Going back to my first serious encounter with video games was when I was in the third grade. It was whatever night of Hanukkah and I opened up a brand new pink DS. This was something that I had wanted as most of the other girls that I knew on the bus also had a DS as well. It was the hip thing back then. Ecstatic I booted it up to play the only game that I could on there, Pictochat. Pictochat was a go to multiplayer game, as every DS was capable of connecting with local wireless. Through this game it allowed all of us to have our creativity sore free. While there was the standard chatting option, we were more focused on the drawing portion of it. One of the fondest memories I have is coloring the whole screen black and then drawing with the easer.

I eventually got games for my DS, many of which were more female oriented games. At the time it was what I was into and enjoyed playing. However, my current self now plays a different set of games then what I first used to play. To a typical gamer, the games that I played such as Cooking Mama, Petz, and more wouldn’t be considered “hardcore” games. Huntemann states “Technological changes made video games rapidly available to more diverse audiences. Around 2006, Nintendo was highly invested in marketing to women audiences via its portable Nintendo DS system and Wii gaming console. Equally important, the rise and popularity of smartphones made gaming more accessible and ubiquitous to a variety of people—many of them adult women. In this way, video games as a feminist topic have rapidly shifted from only conversations about “hard-core” games that are not necessarily intended for women to an equal amount of research on the steady influx of games that are intentionally made for feminine audiences. These games have a necessarily messy relationship to feminism: they are often essentializing yet liberating, condescending yet intoxicating.” (How to Play Video Games, 94) It was through these games that I was able to start my adventure into the video game world. While I did grow up with two brothers who play video games as well, there are plenty of females who are in a similar situation and don’t end up playing video games.

To say what really got me into video games, I’m unsure of. I would most link it back to getting my first handheld console, the DS and all the time I spent not just playing Pokémon, but the other games I had for it. It was from these games that I gained appreciation for gaming. Eventually our family got a Wii, which me and my younger brother would spend hours on. I played my fair share of Wii sports and making my Mii character. By getting a Wii, it transferred me to the more “hard-core” games such as Mario and Smash Bros. Being curious and wanting to learn more, I watch hours of YouTube videos on Nintendo, learning about series such as Fire Emblem and the Mother series. I stayed in my Nintendo bubble for a while, playing mostly Mario and Pokémon till I entered high school. Due to exposure from my brothers, I was mostly aware of some other games, but mostly the Call of Duty series or COD. YouTube was what gave me the information on other games and through that I explored new worlds.

Today games are even more accessible thanks to the mobile phone market. As such “Video game companies began to market to girls, some as a feminist response to the industry and others commodifying a demographic. Eventually, by the mid-2000s, game marketing and design also began to target adult females. These games were often shorthanded as the “casual games market.” Casual games (such as Diner Dash [Gamelab, 2004]), hidden object games, and cell phone puzzle games) are cheap or free, easy to learn, and minimalist in narrative. They also easily fit into busy schedules by being playable for either shorter or longer periods, depending on the needs of the player.” (How to Play Video Games, 93-94) It has been debated by many if casual players are considered gamers. With the plethora of mobile games, one can find themselves occupied with some game. I’d argue that casual players are gamers, as a mobile phone is a different medium that is used to play video games. Many of the current mobile games have story and art better than many of the early video games. Like the DS was for me, I hope that mobile games will allow for many to explore the larger world of video games. Many see the big mainstream games but if you dig deep enough you can find hidden gems. However, it takes one’s own interest in learning about games to take this first step outside this realm.