I grew up in a family that at one point in time shared the orginal game boy with our father. I guess you could say that's how I got into video games, but for me the whole thing is social. I got my first gameboy because of Pokemon, and me and my sister wanted to fight each other.

I got my N64 because I wanted to be able to play games with my sisters and friends, and I got my PS2 for the same reason. I don't think that its hard to be a female gamer. There are many games that appeal me just as well as it does to guys. I've had long, long talk about guitar hero with both guys and girls. And I know one guy who's always ready to hear my weekly Final Fantasy rant.

Being a female gamer has never been an issue for me. Its just a way to sit back and relax after a day of school or on the weekends with a bunch of friends. But that's my opinion on the matter.

@Katana:

Granted. (^_^)

And there is that ancient man I knew once who claimed to play the "Nintendo 8", though I think he might have been referring to the Commodore 64. Either way, I had difficulty imagining him actually being into games, even pong. =P

@TimeChaser:

For e.g, like me.
I was raised with boys (later on I had my baby sister) but most of my childhood was spent with two boys. I too knew the videogames world very early and immediately fell in love for it although I started with the Mega Drive (hehe) and then upgraded to PSX, PS2 and now PS3.
We could say that I've spent my childhood, my teenage phase and pretty much my young adult phase (which is where I am now) playing videogames. Unfortunately though, I wasn't lucky to have many boy friends to talk or play with, in all of those years I had two male friends whom I played and exchanged games but to be able to enter "their world" I HAD to prove I was worthy which I founded completely stupid and somehow offencive. After all that they finally accepted me as one true videogamer which was really gratifying.

I'm not trying to prove or say that this happens all the time but in most cases it does.
You're the fewer girls that always were surrounded with people that had the same interest and hobbies as you and I'm glad you did, really.

All this debate that has been going on about us female gamers feeling like "tomboys" or outcasts it usually happens because they had similar experiences like mine or when they play online. The world is changing, it certainly is, male gamers are finally accepting us and that is amazing but it is also true that there's a good amount of other guys or girls who still think videogames isn't for girls.

So it seems that CME's article is making a fuss around here. That's good. =P And it's also good to know another female gamer around here as yourself, Katana. Maybe one day we talk more about this, who knows.

I do hope you do not mind for me to comin' in and adding you to read another future random goodness from you.

@Allamorph:

Ugh, shut up you. It's more old school than a lot of people, who run around with their N64's and PS1's, calling them old school. P:

There's probably a more equal spread than people believe. There are girls like you who love games and have never encountered prejudice from their male counterparts, and then there are girls who haven't been so lucky. We just happen to be hearing about the latter kind lately.

Yeah, I saw the same thing after I updated last night. Pretty nifty =P

Man, I soooo wish I could meet girls like you and your friends. I've only ever met one girl that was as into video games and anime as me. She is so freakin' cool. All my other female friends either don't like video games at all, or play only like, one or two specific games. God I gotta go meet me some new ladies...hahahahahaha...lol.

@Allamorph:

Commander Keene DOS game

OH MY GOD YES. Keene was my hero when I was a kid, I swear. lol. Those games were the ultimate awesomeness! Ever played the King's Quest games? How about Crystal Caves? Or Secret Agent Man! God I love those old DOS games...

You call that Old School?

Girlie, I was raised on the stinkin' Atari 9000. And the Commander Keene DOS game. You don't know Old School.

I think it's just that some people are fortunate in the sense that they're surrounded by people who are more accepting of certain hobbies. Sort of like how I have virtually never met a person who has grand misconceptions about what anime is or thinks it's weird to like anime, whereas other fans definitely have. And likewise, there are definitely guys who are accepting of female gamers (who are also more the types of guys I run into nowadays), but there are also definitely guys who aren't.

And yeah, the random updates are shown according to who updated most recently. ^^;