You would think that in an industry where young ladies of the cosplaying-anti-clothes-wearing “booth babe” persuasion were the norm at expos, folks would cease to balk at the prospect of female gamers.

As a black American, I am not what most sighted people would call “Japanese” so, as a foreigner living in Japan; I expected that I would surprise many people. I am a tall woman and while I do not meet the qualifications to be considered an Amazon, I will stick out in a crowd. Living in the Kanazawa countryside, I became used to being referred to as “medateiru” (sticking out), to blatant staring and occasional strange question. “Why don’t black people swim” will always be my favorite.

However, I thought that once I came back to the states this would no longer be normal for me, but after taking a job in game retail I stand corrected. Gamers who happen to be women or “lady-gamers” to the monocle wearing crowd are a rare breed. Black gamers make up another sub-section of the community though arguably larger than that of their female counterparts. Black gamers who house a second x chromosome are few and far between. Given all that, I suppose I cannot fault my customers who walk in, see only a black woman and look as if they’ve seen the Easter bunny punching Jesus in the face.

I don’t mean to suggest that everyone is upset or even shocked by my store; people have come in and have been pleased to see me. Not too long ago a woman, who by all appearances had graduated valedictorian at The Eartha Kitt School of Diction, came in and growled “only women in here…. I like it”. This type of reaction, while rewarding, is rare; more often than not people will walk in, see me, and check the sign to make sure they came to the right place.

Every other customer will ask with genuine curiosity whether I play games and while I accept it as par for the overwhelmingly male course, there have been times when I have been frustrated. I have asked myself why I stay when it seems so many are convinced that as a gamer, as a woman, and as a minority I am someone to be ignored. The only answer I can find is that that I am willing to work to make my community as strong and diverse as possible. As change comes to the community, people will no doubt be surprised. Initial shock, while embarrassing can have its merits; when people are desperately trying to understand why the situation is unusual, the opportunity for a re-assessment of standards jumps out to scare away preconceived notions. In short, once people see that you’re different they are willing to engage even just on a superficial level.

The electronic gaming industry has infinite potential when it comes to being all-inclusive. When we are honoring the virtual dead with the sacred rights of the tea-bag, it doesn’t matter what the gamer looked like or from whence they came. Games have the power to level the playing field and force us to rely solely on skill to ascertain an identity as opposed to people’s visual perceptions of us. Perhaps that is a goal that we as humans with many biases will fail to ever reach but in an industry that constantly makes the virtually impossible not only possible but also passé, can you blame a gal for dreaming?