I signed up just to reply to you as I see so much of the sentiment and ideas you wrote on the 'net so frequently that, after reading your statements above, I just had to respond in hopes of educating at least one person about a history that is missed time and time again...and a few other things. I chose yours out of the mess of misinformation on this topic littering the internet, like obscene scribblings on the wall of a restroom stall, because, for the most part, I think your comments come from more a lack of history on the subject of women in gaming and less malice. Basically, you seem to be believing a lot of hype your generation has so readily spread about feminism and women's roles in gaming, the latter in which you claim is "recent". I assure you it is not. Since you stated you were born in The 80s (my guess would be around 1986) you undoubtedly missed the rise of a pop culture sensation that exploded upon the world in 1978-1983; the great surge that awakened an entire generation to the wonders of vector/raster dreams. I didn't. I began playing PONG in 1974 as a kid...and I am female. Loads of girls played video games back then, graduating from electromechanical to the early arcade games, like Boothill, before Space Invaders became the sensation that took the entire world by storm. The neighborhood arcades were full of girls. I don't care what millenial-journos say. Most of what they write about the "video craze" is largely incorrect and based on marketing evidence and not eye witness account. When [b]Centipede [/b]hit in 1981, one of the most popular games at the time, everyone knew it was made by a woman, [b]Dona Bailey[/b]. In fact, [b]Atari [/b]had another woman creating games, the great [b]Carol Shaw[/b]. Before Atari, she worked as a programmer at [b]Activision[/b], having already been recognized as being the first female programmer in 1978 with the the [b]3D-Tic-Tac-Toe [/b]for the [b]Atari 2600[/b]. Also the first video game tournament ever held,[b] The National Space Invaders Championship[/b], sponsored by Atari in 1980, was won by a girl, [b]Rebecca Heineman[/b], who went on to found[b] Interplay Productions[/b]. In fact, her credentials over the years are staggering and too numerous to mention here as are the names of hundreds of women pioneers of the video game age. So what I am saying is, women do not have a "sudden interest" in video games either as programmers, casual players or competitors. We have always been here, many of us from the very beginning. But I don't blame you for not knowing that. Right around the time you were born, if not a bit before, the "video game crash" occurred and with that game companies had to make a decision in marketing to survive. Since it was believed that young males were the largest demographic (and they probably were) marketing became increasingly male-centric. Thus the image of the gamer became overwhelmingly male and stayed that way for decades. But the truth is, that wasn't so. I knew many girls who began like I did on PONG who went through the various cycles and platforms, who grew into women who adored video games and never lost interest. The 90s were fabulous. DOOM, BLOOD, HERETIC, HEXXEN, DUKE NUKE EM -comp games that had a huge female audience I don't believe has ever been documented. And let's not forget MYST. With the advent of the internet, and the rise of social media a decade later, I am quite convinced that this is why it seemed the presence of women in gaming appeared to triple overnight: the world finally began to see and hear us. [b]On Feminism:[/b] Your generation, no offense, has this uncanny trait of searching for truth and ideas to believe in from whomever is yelling the loudest. It's like having a foul, accusatory, paranoiac opinion on a subject on 4Chan merits one instant accreditation from their peers;i.e. "Friggin' feminists are ruining gaming!" It's all so strange to me to read this over and over again that I wonder how anyone could say such a thing when Google exists. Just type in [i]"war on video games"[/i] and go back in history to 1976, when [b]Death Race[/b], an arcade game, came under massive attack for being "too violent". From the very beginning video games were under attack from US Senators and watch-groups predominately lead by men, not feminists. The biggest case recently, [b] Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association[/b], sought to outlaw certain video games to minors under the age of 18, was ruled against by the Supreme Court who gave video games protective status under The First Amendment, deeming video games art and free as such to express content, speech and graphics as any creative medium is allowed. Take note that one of the strongest supporters for censorship of video games was none other than [b]Arnold Schwarzenegger[/b]. [url] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_v._Entertainment_Merchants_Association.[/url] In fact, men imposed this ban. Senators and Governors. Video games are not "in danger from feminists" or anyone else. They can't be. Video games are protected by The First Amendment as of 2011 so anyone even trying to (if such a person exists) would have to overthrow a Supreme Court decision which would not only be a lengthy fight but also cost millions of dollars. It just isn't likely. Yet countless people, mostly men, are personally attacking women over the internet over an imaginary situation that is really quite embarrassing, prompting the women who are being harassed to fight back in opposition. Think about it: The internet is awash with threats, insults and the creepiest forms of paranoia I have ever seen based on a non-issue. This is what happens when one loses touch with history and the present and begins groupthinking themselves into mob mentality. You begin to alienate a class of people based on fantasy....and you make a supreme ass of yourself. Education on the subject would have prevented this hairball from hell from ever being coughed up. So, in closing, all of this raging and tar and feathering of people -especially women/feminists- is perhaps one of the strangest social phenomenas I have ever witnessed in my life due to lack of education. People are actually throwing their career potential away, making damning documentaries on women discussing tropes (tropes, for god's sake!), harassing and stalking feminist targets, dedicating so much time and effort into "fighting feminism" and "protecting video games". It's the most insane thing I have ever seen and, frankly, the most ignorant past-time I have ever seen such a large part of a population embrace. Have you all looked at yourselves? It's appallingly foolish. Feminism is the pursuit of equality between sexes in terms of employment, pay and social position. Nothing else. Trust me when I predict that egg on certain faces will be next year's unwashable embarrassment when thousands of people figure out just how ridiculous they looked in August 2014 over the internet. [i]A country without a memory is a country of madmen.[/i] -George Santayana