So people were walking through my house looking at it because it's going on sale. It was a family with two small children, both of them girls. Since I'm not really mainly responsible for the house showing, I was just chillin' playing some video games. They come by me, and I'm like "heyo, nice to meet you, just playing some video games on my day off" and one of the girls was like "Girls play video games, too?" and normally I'd be like "yeah for sure they are super fun", but instead I hesitated and just politely laughed.

Now I doubt this 30 second interaction would have set this girl on a path to becoming a hardcore GAMERZ, but I'm usually all about positively talking about video games, especially to girls. My friends have a 3 year old girl and I'm already planning when I think it would be best for her to play Chrono Trigger and the other SNES classics. I've never really been "ashamed" or felt shamed for liking video games. I just let that shit slide by like water off a duck's ass. But I think, as a result of these past three months, that I didn't want to even be partially responsible for pushing someone into this shitty mess. I can't imagine a normal person, who isn't already a part of it, choosing to immerse themselves in a community that's so easily will turn on you and terrorize you if you go against the status quo, and there is still, despite the stats, nothing "status quo" about a girl who plays hardcore video games. GamerGate has accomplished what all the years of bullying and dismissive, bigoted "girls don't do that, act normal" comments never could: they've made me ashamed to like video games.

Well, there's my cry-assing for the day, anyway.