#gaming equality

If someone tries to push you out of a community because you’re new to it, screw them. If you enjoy the game then play it.

It doesn’t matter if it’s your first game in the series or your tenth, what matters is that you enjoy playing the game that the developers created for you to have fun with. Anyone that says that they are better than you, or tries to push you out of a community simply because you weren’t always there, are assholes.

So enjoy Mass Effect: Andromeda if it’s your first Mass Effect or your 4th. Oh, you entered the world of Pokemon in a gen after 1? Catch them all anyways.

Developers work hard to make games that everyone will enjoy, so please don’t tell people that they’re any less of a gamer because they started playing your favorite franchise later than you did.

From NPR’s Planet Money team: A 12-Year-Old Girl Takes On The Video Game Industry

Maddie Messer is 12 years old. She loves science, her dog, and a good video game. One of her favorites is the mobile game Temple Run. In Temple Run, you run along a path through a swamp or a forest, while being chased by a tribe of fierce monkeys. Maddie loves the game, except for one thing: Her character is a guy.

In a lot of video games, the default character is a guy. If you want to play as a female character, it's not easy. Often you have to pay. "It's not fair," Maddie said. "Because if I'm being forced to play as a boy, like, why?"

Maddie decided to test her claim with a research project. She downloaded the 50 most popular games in the same category as Temple Run. She counted up how many offered female characters and how much they cost. And she handwrote her results on a spreadsheet.

Out of the 50 games, 37 offered free male characters. Just five offered free female characters.

FULL STORY at NPR.org

I enjoy LFR.  I really do. I get to see content, get better at my class, get lots of nice shiny gear and things without the pressure of having to schedule or plan or talk to people I don't know... I really am grateful to Blizz for providing that.  

And my biggest issue with it isn't something they can do anything about. Wipes I can deal with. That's just fine. It happens.  I'm a patient woman. The biggest issue I have with it is the same issue I have with BGs.

The constant sexism is what wears on me.  I am so tired of it. Just now, I kept getting whispered by a guy about squeezing my ass. Because he was from another server I couldn't put him on ignore. It wasn't working. The rape culture heroes I regularly have to listen to physically hurt my soul. The casual homophobia, rape references, sexist language, there's just SO much of it and it's exhausting.  I am so fucking tired of the boys club BS. It feels like all the guys who claim women don't game are trying their damnedest to make it a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Just so fucking tired of it. Constant. All the time. I just want to relax and have fun.  Why am I not allowed because I have goddamned ovaries.