Gamer Girls

A month ago, I invited Catherine Banks to guest spot here as part of her book tour celebrating the release of her newest adventure, The Pirate Princess. She agreed, and I was very excited to find that her topic of thought fits so beautifully among those collected here, as she explores the world of gaming from a girls perspective. (P.S. I loved MW2 as well! I wasn’t terribly good, but I did manage to beat it with my brother in Co-Op)

So without further pontificating, I pass the keyboard to Catherine!

In the past just the mention of girls gaming was something to laugh about. Sure there was the occasional girl that played at the arcade or played with the guys, but they weren’t considered “gamers”. It’s more accepted now, but even to this day I will talk with people while gaming and they’ll ask, “Girls play this game? You’re the first one I’ve encountered” or “you play other games than this? I didn’t know you played those games too”.

I know some of the gamers are frustrated with people who call themselves gamers when they only play one type of game or when the games they do play are cell phone games or things like Sims. I play games and consider myself a gamer, but I do not consider myself a hardcore gamer. I put A LOT of hours into Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. I even joined a clan (actually I was in two at different times) and participated in mandatory weekly practices and played in matches against other teams. Did I deserve to be in those clans or were they just letting me in since I was girl? Unfortunately in regards to COD: MW2 it was the latter. I loved playing and I was decent, but I wasn’t as good as the others. Even though it was a blow to my ego to know that, I still stayed in the clans because I firmly believe playing with people who are a higher skill level than you helps you learn to be better.

Currently I spend a lot of time playing Destiny and we have a clan which is really just made up of friends who like to play together. Then again, isn’t that what clans started off as anyways? My clan has very skilled players and luckily I’m not the worst even if I am the only girl. I can honestly say that playing with them has helped me get better. I can also say that every group of people I’ve played with has felt like a family. They’re my gaming family. Some of them have disappeared or we’ve been separated due to new consoles and games, but I still have those memories and now I have a new group. The friends made on gaming extend beyond the games and I consider them my friends even though I haven’t met most in person yet. Some people look down on that. Some people think it’s ridiculous that we consider our gaming friends our real friends, but I have spent more hours talking and playing games with my gaming friends than anyone else. If you’re ever on PS4 add “CatBanks” and check out the Destiny PS4 clan “Raiders of the Lost Bark”.

 

Catherine Banks is the author of the Artemis Lupine Series, Little Death Bringer Series, Ciara Steele Novella Series, and the novel Daughter of Lions. She began writing fiction stories when she was only four years old and finished her first full length novel at the age of fifteen.

Catherine is a Northern California native and has lived within a twenty mile radius her entire life. She plans to travel to as many places as possible in her thirties to make up for her lack of traveling experience. She is married to her soulmate and best friend, Avery, who blessed her with two amazing children. After her full time job she reads books, plays video games, and watches a lot of anime shows and movies with her family to relax.

Find out more, and check out Catherine’s books at:

Www.CatherineBanks.com
www.facebook.Com/CatherineBanksAuthor
www.twitter.Com/catherineebanks
www.goodreads.Com/Catherine_Banks
Amazon.com/author/catherinebanks