About Me
Passionate About Video Games
I am someone who plays video games nearly daily, with all sorts of genres and types. I have played all sorts, such as casual farming simulators games like Harvest Moon, Story of Seasons and Stardew Valley. Roleplaying games like Fallout, Pathfinder, Pillars of Eternity, etc. You get the point, haha. I've been playing video games ever since I was a little girl, as both of my parents also played video games.
Video games have been my life, essentially. I play so many and own many that I can hardly remember all the ones I've played through. Video games have given me so much joy, and maybe sorrow if a storyline is particularily sad, but they are such a pivotal part of my life it's hard to imagine me 50 years in the future, 70-years-old and not playing video games.
Women in Online Video Game Communities
I stated before, I am an avid video game player. My parents both met on an online video game, Everquest, and got to know each other and soon fell in love and married! The two of them have always been very big on video games, and so ever since I was born I've always known about video games and wanted to play them. The first video game I played, I think, was Barbie Horse Adventures! On our family computer, blocky and large with a loud fan, I remember my dad setting up the game on the screen and my little-girl self squealing with delight.
Of course, as I got older, my tastes in video games changed. My parents made sure that I played games appropriate for my age. I remember a favorite game of mine growing up with Little Big Planet 2 on my PS3, which I played with my younger sibling and my cousins almost every day after school. But, Little Big Planet 2 is an online game with servers (though I'm not positive they are still online to this day) which meant you could play with people from all around the world. My parents usually didn't let my sibling or I play with strangers, but around 10 or so I remember allowing a random person join. They were friendly enough, but very demanding about what "worlds" we should play. Then they asked the question many women playing online video games dread, "are you a guy or a girl?"
But, well, being 10 and this one of the first online interactions I had with a stranger, told them my gender. And then came the flood of misogynistic and demeaning comments. I was 10 and didn't really understand why they were saying them, but they were very mean while still being within the community service guidelines of Little Big Planet 2. Still, they hurt me and I remember crying and not knowing why such things were said to me. Of course, then, I had the talk with my parents about online safety and cyber-bullying. And, really, since then I haven't played many online video games with those "toxic" communities such as Valorant or the such. Still, now at my age, I do like a few MMOs such as Final Fantasy 14- which has a very welcoming community. The problem is still very much prevalent to this day, but all I can do now is avoid such games or just ignore the comments.
Places I Would Like to Visit
- Iceland
- Scotland
- Japan
- Switzerland
- Sweden