I Love Games

I don't remember exactly when I got my first game console. As I was 3 or 4 at the time, it's not too surprising. I do remember that it was an Odyssey and I took to it like Barney Stinson to a dumb blonde. I also remember going to the store and being allowed to choose one game, it would take hours of deliberation with my endlessly supportive father to select just one, and I loved them all.

When the Atari 2600 came out everything got better. Most of my friends had their own (so I got to play mine more instead of sharing with EVERYONE) and we could trade games. Girls, boys, everyone was entranced by this machine that didn't need quarters. Sure, playing the arcade versions was a special treat, but being able to play in pajamas while my parents were sleeping was pure luxury.

Full disclosure: I never owned an Atari, I had Colecovision with the Atari attachment. My father said it made more sense, and I am glad to have learned the lesson that more popular has nothing to do with better quality. It comes in handy today as the proud owner of a PS3.

My question, as a child of the late '70s and '80s, is when did things get divided by gender? I spent much of the '90s on the road with little access to TV, let alone home gaming, and it seemed like sometime during that time there became a big movement among my female peers to not only abandon their gaming but to actively protest the men in their lives playing them. Do these women not remember the joy of beating Pac-Man for the first time? I'm a bit baffled.

Is it because gaming became so centered around shooters and fighting in general? Is it because women are less subjected to Peter Pan syndrome? Is it because society tells us games are not for women and women are buying that line?

These are just some of the questions and topics I'm hoping to explore in the coming months on this blog. Women, do you game (likely if you managed to find this)? Men, do you wish more women played or are you happy to have this area mostly to yourselves as long as we quit nagging you to stop?