Post Script to September 2008: A Gamer Girl's Lament

The following speech is, of course, borrowed and adapted to the purpose from Shylock of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. This famous lament appears in Act 3, Scene 1. Original here.

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I am a Gamer Girl. Do I not have eyes with which to look out for myself within my chosen game? Do I not have hands to wield the controllers with, senses to play with, passions to fuel my game? Do I not use the same potions to heal with, am I not worthy of the same in-game weapons and tactics, am I not affected by the same buffs and debuffs, as a male gamer is?

If you PK me, do I not die? If you trade with me, do I not benefit? If you annoy me, do I not have the right to block your offensive ass? And if you insult me, do I not have the right to take your damn head?

If I am a gamer just as you are - and damn right I am - I will resemble you in this. If a male gamer harms me, a gamer girl, I shall not take it sitting down - I shall bring the hurt. However badly you behave in-game, I have the right to give it right back!

***

Some days, being on the forums gets TIRING. Just see the inanity of recent posts in two of the General Discussion threads on the SEA / ANZ GE forums.

GE Gamer Girls Season 1: Some guy warned the girls of Pachelbel that they might well get overwhelmed by PMs or broads once the non-PK servers have merged into Rembrandt. The sensible response from the girls? "That's what the block function is for."

And the guy has the CHEEK to respond to this with "block...soh mean D:".

Do we exist to fuel the single boys' fantasies? I think NOT.

Carracci - Pachelbel Faction Remix Discussion: The thread supposedly set out to give the factions of Carracci and Pachelbel a chance to describe themselves. The first attempted derailment of the thread came when some guy asked, is Les Filles Faction of Pachelbel really a girls-only faction? And someone answered yes, see their recruitment thread.

I next posted descriptions for my own ShenAnCalhar Faction and included the following lines:

"Recruiting / Not Recruiting: Undecided. This faction was originally formed for the single purpose of experiencing the Level 51 and 52 Faction Quests.

I am currently thinking about opening recruitment in Rembrandt. If I do so, I will open membership to female players, and female players only."

And then the thread gets REALLY derailed when the guys IMMEDIATELY wish for a showdown between the girls-only factions - in other words, they wanted a catfight! What kind of inane wish is that?

I'm beginning to think that for all the good the GE Gamer Girls Season 1 initiative was supposed to do, there are a lot of guys who JUST DIDN'T GET IT.