GAMER_MOM

My stats are: Age 43, female, married, 3 kids–all boys. I love reading, writing, cooking, drinking whiskey, dancing (sometimes while drinking whiskey) listening to Nina Simone and ... playing video games. But please, don't be cringe and call me a GAMER MOM. My 13 year old son can't handle it.

Whenever I tell other women (non-gamers) that I play video games, they immediately inform me of how much time they don't have for games. They are completely confused as to why I would WANT to play video games. They can't understand how a mother in her 40s with so much responsibility can sit down to play video games.

The facts are that I've been playing video games since I was a kid, before I was married, and had children of my own, but that doesn't stop people from giving me the moniker, Gamer Mom.

In fact, the first time I was called a Gamer Mom was at a work conference.

Picture this: an auditorium full of marketing professionals from the financial industry for a two-day confernce about marketing trends. The audience of 100 people is 90% female with an average age range of 30 to 50. I am a Vice President in Marketing, attending the conference with my peers.

The speakers at the conference are a collection of industry experts educating us on innovation and emerging marketing strategies. Things are pretty stale on the morning of the first day, until a young professional from a small start-up marketing consulting agency gets on stage and asks the audience a question:

How many of you out there are gamers?

Mine is the only hand in the air.

The room erupts in laughter. All eyes are on me. People are actually turning their chairs around–some even standing up to see who raised their hand. My boss shoots me an embarrassed look, like I just crapped my pants and announced it to the room.

Seeing my discomfort, and realizing, maybe, he had the wrong audience, the speaker quickly switches gears and informs the group that they are truly missing out on the gaming experience.

After his presentation is done, and during a breakout session, to my utter horror, I am the one surrounded and peppered with questions.

The questions:

"Do you really play video games? Why?" - this question is asked with a scrunched up face, like I am emoting a poisonous gas.

"Does your husband get upset when you play? Do you do it alone, or in front of your kids?" - this question is always so weird. I'm not doing elicit drugs. I'm playing a game.

"What games do you play? Like Mario Cart? Or games like Candy Crush and Farmville and stuff like that? Or do you play those online violent shooter war games?" - this question I find sincere. People don't know what they don't know, so I give them a quick walk through of The Last of Us, Tomb Raider and maybe a bit of Red Dead for the lone male in the group. I keep it light.

"How do you have time to play games? I don't have time for games, I'm a mom." - I hear this statement a lot. It makes me really sad because moms should make time to do things they love, or explore new things. It pisses me off too because I'm sure you make time to read or watch the Bachelor ... don't poop on my choice of outlet.

However, my suspicion is that moms feel embarrassed or guilty doing things they perceive, or think others perceive, as juvinile or a waste of time or immature. They also have a skewed view of video games that they got from society, or carried over from their youth, or they don't see enough "Moms" doing it. I will admit that I too feel weird admitting to other parents, especially women, that I play video games. Even though, I know for a fact there are thousands of women like me and more around the world who enjoy gaming and have families. We just don't get the same air time or exposure male gamers do and maybe that needs to change. I've never met a Gamer Dad in my life, although that sounds kind of hot.

Anyway, when the hoopla died down at the conference, and we were all loose at the bar at the team dinner, a male senior executive came over to introduce himself.

He said, "Hey .. so you're the Gamer Mom, right?"

I thought of my son's entire body cringing at the thought.

"Hell, yeah I am!" I replied. "Nice to meet you."

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