Why Online Gaming Isn't For Me

It came to my attention recently that I had had a game for quite some time and still hadn't reviewed it. And as I pondered the reasons I had left this particular game so long, there was only one answer I could come up with...it's a game that relies on you playing with people online.

I used to play quite a bit online. The fella and I had a little group of people we would play CoD with. They were people we'd met playing the game and they were genuinely nice, friendly people. It was really great.

Unfortunately not everyone you meet online is nice, particularly not in the gaming world and even more so if you're a female. This isn't a woe is me piece about how people have ruined gaming for me, because that simply isn't the truth. But figuring out why I hadn't written up my review yet just got me thinking about it and I really wanted to just share with you what it can be like to be a 'girl gamer' online.

The first problem is the fact that I am 'othered' straight away. Again, not by everyone, but by enough that I don't feel comfortable. I'm not just a gamer like you and your friends are. I'm a 'girl gamer'. No one calls you a 'lad gamer' (do they?!) so why should it be different for me? Automatically I am set apart simply because of my gender, something that really shouldn't matter.

Now here my more rational side has to interject and state that for every person that has threatened to find me and rape me, called me fat without ever seeing a picture of me, or asked for 'proof' of my being a female (namely rude pictures) I have met some wonderful people too. Some have been through game lobbies, but for the most part these days I meet the nicest gamers ever on Twitter. It is through Twitter that I found the confidence to advertise my GamerTag, for the people I interact with on Twitter to see what I've been playing, and maybe even play something together.

But it is the more horrible people that are the loudest in your headset. They are the ones making sure they are heard. And whilst I've more often than not had support from other gamers, it can still get to you. It makes you incredibly conscious of how you are playing, because god forbid I die in game and get told to go back to the kitchen. It takes the fun out of it when you're so completely stressed at the thought of someone maybe watching you on kill cam and seeing you miss a shot.

And maybe it is my fault for the games that I have chosen to play online, we all know that CoD lobbies aren't the nicest lobbies to be in for anyone. But I shouldn't be made to feel like I have less of a right to be there than anyone else. I'm not the best player in the world, far from it. But I game to have fun. I don't want to get into slanging matches with anyone, I don't want to question your abilities. I just want us all to play nice.

Hi Everyone!

My name is Danielle and I’m a 24 year-old student from Manchester, England. I’ve been given the opportunity to write about one of my main passions in life…gaming! And I can’t wait! I’ve been a ‘gamer’ since I was about 4 when my parents bought a Sega Mega Drive and from that moment I was hooked. Sonic was my childhood, I played it all the time, even managing to get my techno-phobe mum addicted. Thankfully gaming has progressed massively since then and luckily enough my dad was always keeping on top of the consoles released so growing up we had every console pass through our house. When I was 13 I started my own personal collection of consoles. It started with the Gamecube, mainly just because my little brother wanted one and I wanted to beat him to it. I played Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker to death and it is still one of my most loved games despite it’s flaws. Graphically the Gamecube never quite did it for me so I soon progressed and in a short amount of time I ended up with a PS2, XBox, PSP and a DS (the big old silver one, I’m pretty sure it’s still hanging around here somewhere!).

Anyway long story short at one point I ended up owning all of the main consoles by the time the next generation was coming out. The improved graphics, immersive stories and online playing got me even more hooked and I haven’t looked back since. I cannot imagine not having games in my life, which is, unfortunately, a great disappointment to my mother.

I have to admit that for many years I looked past the FPS genre, preferring RPG’s, racing or general simulation games. The first time I picked up an FPS was in 2008 and it was Halo 3. A game I had heard a lot of hype about and it served it’s purpose in that it brought me to love FPS’s but unfortunately I could not come to love Halo. For me the physics in it are all a little arcade-y.

My current set-up (with which I am very happy with) is a 47inch LCD TV with PS3, XBox 360 Elite with Kinect. I also own a Mac and a PC (although I’m still yet to go past simulation games on these) a 3DS and a Windows Phone. I love playing any games I can get my hands on, be it a free download on the Xbox or phone or a massively hyped release on the PS3. My main console is the Xbox, I love it dearly and have cultivated my new account Dannie Kitten in the last year to what I feel is an impressive Gamerscore of 45000 ish. It’s not brilliant by any means, but it’s mine and I’m proud of it.