#stepawayfromthegame

I have to admit, I'm not well versed in ‪#‎gamergate‬ but starting to dive into it thanks to a few of my friends. So far, here are my thoughts. I never really got into games of any kind when I was younger. (Minus the NES) and a lot of it was for me, the feeling of unwelcome. Minus a handful of friends, who weren't even in the same circle, I was never made aware of how fun games can be.

When I started dating my partner, I originally thought to myself, great.. another person that games and I'll have to share my time fighting for attention.

But he started to talk to me about different types and I started figuring out what i liked in games. And thanks to his amazing D&D group I fell in love with RPG tabletop gaming.

So for these young men who are terrorizing these women, I want to ask them why? Why deem it necessary to ostracize an entire gender from a form of entertainment and fun?

Is your manhood that fragile, that being beaten by a woman, would cause you a psychotic break? That the ONLY retribution is to seek and destroy women, who have undoubtedly fought harder than you ever had the courage or gumption to, to get into the ranks of the gaming world that it is today? That killing and raping her is the only way to put her back in place where you think she belongs?

This world today is making me scared for my daughter, who is being raised to believe that she can be whoever and do whatever she desires. That boy things aren't just actually made for boys and girl things aren't just for girls.

It terrifies me because, I still have to console her because she gets made fun of having her hair short and liking sports. Or that she wants to wear skirts but read a book about scary monsters or weird sea creatures. That even though she absolutely is her father's daughter and absolutely LOVES playing games, whether video, computer, board, or tabletop rpg, she will have to constantly deal with the fact that as of this very moment in time, she's unwelcome in the community by these hateful single minded people.