I have always taken pride in the fact that I am a gamer girl. Since I was young, I felt as though I had this deep dark secret that no one knew about and that if they had any idea about it I would suddenly rise to stardom in my school… Now of course, I realize how stupid that was and it was probably the fact that I played video games as a girl that led me to the bottom of the food chain at my middle school, but nonetheless, I loved that about me.

No, I couldn’t participate in most sports because I was scrawny and no one wanted me on their team as I slid across the gym floor, but in grade six I had a high school level vocabulary and it impressed all of my English teachers. I remember being proud of myself. I was the only person in my class who knew the word “seize” before it was taught by my history teacher; years of strategizing with Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance had taught me it. I wasn’t good at math, science, or any of the other conventional classes in school, but my passion for video games helped me excel in all things art. And that’s all that really mattered to me.

See, what comes with creative gamer girls are more opportunities to express themselves. I love writing and with that I was able to start this blog based off of my Zelda obsession. But it didn’t start with this. Before Zeldaandfairies.com I had just Zeldaandfairies.tumblr.com. It is a Zelda blog that I drew and posted artwork and enjoyed roleplaying as Kafei on from time to time. From there it all began. I was able to further submerse myself in The Legend of Zelda fandom and I started finding all sorts of merchandise made by other gamers and gamer girls just like me. This obsession has become a business for some people. I take pride in knowing that I’m part of a strong, creative community like that.

Of course there are downers with being a gamer girl. It’s more rare nowadays, but we’re often not given the credit we deserve as gamer.

I remember sitting in my uncle’s shop when I was about ten and playing Ocarina of Time behind the counter. A pair of boys came in, probably with their parents making a purchase nearby, and started watching me play. I was in the Lost Woods, in the area overlooking the two skull kids playing their flutes, and I had my slingshot ready. They watched as I hit this circular object (a target) hanging from the tree multiple times, scoring 100s and were so surprised that I was given a bigger slingshot bag from that. They had never seen that before! I remember it being a proud moment for me because I was a gamer girl who had something to teach those boys.

Going into ThinkGeek about a month ago, I was singing Kirby Air Ride’s Celestial Valley theme, often heard in Green Greens in Smash Bros, and a group of guys were completely dumb founded by my humming.
“Oh, wow, she knows the song,” they said as I walked past them out of the store. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. I didn’t think that was such a strange occurrence, but there is still a stigma about girls being gamers. Not too mention that the gamer girls they DO think of are the ones holding a controller up to hide exposed body parts. There’s nothing wrong with that, however. One of my favorite clothing designers, Jamie Koala, makes amazing apparel, including the well-known Majora’s Mask dress, and I am obsessed with her Zelda Cheekies! Many people react to her products with disdain, commenting on pictures of her items, accusing her of not ever playing the games. It’s tedious to deal with people that don’t understand how gaming can affect your passion. Girls use Twitch to stream now. One of my favorites, a singer named Chrissy Costanza, plays League of Legends all the time! There are so many popular Youtubers I watch that play games, are funny, and are girls! Laurenzside and MadeYewLook Lex are my favorite right now. Then there are gamers who take it to the next level and make it their lives like KoalaArt&Design, EssikaJ, and any other gaming style clothing maker and Cosplayer out there!

Gamer girls are amazing. They take their love of gaming and have the power to turn it into something greater than just a Saturday Night in gaming with friends, though I would take that any day. We turn it into passion and love.

I’m proud to be a part of this community and this gender. If I had never touched a video game in my life, I would have been an incredibly different and probably a remarkably unhappy and uncreative person. So, I guess what I’m trying to say is: Thanks, mom. If you weren’t a gamer girl to begin with, I probably would have never known how awesome they truly are.