So I buy a lot of video games…  and here are some of the responses I have received from male employees at the stores….

Buying Rainbow Six Vegas the day it came out… “You do realize whoever you are buying this for has to be at least eighteen?”  Well, usually a girl takes this as a compliment, but not when the insinuation was that the game wasn’t for me.

Buying Shadowrun…. “You know you have to be hooked up to the internet to play this?”  Gee, what’s this thing called the internet I keep hearing about?

And random game shopping…

Employee: “Can I interest you in reserving Halo 3?”
Bad Gamer Girl: “No thank you.”  If I was interested in spending an extra $5 at your store just to reserve my copy of the game, which you are notorious for shorting people on anyway, I would have.
Employee: “Well, how about Crackdown, they have the Halo beta going on right now.”
Bad Gamer Girl: “Nope.”  Yeah, I’ve already been playing the Halo 3 beta.
Employee: “There’s a new Tom Clancy, Ghost Recon out.”
Bad Gamer Girl: I do my best to give him my I’m tired of you trying to upsell me look, besides the game has been out for months already, hardly new, and yep, I bought it the day it came out.
Employee: “So just this book then?”
Bad Gamer Girl: “Yes, please.”  But as I am paying, I notice a new Tetris game for the 360.  Now, a friend of mine loves Tetris, so I think this will be great for when she comes over, since she tends to go for the PacMan or Frogger type games.  I used to be a old school GameBoy tetris fiend, so I figure I can game and school her at the same time :)  “Actually, I’ll get that new Tetris game too.”
Employee: Rolling his eyes at me “Yeah, I try to offer you the good stuff, I should’ve figured you’d want something like Tetris.”

And there was the time I was buying the XBox magazine for the Rainbow Vegas demo.  And I got the quizzical “and who are you buying this magazine for?” from the guy ringing it up.  Maybe he was wishing he was my boyfriend, if that was who I was buying it for.

Now, I am not conceited or anything, but I am sure I could kick his butt in any FPS game, but I didn’t feel like he was worthy enough to actually divulge my gamer tag to.  And I am certain I have spent more $ in gaming in 2007 alone than he has in his entire life, even including what he bought with his allowance.

And video game companies wonder why more women aren’t buying their games… they do a fairly decent job at it, but then when it hits the stores, it all falls apart.  After all, women tend to be the ones doing more of the buying… and they don’t have to cater to women, but come on, try acting just a tad bit more accepting that it could be the chick who wants to shoot terrorists, not her hubby or boyfriend.

And I should add that I only go to the chain of stores where those incidents have all happened if I have no other choice… I actually pay more to buy my games elsewhere.