Girl Gamers

Alright, I hate to be this person, but after a particularly awful game of Left4Dead, I really feel like a good rant.

I am aware that there exist jerks, a-holes, and generally unsavory people on the Internet and in online gaming circles. However, I am still taken aback by the frequency with which I run into guys in games such as L4D and other first person shooters who treat me as their verbal punching-bag because of my gender. (If you haven't already guessed, I'm a girl.) These people maybe wind up in the same game as I do 1 out of 20 times, but this number really ends up being too frequent. How hard is it to headshot zombies when some guy's asking you if you need to "change your tampon" or "sit on my lap to use your medkit"? Why should I and other female gamers be subject to calls for sandwich-making or dish-washing while crowning witches or what-have-you? Again, most male gamers I run across are true gentlemen that treat me with perfect respect and equality. If I suck at the game, they let me know, but at least it's not blamed on my gender. I do not mind a-holery, but I do mind cat-calls, references to how I could better spend my time shopping or cooking, and other absurd comments that have nothing to do with anything.

I'm so darn miffed at this. It is all I can do to not squeeze the trigger when those little green cross-hairs pop up. Well, proverbially speaking, since L4D doesn't have colored cross-hairs.