I’m a woman and I play video games. Aside from the gatekeepers and the stigma that somehow have certain members of the population believing that female body parts make you ineligible to play, it’s something that I really enjoy. Unfortunately, being female and enjoying some of the darker and far less bubbly parts of video games also tends to stir up older women, and in particular the crazy religious ones.
Where I live is sometimes nicknamed a ‘mini Bible belt’ due to the number of churches in the area. I’m mostly used to getting handed tracts or passing five churches on a single stretch of road. But today was a special day, apparently.
I decided to pay a visit to a game store to wander, mostly, but to also see if anything happened to catch my eye. I just happened to be wearing a shirt with a quote from my favorite video game, which is used for summoning the game’s assassin’s guild.
A middle-aged woman on the sidewalk reacted with visible horror at the sight of the words.
Woman: “Why are you wearing such a vile shirt?!”
Me: “It’s a game reference, ma’am.”
Woman: “Have you found and accepted Jesus!?”
Me: “No ma’am. I’m not a person of faith.”
Woman: “I will pray for you.”
Me: *Politely.* “If it makes you happy, by all means, ma’am.”
Woman: “No, really, I’ll pray that you’ll find Jesus and be saved by God.”
Me: “Okie dokie, ma’am. Have a lovely day.”
I go past her and walk through the front door of the game store.
Woman: “Stop! You are entering a den of sin!”
I didn’t even pause, just rolled my eyes and let the door close behind me.
I was exploring their game guides a few minutes later when the woman entered and approached me again. She was stiff as a rod and seemed to be waging a mental war against her loathing of the business and a desperate need to speak to me. For a moment, I wondered if the store had paper bags for her to hyperventilate into.
Woman: “You need to leave! The contents of this store will drag you straight to Hell.”
Me: “…what are you even talking about?”
Woman: “These…” *She waves around without turning her head to even look at the various games, game supplies, and instruction books.* “…are the Devil’s work! Only God can work his will through another, and when a person does it, they’re pretending to be God!”
Me: “Ma’am, these are games. None of the characters are real.”
Woman: “It doesn’t matter! Thinking of doing a sin will damn you just as surely as actually doing it! So, if it behaves like a person and you are exerting your will through them, then that’s exactly the same as actually controlling someone! Pretending that you are God is a sin either way!”
I briefly wondered if a certain video game where you play as an actual wolf god, healing the world from a great curse, would give her an aneurism.
Me: “Well then, I guess I’m glad I’m not a person of faith then, so I don’t have to worry about it.”
Woman: “You should worry about your soul!”
Me: “Look lady, I’ve tried to be polite, but you’re being pushy, and disrespectful, and honestly? Downright ridiculous and full-on crazy. You can believe whatever you want to believe, and I’ll support that. But I will not put up with you chasing me down to shove your stupid ideas at me, savvy? Go away!”
Manager: *Appearing nearby.* “Ma’am, it’s time for you to leave. I won’t have you harassing my customers.”
Woman: “You’ll burn in Hell! Everyone who caters to this den of sin will burn!”
She storms out.
The manager apologized to me, but I waved it off and joked about wearing a Crazy Magnet while gesturing at my shirt. We talked a bit about some of our favorite games before going about our business. I admit that I do feel bad for that woman; she must have been badly brainwashed by her family’s faith.
