Girls and Gaming

When you think of a video gamer, what gender comes to mind first?

If you said "Male", then you're in the majority, since Females don't have as much of a presence in the video game market as guys.

Especially with all the Violence, Sex appeal, and all the other stuff that mainly interest guys.

Recently, I have been beginning to notice first hand that there are gamers that are girls. Also they could probably kick your butt (like they did mine ^^;) I'll admit, it's pretty cool to see another medium where both genders can enjoy and interact with each other without having to compromise.

The reason I say "recently" is because I just hooked up my XBOX 360 to XBOX LIVE after about 5 years (or so).

Playing online (with Mic and HeadSet) definitely proved to be an interesting and quite enjoyable experience.

If you're a first timer to online video gaming (specifically the XBOX LIVE), here's some mistakes you don't want to make (like I did) when playing with the opposite sex. 
Find out what they are after the Jump
 

Don't judge a Gamer's Gender by their Gamer Tag (User Name)

OK, this can be a tough one since user names don't necessarily have to be gender driven. They be pretty much anything, whatever you can be type. There are a few ways around this:

Look in their profile (though not everyone list their gender, lie about it, other are using a (male) friend's (or family member's, etc) account)

Look at their Avatar 
( but as they say "You can't judge a book by it's cover.")

Refrain from using gender specific terms when talking like:
"Dude", "Man", etc...

If your ballsy, Just ask 'em right out. I think most would understand...Never tried it myself however, usually found out the hard or embarrassing way.

Don't Judge a Gamer's Gender by their Voice

This can be real tricky, because like a mentioned before 
"You can't judge a book by it's cover."
This is one way I have personally mixed up other gamer's gender because sometimes your voice sounds different when taking into a Mic.

Example, I'm told I sound like I'm twice my age when I answer the phone after they ask my Mom "who was that man?" and find out it was me.

So I've confused girls with the opposite gender at times because I thought maybe they were younger boys or something.

But once you know, you know. Trust me on this.

Well those are the big two in my book but I bet they're plenty of others too.

All and all it's fun to play online with both male and female gamers. More barriers are being broken between the genders,just like with Sports,Media, and plenty of other stuff.

What do you think?

Have any online experiences you'd like to share? 
Good or Bad? 

Agree, Disagree?

Sound it off in the comments below.