but have been around games all my life. My mother is a gamer. She got to the kill screen of Pac-Man and level 22 of Tetris. Two facts that impress just about everyone I meet. But the reality is it's very difficult to be a female gamer.

When a woman reveals she plays video games, she is immediately judged. Depending on what games she plays, a lot of things will be assumed about her, and almost regardless of her answers she will be considered not 'hardcore'. Debating the stupidity of the concept of 'hardcore' aside, a girl just can't win.

And I have some examples so you can see what I mean.

Follow up:

I am extremely particular about the games I play. I don't play very violent games, I don't play shooters (to me they're pretty much all the same. You play Duck Hunt and you're covered), I don't regard sports games as real video games and I hate sidescrollers. I tend to be loyal to franchises, and I like 3d-action games, strategy games and turn-based RPGs. That may seem like a really limited selection of games, but I like what I like. The problem is when I tell people about my favorite franchises. I say I like Pokemon, Harvest Moon and Kingdom Hearts and guys will have a little smirk and say those are 'girl games'.

Exsqueeze me? I know for a fact that tons of guys play those games. Most of the people I trade Pokemon with are guys in their late 20s, and Harvest Moon is virtually a dating sim. But because I am a girl, they are 'girly games' when I play them.

Of course there are lots of women who like shooters and horror survival games, but do they get a pass for being 'real' gamers? Of course not. They have to deal with jerks even more than I do. Because in order to get any kind of peace, they have to be way better at the games then guys have to. If it's mission play and a mistake is made, it's the woman's fault. It doesn't matter that statistically that guys and girls will miss or mess up equally, guys only notice when women make the mistake. And there are some especially nasty guys on these muliti-play games who will sexually harass female gamers. And if she's *too* good she's hated anyway. So she just can't win.

So fellas, give your female counterparts a break. A gamer is a person who enjoys and collects games, regardless of what the games are or who plays them.